Proctoring Examination Policy
Custodian of Policy: Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Relevant Minnesota State Policy: Minnesota State does not yet have guidance to institutions formalized in an operating instruction of the Board of Trustees Policies and Procedures.
Effective Date: December 2022
Last Review: Fall 2022
Next Review: Fall 2029
Purpose
To aid in ensuring a secure and quality in-person and remote testing environment, Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) has established guidelines and procedures for internal and external proctoring services. In-person and remote proctoring services are available to enrolled MSUM students at no additional cost.
Definitions
In-person proctoring: students are being supervised by an examination proctor at an on-campus or alternative physical location.
Remote proctoring: software allows students to take exams from an off-site location, while reinforcing the integrity of the exam. Generally, the software will confirm a student’s identity and either live-monitor or record a student using a webcam during the examination, looking for behaviors that may indicate academic misconduct (e.g., looking at a calculator or receiving assistance from another student). The monitoring may be done by a human proctor or by artificial intelligence. The monitoring software may be accompanied by additional software that locks down a student’s web browser to prevent access to other windows or applications.
Student: the individual taking the course examination.
Proctor: the individual or software program identified to verify and supervise the student during the examination.
Faculty: the individual providing the examination information/parameters and to whom the exam result will be returned. Faculty are normally the proctors for in-person course examinations.
In-person Proctoring Guidelines
Faculty are expected to proctor their own in-person course examinations. It is appropriate to ask faculty colleagues, preferably within the department, to proctor an examination when the course instructor must be absent.
In emergency situations, individual faculty members might have no alternative but to ask either the departmental clerical staff or a student worker for assistance during an examination period. However, in the absence of such an emergency, faculty members are expected to administer their own course examinations.
For students with approved accommodation requests, Accessibility Resources offers in-person proctoring that is facilitated by trained staff.
Remote Proctoring Guidelines
MSUM uses remote proctoring (Invigilation) products, which incorporate similar processes of verifying student identity and/or recording the student as they take the exam, recording keystrokes etc. from their computer, and using a combination of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and human observation to monitor for behaviors that may be considered academic misconduct.
Although remote proctoring services that are approved to use by the colleges and universities of Minnesota State are contractually obligated to comply with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA), students may have other privacy concerns about third-party recorded remote proctoring, especially those that captures students’ living spaces.
Faculty who intend to use remote proctoring should adhere to the guidelines listed below:
- Inform students before the drop deadline, either on a syllabus or in a separate written communication, that remote proctoring will be taking place for midterm(s) and/or the final exam;
- Provide opportunities that allow students to practice using the remote proctoring service so that students are aware of and able to resolve any potential issues that may arise before taking a required assessment with the remote proctoring service. These non-graded practice assessments should be offered before the end of the add/drop date for a course.
- Implement accommodations for students who have letters of approved accommodation from Accessibility Resources;
- Establish and communicate procedures to assist students when remote proctoring may not be available due to limited internet access or technological concerns;
- Provide options for acceptable alternative remote proctoring arrangements for the small number of students who are unable to or do not wish to use remote proctoring. This excludes students enrolled in select programs where program accreditation bodies mandate remote proctoring. Examples include, but are not limited to
- Providing an in-person proctoring session at a designated location.
- Live (non-recorded) remote proctoring option via an available video conferencing tool (e.g., Zoom, Teams).
- Alternate assessments that still allow you to assess student learning including papers, video or oral presentations, or oral assessments via Zoom or Teams.
Appended Resources
Guide includes information on:
- access and use of available remote proctoring tools
- student support resources for providing instructions and tutorials
- available faculty training and support resources
- connecting with Accessibility Resources