Proctorless learning

Please do your research to avoid embarassing yourself. There is no conclusive proof that the quote is from Andy McIntyre. It is attributed to Andy McIntyre... yet it is also attributed to Derek Bok. No one can tell for certain who originated it. It cannot be considered plagiarism because I never claimed to be the author of the quote, and I am a completely anonymous poster here. A DL student or graduate is expected to at least be capable of googling the quote if it interests him/her. To "consider" the posting of an essentially unsourced quote, which of course doesn't include the source (because it isn't known for certain), is stupidity. Grandstanding is generally not good, specially so if the entire post is off-topic or irrelevant to the subject matter in the message thread. If you have any etiquette you should just have sent me a private message.

 

And you could have sent Vini one as well or ignored it. You've done this twice in two threads now (to Ted and to Vini) so here ya go:

"Questions, opinions, viewpoints, and commentary (along with the occasional off-topic but humorous banter) are all welcomed, but personal attacks, flooding, spamming, shilling, or the posting of potentially libelous or defamatory information is not." from the DegreeInfo terms of service.

You have a handful of posts, have come on verbally sparring with people from pretty much the beginning, and attacked two long-term posters.

 

You should know better than that.

 

I am pretty sure correcting actions will follow. Thank you for making this clarification to Mr./Ms. OpalMoon34.

 

This may be true, I really don't know. I'll give you another example that describes my own opinion. Some people have expensive alarm systems, lojacks, etc. to protect their cars, to prevent them from being stolen. Yet they continue to get stolen. If a professional car thief wants your car then he'll find a way to steal it. This is essentially what you said above. However, there is another sort of car thief. Less skilled, less determined. Joyriders perhaps. They will check the door handle of your car and they will move on if it is locked. A simple door lock will discourage a great many casual thieves. This is similar to proctored exams. For many people a proctor is unnecessary as they would never think of cheating. For a much smaller number of people even a proctor will not stop cheating absolutely. For a substantial number of people, a proctor will prevent cheating just as a simple door lock will prevent your car from being stolen. I've always believed that is why some schools insist on proctored exams.

 

I agree - Cheaters will always continue to innovate.

However, in order to uphold an institution's reputation, aren't academics obligated to at least make cheating more difficult?

I can't stop every cheater - but I can raise the barriers and hopefully encourage students not to cheat.

Regards - Andy

 

The reality is that Universities are businesses nowadays. It doesn't matter if they are for profit or not, they are all after the money.

In Canada, distance education programs used to require proctors at official locations such as Universities, Libraries, etc. Nowadays, many programs just require you write exams online and they protect academic integrity by asking you to sign an honor statement and install a program that will lock your computer from opening material. How difficult is for the student to have two computers to write the exam or to have the printed material on the side?

My wife just completed an online program in Law at a known college in Toronto, she used to take two classes and dedicate about two to three hours of her time a week and she ended with an average of 95%. She mentioned that the program was ridiculous easy. It required proctored exams but they were open book and many with multiple choice questions. In addition, proctors could be practically anybody. She used a friend of hers and the college accepted only with the condition that the proctor should be paid by her.

A friend enrolled into the Master's program at Charles Sturt University, he was given admission with no bachelor's degree and credited half of the master's because of his few microsoft certifications. Few courses required exams and were non proctored by using vue services. We all know that those Vue testing centers are not exactly "secure" as many sell testing services over the net for vendor certifications.

Most employers nowadays don't trust the paper qualifications anymore, many companies do their own testing before hiring as many graduates have almost no skills. Education has become a business as Universities and colleges push for higher enrollments by lowering entry and academic standards in order to increase income.

 

Some ways to cheat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUkeiqom_s4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCygJrAKe-M&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syrtXCI1jTI

 

It sounds like Southern Methodist University's programs. All courses are required proctored exams, but some opened book, closed notes, opened notes closed book, closed notes and closed book.

 

Well, first off, I don't really appreciate how this has degenerated into a discussion about cheating. I didn't realize that I had to explain myself, but apparently I do.

I am seeking a bachelor degree program that does not require a proctor for some very good reasons.

1. The college in my area will not permit the faculty to act as proctors.

2. The one library near me is in a town that has been taken over by the Detroit drug trade. The police basically warn out-of-towners to steer clear of the place because it is just that dangerous.

3. The other library near here is just down the street from the halfway house for sex offenders. One school child was already molested as she walked home from school and I don't want to become the next victim.

Those are my reasons. My question was perfectly innocent and I don't appreciate the implied statements that I am a cheater.

 

Well, there are some schools required a proctor. It is can be your HR or immediately supervisor. It doesn't have to be a Librarian or a College Professor.

For example. I completed my degree at Troy University, and only two courses required proctored exam. I was allowed to have my Chief Warrant Officer to administrate my exam.

 

I am self-employed, so I have no supervisor.

 

HRDoubleU

As an instructor, I also allow students to use a priest, minister or rabbi to proctor exams. Just an idea.

I hope you aren't discouraged by the cheating discussion. You can get a lot of helpful advice on this board but sometimes the topic gets carried away.

Did you check into Regis?

 

Other options might include schools, and local government head offices. Does the college have a testing center or some sort of people they will allow to act as proctors? Library staff? Administrative office staff? I'd consider writing to the VP academic or equivalent, or even the president.

 

From a recent exam registration form from Charter Oak State College; as a rule Charter Oak expects its in-state students in Connecticut to test at the college, but for out-of-state students:

 

From a post to the community.elearners.com blog My Liberty University Experience, by "momof5" (Roz):

Not stated is whether that was just a result of the courses she was taking that term, or a broader or even complete move to unproctored online exams.

 

I have taken unproctored online courses, and I certainly did not cheat.

I did use a dictionary to look up a word that was not in the textbook (business test). I still got it wrong. I told the prof and he admitted that he had not yet updated the test to the new edition of the book and credited everyone who missed the question. He said it was okay (also, open book test).

Personally I think that the implication that unproctored tests automatically mean cheating is extremely insulting. I take most tests and courses better at night than I do in the day and better on the weekends than during the week. Why lose ten (or more) points off of a test because I dragged myself to school at 9am when I'm sick the one day a week a school offers proctored exams? I'd rather be sick in bed, in my PJ's, with a laptop than sick in an uncomfortable chair in a stuffy testing room. With unproctored, I can also go to a coffee shop or the library or the gaming store to do schoolwork and take tests when I feel good, so more variety there too.

Besides, as far as I can tell most unproctored tests are much harder than their proctored counterparts. So far all of my tests have either been open-book, essay format or papers instead. So very hard to cheat on 2/3 of those and frankly not worth it to cheat on open-book tests (I mean come on, you have the book right there).

It seems to me that making tests harder and allowing students to use the book is a great way to combat cheating, as it pretty much eliminates the desire.


So to the OP's original question: many schools that offer online classes using Blackboard are unproctored, especially community colleges. I know SPSCC in Olympia, WA is all-unproctored for online. $94/cr for online, on the quarter system, so 5 credits for most classes. This is all 100/200s level of course, but usually good instruction/lectures and I like the textbook choices.

The best option could be to just email some schools if none of our options work out for you.

Good Luck!

 

NEASC - an interesting point on "authentication"

The cheating discussion may have sidelined the point I hoped to raise. I certainly don't mean to challenge the integrity of any posters here.

Irrespective of any individual's preference and/or conduct, educational institutions face an upcoming challenge in "authentication". This can be summarized as:

"Authentication, as an issue in online education, has been raised by the passage of the Higher Education Reauthorization act which includes language in the section related to Regional Accrediting Agencies directing them to ensure that their institutions have processes to “establish that the student who registers in a distance education course or program is the same student who participates and completes the program and receives academic credit.”

http://www.ctdlc.org/neasc/Authentication%20_4_%20sc.pdf

Will this make "proctorless" learning impossible? I don't know but it will be interesting to watch.

Regards - Andy

 

I don't get it. I wrote to Penn State and they told me that all of their exams require a proctor.

I have checked out some of the other suggestions and one problem that I am running into is that most of the schools cost a small fortune. I would like to get my degree without going broke in the process. Oh, and for those of you who don't mind the price, I found a suitable school will searching on Google. It's Drexel. It was highly rated by U.S. News and Word Reports, but it costs $575 a credit hour.

Now to address some of the additional discussion about going proctorless. That doesn't mean that students who don't want a proctor wouldn't be willing to be monitored. Just look at Troy University and a few others who use a test monitoring device. That seems to be an ideal alternative. So, in answer to Andy's question, "Will this make "proctorless" learning impossible?" my answer is no.

 

Two Nebraska schools do not require a proctor.

I know that Northeast community college offers online courses without proctored exams, because I have taken several courses with them and have never had to arrange for a proctor. I also highly recomend this college, great customer service and educational support!

Peru State College (4 year school) also offers this.

Even if these two particular schools aren't where you want to end up, at the very least you could take some of there courses and transfer wihtout having to take finals exams with a proctor.