Keeping an eye on online test-takers

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Kizmet, Mar 10, 2013.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  2. Jacob Perry

    Jacob Perry New Member

    I've used ProctorU in the past. Some rough edges but they are on the right track.
     
  3. sumtuck

    sumtuck New Member

    I cannot wait to see where all this goes. Such an exciting time in higher education that has the potential for offering every person on the planet a degree at an affordable price from reputable institutions. My son is 2 now and my mind cannot even grasp where higher education will be in 16 years. Hopefully affordable for our sakes! ha
     
  4. icecom3

    icecom3 New Member

    I forget what college I was considering but they require a video camera on while taking tests. Creepy. Good idea...but creepy.
     
  5. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    I remember chatting with the director of Brainbench to have their certifications via ProctorU or similar. It can be optional, the value of proctored certs will be higher.

    They told me we will look in to this and it was sometime in 2010.

    On the other hand I remember AJU(Andrew Jackson Univ now under new management called New Charter Univ) requiring ProctorU exam at $30 for each mid term and Final for each class.
    I though it was to match in comparison lets say Aspen who at the time had 2 to 4 proctored exams for the whole MBA program.

    For most protected professions appropriate degree is a requirement for state or national licensing, So in these professions I expect higher scrutiny and there is another validation mechanism of state license examinations be it PE, MD, JD etc.
    I also wander how professional and Specialty accreditation boards look at the On Line proctoring. ABET for example.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 10, 2013
  6. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I attended Troy University when ProctorU was not implemented. Mostly classes did not require proctor, instead open notices & books online exams with limited time. I did not have time to flip through the book. Even though one time when electric went out; it was tough to requested the instructor to reset the exam.
     
  7. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    Expensive. Why don't they just let a local proctor watch you take your exam instead of using expensive remote proctors?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 10, 2013
  8. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    If the fees get out of hand, earning credit through MOOCS will lose its appeal. It could end up being cheaper to just take a CLEP exam.
     
  9. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    I was perusing the univerity of the people because I wanted to recommend it to a friend. I did not recommend uop because of the fees. Instead i recommended Clepping, clovis, and excelsior exams. For an unaccredited free university, the high fees make it an inferior investment compare to the other establish methods
     
  10. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Seems like a bunch of whoo-haa for not a lot of reward. Savvy students always find a way to cheat. Instructors should make their exams open book and call it done. Who cares if you reference your material when taking an exam?
     
  11. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    At Libertyu, the online exams are open book, but this is a misnomer. If you have to open the text more than once then you are in trouble. There is no substitute for full preparation. It is very difficult to cheat on rigorous time sensitive exam to make a difference to the final result. I am with you, open book and call it done.
     
  12. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    In the "real world", in many professions, one has to eventually consult a resource to figure something out, so I have no problem with the open book concept. There is also something to be said about being able search for and then accurately understand the information once you've found it which is a necessary skill that's indirectly encouraged through the open book concept.

    The other thing is that learning something while under timed pressure seems to sink things in a little better for some people. I've re-taken tests that were open book just to see how much I actually remembered, and was surprised by how well I did, mostly matching the original score or rarely being off by maybe 5 to 10 points.

    Depending on how the question is asked and how the textbook is written, there can be many times where the answer won't be obvious and critical thinking has to come into play to figure out the correct answer. A few of the schools I studied through did a great job of creating that scenario and it was no cakewalk, and I'm saying that even after averaging above a 90 on those exams.

    I think the mistake made often in education is the overvaluing of memory over resourcefulness and ability to think, search, and find recorded information quickly in pressure situations, which obviously can't apply to every job but can certainly apply to a great deal of them. I had a job once where I wasn't able to remember critical minute details as well as everyone else, so I started to keep detailed notes on every action I did. Before long, management watched what I was doing and recognized that having an open book of action information was more effective and prone to tremendously less errors. Eventually, detailed note-keeping was adopted as the standard procedure throughout the company.
     
  13. icecom3

    icecom3 New Member

    Institutions that use open book exams conciser it a part of the learning process. If you have to open the book and find the answers, then it is a assumed one is reading material...something many students don't like to do. One of my undergraduate degrees was in a traditional environment with a few online proctored courses. I spent all day attending lectures only to get tested with questions that were not covered.

    I think there is some value in open-book exams, because instructors get to select the key information they want their students to remember, and make them go find it.
     

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