This document discusses the use of online proctoring software like Respondus Lockdown Browser for secure assessment. It begins by outlining the session outcomes, which are to discuss how faculty currently assess student learning, identify the purpose and methods of secure assessment using an online proctoring example, and evaluate the impact on equity and accessibility. It then explores how students sometimes cheat on online exams and how proctoring software works to restrict computer capabilities and monitor the testing environment. However, research also suggests proctoring may negatively impact student grades and create barriers for some learners. The document advocates considering alternative exam formats and the impact of assessment choices on student success and accessibility.

1. To Lock or Not to Lock?
Using Respondus for Secure Assessment
Zoe Fisher
Instructional Designer, Pierce College
Thursday, April 26, 2018

2. Introduction, or who am I and why do I care
about this?
Information literacy librarian, community college
educator, faculty developer, and online teacher.
Since 2012, I have worked for...
● Pierce College (2012-2016, 2018 - Present)
● Green River College (Fall 2017)
● Renton Technical College (Fall 2017)
● Southern Utah University (Fall 2017)
● University of Colorado Denver (2016-2017)
● Lower Columbia College (Winter & Spring 2012)

3. Let's Chat 1
If you'd like to do so, please
use the chat box to share...
● Where you teach
● What you teach
● How you teach (f2f, hybrid,
online, etc.)
f2f = face-to-face
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

4. "I need somewhere to take my test.“ Part 1
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

5. Outcomes, or what will you get out of today's
session?
By the end of this session, you will be able to...
● Discuss how you assess student learning in your own teaching
● Identify the purpose of secure assessment
● Identify how online proctoring works, using Respondus Lockdown
Browser as an example
● Evaluate the ways that secure assessment can impact equity and
hinder accessibility
● Discuss ethics and privacy as issues in secure assessment

6. Let’s Chat 2

7. Let's Chat 3
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
What are some of the ways that
you assess student learning?
How do you know students are
learning in your courses?
Possible examples: essays, quizzes,
presentations... what else?

8. Let's Chat 4
Thinking about one of the ways that you
assess student learning...
How could students cheat?
For example, with an essay assignment, students
students could plagiarize from source material,
material, recycle a paper from a previous class, or
class, or buy a paper online.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

9. No assessment
method is cheat-
proof.

10. Is cheating more
frequent in online
courses?

11. Is cheating more frequent in online courses? 1
Most research says no.
A 2009 survey of 225 students at a private Christian
college found cheating behaviors were more likely in
face-to-face courses.
Stuber-McEwen, D., Wiseley, P., & Hoggatt, S. (2009). Point, click, and cheat: Frequency and type of academic dishonesty
in the virtual classroom. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(3), 1-10.

12. Is cheating more frequent in online courses? 2
A 2010 survey of 635 undergraduate and graduate
students also found cheating behaviors were more
likely in face-to-face courses.
Watson, G. & Sottile, J. (2010). Cheating in the digital age: Do students cheat more in online courses?. OnlineJournal of Distance
Learning Administration, 13(1). Retrieved from https://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring131/watson131.html

13. How common is
cheating in proctored
online exams?

14. Top searches…

15. Number of final exams analyzed by Examity (online test proctor)
62,534

16. Percentage of cases where students were found to have "violated
the rules" of the exam (per Examity's study of 62,534 final exams)
6%

17. Examples of Rule Violations Found in
Examity's Study
• Parent hid under test-taker's desk to give answers
• Answers were coughed in Morse code outside the room
• Cheat sheet hidden in baby's bassinet
• Coughing fit to induce cheat sheet hidden in throat
• Hired a professional "ringer" to take the exam
Source: Schaffhauser, D. (2016, April 6). How students try to bamboozle online proctors. CampusTechnology.
Retrieved from https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/04/06/how-students-try-to-bamboozle-online-
proctors.aspx

18. How Students Cheat in Online Exams 1
• Cheat sheets
• Google Search
• GoogleTranslate

19. How Students Cheat in Online Exams 2
• Cheat sheets
• Google Search
• GoogleTranslate
Also...
• Copying test questions to
share
• Hiding flashcards underneath
the keyboard
• Hanging answers on walls

20. Cheating
happens.
So what can faculty do?

21. Thinking about how
to secure your
assessments is part
of designing your
learning experience.

22. Thinking about how
to secure your
assessments is part
of designing your
learning experience.

23. Why do you use that assessment?
Which learning outcomes does it
measure?
Do you find the assessment valuable?
Do your students find the assessment
valuable?
Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash

24. Weigh your options before deciding to
embrace technological solutions to
pedagogical problems.

25. Practices for Verification of Student Identity
Federal law requires institutions to ensure that the "student
who registers in the distance education or correspondence
education courses or programs is the same student who
participates in and completes and receives the academic
credit." (Higher Education Opportunity Act, 2008)

26. Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
Recommendations
"In verifying the identity of students the institution may make use of a variety of
methods at the option of the institution, including but not limited to:
1) secure login and pass code;
2) proctored examinations; and
3) new or other technologies and practices that are effective in verifying the
identity of students.
Such methods must have reasonable and appropriate safeguards to protect student
privacy."
Source: Higher Learning Commission. (2018, January). Federal compliance overview. Retrieved from
http://download.hlcommission.org/FedCompOverview_PRC.pdf

27. How is the online
testing environment
secured?

28. Securing the Online Testing Environment 1
Restricting computer
capabilities during a test
restricting browsing and use of
other programs

29. Securing the Online Testing Environment 2
Restricting computer
capabilities during a test
restricting browsing and use of
other programs
Identity authentication
photo ID, biometric keystrokes

30. Securing the Online Testing Environment 3
Restricting computer
capabilities during a test
restricting browsing and use of
other programs
Identity authentication
photo ID, biometric keystrokes
Monitoring testing
environment
revealing what's visible/available
under desk, on walls

31. Securing the Online Testing Environment 4
Restricting computer
capabilities during a test
restricting browsing and use of
other programs
Identity authentication
photo ID, biometric keystrokes
Monitoring testing
environment
revealing what's visible/available
under desk, on walls
Monitoring behavior during a
test watching student's
movements and listening to
noises during test

32. What Does Respondus Lockdown Browser do?
Disclaimer: I am not a product representative! Please refer specific questions to
Respondus.

33. What Does Respondus Lockdown Monitor do?
Disclaimer: I am not a product representative! Please refer specific questions to
Respondus.

34. Does online proctoring impact grades?
A 2017 study from Miami University found that
students taking online exams with proctoring
software took less time and earned significantly
lower scores than students taking unproctored
online exams.
Source: Alessio, H. M., Malay, N., Maurer, K., Bailer, A. J., & Rubin, B. (2017). Examining the effect of proctoring on online
test scores. Online Learning, 21(1), 146-161.

35. Does monitoring students via webcam
make a difference? Study 1
Source: Alessio, H. M., Malay, N., Maurer, K., Bailer,A. J., & Rubin, B. (2017). Examining the effect of
proctoring on online test scores. Online Learning, 21(1), 146-161.

36. Does monitoring students via webcam
make a difference? Study 2
Source: Alessio, H. M., Malay, N., Maurer, K., Bailer,A. J., & Rubin, B. (2017). Examining the effect of
proctoring on online test scores. Online Learning, 21(1), 146-161.

37. Can't use proctoring software?
Make your tests harder to take.

38. Discouraging Academic Dishonesty in
Online Exams
• Randomize answers
• Time limit questions
• Narrow time window to take the exam (e.g., only open for a 2-hour
window on a specific day)
• Lock questions (can only see one at a time, can't go back)
• Limit attempts
• Do not allow students to see correct answers
• Use new exams with new questions each quarter
Sources:
Michael, T.B., & Williams, M.A. (2013). Student equity: Discouraging cheating in online courses.
Administrative Issues 3(2). Retrieved from https://dc.swosu.edu/aij/vol3/iss2/6
Smith, C. & Noviello, S. (2012, September). Best practices in authentication and verification of students in
online education [Presentation]. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10755/243374

39. Making your tests
harder to take can
also create equity
and accessibility
issues.

40. Fewer Obstacles
=
More Accessible

41. How do your assessment choices impact
student success?
Timed questions, randomizing answers, and limiting the time window for exams...
may create barriers for learners with disabilities
and
learners with families
and
learners who work

42. "But I always work with
students who have
accommodations."

43. When adding layers of security to your
exams, consider...
• Who has easy access to a photo ID?
• Who has access to a secure testing
environment?
• Who has access to testing facilities
that meet technical specifications
required by your exam?
• Who is able to schedule work and
childcare around testing windows or
strict testing time limits?
Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

44. Let's Chat 5
Can you think of reasons why
students may not want to show
their photo ID for online
exams?
Or why students may not feel
comfortable revealing their
testing environment via
webcam?
What other kinds of issues may
arise from secure assessment?
Photo by Rob Sarmiento on Unsplash

45. Exam Alternatives

46. Problem-Solving as Assessment

47. Can you give your
students a complex,
open-ended problem to
solve as a team?

48. Task Students With Writing
Their Own Exam

49. "Write Your Own Final" Assignment Instructions
• Must include all topics covered in the course
• Must use only open-ended and short answer question (no fill-in-the-
blank, multiple choice, or true/false)
• Must use all levels of Bloom'sTaxonomy
• Must include an answer key
• Must be worth at least 100 points (and point value must correspond
with difficulty of question)
• Students can work together but exams should be unique

50. When evaluating your assessments...
Have you discussed assessments with other
faculty in your department?
With deans?
With an instructional designer?

51. "I need somewhere to take my test.“ Part 2
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

52. Online proctoring makes the most sense when...
• The class/program is completely online
• On-campus proctoring is not an option
• High-stakes cumulative/summative assessments must be used
• Assessment questions can be easily answered with information from
textbooks, the web, or class notes
• Industry or accreditation standards require it

53. Let's Chat 6
Something new you learned
today?
Something you want to try
or change in your teaching?
Questions, feedback, or
ideas?

54. Thank you!Unless otherwise specified, IGNIS content is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported
License.