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Earlier the examinations were conducted in an offline mode and examinees were proctored manually. The age old offline examination methods has been practiced since ages, however it accounts to a few drawbacks like arranging for the test centers, recruiting certified proctors or invigilator, scheduling the exam with respect to the availability of the test center, assessing prevalent malpractices, providing logistics support and security for the test centers etc. This led to a vast involvement of time, planning and efforts.
E–learning has evolved over the period of time and presently it is flourishing to make beneficial developments and today it is a 100 billion dollar plus worth industry, who is penetrating its roots deeper and deeper in the education field. Today more and more students are opting online courses, academic contents, mock tests etc.
With this enormous number of students being enrolled each year in the online distance learning program or the online course, conducting the examination and providing certificates has been a biggest challenge. Without any kind of proctoring, malpractices in the examination may account to a common phenomenon.
To overcome this the online assessment and examination had to be taken at an dedicated venue and the proctoring process of examination remained manual.
Today the advancements in technology has brought about a phenomenal change in the mode and method of conducting an examination or an assessment. The examinations can now be taken anywhere and at any place convenient for the examinee. This has been possible due to ‘Online Proctoring’.
What is Online Proctoring?
Online proctoring also called as the remote proctoring is a technology that aids in the assessment of examination in order to refrain the examinee from conducting any kind of foul play or malpractices.
This enables the examinee to appear the examination from any location with help of a laptop, computer, mobile or a tablet and a stable internet connection. This nullifies the requirement of a human proctor or a dedicated test center.
Online proctoring has been incorporated by the corporate companies for their recruitment processes as well. It has been so convincing and incontestable for the educational, government and corporate institutions because it resolves several problems arising with the offline method and the live proctor can swiftly intervene when a candidate acts suspiciously, based on violations identified by Artificial Intelligence(AI).
The proctor basically monitors the following:
- – Hand, eye and head movements of the examinee
- – Whether the examinee turn the head over, which may be a suggestive malpractice
- – Attempts to open multiple browsers
- – Speech of the examinee and also the background sound prompt.
Online proctoring proves beneficial for both the examiner and the examinee. This being a win-win situation ensures integrity of the examination being intact and provides flexible options for students to appear for the examination at their convenience.
Online proctoring services has enabled the institute to achieve training excellence.
The market for online proctoring services has been expanding extensively. It has been predicted that it will soon encompass areas like educational, Vocational, corporates, government institutions and training. Online proctoring industry has a promising growth as students and educational institutes are inclined towards the online mode of education.
This opens up vast opportunities for the online proctoring companies to provide their online proctoring and monitoring services for the candidates taking exams and tests remotely. In the past decade the number of students enrolling for online courses has risen humongously.
This due to the distance learning program made available by the educational firms and the number of enrolling candidates has been only rising ever since then.
With this growing number it is challenging for the educational firms to maintain the integrity of the examination and the online course. This has made the educational firms that provide online courses adapt online proctoring in order to avoid and foul play in the examination.
Advantages of Online Proctoring :
The online proctoring services is a win-win situation for the the examiner as well as the examinee.
Benefits for the Examinee :
- It provides a greater flexibility of taking the test from wherever the examinee wishes to sit for it, avoiding either the last-minute hassles of reaching the venue or covering long miles to come to a test center.
- It saves time enabling the examinee to have more time for revision.
- It provides an relaxed environment for the examinee.
- The examination isn’t confined to a specific exam day but can provide candidates with an option to pick a time of their choice for accessing the “exam window’’, which is available for a few days.
- It allows taking the test from the comfort of their homes/offices without having to present themselves at an exam center.
- Attempting the examination in a relaxed and a peaceful environment will encourage the examinee to do his/her best work.
- It ensures authenticity and transparency in administering the exam.
Benefits For the Examiner/Organizations :
- It allows the examiners to reduce their dependence on traditional ways of conducting exams.
- Administrative burden, such as arranging for test centers and in-person invigilators can be omitted.
- It can enable the organization to conduct more assessments in less time and expand their geographical reach.
- It ensures the credibility and integrity of the examination.
- It provides enhanced security wherein an invigilator who is not in sight is monitoring every action through a video screen and every minute detail is taken into consideration, which includes watching the student’s ID along with the environment and checking for infringements or malpractices if there are any.
- In cases of any unfair behavior by the candidate, the proctor can dismiss the test immediately.
- It provides services like ‘record and review proctoring”, the examining body can quickly review the entire recorded session of the exam to focus on essential details.
Implementation of Online Proctoring
So far, there are no known issues or problems in implementing remote invigilation or online proctoring anywhere in the world. Most companies continue to maintain the standard procedures and are making sure that the protocols are followed.
It can be implemented in 3 ways;
- Live Online Proctoring : A proctor will monitor the student from a remote location through live audio-video, and screen.
- Recorded Proctoring : The examination shall be recorded. The audio-video or the screen recording can be later reviewed for any red flags.
- Fully Automated Proctoring : The screen is recorded along with the feeds are monitored by the artificial intelligence proctor for any suspicious activity with advanced analytics.
Authentic and effective methods of assessment & invigilation that ensures integrity, security and rapid results is most sought after by organization and educational firms. This helps companies to add to their services and build their brand value. Hence, companies are now looking for Online proctoring services that are efficient and reliable.
