1 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

A Theoretical Approach for A Theoretical Approach for Biometrics Authentication of e-ExamsBiometrics Authentication of e-Exams

By:Yair LevyYair LevyNova Southeastern University

andMichelle M. RamimMichelle M. RamimNova Southeastern University

2 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Maya: Dad, when you were young, did you use a passwordpassword to login to

your computer?

Dad: Yes, I can remember those days…

בסיסמהבסיסמהכשהיתה צעיר הישתמשתה מאיה: להכנס למחשב שלך?

כן, אני זוכר את הזמנים ההםאבא: ...

3 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Statement of the problemStatement of the problem

• E-learning has become a powerful medium for academic institutions

• Major growth in e-learning in the past decade

– 56% of all US colleges offered e-learning courses in 2000–2001 academic year*.

– Over three million students enrolled in e-learning courses in the US in 2000-1*.

• Opponents of e-learning argue that the inability to authenticate e-exam takers is one of the major challenges of e-learning

* Source: United States Department of Education, National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES) (2005)

4 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Theoretical BackgroundTheoretical Background

• Unethical conduct in e-learning

• Unethical conduct during exams

• Security in e-Learning

• Biometric Solutions

• Fingerprint Biometric Solutions

5 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Unethical Conduct in E-earningUnethical Conduct in E-earning

• Unethical conduct - “a major concern” (Kennedy et al., 2000)

• Additional mechanisms are necessary to authenticate users’ access in various e-learning course activities not just in the initial login (Newton, 2003)

• Students’ unethical conduct has intensified as a result of the use of technology and the Internet (Pillsbury, 2004)

• Need to focus not only on plagiarism (Naude & Hörne, 2006)

6 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Unethical Conduct During ExamsUnethical Conduct During Exams

• Cheating on exams has been reported at an alarming range of 74% (Center for Academic Integrity, 2005)

• Students’ unethical conduct related to exam taking perceived by faculty to be one of the most serious unethical behaviors (Pincus & Schmelkin, 2003)

7 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Security in E-LearningSecurity in E-Learning

• Yu and Tsao (2003) discussed security challenges of e-learning environments

• Huang et al. (2004) discussed aspects of security in e-learning systems and suggested ways to secure e-learning systems.

• Ramim and Levy (2006) – a case study (JCIT) of a small academic institution faced a cyber attach to their e-learning environment by an insider intruder.

8 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Biometric Solutions Biometric Solutions

• Biometric is defined as “the application of computational methods to biological features, especially with regard to the study of unique biological characteristics of humans” (Tabitha, et al., 2006, p. 3)

• Unique characteristics: – Physiological biometric: retinal and iris, fingerprints,

facial images, hand prints, DNA, etc.– Behavioral biometric: voice, key board typing, attitude

• Major popularity growth of biometric solutions, especially after 9/11

9 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Biometric Solutions (Cont.)Biometric Solutions (Cont.)

• Usability aspect of biometrics authentication systems is “a tradeoff between usability, memorability and security” (Coventry et al., 2003, p. 153).

• Traditional password & PINs authentication methods are regularly increasing their length – difficult to remember!

• Fingerprints systems are currently used in the Disney® parks, financial industry, U.S. immigration services, etc.

10 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Fingerprint Biometric Solutions Fingerprint Biometric Solutions

• Price of biometric devices is falling in the past decade (Pons, 2006)

• Increase reliability – false rejection rate that is only 0.01%, or 1 out of 100,000 cases

JayPeetek Inc.’s Scan.U.MatchTM

DigitalPersona

11 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Fingerprint Biometric Solutions (Cont.)Fingerprint Biometric Solutions (Cont.)

12 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Biometric Solutions – ServersBiometric Solutions – Servers

JayPeetek Inc.’s AuthenteonTM Server

13 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

The Proposed Theoretical Framework The Proposed Theoretical Framework

14 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

PropositionsPropositions

Proposition 1:

Students taking e-exams using the fingerprints biometric solution will have lower grades on the e-exam than their counterparts.

Proposition 2:

Students taking e-exams using the fingerprints biometric solution will take longer time to complete their e-exam than their counterparts.

15 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Some Observed LimitationsSome Observed Limitations

• In a remote setting, students may ask to have a subject matter expert seat next to them while they take the exam

• The costs associated with implementing such study in an experimental basis, let alone in a large scale e-learning program

• Individual perceptions on the use of biometric systems may prevent consent to take part of the study, hence, limit data collection

16 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Thank you!Thank you!

• Questions?

17 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Yair Levy, Ph.D. Assistant ProfessorNova Southeastern UniversityGraduate School of Computer and Information SciencesThe DeSantis Building - Room 40583301 College AvenueFort Lauderdale, FL 33314Tel.: 954-262-2006        Fax: 954-262-3915

E-mail: levyy@nova.edu

Site: http://scis.nova.edu/~levyy/

Contact Information - LevyContact Information - Levy

18 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

Michelle M. Ramim, Ph.D. (ABD)Adjunct ProfessorNova Southeastern UniversityH. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship The DeSantis Building3301 College AvenueFt. Lauderdale, FL 33314

E-mail: ramim@nova.eduSite: http://www.nova.edu/~ramim/

Contact Information - RamimContact Information - Ramim

19 2007 - Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, 2007.

International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS)International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS)

http://www.ijds.org/

Mission:The mission of the International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS) is to provide readers worldwide with high quality peer-reviewed scholarly articles on a wide variety of issues in doctoral studies using the Informing Science (IS) framework. The editorial objective of IJDS is the facilitation of knowledge enhancement related to doctoral studies in areas such as (but not limited to): informing science, information systems, information technology, information

science, information security, and IT education.

Yair Levy, Editor-in-Chief (editor@IJDS.org)