Analyzing of the opinions of instructors and university students in regards to authentication schemes that can be applied in online exams

In the world that is going digital, there are also great transformations in education processes. There are great innovations not only in learning processes but also in measurement and evaluation processes, especially in online environments. Authentication schemes based on various authentication factors are used to access these online exams. The aim of this study is to examine the opinions of lecturers and university students about authentication schemes that can be applied in online exams. The research was carried out in the 2022-2023 academic year. The study was carried out with lecturers working in 9 different departments at 9 different universities. However, the study consists of the participation of students studying in 8 different departments of 7 different universities. In this direction, data were collected by using a semi-structured interview technique with 10 instructors and 8 students. Before the study, a video animation on the subject was watched by the participants. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. The preference status of authentication schemes, which are evaluated according to information security elements, has been examined. As a result of the research, the commonly used authentication scheme for usability was determined as a password, according to the answers given by the instructors. Instructors preferred passwords, one-time passwords and physical devices for privacy, face scanning and fingerprint schemes for security, respectively. As a result of the research, the commonly used authentication scheme for usability was determined as a password, according to the answers given by university students. Preferences were a password, one-time password, and physical device for privacy, respectively. There has been face scanning and fingerprint for security. When the answers are evaluated in terms of information security elements (usability, privacy, security), the results are that commonly used authentication schemes such as passwords and one-time passwords are not sufficient to combat identity theft or provide security. It has been concluded that such authentication schemes can be easily forgotten, lost, guessed, stolen and shared. Although authentication schemes based on biometric factors have high security in terms of security, they have some concerns for users due to their widespread use. With the widespread use of such systems, reliability can be gained so that users can adopt biometric factor-based authentication schemes, and attempts can be made by integrating them into the systems. As a result, the reliability of the measurement and evaluation results can be increased by the fact that the online exams are carried out by the student who will take the exam.