Interesting new DL law

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=55224

So basically,

If an online program is to have exams, it must be proctored or have similar testing equipment as Troy U as shown in this link: http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46a00103.htm

So what will this mean to some online programs that offer online testing, but cant afford this "new" tech....

Maybe right to privacy...issues?

Interesting to see how this unfolds...

Chris

If this has been addressed before, please delete and refer me to the link

 

I took only two courses at Troy University that required proctored exam. The English Composition I & II, and the rest were opened book exam and online testing. It is interesting that Troy University start requires secured proctors for all testing. It is interesting, but not a solution. If one intends to cheat on the exam, there are lot of solutions to cheat. Anyway, this model is almost the same with Andrew Jackson University's webcam proctoring exam. Thanks for sharing.

 

No worries...

Maybe its me, but i feel there may be more of this type of legislation coming in the few years...

If the President of the United States of America has to write into law, how an online college should test its students...then DL still has a long ways to go before it gains the credibility we all assume is already there...

To me,

I feel this law is an assumption that online students are cheaters...

 

Nice find!

This is excerpt worries me, however:

"As new identification technologies are developed and become more sophisticated, less expensive and more mainstream, the Conferees anticipate that accrediting agencies or associations and institutions will consider their use in the future"

So this is just a stay of execution...eventually the face of DL will likely change...as technology becomes less expensive and less intrusive it will be implemented into distance learning...fingerprinting, retina scanning, and motion sensors...hmmm

 

It will take a while for the government to get its act together before this can be enforced. Troy has a financial stake in Remote Proctor (a hardware solution that includes a camera and fingerprint scanner). We have tried the unit. It works fairly well but is not without its issues and glitches. Axciom has another solution that uses publicly available data to amass a number of questions that a user must ask at login. ProctorU is a video chat center where students with webcams can be proctored during exams.

 

This law has made all Distance Ed Institutions take a long look at their policies. High security features mean high academic integrity. High integrity means higher validity for online degrees, which is what we all want. It's the right thing to do.

We started webcam proctoring in early 2008, and spun it off into a service (as mentioned above) for other schools. You can learn more about this service at www.proctoru.com.

 

While I am not too sure about undergraduate work at Troy, all graduate courses require at least one proctored exam. Generally, you only have to take one test per course with this method. The computer proctor software option provides conveinence, and the cost is around $150 dollars. Personally, I did not find it that intrusive. The software is only active during testing, and it was not a big issue. However, you are correct (as evidenced by the other posts); where there is a will to cheat there will always be a way!

 

While I am not too sure about undergraduate work at Troy, all graduate courses require at least one proctored exam. Generally, you only have to take one test per course with this method. The computer proctor software option provides conveinence, and the cost is around $150 dollars. Personally, I did not find it that intrusive. The software is only active during testing--for me, it was not a big issue. However, you are correct; where there is a will to cheat there will always be a way!