Why Remote Proctoring is the Best Solution to Conduct Exams Amid COVID-19?

The COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown in March 2020 forced educational institutions including colleges and universities to halt their classes and examinations for a time period. While the institutions resumed their classes through digital solutions such as video conferencing applications; conducting examinations remained a real challenge. In April, University Grants Commission (UGC), the apex body of universities, directed to postpone all the planned examinations to July. 

As the month of July witnessed a surge in COVID-19 positive cases, with the approval from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, UGC directed to conduct examinations through any of the modes – paper-pen or online/blended. Since the COVID-19 cases are surging, and the traveling persists to be a problem, it is a herculean task for the colleges and universities to organize the offline examinations and evaluation. Currently, the best solution for this is to bank on online examinations and the UGC has already approved this mode. This move leaves universities in a situation where they need to explore various available options. 

Is online examination a feasible solution?

Online examinations are being conducted since many years in the past and recently the assessment players in the industry have evolved further to administer exams effectively and effortlessly by combining the benefits of newly emerged technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing. Now, online tests can be conducted remotely at any scale with high precision and security. Students can write the exam from the comfort of their home and the institutions can monitor it remotely. The system can reduce malpractices from the side of test taker with the help of artificial intelligence. Quick and fast results is another benefit of online examinations.

One of the biggest challenges for administrating exam is various forms of frauds including the cheating during the exam. The remote proctoring is one such solution to mitigate this issue. Technological advancement has made innovations in remote proctoring service. The AI-enabled proctoring system allows cutting-edge solutions to invigilate the exams. 

In online proctoring, the candidate is usually monitored via webcam, mic and access to the screen of the candidate during the exam. It prevents opening of other windows in their computer, monitors the movement of students to spot malpractices by controlling the device in which the candidate attempts the exam.

Solutions from MeritTrac

MeritTrac, India’s leading assessment and testing company, has developed a more sophisticated remote proctoring solutions in order to secure online examinations. The company provides three types of remote proctoring i.e., live online exam proctoring, recorded proctoring, and automated proctoring. 

• Live online exam proctoring: A qualified proctor or invigilator monitors the candidates’ audio-video and screen share feeds in real-time sitting at a remote location. Therefore, it is not very different from offline proctoring except for the flexibility of the proctoring location. 
• Recorded proctoring: Candidates’ audio-video and screen share feeds are recorded and reviewed by a proctor later. Usually, the recordings are played in a fast-forward manner for the proctor to detect any suspicious activities. The human involvement retains the disadvantages of the live online exam proctoring despite removing location and time constraints.
• Automated proctoring: This is the latest and most advanced form of proctoring. It almost removes any need for human intervention at all. Face recognition helps authenticate the candidates’ identity. The system records the audio-video and screen share feeds and simultaneously monitors them for any suspicious activities using advanced video and audio analytics. This type of proctoring works by limiting candidate logins to specific IP addresses and blocks copy-pasting. It does not allow the candidate to switch the window or access any other application during the test. Automated proctoring also tracks mouse movement, candidate movement and other set functions. Removal of the location and time constraint makes automated proctoring economical and foolproof.

End-to-End exam management

The remote proctoring is bundled with MeritTrac’s end-to-end online exam software called Pariksha, a hybrid scientific assessment platform. This software helps you to seamlessly author, design, schedule, and deliver online exams at any scale. The Pariksha software has the following features:

• Facilitate the assessment of a large number of candidates
• Auto evaluate candidate responses
• Cut down the time taken to evaluate the test result data
• Reduce bias-based evaluation and decision making

The real-time or digital evaluation reduces the time and efforts in post-exam processes and speeds up the declaration of results. This online examination software can be an excellent tool for educational institutions to conduct the exam amid Coronavirus disease scare and complete their examinations in record time for safeguarding the students’ interests.