[Athen] Remote Exam Proctoring

[Berkowitz, Daniel J]

Are the days of finding enough exam proctors coming to a close? How
about the growing need for distance education exam security? Could this
be the answer:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/02/proctor


Proctor 2.0 [Inside Higher Ed - June 2, 2006]

It's time for final exams. You're a student in Tokyo and your professor
works in Alabama. It's after midnight and you're ready to take the test
from your bedroom. No problem. Flip open your laptop, plug in special
hardware, take a fingerprint, answer the questions and you're good to
go.

Just know this: Your professor can watch your every move ... and see the
pile of laundry building up in the corner of the room.

Distance learning programs - no matter their structure or locations -
have always wrestled with the issue of student authentication. How do
you verify that the person who signed up for a class is the one taking
the test if that student is hundreds, often thousands, of miles away?

Human oversight, in the form of proctors who administer exams from a
variety of places, has long been the solution. But for some of the
larger distance education programs - such as Troy University, with about
17,000 eCampus students in 13 time zones - finding willing proctors and
centralized testing locations has become cumbersome.

New hardware being developed in conjunction with Troy would allow
faculty members to monitor online test takers and give students the
freedom to take the exam anywhere and at any time. In principle, it is
intended to defend against cheating. But some say the technology is
going overboard.

Sallie Johnson, director of instructional design and education
technologies for Troy's eCampus, approached Cambridge, Mass.-based
Software Secure Inc. less than two years ago to develop a unit that
would eliminate the need for a human proctor. Johnson said the hardware
is the university's response to the urgings of both Congress and
regional accrediting boards to make authentication a priority.

The product, called Securexam Remote Proctor, would likely cost students
about $200. It plugs into a USB port and does not contain the student's
personal information, allowing students to share the product. The
authentication is done through the server, so once a student is in the
database, he or she can take an exam from any computer that is hardware
compatible.

A fingerprint sensor is built into the base of the remote proctor, and
professors can choose when and how often they want students to identify
themselves during the test, Johnson said. In the prototype, a small
camera with a 360-degree-view capabilities is attached to the base of
the unit. Real-time audio and video is taken from the test taker's room,
and any unusual activity - another person walking into the room, an
unfamiliar voice speaking - leads to a red flag message to the professor
that something might be awry.

Professors need not watch students taking the test live; they can view
the streaming audio or video at any time.

"We can see them and hear them, periodically do a thumb print and have
voice verification," Johnson said. "This allows faculty members to have
total control over their exams."

Douglas Winneg, president of Software Secure, said the new hardware is
the first the company has developed with the distance learning market in
mind. It has developed software tools that filter material so that
students taking tests can't access any unauthorized material.

Winneg, whose company works with a range of colleges, said
authentication is "a painful issue for institutions, both traditional
brick-and-mortar schools and distance learning programs."

Troy is beta testing the hardware with students at its home campus.
Johnson said by next spring, the product could commonly used in distance
learning classes, with the eventual expectation that it will be
mandatory for those students.

When Troy unveiled the unit last winter at the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools meeting in Atlanta, dozens of college officials
expressed an interest in participating in beta testing. (Johnson said
she has also received calls from interested parties who would like to
use the software to help disabled students).

Susan Aldridge, president of University of Maryland University College,
said she would like her college to be one of the first testing sites.
Aldridge has first-hand knowledge of the technology - she was vice
chancellor of Troy's University College, which oversees the university's
distance-learning eCampus, before coming to UMUC. (Both UMUC and Troy
have extensive distance programs all over the world, growing out of
their work with students in the military). She said she brought up the
idea of a device to plug into a computer a few years back, but that the
cost of fingerprinting hardware was too high.

Aldridge said this technology would go a long way in solving what she
calls "a logistical nightmare."

"The concept is revolutionary for the industry," Aldridge said.
"Authentication is a huge issue in this sector. Coming up with a way to
preserve academic integrity is critical. It will continue to be a
challenge for any university conducting classes at a distance."

Brian Douglas, chief technology officer for UMass Online, said the issue
of online cheating is overstated. "In my opinion, it doesn't occur in
any greater frequency than in the traditional classroom. This solution
seems like quite an intrusion into a student's life, and you are
introducing a technological challenge into an already nerve-wracking
testing situation."

Douglas said UMass Online is not considering such a device and has not
heard of other colleges proposing a similar product. He said the
university relies on the honor code and tries to structure online exams
so that it is difficult to cheat.

Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for Electronic Frontier Foundation, a
group concerned with privacy and digital freedom, said she doesn't see a
problem with the use of the technology. "It seems like it's pretty
containable. It might feel a little creepy, but at least it's
transparent. People make privacy bargains every day; you give up privacy
in exchange for convenience."

Johnson said students at Troy were hesitant about the hardware at first
but have warmed up to the idea. For those who say the Securexam Remote
Proctor sounds like something out of a George Orwell novel, Johnson has
this response: "You don't have to take an online class. You can always
come to our campus. It's your choice."


 
=========================
Daniel Berkowitz - Assistant Director
Boston University Office of Disability Services
19 Deerfield Street, 2nd floor
Boston, MA 02215
 
(617) 353-3658 (office)
(617) 353-9646 (fax)
djbrky at bu.edu (eMail)
www.bu.edu/disability