Online Assessment

Indiana U High School Adopts Examity for Online Proctoring

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 12/14/17

Following a nearly three-year pilot, Indiana University High School will be working with the proctoring platform Examity, which was chosen over alternatives for its "flexibility, security and support." The high school, hosted at the university, is a distance education program serving learners around the world; it will make the remote testing platform available free to students.

Examity uses live proctors located in a supervised proctoring center. In the full-blown service, the proctors assist students with getting their computers set up for the testing session and then monitor both the student (via webcam) and the student's computer while he or she is taking the test. Teachers receive a report indicating which students had questionable or illegal behavior during the test. They can then review the videos to decide what action — if any — they need to take. However, Examity offers several levels of proctoring: automated authentication and live authentication -- including via mobile device; auto-proctoring; record and review proctoring; and live proctoring. Data, including the exam contents, security questions, government IDs and video feeds, are encrypted to prevent unauthorized access. Videos are retained for a given period then deleted.

Earlier this year, the company also released examiDATA, an analytics platform that allows its education customers to monitor the rate of test-taking violations and benchmark against peer institutions.

Examity is now integrated into Instructure Canvas, Indiana University High School's learning management system. Course assessments are created with Canvas tools or a third-party program, and then Examity is used to schedule assessments that require proctoring.

"After five semesters of rigorous pilot projects, we found that Examity's combination of flexibility, security and support was the best solution for our online learners," said Chris Foley, assistant vice president and director of the Office of Online Education at Indiana U, in a press release. "Online learning has the potential to dramatically increase access to IU's world-class educational offerings, but it also necessitates a relentless focus on ensuring the quality and integrity of assessments and programs. Examity emerged as the clear choice to provide reliable, sophisticated solutions that fit the unique profile of the IU community."