On the necessity (or lack thereof) of digital proctoring: Drawbacks, perceptions, and alternatives

Abstract

Background: It is important for institutions of higher education to maintain academic integrity, both for students and the institutions themselves. Proctoring is one way of accomplishing this, and with the increasing popularity of online courses-along with the sudden shift to online education sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic-digital proctoring has seen an increase in use. However, there are privacy and bias concerns related to digital proctoring, so it is important to critically examine its role in higher education-when it should and should not be used, and how it is perceived among those who interact with it.

Trustworthy remote assessments: A typology of pedagogical and technological strategies

“…In addition, students have reported that they felt fewer opportunities for engaging in misconduct in proctored exams compared to nonproctored exams (Hylton et al, 2016). These are the most beneficial aspects of digital proctoring from the perspective of many instructors (Conijn et al, 2022;Duncan & Joyner, 2022). However, digital proctoring technologies have also raised several significant challenges.…”

“…Currently, digital proctoring is the approach most used to reduce cheating due to their relative ease of administration to administer online examinations in a variety of times and places as per convenience (Conijn et al, 2022; Duncan & Joyner, 2022), scaling to many students with relatively little extra effort (Khalil et al, 2022). Duncan and Joyner (2022) define ‘digital proctoring’ as technology‐based methods for maintaining academic integrity on digitally administered assessments by preventing or detecting cheating behaviours (e.g. consulting with other live individuals and utilizing forbidden resources, or violating other exam rules).…”

“…Patael et al (2022) applied a survey to 4,380 students in Tel Aviv University (TAU) (out of 25,000 students), and 93.54% of them experienced at least one online proctored exam during fall 2020-2021 Duncan and Joyner (2022). also applied a survey about proctoring to 474 students and 49 teaching assistants in various countries all over the world (although the majority located in the U.S.), and most of them perceived proctoring as necessary to ensure academic integrity.…”

“…In these lines, the results ofPatael et al (2022) showed that only half of TAU students thought that online proctored exams were the most effective type of assessment. Considering the lack of conclusive evidence of the benefit of online proctored exams(Khalil et al, 2022), Approach number 1 suggests to define what type of remote assessment method is most appropriate to measure specific learning outcomes, so as to prioritize the use of online proctoring only in such cases where students are geographically distributed (ideally in the same time zone); course content is ill suited to other types of assessment methods; and dishonest behaviours have been observed to grow in the targeted population(Duncan & Joyner, 2022). In other words, instructors and administrators should prioritize the use of online proctoring when strictly necessary (and check its compliance with institutional regulations).Considering the need to encourage alternative assessment methods,Surahman and Wang (2022) suggest the use of performance-based assessments, such as online oral presentations, written reports, e-portfolios, and student fact sheets.…”

“…In other words, instructors and administrators should prioritize the use of online proctoring when strictly necessary (and check its compliance with institutional regulations).Considering the need to encourage alternative assessment methods,Surahman and Wang (2022) suggest the use of performance-based assessments, such as online oral presentations, written reports, e-portfolios, and student fact sheets. Regarding exams,Duncan and Joyner (2022) suggest the use of open-book assessment and interpretation questions when instructors want to prevent the consultation of unauthorized materials. They also suggest the use of question banks to implement randomized questions, aiming to prevent collaboration among classmates and seeking aid from content experts.…”