proctored exams

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by Dennis Ruhl, May 25, 2004.

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R/A DL students - method of examination

  1. non-proctored

    14 vote(s)
    27.5%
  2. proctored

    31 vote(s)
    60.8%
  3. time limited online

    6 vote(s)
    11.8%
  1. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Hey, Oxpecker.

    You guys took in-class exams now and then, right? Well, when you were writing your exam paper (did you use blue books?), wasn't there a professor or TA or somebody in the room?

    I'm curious what an unproctored exam would look like. A classroom full of madly scribbling students and nobody else? Nothing but take home exams?

    Or was your degree one of those remote-site engineering degrees that Stanford offers at Silicon Valley firms?
     
  2. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    I was an on-campus student, so we had in-class exams. But proctoring was not allowed, so professors, TAs etc had to leave.
     
  3. Mike Albrecht

    Mike Albrecht New Member

    :eek: :rolleyes: :p
    What a surprize!!!
     
  4. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    I see Stanford still has its ban on proctoring, which is part of the Honor Code:

    Honor Code
    Honor Code interpretations.

    "The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring ..."

    I gather that this is not unusual in the U.S.

    In South Africa, all my exams were proctored -- and by someone other than the instructor or teaching assistants (who were evidently not deemed sufficiently independent/impartial to proctor their own exams).
     
  5. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    Actually, it is very unusual.
     
  6. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Skip

    Now it's 12 % but given anecdotal evidence it seems low.
     
  7. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    Hmmm...

    I knew that an Academic Honor Code was not unusual, and I assumed that the terms of the Honor Codes at different universities would be similar. But in response to Gus's post, I looked at a few and I didn't find prohibitions on proctoring (and in once case an insistence on proctoring as part of a faculty member's responsibility in ensuring academic integrity).
     
  8. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Stanford only gives out A's anyway so why would they need to proctor the exams? *




    * As a loyal Cal graduate, I feel it is my duty to bash Stanford whenever possible.
     
  9. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    Heh.

    There's some truth to Bill's remark. Here are the available grade inflation data for Stanford and Cal:

    Stanford
    Berzerkeley
     
  10. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    I wonder what the data would be for Cal Coast?
     
  11. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Interesting, I'd tend to say that it's a most non-scientific reaction, apparently showing a tendency to disregard the truth, not surprising but interesting.

    Perhaps we should try to help Dennis out here and try and help determine what this poll could mean?

    There's not a huge response but there seems to be enough to start drawing some general conclusions.

    It would appear to me that the obvious conclusion is that perhaps proctored exams are not as rare as the poll author thought?

    Perhaps there's a more sinister or amusing conclusion that can be drawn?

    Perhaps there's a bug in the poll code in vBulletin Version 2.2.5?

    Perhaps the RA-or-no-way conspiracy crowd stuffed the ballot box? Okay there's not many votes there for there to much stuffing but maybe the conspiracy is grander and a directive went out that one shouldn't bother to vote if they were going to vote for unproctored exams?

    Perhaps Chip went in and mangled the vote in the data base just for fun?

    Perhaps many were under the mistaken impression that Dennis would only accept a proctored exam vote and felt compelled to vote that way or risk upsetting Dennis?

    Perhaps people knew that Dennis would be bothered if proctored exams weren't unusual so they voted that way just to upset Dennis?

    Perhaps people didn't understand what proctored or R/A meant and just picked the middle one because it's a ... in the middle?

    :D
     
  12. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Evolved from another thread? Richard Leakey couldn't find the origin of the DL disputes.
     
  13. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I thank you for the assistance in the Stunford bashing. :)
     
  14. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    For those enrolled before last June - 0%, after last June - 100%
     
  15. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I didn't bother to vote in the poll because the question was too vague for me to comprehend. Do papers count as exams? What if a variety of assessment tools are used in the course of an individual class or during an entire program? What if we've attended multiple programs that did different things?

    But your original question didn't specify DL.

    If on-campus classroom exams typically have a professor present, then including on-campus experience together with DL might inflate the 'proctor' percentage.

    Unproctored on-line exams are almost certainly more common in DL. How much more common isn't a question that this poll is going to answer.

    I think that's wise.

    Despite taking the 'poll' form, I don't think that this thread is very informative in a scientific sense. (It's great at stimulating anecdotal opinions though.)

    Perhaps those criticizing that observation might like to explain what conclusions they think we should draw and why.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2004
  16. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    For the record, Dennis posted this poll at my suggestion, because I questioned the validity of his oft-repeated assertion that proctored exams at RA distance learning schools were rare or uncommon.

    In spite of the skewed wording of the poll and his accusations that members of this forum were coercing others to vote contrary to his beliefs, the unscientific, informal, and anecdotal results of his own poll disprove Dennis’ self-serving asseverations. His insistence that unproctored exams are the norm at regionally accredited distance learning institutions and they just happen to be common only at the schools the members of this forum have attended is laughable.
     
  17. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    But he tells us that using a survey is the least accurate method for obtaining data. Thus, he can present a poorly designed poll, see that the data are coming out all wrong (from his perspective), then prove himself right by discarding the results as inaccurate!

    Unassisted triple play! (Covered all the bases :rolleyes: )
     
  18. mhl

    mhl New Member

    :D
     
  19. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    Hi

    Perhaps I am a bit slow but it is not clear to me - an outsider looking in - what is meant by a 'proctored' examinaiton. Could someone enlighten me, please?

    I have assumed, perhaps wrongly, that 'proctored' is another word for 'invigilated'?

    In the UK examinations are 'invigilated', that is an invigilator, an independent person, not a faculty member and certainly not someone who taught the class, conducts the examination, checks identities, issues the exam booklets, ensures no material is within reach of any candidate, no books, notes, mobile phones, programmable calculators, PCs, laptops, or secreted notes, and so on are present, that the candidates sit apart and do not converse or show their papers to others, closes the examinaiton at the set time, collects all exam exam answer books and hands them to the faculty office or has couriers pick up the booklets. Any disturbances or unusual behaviours are recorded and reported, and generally ensures that the rules are obeyed.

    Now, is this the same as 'proctored'? I have seen references to DL students finding proctors (?) or to an 'honour system' (? - a wild leap to naivete in global education!) and what appears to be a trust in out--of-sight and off-site honesty when candidates have every incentive to cheat - and therefore many appear to do so.

    Only asking...
     
  20. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    I believe you are correct, Professor Kennedy. The terms “proctored” and “invigilated” are, for the most part, synonymous. In most brick and mortar schools in the United States an instructor (or his or her aide) typically administers and supervises the examinations in a course. Therefore, the term “proctor” typically applies to circumstances in which the instructor does not supervise the exam or the examinations are administered off-campus, such as distance or non-traditional education courses. Although the usage might not be altogether wrong, I have never seen the terms “proctor” or “proctored” employed in a scenario in which an instructor supervises the taking of an exam for a course he or she is teaching.

    I am aware, however, that others may use these terms (and others) in a manner that differs from the way I do. For example, I do not consider a take-home, unproctored, open-book, multiple-choice exercise an “examination” at all; at best, it can be characterized as an assignment.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2004

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