Few students would cite exams as their favorite part of being in school, but doing well on them is crucial to surviving most academic programs.
Being an online student means never having to sit in a classroom overseen by a professor and surrounded by others taking the same test, but online programs have still found ways to examine what students know.
1. Proctored exams in person: In online programs where students live near the school’s physical campus, the solution can be as simple as designating a testing center and setting aside a specific time frame for when students need to attend. For programs with more remote students, sometimes arrangements can be made to have officials at another school or library act as proctors. A few programs will even allow a student’s supervisor at work to serve in this role.
[Discover how todecide between fully online and blended courses.]
2. Online exams that are monitored by humans: This is a middle ground where students are still watched by a human via webcams or special software but not by someone who’s actually in the same room. Companies like ProctorU exist entirely to provide a team of people who can keep a watchful eye and ensure that no online student has a chance to cheat. Since having real people involved limits capacity, users need to make an appointment even though they won’t be taking up space in a physical test center.
3. Online exams that are monitored by computers: This is the newest arrangement, and the one that offers the most flexibility. Services like ProctorTrack take advantage of technology similar to what allows a mobile phone to keep track of whether its owner is looking at the screen or not. In this case, though, the software monitors what’s happening on the screen, on the webcam and through the microphone to look for any behaviors that might indicate an attempt to cheat.
[Learn why tothink twice before cheating in online courses.]
None of these solutions is perfect. Having to meet with another person or go to an exam location is inconvenient, but it doesn’t require special hardware. Online monitoring requires a webcam, microphone, reliable Internet connection and a computer that can use all of these devices, but offers the convenience and comfort of being able to stay home. Any time another human is involved, exam times are impacted by someone else’s schedule, but it also means having access to an actual proctor if they have questions. Since exams might make up a large part of each semester’s grade, it’s important to be as comfortable as possible with the system a class is using and to know what to do in case something goes wrong.
The takeaway: Online programs have different options for testing, and prospective online students should make sure they’re comfortable with the test-taking format a program uses before making a commitment.
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3 Ways Online Students Might Take Exams originally appeared on usnews.com
