What is online proctoring and why is UNE using this?

‘Proctoring’ is another word for exam supervision. A number of companies worldwide offer this service and UNE is working with ProctorU.

ProctorU is a live online proctoring service that allows you to take your exam in your own space at home. This means that a real person will supervise your exam in real time via your webcam. They will also monitor what is running on your computer via screen sharing software. Using your computer’s webcam, microphone and speakers, you will be able to communicate with your proctor as they guide you through the process of proving your identity, ensuring you are working under exam conditions and logging you in to start your exam. There is also a web chat facility to communicate with the proctor. The proctor is able to assist you with any technical issues or problems with the exam. Once you start your exam, their presence will not be obvious but they will continue to monitor you and the applications on your computer.

UNE is an online university and we want to provide you with the flexibility and options that an online platform brings, while retaining the integrity of a supervised exam. There are a number of benefits this technology could provide to students, academic staff and to the university. Benefits include having much more flexibility in when exams can be held, reducing our carbon footprint, being able to offer rich media in exam questions and removing the issues involved with marking handwritten work.

We are excited about the benefits to students which include the possibility of choosing your own exam start time (within the specific exam availability window) and removing the need to travel to an exam venue. We hope this will make your university study much more accessible and make it easier to balance your work, family and study commitments.

To get a feel for how an exam is supervised online, check out this video.