Dartmouth College medical school accuses students of remote exam cheating

What happened

Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine launched a "dragnet" investigation into dozens of medical students for alleged cheating on remote, closed-book exams. 

The school’s IT department retroactively audited a year’s worth of log data from Canvas, the school's learning management system, to identify instances where students ostensibly accessed course materials during active exam windows.

By March 2021, the school formally charged 17 students with honour code violations. The potential harms were severe: students faced expulsion, suspension, or permanent "unprofessional conduct" marks on their transcripts - disciplinary actions that can effectively end a medical career by disqualifying students from future residencies. 

The investigation caused significant mental health strain, with students reporting isolation, weight loss, and suicidal ideation. 

Some students were ordered to repeat an entire academic year, which would have cost approximately USD 70,000 in additional tuition, plus living expenses. Others felt forced to hire specialised legal counsel to fight the school’s "black box" evidence, incurring significant out-of-pocket costs.

Why it happened

Independent technical analysis later proved that the "activity" was actually automated background syncing - essentially, devices "pinging" the server for updates without any human interaction, even if it was happening without the student knowing about it, on a device that was not in use during the exam.

The school failed to disclose that it was secretly monitoring background activity. When challenged, administrators were slow to admit that their "proprietary" detection method could not distinguish between a manual page view and an automated system refresh. 

Dartmouth eventually dropped all charges against the students, acknowledging that the technical data that formed the basis of the charges was insufficient. The Dean of the Geisel School, Duane Compton, apologised to the students and the entire student body.