A Few Funny Things About that Remote Proctoring "Scorecard"

Plus, Johnson College hires a proctoring company. Plus, a new speaker at Course Hero summit. Plus, international quick bites.

Issue 35

A “Rights” Group Attacks Remote Test Proctoring, Hilarity Ensues

A group called “Fight for the Future” (FFF) has decided remote test proctoring - even during the pandemic - is bad, pushing schools not to use it. For obvious reasons, that’s a terrible idea.

While it’s not clear what expertise the group has to assess the state of academic affairs or academic integrity, this week they nonetheless launched a website with a “scorecard” of colleges supposedly based on whether they will or will not remotely proctor exams and assessments.

I am delighted they did because it gave me a healthy laugh.

First, they call it “eproctoring.” That’s not a thing. No one uses that term. It should be clear that, by definition, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Anyway, their list covers just 67 hand-picked colleges, scored on how FFF thinks they’re handling remote proctoring. More importantly, and not surprisingly, it is just wrong.

For example, they score the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as “won’t use” remote proctoring.

If they used Google, or read “The Cheat Sheet,” they’d know that’s not true (I wrote about this in Issue 3.) The school did not stop remote proctoring, they fired their proctoring provider and said clearly in that very announcement that there would be a “selection process of a new remote proctoring option beginning in Fall 2021.” The school has been using remote proctoring all along, even now.

They also list Stanford and UC Berkeley as “won’t use” remote proctoring, asking people to e-mail and tweet them “Thanks for not using eproctoring,” Mind you, both schools have seen major recent increases in cheating. Issue 34, of “The Cheat Sheet” - Berkeley cheating is up 3x. Issue 32 of “The Cheat Sheet” - cheating reports at Stanford has more than doubled in two years. And that’s just the cheating that’s caught and reported.

Maybe these schools don’t proctor their tests; I have not checked. But if they don’t, it shows. And increased cheating is not something they should be thanked for.

But the real reason I’m delighted to have this FFF list is because, putting aside the questionable accuracy, it’s an easy way to see some of the schools that are serious about protecting the integrity and value of their tests, assessments and degrees and some that are not. It’s the kind of thing hiring managers should consult when considering the value of a degrees.

Johnson College Picks uLearn as Proctoring Provider

Johnson College, a private, two year, trade-focused college in Scranton, PA has chosen uLearn as their remote proctoring provider.

uLearn is described as “a robust and advanced remote proctoring tool” according to the announcement. It’s not entirely clear, based on the announcement, whether the company is an AI-and-report tool or a live proctoring one. It simply says that with the company’s “AI-based online proctoring, live monitoring is possible during the course of the exam.”

The July Course Hero “Education Summit” Has Added a Featured Speaker

Course Hero is hosting an “Education Summit” in July, which I’ve written about frequently, paying special attention to who’s standing with the cheating company by appearing as a speaker.

Recently, a new name was added to the roster - Darryl DMC McDaniels, founding member of Run-DMC. He’s listed as “Mental Health Advisor” for a company called UWill, which seems to sell counseling services to colleges and universities.

That’s interesting.

Also interesting is that, according to their website, the CEO of UWill is Michael London, who founded the remote exam proctoring company Examity.

“The Cheat Sheet” Quick Bites, International Edition

News coverage in South Africa has a story about remote learning which includes that, due to the ongoing threat of Covid-19, some schools are considering returning to online courses and exams. The story reported:

A spike in misconduct cases in 2020, directly related to online exams and tests at institutions …

There was an increase in cheating in online assessments last year, said both Prof Lis Lange, the deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Martin Viljoen, spokesperson for Stellenbosch University.

From Morocco, we see the headline, “Ibn Tofail University Cheating Scandal: Exams Officially Postponed.”

What’s interesting about this cheating incident is that there’s video of the cheating, linked from the coverage. In it:

The students of Kenitra’s University are shown using notes, smartphones and discussing answers during the exam.

It’s also interesting that a statement from the school described the cheating as,

the non-pedagogical circumstances that marked the spring semester exams

Come on, that’s funny.

Finally, from New Zealand, multiple outlets are covering a cheating investigation. One headline says, “Auckland University launches investigation into claim of 'widespread, organised cheating' during online exams.”

The reporting says:

The probe comes after a student told Newshub they estimate more than half of those in their programme were sharing answers and pooling knowledge with others during their exams on online chatrooms.

The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, says it's "unacceptable" examiners are operating an unsupervised, trust-based online system that undermines the efforts of students trying to compete honestly for places in future courses.

In the next “The Cheat Sheet” - More cheating.

Have cheating or integrity news or tips or comments? E-mail me: Derek@NovemberGroup.net

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