By: Nestor B. Querido, Supervisor, CUOL
It’s no secret that the demand for online courses is on the rise, affecting the overall educational landscape. At the same time, it is also affecting the technology in the academic world. The large number of online courses is creating a learning experience that is open, accessible and participative. It’s helping fortify online students’ learning experiences.
When it comes to online assessments and exams, the technologies for invigilating distance students are relatively recent. One option that began in 2008 is called Live Online Proctoring (LOP).
While CUOL courses transpire in live classrooms, the online sections are in virtual space. Hence, every semester we find CUOL distance students having difficulty scheduling their exams because of remote locations or the absence of legitimate proctors. While we cannot gauge the exact number requiring online proctoring, every year at least 1,000 CUOL distance students may require this arrangement.
In fall 2013, CUOL cautiously piloted LOP and introduced the service to a few distance students, who have since completed 14 online exams under the proctors’ watchful eye. In short, the process was simple and the results were favourable; the exams were conducted online via cuLearn (Carleton’s LMS) and held at a specific time (concurrent with the local exam schedules), with proctors monitoring students live via webcam. Generally speaking, there was one proctor for every four students; each proctor simultaneously monitors an array of computer screens equipped with multimedia (i.e., sound, camera, etc.). Overall, the online proctoring service is similar to traditional proctoring service, except that live proctors are monitoring the test-takers from a distance.
Findings
How does one effectively safeguard the integrity of an online examination? The validity and the quality of online proctoring is every instructor’s concern. We’ve investigated different venues and validated LOP because of its equally effective method of proctoring students; it complies with our requirements and conforms to the university’s examination policies.
This model helps students by deterring cheating as they are monitored and recorded throughout the entire examination period. While it is difficult to know how many actually get away with cheating using this model, the question really is how many are caught. According to the National College Testing Association (NCTA), cheating is widespread and academic institutions must find ways to overcome these challenges. The keynote speaker in this conference confirmed that 68 per cent of students admitted to cheating (Detection and Prevention of Test Fraud: The State of the Art, NCTA Conference, Aug 3, 2012). It is our hope that LOP discourages cheaters.
Benefits of LOP
- Replicates conventional invigilation: Students are acquainted with traditional proctoring. This model is meant to do for online learners what proctors do in traditional exam rooms.
- Records the entirety of the invigilation: Proctoring is recorded instead of merely glancing at the student in the exam room, and the professor can review any incidents on video (by request).
- Flexibility: Proctoring is open 24/7; it accommodates time differences and challenging schedules, thus helping to complete exams on time.
- Last-minute proctoring arrangements: Although this is not encouraged, the company that we dealt with had accommodated one of our students 24 hours after our initial request for proctoring. That is faster than sending the exam via the courier service. The whole process from start to finish was completed within 48 hours.
- Reasonable service charges: A typical proctor fee is $25 for a two-hour exam and $15 for each additional hour.
- Immediate return of exams and grading: Prof. Ron Saunders (LAWS 2301 and 2302) commented favourably on the fast turnaround time for completing exams.
“Ron Saunders has also ventured into online proctoring—a tool that has allowed him to get exams back from distance students instantaneously instead of having to wait for them to be mailed in from around the world. “It makes a huge difference,” he adds. Immediate exams mean much faster results for students, no matter where they took the test—which is especially advantageous for the popular Criminal Justice Systems.” CUOL newsletter: December 2013 issue.
- Students are receptive to LOP: Below are quotes from two distance students who were proctored online. “Going into the exam with the online proctor, I won’t lie—I was very nervous,” says Alyssa Malette, a distance student studying in Berlin, Germany. “But the overall process was amazing. It was like the online proctor wasn’t even there, and was totally relaxed and comfortable. My proctor was super friendly, so that made the process a lot smoother.” “The online proctor process was neat,” says Jackie Kingsbury, who was a bit concerned prior to the exam because of her unfamiliarity with webcams. “[The proctor] Kim ‘took over’ my computer while I sat in my kitchen and I was able to see her moving the mouse and checking to make sure that I had all the technological requirements for the exam. I was able to see Kim and chat with her via webcam—I’m old and have never done this before—which was nice because I was able to put a face to the person who was supervising my exam.” CUOL Newsletter: December 2013 issue
- Better proctor-student ratio: The 1:4 ratio is far better than 1:50 (conventional proctoring). With 1:4, proctors can closely monitor and correct suspicious behaviours as they happen.
- Rigorous authentication process: Remote proctoring authenticates online students to make sure that enrolled students—not fraudulent individuals—are the ones sitting for exams. I’ve seen how proctors screen test-takers during the authentication process. They ask students to bring their IDs close to the camera and record them. This is more advantageous than the conventional approach because the video recording provides additional verification (their faces and IDs are recorded).
- Proctors deal with the technical aspects of online exams.
- Any questions/corrections are dealt with immediately. For instance, live proctors (although virtually at a distance) observe and can speak to students if need be.
- This method is also suitable for online learners because they are already familiar with the online environment.
Problems We Encountered
- If two or more internet users in a household use wireless, it is recommended for the test-taker to use a hard-wired internet connection. Two students had intermittent internet connections during their exams possibly due to their network (wireless or Wi-Fi). Here are a couple of transcripts from the proctoring company.
Issue: Customer lost connection to the exam was offline for approx. 5 minutes, I tried calling the contact number for the student but it was the number to customer care for the school. The student called me after I was off the phone with customer service for Carleton and informed me that she lost her internet connection and had to reboot her system. If rebooting the customer connected with me again and we were able to resume the exam.
As I mentioned in my first blog post, the question arose of how the proctor addresses a power outage. Similarly, how does the proctor address an internet interruption? What is the proper protocol for handling this situation? Here is one such example.
Issue: Got disconnected from Bomgar once during set up and Bomgar and MegeMeeting once during the exam. Was able to reconnect automatically in about a minute both times. Switched Bomgar and MegaMeeting to low bandwidth and continued with the set up/exam. Bandwidth was about 10 Mbps download when I ran the speed test, he was on wireless.
- Using LOP means an increased workload i.e., digitizing the exams in cuLearn (Carleton’s LMS), setup time with the proctoring company, including registering students for the first time. We’ve taken on these extra tasks to get to know the processes, what’s involved, etc. Also, contracts, payments, forms, and other hidden tasks (calls from international students off-hours, technical aspects of cuLearn, etc.) have taken considerable time and effort in addition to dealing with the current workload.
- Instructions have to be clear and precise. As this process is unfamiliar to a first-time user, we’ve spent considerable time with distance students and instructors, making sure that all parties involved understand the process.
- Currently CUOL’s LOP is not scalable. It can only proctor live up to 40-50 students at the same time. For a large group of more than one hundred, the proctoring will have to be done over a period of two days.
- One should be wary of selecting the right online proctoring institution. LOP is only as good as the quality of the proctors that drive it.
The Bottom Line
While academics continue to work hard transitioning to a digital world, more and more students are turning to online education, and they are continually seeking learning experiences that are accessible and participative. With this, the need for online proctoring will continue to intensify.
The key component for credible testing is the security – ensuring academic integrity and helping curb cheating. This was foremost in our minds when we launched LOP. Online proctoring is only as good as the quality of the proctors – effective live proctoring is still reliant on the individual proctors. With this in mind, we sought the right company with well-trained proctors, preserving the integrity of our online exams.
Based on our pilot project, LOP did deliver and preserve the integrity of our examinations. Of course, the issue of cheating will not be eradicated completely, however, it offered a viable solution for protecting this critical element of online proctoring. Therefore, I would say this service is a viable solution for proctoring our distance students, and is an essential component of online learning.