Due to the current global health crisis, businesses and colleges have been forced to use online assessments and remote proctoring. Talview’s remote proctoring products have seen a significant increase in demand. This blog will help you understand everything.
E-learning is the future of education. The global e-learning market is expected to reach $325 billion USD by 2025. The e-learning industry’s rapid growth has created a demand for a variety of supporting technologies.
The virtual proctoring space is one that is gaining traction. Online video proctoring would not have become mainstream if it weren’t for e-learning, but given the stakes for online course programmes, the demand for such a service has grown at a rapid pace.
“Proctoring or Proctored Test is defined as a mechanism to ensure the authenticity of the test taker and prevent him/her from cheating via a proctor is present during the duration of the test,” according to those new to the field. A proctor is a person who has been trained and qualified to conduct student authentication and prevent cheating.
What exactly is Remote Proctoring?
Remote proctoring allows students to write a test online from a remote location while maintaining the test’s integrity. Students must confirm their identity and may be watched on video. This video is then used to identify any unusual student behavior.
Online proctoring has been available in various forms for the past 20 years. The most common type of online test is an objective test, which is used to assess a candidate’s subject knowledge or to determine his or her learning ability or behavioral profile.
What are the drawbacks of offline proctored exams or online exams without proctoring?
1. Providing a proctored exam center near the test taker’s location is a significant challenge for most organizations that administer any type of test.
2. Qualified Proctors are difficult to find, and quality proctoring is difficult to ensure. And there are no records to cross-check whether the proctor did his or her job correctly.
3. A scarcity of test centers or proctors leads to longer test schedules.
4. Impersonation and cheating are frequently reported in online tests without proctoring. Students either have someone else take the test on their behalf or use cheating methods such as referring to a textbook, using smartphones or other devices to search for answers online, or seeking assistance from a friend.
What exactly is online exam proctoring?
A candidate is monitored online during the duration of the test using a webcam, microphone, and access to the candidate’s screen in Online Exam Proctoring or Online Video Test Proctoring.
Candidates must have the following items in order to take an online proctored test from a remote location:
1. An appropriate device (desktop PC/laptop/tablet/mobile).
2. An Internet connection with a minimum speed of 256kbps
3. A working webcam and microphone
4. Any modern browser on a PC or laptop
Proctoring can be classified into three types:
1. Online Live Proctoring
A qualified proctor monitors the candidates, audio-video, and screen share feeds in real time during a live proctored test. The proctoring service provider will typically have people sitting in a remote location who have been trained to ensure student authentication and to prevent/red flag any form of cheating.
Depending on the provider, a proctor can monitor up to 16/32 candidates at once. The advantage of this model is that it eliminates the proctoring location constraint.
The disadvantages are that exams must still be scheduled, and because there is equal human involvement as with offline proctoring, it is not very scalable and is the most expensive of all types.
The test taker and proctor may be separated by thousands of miles. Mercer Mettl is a market leader in this model.
2. Proctoring that is recorded
There is no proctor monitoring the feed in real time with this method. Instead, during the test, the audio-video and screen share feeds of the test candidates are recorded.
A representative fast-forwards these recordings (3X to 20X speed) and red-flags any suspicious activity with annotations.
The benefits include the elimination of both time and location constraints. However, it still requires humans to perform the review, making it inefficient and costly.
Secure Software or Remote Proctoring This model is now being followed.
3. Automated Advanced Proctoring
The most advanced form of proctoring is automated proctoring. During the test, the audio-video and screen share feeds of the test candidates are once again recorded.
It ensures that the candidate focuses on the test screen during the test, that there is enough light in the room, and that the test is red flagged for suspicious objects in video and background voice activity. Face recognition is also used for student authentication.
The benefits include the elimination of both time and location constraints. It also does not require humans to perform the review, making it more scalable and cost effective.
What are the factors driving the growth of online proctoring?
Learning Light conducted a thorough investigation into what is driving the growth of remote proctoring. The following are important aspects:
1. Increased demand as a result of the growth of e-learning
2. Elimination of the high costs associated with proctored assessment centers
3. Save students’ time and money
4. There is insufficient infrastructure or computer labs to administer exam-like environments.
5. A greater emphasis on work-based apprenticeships, as well as the alignment of learning and assessment to actual organizational needs
Given the current global scenario, in which more and more institutes are opting to digitize various processes, online proctoring is becoming more popular around the world.
The Effects of Online Proctoring on Your Business
1. Digital tools that support remote proctoring provide a reasonable level of security for exams taken remotely for all test administrators.
2. It also validates online education for online universities and MOOCs. For recruiters, it significantly reduces the logistics requirements of entry-level hiring, as well as the time to hire and cost of hire.
3. These systems allow test takers to complete online assessments at their leisure at a variety of times and locations.
4. Remotely proctored exams can be delivered in an unscheduled and immediate manner, using Internet-based testing. All of the candidate’s data, including video and audio logs, screenshots, and so on, is saved for future use.
In its candidate mobile app, Mercer | Mettl was the first to support video proctoring. Because of the nature of mobile devices’ front cameras, it is as fool-proof as web-based tests with minimal checks and processes in place.