Universities today face distinct problems in maintaining academic integrity while reducing operating costs. The educational landscape is continuously evolving, which means that to stay competitive, colleges must provide flexible, safe online proctoring services.
Not only are proctoring services responsible for ensuring student integrity, but they also have an impact on the way students and parents view the institution. For this reason, colleges and universities must choose the best proctoring software–to ensure the reputation of the school remains in high regard by providing a valuable online experience.
In this post, we will go over the four main features you must look for when choosing an online proctoring service and explain why these features are non-negotiable.
#1 Tech Support and Great Customer Service
The proctor provider you choose must offer around-the-clock customer support to assist in test-taking. Technology is ever-changing and can sometimes be difficult to set up, especially when you have an important deadline like an upcoming test. When you don’t have anyone to help with tech issues it becomes a real problem. That’s where having a great technical support team who will understand your concerns and give you answers to software questions is important. Your institution needs to make sure the proctoring service provider can guarantee that you will have assistance throughout the whole proctoring process and will be available to answer any questions. If you're a test administrator, you may rest easy knowing that your online proctoring service provider, not you or your employees, will handle any technical concerns.
#2 Easy to Use Software
There are several reasons you should consider easy-to-use software. Higher education professionals have limited time, so investing in a complicated system should be out of the question. Maybe you are currently using a complicated software system for other work tasks so adding another tech burden won’t help you or the institution. You need a proctoring service that's going to be easy for you and your employees to use.
When looking for an online proctoring service you should look for a simple system, so you can get set up quickly and easily.
#3 Data Privacy and Security
As students increasingly rely on technology in and outside of the classroom, student information is more at risk of being compromised than ever before. Student privacy is a critical issue that must be protected. The best way to protect student privacy is to ensure that third-party services used by universities do not compromise student data.
Your organization needs to be sure that the proctoring you are investing in is safe and secure. Students entering personal information into exam software should have confidence that their information will be protected and kept private.
#4 Identity Verification
A key feature you should look for in any proctoring service you consider is a quality identification verification process. Ideally, this feature should be included in the “set-up” process before an exam is taken and should work with facial recognition. Some proctoring services require uploading sensitive student information like an ID and other documentation, but a quality proctoring service should provide easy facial recognition software to eliminate the need for students to disclose their information.
There are so many proctoring services, but your decision should come from ensuring that the software protects and serves your staff and students. If the software has the four mentioned features, you can have peace of mind that student integrity will be preserved.
If you want to administer your exams in a way that promotes student integrity and is also easy to use for your staff, register for a demo of Wise Proctoring services.
