Applied Computer Science, vol. 15, no.3, pp.

56–64 Submitted: 2019-07-12

doi:10.23743/acs-2019-21 Revised: 2019-08-03
Accepted: 2019-09-12

distance education, online examination,

authentication, assessment, Biometric system

Hamid JAN[0000-0003-2065-8515]*, Beena HAMID**

THE APPLICATION OF FINGERPRINTS

AUTHENTICATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
Abstract
Currently the distance education has obtained a wider ever acceptance. One
of the main tasks of distance education is the process of checking student’s
knowledge by online examination. To conduct a fair examination and prevent
unauthorized users to appear in the examination, different biometric technolo-
gies are used; we in this paper implement a fingerprint biometric system for
distance education students and found by survey that the students are com-
fortable with fingerprint biometric system.

1. INTRODUCTION

The invention of computer technology has changed our lives and found new
directions. The ways of communication and getting information through Web is
another change for people. Distance education through web technology or online
education is the new way of getting education emerged from World Wide Web
(Alavi & Leidner, 2016; Takahashi, Abiko & Negishi, 2006). These technologies are
very attracting and interesting but also face various threats, especially when tests are
conducted online. (King, Guyette & Piotrowski, 2009) studied and come to the
conclusion that 73.6% of the students think that cheating is easy in the online exam
as compared to conventional exam. These were the students selected for the sample.

*
Sarhad university of Science & Information Technology, Landi Akhund Ahmad, Ring
Road, Peshawar 25000,Pakistan, [email protected]
**
Jalya Khan Institute of Modern Sciences, Ghani Khan Road, Shaheedan Salarabad,
Charsadda 25000, Pakistan, [email protected]

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 Distance learning is a modern form of education and is the interaction of the
teacher and students with each other at a distance or on internet (King, Guyette
& Piotrowski, 2009). It provides the learning process different from the conventional
form of education. The problems of distance learning can be divided into two
groups: pedagogical problems and technical problems. In this paper, we considered
only technical problems, in particular, the problem of identifying the true user
during Examination.
The place of the student and the teacher is different in online examination,
because communication is done through the Internet. As the distances increases
between teacher and student, the chances of committing negligence increases, and
revealing the wrong actions of the students is quite difficult. To avoid such unfair
means, the actions of the students must be continuously supervised during the
examination. In supervising the first move may be the use of an authentication
method, that is, the identification of the student, which is the right person who is eligible
for the exam occasionally a student who has been registered in the exam is different
from the student who wrote the exam. Therefore, authentication plays a role in
determining the correct user.
A new method to authenticate people based on their biometrics has become
known for many years (Green & Romney, 2005; Frischholz & Dieckmann, 2005).
William (2002), for example, explains that biometric data are unique physical
characteristics of a person, such as fingerprints, iris, face, fingerprints, etc. Biometric
fingerprint systems are very common and are known for their accuracy, ease and
proven record (Aggarwaltt, Rathat, Jeat & Bollet, 2008; Ali, Ali, Shahzad & Malik,
2006; Ratha, Connell & Bolle, 2001).
However, like any other biometric system, fingerprints also represent several
threats and risks to the authentication process (Maltoni, Maio, Jain & Prabhakar,
2003). Education should not be thought as distance or conventional, unless it is
associated with assessments and exams. Student assessment is an important part of
the education and training system. First, it is important to know that how much
knowledge is required for a student and secondly the students themselves need to
know about their knowledge. The most tried assessment procedure due to its clarity
is the use of MCQs type exam.
The interactions of students with online materials and the collection of all infor-
mation for examination from such material are very helpful. It is also handy to
support the examiner in his work.

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2. RELATED WORK

Althaff et al. (2009) offers a unimodal approach that ensures the security of online
exams by using facial recognition techniques. They use the methods of discrete
casino transformation (DCT) and Karhunen-Loeve transformation (KLT) to capture
the facial image functions, and then compare these results with facial recognition.
This method can be further extended by comparing faces with a protected image.
Agulla et al. (2008) provides uniform protection technologies using biometric
authenticity of the Internet. This method uses biochecker software, which is handy
for verification of images on user side. Visualize user images and handy for user
behavior monitoring. The drawback of this method is that you need powerful servers
to run this software.
Hsieh & Leu (2011) provides unimodal technique for implementing a unique
authentication method based on passwords. This method supply independent
passwords based on location and time of a mobile user. By using this password only,
the application on mobile device can be accessed, such as Internet banking. This
helps in reduction the risk of intrusion. This method can be used during the student
authentication process.
Taiwo Ayodele et al. (2011) offered an automatic learning method that prevents
theft, impersonation of exams online. This method shows the student's behavior
during the exam, thus avoiding negligence.
Apampa et al. (2010) Proposes a multiple-step approach to the model, presenting
authentication methods to initiate a student session and follow-up student
monitoring while the examination is in progress. To authenticate, the student has
three options, i.e by face recognition, by passwords or by tokens. After authentica-
tion the student is continuously check through the webcam. If some unfair means or
risks are identified, the student will be asked to authenticate again.
Nasser Modiri et al. (2011) offered a multimode technique, in which the system
is designed to conduct distance examinations in secure domain. To do this, the student
provides user-id and passwords at the time of registration and then the student su-
pervision is done through the webcam. It assists to monitor students' behavior
during the examination.

3. METHODOLOGY OF FINGERPRINT AUTHENTICATION

The working diagram of scanner that was used in fingerprint Authentication

(Maltoni, Maio, Jain & Prabhakar, 2003) is shown in figure 1.

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Fig. 1. Fingerprint authentication system

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 The fingerprint consists of the following two types of features:
1. The Global Features: They are core and delta. The core is the inner most point
and delta is the location where three ridges meet.
2. The Local Features: The lines on fingerprint are called Ridges and the spaces
between them are called valleys. These ridges form different patterns and are
called minutiae points. The most common minutiae points are ridge bifurcation
and ridge ending.

With the help of local and global features of fingerprint, we can differentiate
users. The global and local features of finger prints are shown in figure 2.

Fig. 2. Local and Global features of fingerprints

Students will be able to appear in exam online. Each student will be given access
to a computer in the classroom, connected to the server. The internet connection will
not be available during exam. The student will authenticated first through biometric
system by matching his fingerprints. Once the student is recognized by the system,
the system allows him to complete the exam. The test of the student is send for
checking to the teacher electronically and the system also send the copy of test to the
printer for student.
Once the student is recognized by the system, his identity will be known and now
the student can be punished, if found using unfair means in the examination. There
are many advantages and disadvantages of conducting exam online. The ability to
track the actions of a student identified by system, allows us to constantly evaluate
him and giving student the best experience. Any online activity can be vulnerable,
so a reliable security policy will be required. Fingerprint Biometrics appears again
as a way of reducing the likelihood of threats.

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4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
During the examination, 100 students were verified on fingerprint biometric system.
The detail of these student were presented in figures 3,4 and 5. Most of them are in
the range from 17 to 30 years old, Students of Computer Science at Comwave College
Islamabad, a Distance Learning Centre of SUIT. Students in Computer science
Department mostly come after completing twelve years of schooling. Almost all
(91.3%) are men. All of them were enrolled in the different subjects.
The purpose of the experiment was to analyze the attitude of students towards
a new tool for controlling access to e-learning. 80% of students think that fingerprint
registration is a very easy or easy way to use online courses. Those who welcome
the use of fingerprint biometric system said they look more secure, it’s simple and
faster than other access tools. Those who oppose fingerprint biometric system
consider that the password is sufficient. The data in Table 1 clearly supports the
choice of a fingerprint biometric technology.

Tab. 1. The choice of best Biometric System

Biometric Choice Frequency %age Cum.%

Fingerprint 80 80.0 80.0
Face 5 5.0 85.0
Iris 13 13.0 97.0
Voice 2 2.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0

Fig. 3. The Age of Students

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 To find about the ease of use of a new fingerprint interface, students find it very
easy or easy to use (80.0%) (see Table 2).
Tab. 2. The opinion poll of students

Opinion Frequency %age Cum.%

Very Easy 45 45.0 45.0
Easy 35 35.0 80.0
Difficult 17 17.0 97.0
Useless 3 3.0 100.0
Total 100 100

Fig. 4. The Level of Education

Fig. 5. Total enrollment of Students in Each Subject

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 Students were analyzed for their level of knowledge about biometric system and to
what extent they have used it. Many students were new to these methods and hardly
have used biometric systems (see Table 3).
The main challenge of survey was whether the students think the fingerprint
biometric system verification appropriate for accessing online courses. The students
were divided into two groups. The group one contains those who accept the
fingerprint verification and the group two includes those who did not accept it. Two-
dimensional analysis of tree segmentation to assess which category is supported by
many students is applied.

Tab. 3. Knowledge of Students about Biometric System

Knowledge Frequency %age Cum.%

Expert Level 1 1.0 1.0
Intermediate Level 11 11.0 11.0
Elementary Level 15 15.0 26.0
no Knowledge 74 74.00 100.00
(Total) 100 100.00

Two questions were asked from the students. Question no. 1 was: “What do you
think about the verification via fingerprint to access online courses?”. 77% students
think that verification via fingerprint is very easy while 23% students think that
verification by such method is very difficult. Question no. 2 was: “Which one of the
biometric technologies would you select?”. The total students in favor of biometric
technology were seventy seven (77). Seventy (70) students selected Fingerprint Bio-
metric technology while the other seven (7) students selected the other technology.

5. CONCLUSION

A fingerprint matching technique based on local features of fingerprints was

used for verification and registration. The technique performed well when tested for
online examination. The students were keen to use the biometric system for online
learning. The students think that it is a faster and easy way to verify and register for
online courses. Most of the students have never used the biometric system and have
very little knowledge about biometric systems. Eventually the fingerprint biometric
system was implemented in the distance education online examination and introduce
a new way of conducting examination in distance.

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