My institution is using software called honorlock. It is a MESS. your laptop/device doesnt' have a webcam? you cant' take a test. Do the computers in computer labs have cameras? No. Need to take a test right after an in person class? your SOL because you will get flagged for having a mask on if you take the test in a public space...so you have to go back to your room. Have a roommate who needs to be in the same space while you take a test? Flags all over the place. Wear a facial or head covering? Flags all over the place....and then we have a serious issue.<p>Add in that faculty have lazily started to just use the flags as 'you cheated' without reviewing them meaningfully. I tried it once, one student, for no discernable reason, generated over 200 flags.<p>These software are useless, not because they don't have their place but because they people implementing them are trying to solve their own fear rather than a meaningful problem in a meaningful way. Tests are minimally useful as an educational assessment to begin with. Some, like licensing exams, sure fine I'll give you some grace there. But if you are going to use the tool...you need to make at least a minimal effort to use the tool well. If you don't you make the tool useless. That lack of give a damn by users is driving a lack of give a damn by vendors.
<p><pre><code> procto- , proct-
Anus; (more frequently) rectum; Compare: recto-.
[G. prōktos]
</code></pre>
Classy name for an invasive surveillance company.<p>Personally I think the root of the problem is how much value is placed on the outcome of exams. Apparently the deal is that companies, in addition to their own invasive and broken interview methodologies, want proof from extremely expensive external institutions that you can cram a lot of information and retain it for at least one day.<p>Maybe we should switch to the old Chinese system where you had to write a nice poem and then were automatically qualified to do pretty much anything.
The most malware-y test-related piece of software I've had to install on my computer is Lockdown Browser, which requires to be run as root on macOS or Windows(!) (no Linux obviously), detects if its running in a VM, has a blacklist of processes that it forcibly kills and disables use of external displays and keyboards. I've heard that there's also a camera/microphone option but my professor didn't enable it.<p>And it's a difficult situation to be in because on the one hand you feel a moral imperative to say something but on the other you just want to pass the class. I have no idea how effective it was when students could just use their phone to look things up.<p>It doesn't have to be this way. I especially like UC Berkeley's guidelines for remote exams[0], some of which have been followed by other professors. e.g. if you limit submission time it's going to be near impossible to learn how to convert a state machine into a synchronous logical circuit and perform it within 15 minutes (plus other questions).<p>[0] <a href="https://teaching.berkeley.edu/best-practices-remote-examinations" rel="nofollow">https://teaching.berkeley.edu/best-practices-remote-examinat...</a>
CEO mentioned in the article, apologizing for using student chat records on Reddit.<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/01/ceo-of-exam-monitoring-software-proctorio-apologises-for-posting-students-chat-logs-on-reddit" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/01/ceo-o...</a>
I don’t understand why people don’t switch to open book exams. I have been doing it since COVID-19 situation. Despite open book my students struggle to to get an A.
Another aspect: How much inadvertent child pornography has Proctorio captured and stored within their system? What are their controls around handling and removing this data? Is anyone with access to this data a registered sex offender?<p>How many professors and/or Proctorio employees have masturbated to images of students captured by this software? Do students with large breasts or cleavage showing have their videos reviewed more frequently?<p>This whole system is creepy as fuck.
My university's: solution give just enough time, ramdomize question order, no backtracking. Some profs did the work and you get the questions from a set, instead of the same ones as everyone else. For oral exams webcam, microphone is required(usually done trought ms teams). For written exams webbrowser and rarely a vm. No webcam, microphone, malware required. They literally banned the usage of microphone, webcam, malware for spotting cheaters during written exams.
Their CEO should have no issue with his testimony being run through Proctorio's software and being charged with perjury if it's flagged as suspicious
This is similar to what Indian education startup WhiteHatJr was trying to do & lost badly after being exposed for coming up with fake children who received magical job offers from FAANG cos, random applications being submitted to app stores, fake profiles for underage users boasting of their work in generic tweets.