Dive Brief:
- The anonymous social media app Yik Yak seems to be students’ latest tool for cheating on exams.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that students are leaving exam rooms and posting test tips on Yik Yak for their peers.
- While Yik Yak is not the first cheating strategy students have come up with, some say it will bring the practice to a much broader scale than is normally possible when students, for example, get their hands on an old test, according to the Chronicle.
Dive Insight:
Yik Yak first made waves on campus when it was used for cyberbullying. Yik Yak, which lets users post anonymous comments that others within a 10-mile radius can see, launched in 2013 and has seen rapid adoption. Several K-12 school districts have banned the app or cell phones more generally because of cyberbullying facilitated by Yik Yak. College campuses haven’t had as much success with such restrictions, but a college in Vermont blocked it from school computers last year.