In an environment as highly globalized as today's world is, we seek to make appropriate use of
technological resources that are available to humanity intending to significantly optimize the processes
carried out by it and thus obtain a better quality of life. The educational field is not the exception
because with the passage of time different tools have been implemented in order to facilitate the
process of transmission of information and the interaction "Teacher-Student", taking that goal as a
starting point (and thanks to the tremendous technological advances) it has been possible to design a
significant amount of resources that considerably facilitate the teaching process, although many of
these resources had the focus of significantly improving the existing environment in the "classroom",
many others focused on seeking the comfort of those people who could not take their studies "full time",
because of external situations which limited their ability to attend classes on a fixed schedule -
either because of the fact they had jobs whose schedules prevented them from taking classes in "office
hours", or because their homes were located at a considerable distance from an institute that gave
classes on a standard schedule and even because they had different occupations which in some way or
another prevented them from being able to comply with a fixed class schedule - that is when what we know
today as distance education was born.
Although initially, distance education methods tended to be somewhat "rudimentary" (since these basically
consisted of sharing resources with the student and indicating a study plan to be followed in order for
the
student to prepare to present a test at the established date and time) they were developed
satisfactorily
for many years, however, from the middle of the 2000's it became necessary to completely restructure the
methodology used to carry out the process of "distance instruction" and thus virtual classes were born.
The virtual classes basically seek to take advantage of the globalization process and the full
availability
of internet services to achieve in this way, establish a web page that basically works as a classroom,
allowing those students enrolled in a specific class to be able to maintain a dynamic communication
process
with their teacher so that they can share ideas, approaches, resources and even opinions with their
students
in real time, comfortably and straightforwardly without the need for them to move from one place to
another
and providing the "flexible" schedule they may need.
One of the significant problems associated with virtual education was the development of a safe and
efficient
method that would allow the development of tests and exams in a "safe" way, because unlike conventional
distance education, it did not have an adequate method for the supervision of the student while he
developed
a test, since the curricula of conventional distance education were designed in such a way that the
student
should present his evidence by attending a specific place in which he would have a time limit for the
development of the evaluation, such a process was supervised by a teacher or any other agent of the
institution in order to verify that the student was not using support material or receiving any external
assistance while presenting the evidence; in virtual education systems the thing was completely
different,
because although it was possible to establish the different parameters that the student had to comply
with
(delivery time, deadline, desired format), it was not possible to verify that it was, in fact, the
student
who was developing the test or if he is using some support material, it was as a result of this that we
began to look for an adequate solution which would not only allow us to monitor the student visually but
also restrict the use that the student gave to his computer while carrying out the tests, all this in
order
to avoid that the student had access to different resources that could be used as support material; From
this need for supervision comes what is known today as online proctoring.
What is online proctoring?
As its name implies, online proctoring is a supervision service provided by different platforms to all
those
institutes that have virtual class programs. The service aims to assign a supervisor capable of
analyzing
the environment and behavior of a student (both in real time and through the analysis of videos and
audios)
while it is being evaluated, carrying out the supervision process, this basically will use different
methods
and resources that allow you to study in detail the behavior and environment of the student in question.
Once the test is finished and the resource used to carry out the supervision process has been analyzed,
the
supervisor will proceed to dictate its consideration, which, if positive, will allow the student to be
evaluated in order to determine his/her grade based on the quality and veracity of his/her answers; if
the
supervisor considers that the student used some support resource during the development of his/her test,
the
student will be sanctioned correspondingly with the statutes of each organization.
At first the method was considered as "extremely invasive", however, with the passage of time, the same
evolved to such an extent that it presents different advantages that surpass even the traditional
methods of
supervision, which is why it represents one of the leading and most efficient alternatives available to
avoid cheating by those students who study on different virtual platforms.
"Recording on webcam and using full screen lock are minimizing security concerns while applying exams to
thousands of people at the same time."
- Kubilay, CEO
Existing methods for carrying out the online proctoring process
As previously indicated, the online proctoring service has evolved considerably from its origins and the
companies in charge of providing such a service have developed different methods that allow them to
study
the student in greater or less detail (everything will depend on the method) and even limit the
interaction
that the student has with his computer while the test is under development, to give a better idea of
what is
being described, then proceed to explain the methods commonly used to carry out the online proctoring
process.
Real-time Proctoring
This methodology basically consists of monitoring the student through his webcam or the camera of
his
cell phone while the same develop the test in question, this method seeks to study in real time, the
actions and the environment of the student while he is performing the test, with the intention of
making
sure that such student is not using any resource support; this methodology is usually used more
frequently when the student must undergo verbal evaluations (in which the supervisor will not only
supervise but also carry out the evaluation process) or written evaluations on paper (an event that
is
no longer very common) in which the student's gestures and facial expressions are supervised, as
well as
the environment in which the student develops the test to ensure that he or she is not using it, nor
has
access to support resources at the time of presenting.
Proctoring through the analysis of audio
& video recordings
This method consists of using a specific type of software which is capable of "facilitating" the
supervision process. It is essential to point out that there is different software for its
application
in the supervision area, and each one of them has different characteristics that help the supervisor
to
achieve his objectives.
Proctoring through the use of specialized
software
This method consists of using a specific type of software which is capable of "facilitating" the
supervision process. It is essential to point out that there is different software for its
application
in the supervision area, and each one of them has different characteristics that help the supervisor
to
achieve his objectives.
Software designed with the sole intention of facilitating the monitoring process
They are that software that have as the only objective "to facilitate a little" the work
of the supervisor, these usually must be installed in the computer of the student, and
basically they are supported in processes of proctoring in real time or proctoring based on audio
and
video recordings, however, such software packages are also able to limit the use of specific
applications that could be potential resources of support for a student while the test is in
development. However, such software does not present the alternative of evaluating the student
through
its platform, which implies that these are designed solely and exclusively to carry out a monitoring
process. Hence its use is limited to those institutions capable of evaluating through their
platform.
Software designed to evaluate and carry out the supervision process
They are that software used by most institutions today, these not only have the ability
to carry out the monitoring process both in real time and through recordings, but also allow the
teacher of the subject to design an exam through its platform, so the student will not require the
use of external applications during the evaluation process, so the program will proceed to limit the
use of most applications in order to prevent the student from resorting to any of them as a support
resource; Thanks to the options offered by this type of software, supervisors are able to analyze in
detail the behavior of the student while they present the test and in some cases assign the grade
immediately upon having a verdict regarding whether the student used a support resource or not.
Although test results are published immediately upon obtaining a verdict, the evaluation process can
take anywhere from 1 to 5 days.
As mentioned above, there is a large amount of software that provides the service of proctoring,
however, most of them operate based on the methodologies outlined above and are selected by each
institution based on their preferences and needs, it should be noted that in most cases the
different functionalities offered by a software significantly influence the selection process
carried out by the institutions.
How can online proctoring make the evaluation process more secure?
The origin of online proctoring is based on the need to verify that those students who were studying
through
the virtual platforms of the different existing institutes were not using any support resources during
the
development of their tests, because if you want to obtain a degree with a certain level of academic or
professional relevance, it is necessary to use a system capable of ensuring that the student has the
necessary skills to achieve, at some point, exercise the title obtained, as a result of the above it was
necessary to develop an alternative approach to verify in a very timely manner the results of the tests
performed.
Based on the above and over the years, the different online proctoring methods currently existing were
developed; This is basically due to the fact that online proctoring has managed to overcome several of
the
disadvantages associated with conventional proctoring provided by teachers in classrooms, mainly due to
the
fact that it is oriented to be a service of "specialized attention" in which the supervisor concentrates
on
studying only one individual in order to determine through the study of his environment and facial
expressions if he is using a support resource.
As previously established, the efficiency of online proctoring lies in the fact that only one individual
is
continuously monitored by a supervisor, which allows him to concentrate entirely on studying his
gestures
and expressions. Likewise, the different technologies used in the area allow even more punctual control
of
the actions taken by the student while he is developing his test, In order to reduce the level of fraud,
some experts emphasized how an unsupervised online exam basically allowed students to resort to the
different resources available and how such an event was solved in the conventional classrooms through
the
supervision of teachers, Fask, Englander, and Wang founded evidence that students taking an online
unproctored test cheated more so those taking the same test in a proctored face-to-face format, taking
such
a statement as a starting point, it is possible to extrapolate the concept and establish that those
students
who take their virtual exams through online proctoring services have a significantly lower chance of
using
support resources when taking their exams, which makes the results obtained entirely accurate.
At a technical level it is possible to maintain a high level of security, given the quality of the
service
and the methods used to provide it allow not only collect the data but keep them free of any alteration
or
unsupervised modification, which ensures that the results obtained are 100% reliable and that students
or
any other external agent to the organization responsible for providing the service cannot have access to
them (if they want to modify them).
It is because of all the above that online proctoring is not only an excellent alternative to
significantly
reduce the level of traps performed by students but also allows the proper handling and efficient
storage of
reliable data which demonstrate the considerations of each supervisor in terms of behavior and skills of
the
student.
See how Test Invite Software ensures exam security
Why would anyone need exam software that can provide online proctoring services?
As mentioned above, different programs and methods allow us to carry out the online proctoring process.
However, nowadays it is much more efficient to have a program that not only allows us to carry out the
proctoring process but also allows us to have a stable platform in which to carry out the evaluation
process, this is due to the significant change that the educational environment has undergone in recent
years, because although initially it was "not bad" to supervise a student while he was taking a written
exam, such a practice has become completely inefficient due to how complicated it could be to carry out
the
process of proofreading (since it would be necessary for the student to digitalize the same to carry out
the
supervision process), as a result of such situations a program capable of carrying out not only the
supervision process (which is considerably facilitated thanks to the restriction of specific
applications
that these programs provide) but also the evaluation tends to be a much more attractive and favorable
option
in part thanks to all the facilities it provides, as this allows the supervisor to focus specifically on
detailing the behavior of the student while he is developing his test, on the other hand, it is simpler
for
the teacher in charge of teaching the subject to design an examination based on multiple choice
questions,
completion as well as other options that allow simplifying the evaluation process considerably.
What kind of institutions requires a program that allows them to carry out
evaluation tasks and online proctoring?
Definitely all those institutions that provide distance education services (especially those that provide
professional instruction) should have a software that allows them to carry out safe evaluations that can
ensure the veracity of their results and the capacity of their students, because this will be what gives
credibility to the degrees issued by such an institute, is why universities, training centers, language
schools and any other institute that provides any virtual instruction should implement a system for the
development of evaluations that includes an online proctoring service.
Test Invite, the newest proposal when it comes to proctoring
With Test Invite, you can get access to a proctoring service that not only allows you to carry out
monitoring
processes but also allows you to conduct tests through the most modern platform for conducting virtual
exams, such platform provides the ability to create very advanced exams incorporating different
techniques
such as multiple sections, the ability to establish a random pattern in the order in which questions
appear,
the integration of a bank of questions, the ability to ask questions in audio and video formats, the
ability
to set time limits, the much needed restriction of applications and many more; on the other hand our
cloud
computing service was built entirely from scratch based on the infrastructure used by Google, which
allows
you to store a countless number of exams and recordings simultaneously, it will also be possible to
carry
out a monitoring process through the analysis of audio and video recorded while the student presents or
carry out a monitoring process in real time if desired. It is because of all the above that Test Invite
represents the best option for your institution as long as it gives virtual classes, or whether it wants
to
join such a teaching method, if you want to contact our services and implement our software you can find
us
on our website, remember that regarding proctoring, Test
Invite is
your best alternative.
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