Many DL courses require proctors for testing. If you aren't affiliated with a local university or school, what do you do to get an acceptable proctor, when the DL university is far away?
Hello, Out local librarians can act as proctors for TESC. I also remember a posting where someone had their minister act as proctor. Happy studying. Hille
If you're a reasonable distance from a university, you should be able to find an acceptable proctor. I took my CLEP exams at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, which has a testing center. They said they would also administer exams for correspondence courses for a small fee ($25, several years ago), and I had no affiliation with UMB whatsoever. Bruce
Here's a list of testing centers at CSU campuses: CSU Registration and Testing Center Addresses and Telephone Numbers. Perhaps the Hayward testing center might be reasonably close?
First, ask the DL school. Many keep lists of testing centers and proctors. Next, check universities, colleges, community colleges near you. Many have testing centers; many of these have agreements with other schools so that you can have the test sent there and take it with their proctors at no charge. Some do charge a testing fee.
I currently use the Sylvan Leaning Center in my area as a proctor for my exams. I think they are located throughout the nation. I live in Ohio and attend an online University in Virginia/Maryland/Washington D.C. area.
If you are working with an overseas DL university, often their consulates, embassies, etc can serve as a testing location. I know UNISA does this. This is a factor for my family since we are moving to Tallinn, Estonia and the nearest testing center for UNISA is in Helsinki, Finland. Just a short ferry ride, but adding in the cost of the ferry, overnight in Helsinki, etc. it makes the price for UNISA's degree go up. clint
Actually, this seems to be more of a bear than its worth: the local Sylvan learning centers here no longer do proctoring and the Cal State centers do not do this either. To me its quite ridiculous; I can take a butt-in-the-seat course here in the Bay Area at UC Berkeley Extension of SFSU, and the evaluation is done by weekly papers and a final paper, but 99% of the distance learning courses (at least in the psych area; I've checked Liberty, Wash, U of Fla, Iowa) out there require proctored exams and its impossible to find someone to proctor. Of course, there's Capella or Walden, which evaluate based on written production rather than testing, but at $1200+ for a course I simply need to meet undergrad prerequisites for a psych grad program, that's a bit steep. Its seems that this is an inherent weakness in DL.
I found a proctor in the Bay Area by calling the Distance Ed office at the nearest community college and asking for their help. The staff was quite understanding and has been very accommodating in scheduling and proctoring my exams -- all at no cost. The school I've used is Cabrillo College in Aptos, Calif. (Santa Cruz), so it may be further than you'ld like to drive. But I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a community college closer to home that would be willing to serve as a proctor. Best of luck, Dan
