This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Crowded exam halls echoing with pencil scratches, rustling papers and supervisors’ footsteps have been replaced with solo tests in bedrooms or at kitchen tables – sometimes under a webcam’s glare.
Georgia Yee, UBC Alma Mater Society vice-president, said Proctorio has raised privacy concerns, made students feel “creeped out” and amped up anxiety. She said she’s heard of test-takers with darker skin tones, religious head coverings or disabilities being flagged. Mike Olsen, CEO of Arizona-based Proctorio, said he sympathizes with students and teachers who have been forced out of their comfort zones with the abrupt switch to online, but “the university has got to maintain some level of integrity.”Proctorio operates as a browser extension, so students don’t have to download anything and can easily disable it after a test. It offers a broad menu of features to faculty, so teachers can opt for less invasive means of monitoring.
“A key factor that’s been documented over and over again related to misconduct rates is student stress,” she said.“When teachers or profs give a test or an exam, there’s usually one variable that’s supposed to change – and that variable is supposed to be the student’s knowledge,” she said. “It’s an academically sterile environment.”
Great Back to the drawing board!