Overview
CHEATTRACK is a free, open source web-based system. It was developed at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to be used by a department of a university or similar institution as a centralized web system for the members of the department to track the cheating cases of students. Although it was developed for use in HKUST, with some minor changes (mainly concerning the user authentication) it should work in any institution.
After it is set up, users log in to the system using their institution login details. Depending on the power level given to the user, they can then add cheating case records with supporting files, supply additional notes to an existing case, and change the status of the handling procedure of the case. A summary table showing all the cases is shown, and, if desired, the user can download an Excel format file containing the data for further processing.
Every user has an assigned power level. In a typical installation, the majority of users, such as faculty, have power level 3 (can add a new cheating case and add further notes to any currently existing case), and one to two person is/are administrator(s) (have the power to do anything, including adding/deleting user accounts).
Some users, such as administration support staff, would only be observers of the system and would not enter data. Such users would be assigned power level 1 (can view all case details).
On or more users will be assigned two special responsibilities, as follows.
- responsibility for reporting the case to the official records department (at HKUST this department is called ARRO).
- responsibility for reporting the case to the department handling end-of-semester feedback for the course, so that the cheating students will be excluded (at HKUST this department is called CELT).
The different power levels are summarised below, with example screen dumps illustrating what a user with that power level can do.
Level 0: No Access
- Cannot access any pages of the system.
- For example, setting a user to this power level can be used to 'remove' a user from the system without actually deleting his/her record.
Level 1: View Only
- View the cheating records summary.
- View individual cheating records.
- Request an XML spreadsheet of the summary table for MS Excel copy.
An example of viewing cheating records summary (click for bigger image)
Level 2: Add additional notes to existing cases
- A user with this power level can perform all actions that are described above for power level 1, plus the following:
- Add an additional note to an existing cheating case.
An example of adding additional note to an existing cheating case (click for bigger image)
Level 3: Add new cheating cases
- A user with this power level can perform all actions that are described above for power levels 1-2, plus the following:
- Add a new cheating case records to the system.
An example of adding a new cheating case record to the system (click for bigger image)
Level 4: Administration
- A user with this power level can perform all actions that are described above for power levels 1-3, plus the following:
- Change the power level of any user in the system.
- Add or delete any user from the system.
- Assign responsibilities to any user.
An example of editing the user account information (click for bigger image)
Feature List
The following is a feature list of the CHEATTRACK latest version (v0.2)
| Since | Feature |
|---|---|
| version 0.2 | Various user interface improvements |
| version 0.2 | A warning notice is now shown near the input field when the system detects student details for a new case are already in the system records concerning a previous case |
| version 0.2 | Additional notes are now shown as chronological items of case activity |
| version 0.2 | Add case activity records, which are shown in chronological order |
| version 0.1 | Save the cheating records summary table as XML spreadsheet for MS Excel |
| version 0.1 | Generate cheating records summary |
| version 0.1 | Update the processing status of the cheating cases |
| version 0.1 | Supporting file upload for supporting evidence files for cheating cases and additional notes |
| version 0.1 | Add additional note to cases |
| version 0.1 | Add cheating case records |
| version 0.1 | Support for CAS authentication system |
| version 0.1 | User access control |