Assessment

Texas Community Colleges Adds Online Proctoring Service

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/11/16

A major statewide community college system has added a new option for proctoring of online tests. The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) has signed a master contract with Examity, a Massachusetts company, to offer proctoring of online exams to the system's 50 colleges through a cooperative purchasing agreement. The colleges aren't obligated to work with the company, even though, as a December request for proposal pointed out, the "contracts are highly advantageous to them."

An online proctoring system allows students to take exams without being physically in the same room as an exam proctor. With Examity's service, once a test-taker has set up a profile, including submitting a "government-issued ID" with photo and time zone, he or she can schedule an exam. On test day the student logs in through the institution's learning management system and connects to the proctoring dashboard to be connected with a "live proctor" who monitors the testing-taking process.

The Texas college system specifically requested integration with Instructure Canvas, as well as other "popular" learning management systems and assessment systems, including Questionmark Perception, Pearson's MyMathLab and McGraw-Hill Connect. The RFP also stipulated that video be created for the entire testing session to allow the proctor or an auditor to check for possible violations and suspicious activities. Another requirement was that the vendor allow for payment by the college, by the student or as a split between the two. Although 18 vendors were invited to submit proposals, six did so.

"Examity offers an exemplary solution to proctor online exams by providing the flexibility, integration and reliability we need," said Charlie Oberrender, director of cooperative purchasing for the Texas college system in a press release.