In the past few years, the education industry has seen the biggest boom of the century, all thanks to the novel CoronaVirus. Be it a student from kindergarten or a postgraduate applying for a job; everyone has been involved in the process of online learning and virtual assessment.
No matter how the process of learning and appearing for exams remained the same and just got digitized, the invigilation had become challenging. It was easier for the candidate to be promoted based on their prior score and behaviour until proctoring software arrived. Universities and almost every education sector have to introduce them by 2021. We expect every one of you might have experienced it but is not well aware of it, so here is all you must know.
What is virtual proctoring?
Virtual Proctoring is a method which allows students to appear for their exams at home. By using Live Virtual Proctoring, a real proctor can observe the student’s webcam as they take the test. They can view both the student and their screen while they are writing the exam. Proctors also have the ability to interrupt the examination and conduct checkpoints if they think there is any evidence of academic fraud being committed. The test will generally be recorded and used in the classroom by an instructor.
Automated Proctoring is a computerized software program that records the screen and webcam during the exam session. Automated Proctoring allows the faculty member who is authorized to look over the videos and flags placed due to unusual behaviours.
What does virtual proctoring software do?
Proctoring software is a robust, reliable, flexible, and cloud-based program. Since many universities and organizations still believe in standard exam format, this software is designed in such a way that they could never fail in their job, but what job do they perform? Here it is
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Verification of the applicant
The system examines the authenticity of a person and eliminates any questionable behaviour during the test. Before beginning the test, a candidate must authenticate himself. Only the admin is able to verify the identity of the candidate.
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Monitoring in real-time
When a candidate is taking the exam, the system checks the performance of the candidate’s movements and raises the signal if it finds something suspicious. The invigilator can monitor the course of the exam in the event that the person is detected involved in any activity that appears suspicious. The invigilator is able to signal a flag in case anything is considered to be suspicious. However, the flag must be raised in real-time.
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Storage of data
The audio and the video of the recording are stored in the cloud, so you can access them at any time. Students cannot cheat on the proctoring test online. It’s the responsibility of the proctor who is responsible for ensuring the exam is conducted in a secure manner.
Types of Virtual Proctoring:
Virtual Proctoring can be classified into three kinds of categories: live-online proctoring, recorded proctoring and advanced auto-proctoring.
- Live proctoring is where live proctors monitor students’ activities throughout the online proctored test.
- Recorded Proctoring is the place where video, screenshots and logs are stored for review later.
- Advanced auto- proctoring is when the remote proctoring program detects suspicious actions, which the proctors can review later.
What are the challenges that occur while proctoring?
Certain remote proctoring services offered by commercial companies aren’t cost-effective. Therefore, the cost per student for courses with large enrolments should be avoided.
Students might feel that they are being monitored. However, creating such an environment becomes challenging. Many students find the lock-down of web browsers as well as webcam recordings annoying. It becomes difficult to make students aware of what is expected during an online proctoring session as some students manage to trick the proctor as well.
To overcome these challenges proctoring software is introduced.
How does proctoring software help you?
What makes proctoring software different is the way in which it makes use of the latest technological advancements such as AI as well as machine learning to create the cheat-proof test. Because it is a method to help ensure exam integrity, remote proctoring software could be a standard in online courses over the coming years to come.
Students are advised to not use mobile phones during exams because they could be considered to be in violation of the rules. Exams will be terminated when a student is caught having multiple mobile devices. When the exam is over, the instructor reviews the exam. Candidates should have Proctoring software installed in their system. It could take a while to read the file, especially if it’s large in size. The program will record audio and video of your webcam.
Benefits of proctoring software:
- Eliminates the need for examination centre arrangements
- Eliminates the need and accessibility of physical proctors.
- The integrity and security of the exam are ensured by automation.
- Reduces the hassle of travelling to distant exam centres and allows candidates to take the test from their own comfort in their homes.
Future of virtual proctoring
Both the private and public sectors extensively use remote proctoring. Nearly 500 institutions in the US are considering remote proctoring as an alternative. Therefore, colleges and schools are switching to more user-friendly methods of conducting online examinations. Because of this, remote proctoring is growing in the educational sector.
Proctoring is affordable and easy to access for all low- and high-stakes examinations.
Online Proctoring Software will make cheating impossible. And students are unable to bypass the security since it disables the web-enabled features during tests.
Final Words
The right proctoring software can help you automate the process of conducting assessments. This includes scheduling the test dates, curating the exam, and grading submitted papers. Online exams are more cost-effective, faster, and transparent than traditional paper exams. To ensure smooth and affordable execution, you can install AI-driven proctoring software. Although everything seems easy ahead, we still have to wait for its survival post the pandemic. All the universities and exams are being conducted offline, where virtual proctoring will be expected to add new features.
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