For example, my car is equipped with an IPass transponder that makes it possible to drive from Madison to Chicago over the Illinois Tollway without stopping to pay tolls. That’s great, but of course the Illinois Tollway folks know (and they even tell me by email every so often) exactly when I travel to Chicago and how fast I go. The same applies to the credit cards I use to pay for gasoline, food, and other items. Computers at the credit-card company are watching for unusual use patterns (such as large charges accrued in several different states within a short time) that might indicate a stolen card. Not long ago I learned that drivers of Mini Coopers can sign up for a service that allows them to be identified as they approach a billboard by means of a chip embedded in their key fob (1). The billboard then flashes a customized message, such as, “Hello John. Edited any manuscripts lately?” More than a thousand Mini owners have voluntarily signed up for this service.

Recently many politicians have been faced with the prospect of having their infelicities (or even prejudices) posted for all to see on Web sites like YouTube. The same can happen to chemistry teachers. An example is the explosive destruction of a glass “whoosh bottle” by a demonstrator who appears not to be wearing safety goggles (2). This is a demonstration that should never be done in a glass bottle (3), but roughly every two years I hear of another instance where someone has exploded a large glass carboy by igniting an alcohol–air mixture inside it.

Privacy issues cut both ways. If an individual has less privacy, that usually means that the individual has more access to many others (and those others have access to the individual). This too has implications for teachers. My university is installing wireless networks in all classrooms, lecture halls, and buildings. The university has provided “advice to the faculty” regarding wireless in the classroom, but the advice deals mainly with things like “be sure to turn your cell phone off before class begins” and cautions students that “surfing or gaming may be a distraction to classmates”. Why a student would come to class and spend the time surfing the Web or playing games when it would be easier (and more polite) to do so from a dorm room is beyond my ken, but maybe there are classes where this would be a successful study strategy.

Another piece of advice is “State that laptops and cell phones are prohibited during test times.” Wireless classrooms broaden an already staggering array of means by which students who are supposed to be doing individual work can be helped by others. A case in point is the recent scandal at the Air Force Academy where students admitted to obtaining answers to test questions and forwarding them to other students via a social networking Internet site (4). There are many handheld devices that look like calculators (and have among their many functions the ability to serve as calculators) but that also enable access to other students inside and outside a test-taking environment. A great many new opportunities are available to the few students who are inclined to cheat. Old-fashioned proctoring is not enough, and those of us who think it is will be doing most of our students a disservice, because a few students will have an unfair advantage.

When hand-held calculators first became available, there was much debate about whether students should be permitted to use them for exams. Over time, being able to use calculators and other similar devices has become part of what students need to learn in order to become practicing professionals. It would be a shame to encourage students to use modern technology but ban its use in examinations. Perhaps the advent of greater connectivity among students provides an opportunity to extend our conception of what constitutes a good examination question. It is relatively easy to transmit a multiple-choice question that depends on recall to a helper and get back a correct answer. It is much more difficult to do the same with an open-ended question that requires both conceptual understanding and ability to solve unanticipated problems. Availability of calculators allowed us to ask students to do much more realistic calculations. Why can’t availability of even more powerful tools enable examinations that probe a greater range of student abilities?

Literature Cited

1. Feder, Barnaby New York Times, January 29, 2007, p C3.
2. http://dailycackle.com/2007/01/20/science-experiment-gone-wrong/ (accessed Feb 2007).
3. Fortman, John J.; Rush, Andrea C.; Stamper, Jennifer E. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 1092.
4. Squires, Chase (Associated Press) Washington Post, February 7, 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020701920.html (accessed Feb 2007).