Proctoring Policy
OTC’s Proctored Events for Online Courses (Links to an external site.) policy states, In order to verify the identity of students participating in online courses, each online course offering must include one proctored event in which each student registered for the course must participate.
This means that every online course must include an opportunity for students to verify their identity. Read more about why we proctor on the OTC website. (Links to an external site.)
So what constitutes a proctored event? Anything that is proctored, or viewed by the instructor. Traditionally, a third-party vendor such as Proctor U has been utilized to verify a student’s identity and also used as a proctoring tool during a quiz or exam. However, students must pay for this service and it can be a barrier for some students.
We recommend checking with your supervisor, department chair, or program director to best understand your individual course proctoring options.
Proctored Event Options
There are several alternatives to using a quiz or exam as your proctored event. Authentic assessments not only provide students with relevant and meaningful ways for which to demonstrate mastery of concepts but they are also authentic in that they provide students with a way to express their understanding of concepts beyond a multiple-choice exam. Think about all of the authentic assessment strategies that you’ve learned in this unit and then think about the content you teach. How can you apply these strategies to assessment practices in your course?
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a video-based tool that allows students to create videos (up to 10min) with ease. Have your students present, answer oral exam questions, or review a journal article using Flipgrid. At the beginning of the video, students can present their photo ID and then proceed with their assignment.
Some awesome features of Flipgrid that will help you in designing your authentic assessment:
- Flipgrid contains a moderate feature that allows only the teacher to view a student’s video.
- A student can share their screen and create a screencast video. For example, if students created an infographic as a review of an article they can share their screen and discuss their infographic.
- The built-in whiteboard allows students to draw on the screen. This can be used to have students solve problems or draw and explain a process.
- Fun stickers create a less tense atmosphere and can lessen test anxiety.
- Flipgrid is an asynchronous tool which means there is no need to schedule students for a face to face meeting. Students can complete the assignment on their own time and record their video as many times as it takes to get it right.