Why remote invigilation is necessary for online assessments
Traditional invigilation is the process of watching over a student while they sit for an exam. In an online environment it is known as proctoring, remote invigilation, online invigilation, online proctoring or even remote online proctoring. Instead of travelling to a place where an exam candidate sits for their exam, they can now take their exam from anywhere using their computer as long as they have a quite room with an internet connection.
Since the arrival of coronavirus many businesses have been forced to pivot how they run their business. Whether it’s a high school having to teach students via Zoom or an events company having to change from face to face events/parties to running a virtual murder mystery party. We have all had to adapt and ensuring the academic integrity of online assessments is no different, changes have to be made to traditional exams.
Remote invigilation gives flexibility and convenience to both the candidate and the institute assessing the student. At the time of examination, students can click on the assessment link on their Learning Management System (LMS) which triggers the invigilation system to open. The student is then verified using AWS facial recognition matched against their photo ID to ensure it’s the right candidate for the exam and then monitoring begins for the entire examination to ensure that no cheating occurs.
Reach Beyond the Exam Hall by Remote Invigilation / Online Proctoring
If you want to conduct proper exams online and want to make sure that there is no fraud, you can count on IRIS Invigilation to provide proctored exams system. No need to download software onto your computer, the IRIS extension is a Chrome/Edge plugin that students can easily add to their browser and then delete after their assessment.
The use of remote invigilation by IRIS gives candidates a great deal of flexibility as they can take their exam from anywhere allowing online studies more accessible to all. IRIS also reduces the costs of exams significantly, as overheads associated with face-to-face exams are removed.
Iris Features
IRIS records a student’s face for the full exam time. For example, for a three-hour exam, you have three hours of footage of their head and shoulders and all audio is recorded. Additionally, every 5-10 seconds (you can set this) a photo of screen activity (the whole screen) is taken and this footage is then made into another video for reviewers to view post assessment. IRIS includes AI flagging of all recordings. Timeline spikes indicate cheating behaviours (facial markers, tracking iris and audio) and short snapshots of footage where potential cheating is detected feature in the IRIS dashboard for easy monitoring and to make it easier and quicker for staff e.g. lecturers don’t have time to watch a three-hour video.
How does Iris work?
IRIS uses facial tracking to follow a students head and eye (iris) movement and records audio. For best results we encourage students to make sure their workspace is well lit with a neutral background and if they wear glasses we recommend they tilt their screen to ensure their eyes aren’t obscured.
Once an exam is finalized and submitted IRIS will close itself down automatically. Students will no longer have any interaction with IRIS and students cannot watch their own recordings. The IRIS dashboard is just for the institutes staff e.g lecturers, academics, trainers. Each recording will be given a flagged percentage % (predicting potential dishonest behaviour) once the recording is uploaded to IRIS. Staff can view recordings in the Summary and Full Report that feature on the IRIS dashboard. In the Full Report, green spikes on the video timeline indicate sound detected e.g. student talking to someone and the orange spikes indicate that IRIS cannot track your iris and/or the facial markers cannot track your face. In the Summary you can see a text list of all activity and snap shots of footage where IRIS has indicated potential cheating behaviours.
Why do we need online remote proctoring?
Distant assessments and invigilation means that there are no boundaries to education and learning. The growth in e-Learning, and the proliferation of online exams have created a favorable ground for the development of advanced remote proctoring systems.
Therefore, many factors influence the triggering of this request, and interpreting them will help to understand the need for remote testing better.
Why should universities use online remote proctoring?
Online remote proctoring has two purposes – one for teachers and the other for students.
For Teachers
The use of IRIS software facilitates the reliability of knowledge sharing and maintaining academic integrity. Institutes have invested time to train teachers in advanced fields and they want to ensure that the knowledge shared is being learnt effectively. They want to be confident that students can pass an exam without cheating and IRIS helps them achieve this goal. Universities prefer to conduct distance examinations and assessments using remote invigilation to certify that students are learning and not cheating.
For students
Universities use the online remote proctoring feature to stop remote fraud and impersonation concerns in online exams. Remote proctoring exams ensure a smooth process with careful monitoring of students, elimination of unwanted events, and effective post exam review.
Features of a good remote invigilation tool
Here are some basics to look for when selecting your Online Remote Proctoring Tool:
1) Easy and quick configuration with any Learning Management System (LMS) – Selecting a software that integrates its proctoring services with any existing LMS provides a seamless experience for the candidate. For example, IRIS is already set up to run exams on several LMS’s such as Moodle with excellent proctoring service.
2) Strength to withstand thousands of simultaneous exams without compromising the candidate’s experience – Online monitoring involves many tasks and actions related to data processing. IRIS can be scaled up to meet any demand required whether it be 200 students or 20,000.
3) Better automation and AI features (algorithms) ensures improved quality data – Many premium features are readily available, depending on the needs of the customers, providing a seamless review experience.
4) A comprehensive post exam report provides an in-depth analysis of the performance of the candidates and includes a section-wise assessment to maintain transparency.
More information...
Please Contact Us for more information about Iris Invigilation.