June and July are two months that almost 300,000 students in Spain have marked on their calendars, as they face the University Access Test (PAU). And in some classrooms they also face it with extra surveillance measures for those who copy. We are referring to radio frequency detectors, small devices designed to hunt down hidden devices that some students could use to copy, especially if there is AI involved.
What exactly are they? They are not signal inhibitors, but detectors. In this sense, a jammer blocks communications, while these devices only locate them. Héctor Esteban, professor in the area of Signal Theory and Communications at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, counted to El Español that are electromagnetic radiation detectors costing about 10 or 12 euros that track WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G, 4G and 5G networks in a very broad spectrum.
When they detect a nearby signal, they warn with a beep or vibration. Stephen himself describes them such as devices as small “as a pen”, that the teacher can carry in his pocket in vibration mode so that the alert goes unnoticed by the rest of the classroom.
What are they aiming for? The objective is not so much conventional mobile phones as technology that is difficult to see with the naked eye. The vice-rector of Students of the Complutense University, Rosa de la Fuente, counted that “we are concerned about everything that could be used to commit fraud”, such as micro-earphones and AI glasses generative, since they are devices with which we can easily obtain responses from another person abroad or from any chatbot.
Where are they used? The measure does not currently apply throughout Spain. The six public universities of Madrid launched the detectors at the beginning of the month for their more than 42,000 students. Added to these are communities such as Galicia, Murcia, Aragon, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country, among others.
The devices are not in all classrooms at the same time. Cristina Moreno, vice-rector of the University of the Balearic Islands assured that the devices rotate through the different locations, but not necessarily during all the tests.
What happens if the alert goes off. If the detector vibrates, the exam is “flagged” and the student continues taking the exam as normal. Afterwards, it is the court of headquarters that analyzes the case and decides. However, the sanctions are not identical throughout Spain, because each community sets its own framework. In Madrid, according to counted de la Fuente, three levels are distinguished: a minor fault leaves the exam marked but preserves the grade; a serious one, such as having your cell phone on, can cancel that exam; and a very serious one, such as the active use of a earpiece, can invalidate the entire Selectivity.
In other locations the criteria is more severe, as is the case of the Polytechnic of Valencia, where in some cases it is enough for them to find a mobile phone on them, even if it is turned off, to fail the subject.
It is not a perfect method. Jesús Alcalde, cybersecurity specialist, counted to The Objective that the scope is limited, because the devices only alert active signals, can give false positives in full classrooms and do not always allow them to prove themselves that there has been copying. Its greatest value, in reality, is as a deterrent. Héctor Esteban illustrated it counting that, in one of the first tests, it was enough to announce that the detector was going to be passed for fifteen students to get up to hand over the cell phone that they should not have brought.
Why is it coming just now? The trigger is the emergence of generative AI, which has turned the old problem of copying into something much more complex to deal with. However, the universities themselves recognize that this is a pilot project that they will have to review each course, because at the end of the day the technology for cheating advances as quickly as the tools to detect it.
And now what. Radiofrequency covers only part of the problem, and many in the academic field believe that the underlying solution is not in the devices, but in changing the way of evaluating. Stephen himself point towards oral exams, common in countries like Italy, or the in-person defense of papers.
Cover image | Ben Mullins and Alberto Ortega (Europa Press)
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