Delivering learning and assessment in online platforms is not new to UNE – for decades we have deployed tools that lead the sector in online delivery. Invigilated examinations supervised by a real person also aren’t a new phenomenon for UNE, having held hundreds of thousands of paper-based exams all over the world. Combining these two things, though, creates a new space where people often aren’t sure how to apply their existing knowledge to make sense of it. One of the key areas of uncertainty is privacy – how is student data and identity handled by UNE and by ProctorU? How do we ensure integrity of action and information? This article will cover everything you need to know about privacy in the online proctoring environment.
What do we mean when we talk about privacy?
Privacy helps us establish boundaries to limit who has access to our bodies, places and things, as well as our communications and our information.
It is often necessary to provide some private information to institutions or businesses for specific purposes such as online shopping, travel or study. All organisations have responsibilities and obligations under law to protect your privacy while using provided information to provide goods and services.
Privacy in OLX
The rapid shift to online exams in 2020 sparked a global conversation about the ethics of data collection among students, universities and remote proctoring services. This was not a new consideration for UNE as we have been holding some of our exams this way since 2017, but we saw heightened concern from many of our students who were unfamiliar with this platform.
Our CyberSecurity Team and our Privacy Officer have assessed ProctorU’s technology, policies and procedures as meeting cybersecurity best practice, community expectations and all legal requirements. Our contract with ProctorU binds us (and them) to ensure we both meet these obligations and ensures that any data relating to our students remains secure, confidential and under the control of UNE.
What does this mean in practice?
As with paper-based, face-to-face exams it is important that UNE can provide assurance to professional and accrediting bodies that the person completing the exam is the student gaining the credit for that work. This is the reason identity is checked at the start of any exam, and why students are monitored by an exam supervisor for the duration.
Exams supervised remotely require online methods of ensuring students are working under exam conditions. The supervisor will ask to be shown that the room is clear of other people and unauthorised items before starting. To ensure students are not accessing online resources or communication tools, the platform also turns off blacklisted software and can detect second screens and keyboards etc – this software does not run outside of the exam and can easily be removed between exams if desired.
UNE has implemented Single Sign On to enable secure movement between our Learning Management System (Moodle) and the ProctorU supervision platform. When first logging in to ProctorU, students are asked to provide some very basic information about themselves which is used to facilitate the exam and assist if necessary.
This includes
- Institution name (UNE-Australia)
- Email address (UNE email address will default, used for booking confirmations)
- First name and last name (This is used to check identity on entry to an exam)
- A phone number (only used if assistance is required during the exam)
- Time zone (so we can display exam booking times appropriately and resource the exam supervision)
- A photo (to match with photo ID card on the day)
All of this information is already on record with UNE and is exactly the same as would be provided for a face-to-face paper-based examination. Any images of ID are deleted within 7 days. Logs and recordings of exams are archived after 12 months of inactivity on student accounts and permanently deleted after a further 12 months of inactivity. It is possible to request deletion of records at any time.
What about supervision?
UNE has partnered with ProctorU to provide exam supervision in the same way we previously partnered with multiple external organisations to provide supervision at our 400+ external exam venues globally. This partnership gives us better quality control and privacy assurance than we had with supervisors in face-to-face venues.
Our shared view of the role of supervisors is that they should provide a supportive environment while upholding the academic integrity and professional standards that we set. To ensure performance standards, ProctorU run a number of internal quality assurance programs. Every supervisor is assessed for professionalism at least every month. Managers are in attendance at all times and regular training is provided.
Artificial Intelligence is used in the supervision process, but only to assist the exam supervisor to notice unexplained noises in the room, lighting changes or other signs that a student may be cheating. Human supervisors will take action as required and any decisions around academic misconduct are only made by UNE staff after a proper investigation which includes input from the student involved.
You can read more about how we manage our supervision arrangements here: The OLX Experience – Understanding Proctoring | Digital Education @ UNE
Common misconceptions
There is a lot of misinformation around regarding online proctoring – everything from students getting a fail grade for cheating because they moved their eyes during the exam, to ProctorU collecting genetic information and citizenship status. These myths are not true, and we would never partner with any service where these things were a possibility. Unfortunately, this kind of misinformation only creates anxiety at a time students should be able to focus on performing at their best.
Resources
For further information on privacy and how ProctorU and UNE manage your data, you can read through both ProctorU’s privacy policy and UNE’s collection notice specific to online examinations: