This session will outline University of Toronto Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing’s early explorations in utilizing online proctoring as a method to protect the academic integrity of online exams in our graduate programs. Simply put, online proctoring is a technological enhancement that tackles a wide-reaching issue for many institutions – how can cheating be prevented when students take online exams in uncontrolled remote locations? By utilizing student computers, webcams, laptops, and microphones, online proctors can invigilate students taking tests anywhere in the world. Starting as a pilot project in 2013, online proctoring was implemented in three online tests in order to ensure that: students adhere to academic honesty policies, exam questions were protected, and student identification was verified. Goals of the project were to evaluate effectiveness of online proctoring in protecting the integrity of online high stakes exams while providing a satisfactory test-taking experience for students; and to share the results internally, institutionally, and abroad.
This online proctoring project was a first attempt at exploring this technology at the University of Toronto and is still a novel concept to many Canadian institutions engaged in online learning. Since the completion of the pilot, online proctoring has been incorporated into all high stakes exams in our hybrid graduate programming. In addition, pilots of alternative methods of proctoring (i.e. live proctoring, automated proctoring) and service providers have also taken place in order to evaluate and improve effectiveness. In this session, we discuss the details of the pilot project, highlight nuanced issues that others interested in utilizing similar services should be aware of, describe our future directions, and propose areas for potential SOTL research.
