International Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 33, No. 1(A), pp. 84–90, 2017 0949-149X/91 $3.00+0.

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Printed in Great Britain # 2017 TEMPUS Publications.

Students’ Perception of the Importance of Facial

Authentication Software in Moodle Tools*
FRANCISCO D. GUILLÉN-GÁMEZ1, JAVIER BRAVO-AGAPITO1 and
IVÁN GARCÍA-MAGARIÑO2
1
Department of Computer Science, Madrid Open University (UDIMA), Collado-Villalba, Madrid 28400, Spain.
E-mail: franciscodavid.guillen@udima.es, javier.bravo@udima.es
2
Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Systems, University of Zaragoza, Teruel 44003, Spain.
E-mail: ivangmg@unizar.es

Nowadays, the use of facial authentication software in distance education could help to guarantee the proper login of
students in the Learning Management Systems. Also, facial software utilization in online activities will probably identify
students and prevent cheating. Thus, the current research analyzes the suitability of introducing a facial authentication
software application in different LMS tools. In order to reach this goal, the perceptions of 67 master students were
analyzed. Students were divided into two groups. The facial software was applied to the first group at the same time when
this group did their coursework using Tests, Glossaries, and Lessons Moodle tools. The second group did their course work
using Forums, Task mailboxes, and Databases Moodle tools without the surveillance of the facial software. Then, both
groups were surveyed by a questionnaire related to the students’ perception about using facial authentication software in
Moodle tools. The data analysis revealed that the Moodle tools in which the implantation of facial authentication software
would be important are Tests, Glossaries and Lessons.
Keywords: e-learning; Moodle; facial authentication; online learning; Moodle tools

1. Introduction session, but more important, during the entire

Nowadays a common feature of higher education
is e-Learning [1]. Moreover, new technologies of
education and communication are being used to
improve or even replace some aspects of face-to-
face learning [2]. The Learning Management Sys-
tems (LMSs) are becoming an integral part of the
open universities. Nevertheless, current LMSs only
offer a user identification mechanism, which is a
username and password at the beginning of the
virtual session. The user’s identify should play a
leading role in these LMSs, since these only
identify and verify the user at the time of session
initiation, like in the Moodle platform, but not all
the time that students are within the platform
carrying out its tasks. [3]. In fact, these systems
do not currently allow a real and ongoing assess-
ment for students, since there is a lack of methods
to prevent students from cheating while they do
their learning activities [4].
In order to provide a solution for this need of
authentication for online students, biometric can be
used as an authentication tool [5, 6], and more
specifically a facial authentication application [7,
8]. For example, one can use commercial products
like ProctorU [9], Secure Exam Remote Proctor
[10], or Kryterion Webassessor [11]. Using an
appropriate procedure, it is possible to verify the
identity of the user not only at the beginning of the
online interaction [12].
A facial recognition system includes three steps.
The first step is facial detection through a photo-
graph of the user. The second one consists of the
extraction of the features of that image. Finally, the
third one is verification and identification of the user
by analyzing each photograph, confirming or reject-
ing the user’s identify.
The purpose of this work is to find out in which
category of Moodle tools [13], the use of a face
authentication system, known as Smowl [14], would
be most useful for students at the Madrid Open
University (UDIMA).
The remainder of the article is organized as
follows: the following section introduces the back-
ground research related to the current research:
section 3 presents the procedure that has been
realized and introduces the facial software used
for the investigation; section 4 presents the analysis
of the results; section 5 discusses the main results of
the current work; and section 6 mentions the con-
clusions and depicts the future lines of research.
2. Literature survey
Over the last few years facial biometric has been
integrated in education, especially in e-Learning.
This section is divided into two subsections: first, the
discussion about the articles related to educational

84 * Accepted 14 October 2016.

90 Francisco D. Guillén-Gámez et al.

15. C. Costa, H. Alvelos and L. Teixeira, The Use of Moodle e-
learning Platform: A Study in a Portuguese University,
Procedia Technology, 5, 2012, pp. 334–343.
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plataformas de e-Learning en la docencia universitaria:
percepciones de un grupo de estudiantes sobre los usos de
la plataforma Moodle [The integration of e-learning plat-
forms in university education: perceptions of a group of
students about the usages of Moodle platform], Revista
Electrónica de Investigación y Docencia (REID), 14, 2015,
pp. 27–46.
17. R. Rubio, S. Martı́n and S. Morán, Collaborative web
learning tools: Wikis and blogs, Computer Applications in
Engineering Education, 18(3), 2010, pp. 502–511.
18. R. K. Kampa and P. Kaushik, Designing and Developing an
e-Learning Platform for Library & Information Science
Students of University of Rajasthan: A Study, 10th Interna-
tional CALIBER-2015, 2015, pp. 357–363.
19. G. Kakasevski, M. Mihajlov, S. Arsenovski and S. Chun-
gurski, Evaluating usability in learning management system
Moodle, 30th International Conference in Information Tech-
nology Interfaces, 2008, pp. 613–618.
20. J. Jose, M. J. Z. Abidin and M. Jafre, Application of
Information and Communication Technology Tools for
English Language Teaching in an Omani Context, Arab
World English Journal, 2, 2015, pp. 51–67.
21. A. Ullah, H. Xiao, T. Barker and M. Lilley, Evaluating
security and usability of profile based challenge questions
authentication in online examinations, Journal of Internet
Services and Applications, 5(1), 2014, pp. 1–16.
22. V. Bhagat and V. Katankar, Novel method for Student
Authentication in Online Examination, International Journal
of Research, 1(7), 2014, pp. 974–979.
23. A. Fayyoumi and A. Zarrad, Novel Solution Based on Face
Recognition to Address Identity Theft and Cheating in
Online Examination Systems, Advances in Internet of
Things, 4(2), 2014, pp. 5–12.
24. J. Kalikova, M. Koukol and J. Krcal, User authentication
system for testing students in computer sciences subjects,
Next-Generation Electronics (ISNE), 2015 International
Symposium, 2015, pp. 1–4.
25. M. C. Patil, M. R. Karhe and M. M. Jain, Student Atten-
dance Recording System Using Face Recognition with GSM
Based, International Journal of Research in Advent Technol-
ogy, 2(8), 2014, pp. 32–35.
26. S. M. R. Farshchi and S. Toosizadeh, A safe authentication
system for distance education, Computer Applications in
Engineering Education, 22(4), 2011, pp. 593–603.
27. M. Owayjan, A. Dergham, G. Haber, N. Faakih, A.
Hamoush and E. Abdo, Recognition Security System, New
Trends in Networking, Computing, E-learning, Systems
Sciences, and Engineering, Springer International Publish-
ing, 2015, pp. 343–348.
28. F. D. Guillén-Gámez, I. Garcı́a-Magariño, J. Bravo and I.
Plaza, Exploring the influence of facial verification software
on student academic performance in online learning envir-
onments, International Journal of Engineering Education,
31(6A), 2015, pp. 1622–1628.
29. L. Lawson-Body, L. Willoughby and A. Lawson-Body,
Impact of the use of blackboard on performance of account-
ing students, Issues in Information Systems, 16(2), 2015, pp.
209–216.
30. M. Labayen, R. Vea, J. Flórez, F. D. Guillén-Gámez and I.
Garcı́a-Magariño, Smowl: a tool for continuous student
validation based on face recognition for online learning,
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Development, Edulearn14 Proceedings, 2014, pp. 5354–5359.
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http://www.vicomtech.org/. Accessed on 11th October 2016.

Francisco D. Guillén-Gámez carried out his Ph.D. in the Madrid Open University (UDIMA), in 2016. He is currently
lecturer at this university. In journals and conferences, he has several publications in the area of biometric authentication
applied to distance education.

Javier Bravo-Agapito holds Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He collaborated with
recognized institutions including Télécom Bretagne (Brest, France) and University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA). He is Assoc.
Prof. at the UDIMA and his research interests are focused in E-learning and Data Mining areas.

Iván Garcı́a-Magariño obtained the Ph.D. in the Complutense University in Madrid, in 2009. He is currently lecturer at the
University of Zaragoza. He has over seventy-five publications in the areas of education, software engineering and artificial
intelligence.