Hybrid Virtual Proctoring - A New Proctoring Modality
Concurrent Session 5
Brief Abstract
The new Hybrid Virtual Proctoring modality combines the deterrent of a live, human proctor with the affordability, efficiency, and scalability of automated virtual proctoring. It couples the AI with live monitoring by your testing center staff and/or faculty. It provides 24/7/365 support, performs device compatibility checks, and a lock down browser.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
The pandemic prompted the creation of a new proctoring modality known as Hybrid Virtual Proctoring which combines the security and deterrent of a live, human proctor with the affordability, efficiency, and scalability of virtual proctoring. Using Hybrid Virtual Proctoring, a student can be informed that during their proctored exam a person from their school (faculty and/or testing center staff) may be watching them in real time. They are also informed that at a very minimum their testing session is being monitored by artificial intelligence that is flagging possible testing anomalies.
One of the criticisms that schools had about automated virtual proctoring during the pandemic was that the artificial intelligence when working autonomously does not have the power to stop an assessment when an anomaly is detected. This gap in response time could seriously endanger the assessment content and allow academic dishonesty to continue. But with Hybrid Virtual Proctoring, when a live person is monitoring an exam, they can make that judgment call and stop the exam if needed.
Hybrid Virtual Proctoring can also achieve a scale of efficiency not possible when schools attempt to do their own form of hybrid proctoring using a tool such as Zoom. The Hybrid Virtual Proctoring interface in SmarterProctoring allows one live, human proctor to simultaneously monitor up to ten test takers. Hybrid Virtual Proctoring is superior to Zoom in that it couples the artificial intelligence with the live monitoring. It also provides 24/7/365 support to all candidates, performs device compatibility checks, and a lock down browser.
The COVID-19 crises fostered about ten years of growth in the adoption of virtual proctoring in about ten weeks. During a two-month period in the spring of 2020 as physical testing centers were forced to close, colleges and universities were scrambling for some way to continue testing while protecting the validity of testing results and their own brand integrity. Due to its ability to rapidly scale, many schools (somewhat reluctantly) shifted to automated virtual proctoring through which artificial intelligence monitors the testing event flagging potential testing anomalies which can be reviewed later. While this “emergency mode” of proctoring was necessary, especially during the lock-down phase of the pandemic, as months passed schools became eager to better protect their exam content and more reliably identify testing anomalies through the use of a human who is augmenting the artificial intelligence in real time. Many schools tried to achieve this by proctoring with Zoom, Teams, or similar conferencing software.
Out of this need evolved a new proctoring modality known as Hybrid Virtual Proctoring. As one of the modalities managed by SmarterProctoring, Hybrid Virtual Proctoring combines the security of a live human proctor with the affordability, efficiency and scalability of virtual proctoring.
The strong level of deterrent provided by Hybrid Virtual Proctoring starts during the instructions a student is given as they schedule the proctoring session. The student is informed and agrees to the fact that they will be taking a proctored exam. They are informed that the nature of the proctoring is a variable that will not be transparent to them during the examination experience. The student is informed that during their proctored exam a person from their school (testing center staff and/or faculty member) may be watching them in real time. Or, as an option to this person, there may be a trained proctor from a network of proctors watching them. Finally, they are assured that at a very minimum their testing session is being monitored by artificial intelligence that is flagging possible testing anomalies. They are informed on the types of actions that could trigger a flag such as their face disappearing, a second face appearing, voices being heard, loss of Internet connectivity, etc.
When a person knows they are being monitored, this reduces the likelihood of inappropriate actions. Think about the multiple camera angles that you see displayed on the monitors in the self-check out section of Walmart. When a person knows they are being observed and recorded, they will think twice about not scanning those items. When a student knows that someone from their school could be monitoring their exam, this is a high level of deterrent but at the low cost of automated virtual proctoring.
Hybrid Virtual Proctoring can also achieve a scale of efficiency not possible when schools attempt to do their own form of hybrid proctoring using a tool such as Zoom. The Hybrid Virtual Proctoring interface in SmarterProctoring allows one live, human proctor to simultaneously monitor up to ten test takers. If they see something suspicious, they can focus in on a specific test taker. Hybrid Virtual Proctoring is superior to Zoom in that it couples the artificial intelligence with the live monitoring. It also provides 24/7/365 support to all candidates, performs device compatibility checks, and a lock down browser.