Effects of Remote Proctoring on Composite Examination Performance Among Doctor of Pharmacy Students

Abstract

To determine the impact of remote proctoring on student pharmacist academic performance. Methods. This was a retrospective, observational study that compared first-(P1) and second-year (P2) student pharmacist scores on eight composite exams administered in spring 2020 (n=387), the final three of which were proctored remotely, to that of a historical cohort who took the same exams in spring 2019 (n=368). To assess whether remote proctoring affected academic performance, spring 2020 scores for exams 6, 7, and 8 were compared to that of a historical cohort proctored live in spring 2019. Academic performance on exams 1 through 4 was also compared between the two cohorts to evaluate any possible year-to-year variation in academic performance during non-remote circumstances. Mann Whitney tests were used to compare scores between the two cohorts. Results. Median scores were significantly lower in spring 2020 as compared to the historical cohort on the first composite exam administered to P1 students after the implementation of remote proctoring. In contrast, median scores were significantly higher for two of three exams administered to P2 students with remote proctoring. Conclusion.Remote proctoring has a minimal impact on student pharmacist exam performance and may be considered to assure academic honesty and security of testing content in a distance learning environment.

COVID-19-Driven Improvements and Innovations in Pharmacy Education: A Scoping Review

“…Cheating on exams is well known to be a challenge associated with online delivery of any higher education course or experience, and this has been reported in both pre-and post-COVID-19 studies [5][6][7][8]. None of the studies included in this scoping review specifically focused on this aspect or how to address it; however, there are many opinion pieces and commentaries available describing potential solutions, and an increasing number of studies relating to this topic have been published in other areas of higher education, including other professional programs [60][61][62][63][64]. Further research on this topic would be beneficial to help support the continued usage of online delivery of didactic and lab-based courses as well as virtual rotation experiences in pharmacy education.…”

Determining Whether Pharmacy Students Can Accurately Recall Items on an Examination Using Their Collective Memory

“…Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, examinations were virtually proctored to minimize academic dishonesity. 17 Immediately after the completion of the second and third midterm, the instructor emailed the students a link to a single GoogleDoc with instructions to recreate the examination. For midterm 2, students were instructed to be as accurate as possible with content, order, and phrasing; for midterm 3, the instructions were modified to be more explicit and include the correct and incorrect answer choices.…”

Development and acceptance of online assessment in higher education: Recommendations for further research

“…The physical space and invigilators needed for inperson testing are eliminated and the cost of the online proctoring is passed on to students. Hall et al, (2021) recommended that for educational institutions considering implementation of online proctoring, orientation should be conducted for both lecturers and students. This could take place as a mock examination to acquaint lecturers and students before their first remotely proctored examination.…”