How Do Online Proctored Exams Work Successfully?

Yasmine Nasr August 26, 2020 4,027 Views

This is a blog on how do online proctored exams work. Proctored exams have never been more on demand. With a newly changed system of testing due to COVID-19, colleges all over the world are racing to get the latest tech to detect cheating and secure online exams.

To ensure exam management and detect cheating, trained professionals are employed to supervise the computer-based assessment process through proctoring students by camera and tracking all actions taken on the computers.

Recent research reports that students’ results in online proctored exams show less academic dishonesty, more accuracy, and better quality data.

There are many differences between online proctored exams and traditional brick and mortar tests. First, in traditional tests within the classroom, you would require paper, while remote proctoring is online and paperless.

Second, in a traditional scenario, the invigilator has to monitor a whole class taking the test, which may be a bit distracting. And although this is still the case using proctoring software, the invigilator is provided with a set of online assessment tools that help them easily offer a secure online exam.

In this video, Qorrect remote proctoring software Technical Manager, Dr. Hamed, explains how to easily take an online exam proctored remotely.

Table of Contents

The security of proctored exams is maintained by the following:

Experienced invigilators
Computer camera to supervise students taking remote proctoring exam
Microphone to communicate with the invigilator at any point
Strong Internet connection
State-of-the-art recovery exam sessions, in cases of emergency
Advanced analysis reports, in Qorrect remote proctoring software, to give a detailed analysis of the test takers performance and detect any type of cheating

Read 7 Key Characteristics of a Good Test in Education in 10 Minutes

1. What is Remote Proctoring?

What is proctored assessment? Remote proctoring or proctored exams mean the possibility of a student taking their exam online and paperless through online assessment software, supervised and monitored through the camera and highly effective online assessment tools.

Here are the advantages of remote proctoring: the results of this tech are magnificent. It opens the door for schools and colleges to accept students thousands of kilometers away without any issues at all.

Students can not only easily take online classes a college in another country offers, but they can also conveniently have an exam online, without a hitch!

It’s already been happening for years now. But COVID-19 has definitely sped up its timeline. Now more universities are seeking remote proctoring software in order to offer a secure remote exam or online assessment proctoring software and smoothly detect and reduce cheating, however far away students are.

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2. How Are Proctored Exams Monitored?

In Qorrect computer-based assessment system, proctored exams are monitored through a specifically designed application added to student’s computer by our busy hive of programmers.

The test is opened in this separate application, allowing invigilators to monitor the student. This is one of the strongest factors in secure online exam software for detecting academic cheating.

In addition, with Qorrect proctored exams system, the tiniest details and actions taken on the computer are closely detected.

The second a test taker clicks on anything displayed on the screen, this action is automatically immediately saved, analysed, and added to the advanced reports offered by Qorrect.

Moreover, once the exam online starts, a student will not be able to perform any other action or open any window beside the test. This ensures the integrity and security of the proctored exam.

However, this level of control over another person’s own computer may raise some questions regarding students privacy and freedom. If someone has access to another computer’s screen display, they surely have access to their files and privacy, right?

If you are a school manager or a college dean looking for the best remote proctored exams software, this is a very important point that you need to double check! In Qorrect, privacy and security is 100% ensured and guaranteed. No actions can be taken without the knowledge and permission of the computer’s owner.

Questions Management Reduces Academic Dishonesty

Can your students cheat during an Online Exam? Sure, all the time. But can you significantly reduce this probability by over 90%? Yes! To make sure academic misconduct will be the furthest thing on a student’s mind, you may have a variety of questions.

Adding indirect questions will definitely be a better option for some. These could be visual or audio-essay questions. You can especially get creative with audio questions, increasing distraction means for each and every question which allows reduce academic dishonesty and cheating.

This mechanism of question management using test bank questions helps greatly reduce cheating.

Control Exam Session Questions Timing

Timing is very important in proctored exams. Keeping a close check on the time of the exam session helps keep track of the time students take.

Therefore, they will have a less chance of unauthorized collaboration and sharing notes with colleagues.

Qorrect proctoring exams software allows professors set time, as explained in the previous video, for the start and end of each question, e.g., setting 25 minutes for a set of questions instead of 30 minutes.

Here’s something to consider. Two students designed the perfect plan beforehand to cheat on the computer-based assessment. To have a secure remote exam using Qorrect, the professor can take matters into his/her own hands.

The professor here adds 20 questions, 10 true or false and 10 multiple choice questions. Each question takes half a minute; 10 minutes for all 20 of them. However, the professor can reduce the time to 8 minutes only.

Now, even if a student finds a way for academic misconduct, there will only be time to focus on the questions ahead.

Remote Proctoring: Camera Monitoring

Exam invigilators now prefer live remote proctoring via webcams. “Live proctoring offers the best of both worlds by incorporating a “real human” with the technology,” according to the Economic Times “How to maximize exam authenticity using remote proctoring.”

In this setting, the proctored exams invigilator gets to remotely see and maintain control of the video feed and “interfere in real-time if necessary in a candidate’s exam, giving the proctors an additional level of security and feedback to candidates as they go through a test or review. A live proctoring may be used along with either auto proctoring or AI-assisted notifications.”

Types of Remote Proctoring

Audiovisual Proctoring: proctoring exams through a camera and mic; exam director can view the student; complete control of live video feed remotely; ability to interfere at any time, allowing you extra exam security
Controlling student’s screen: once the online exam starts, you can stop the student from taking any action you don’t agree with or goes against the test rules, e.g., opening another window beside the exam, as long as the exam time hasn’t ended yet. This whitelisting feature guarantees more exam security
Generating reports: especially cheat detection reports provided by the perfect e-assessment system.. When the student presses anything displayed on the screen during the exam, this action is automatically saved, analyzed, and added to immediately to the exam’s detailed reports the system’s powerful analytical tools offer

Wondering what’s next in the assessment tech? Check out Qorrect assessment system Youtube channel now!

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3. Can Students Take Proctored Exams at Home?

Can you imagine letting your students take their exam at home? There are a million scenarios and disasters to consider in this case.

For one, electricity can go off at any point. Or the test taker’s computer can just temporarily shut down, freeze, or experience an error for whatever reason.

Consequently, you will have no idea how to control what’s going on during the test. This is why powerful security features are extremely important here. They will help you to deliver your exam securely and remotely via any platform.

Although the misfortune scenarios mentioned rarely happen, a good school management will take all precautions. Proctoring software, Qorrect, is designed for such cases and it works remotely very well.

In these cases, the remote proctoring software saves all answers and the test is restarted after coordination with the invigilators in charge (read Top Advantages of Online Examination System Bound to Empower You).

4. How Do Online Proctored Exams Work?

To administer an online at-home exam, a number of factors need to be in place to ensure that the exam produces valid, reliable, and fair results. —World Bank Blogs

On the one hand, Anna Rees, a 21-year- old student from Wales, gives students very useful tips on how to ace such an exam, when “the strangest part of all was sitting down at my desk to take a university exam, in my pyjamas with a cup of tea.”

On the other hand, Dr. Hamed shows us a detailed view of how an online proctored exam on Qorrect works in the video below.

How Does Online Proctoring Work?

If you are a student, all you will need is a good Internet connection and your username and password. The college administration provides students with the Qorrect URL in order to log into their accounts.

Once they access their accounts, the remotely proctored exam to be taken is displayed. The number of questions and their grades are shown as well. In the video, the student only needs 5 marks to pass the exam.

Computerized exams systems should be secure, easy-to-use, and simple. Find all 3 features by requesting a FREE demo now.

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Best Free Online Proctoring Software

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The Best Thing about Remote Proctoring

The best thing about this online proctored exams system is that it helps the test taker not delve into deep thinking about one question, if they don’t know the answer to it.

Each question has its own timing. Once the timing of a question is up, you will not be able to get back to it again. The same thing happens once you answer a question and press ‘next.’

Also, students are given a set of instructions for the exam beforehand. And they are encouraged to view these instructions at least 1 hour before the exam starts.

This is another positive point for online proctored exams. Experts acknowledge that online exams are much better than traditional ones because teachers spend much less time on writing exam instructions and discussing them with students! In online exams, the instructions are clear, brief, and concise (heard the news? Qorrect in Cooperation with Remark Office Organizes New Webinar to Digitize Paper-Based Assessments).

Exam Countdown and Design

You can view the time remaining before the exam starts. Once the countdown reaches 0, the ‘Start’ gets undimmed, giving the students access to their secure remote exam.

The exam design is simple and non-distracting with its white background, with the full screen mode option available. Students can get back to the instructions at any point.

They can also view the exam time countdown on the left. However, it does not divert the student’s focus with an alarmingly distracting color or size. Online exam session navigation has never been easier!

5. What Are the Benefits of Proctored Exams?

When online proctoring is used to assess students attending conventional brick and mortar classes, online proctoring reduces instructional time dedicated to testing. This allows educators and students to engage more with the course contents.

Tao and Li (2012)

Here are some of the best benefits of proctored exams, elaborately detailed in “5 Reasons Why You Should Use Online Exams Software“:

1. Unlimited Test Bank Questions

Question banks work by setting clear classifications and psychometric characteristics for each and every question, e.g., its difficulty, cognitive level, learning objectives.

With Qorrect proctored exams system, you can add an unlimited number of questions. You are also able to do mass operations on a group of items to save your time and efforts.

2. Different Ways of Creating a Secure Remote Exam

1. Manual Selection allows you to choose specific questions from the list. And randomly select questions from topic, or subtopics.
2. Blue-Print Balanced Selection lets you have the best balanced exams based on specific criteria. Cover the aspects of the involved lessons to have a balanced exam that measures each of them fairly.

3. Less Geographical Distance Issues

“A recent analysis of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data stated that about 5.3 million students, representing more than 25% of total college enrollment, took at least one online class in 2013 (Allen & Seaman, 2015)”.

Geographic distance is no longer an issue for students. Their future is no longer hindered by mere miles (here are 6 Answers to All your Questions on Computer-Based Exams).

They can enroll in the classes they choose, since online classes are now easily accessible online.

Moreover, they can now even attend classes and take online exams using mobile applications while travelling, taking the bus to another place, or even in bed!

Online remote proctoring still has a ways to go: developing better technologies to be more accurate in detecting academic dishonesty, generating more advanced reports, or figuring out more powerful security features for exam delivery. However, the first step has been taken. Have a look yourself!

All things related to proctored exams and more are available on Qorrect exams software blog! Have you tried Qorrect? Book now a free demo on our website to get to know more about Qorrect computer-based assessments system!

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