Alternatives to Proctoring

Use a Current Exam in a Non-Proctored Environment

With a bit of modification, you can offer your current exams in a non-proctored environment and minimize cheating. Here are some suggestions from research and literature.

Cheating acknowledgement statement
- Studies have shown when students are required to regularly acknowledge they are not cheating, they are far less likely to be dishonest. In research where this has been studied, a question was included often within the content of the exam asking students if they understand the consequences of cheating. This question was worth zero points, but reminded students regularly of their obligation to not cheat. (Ex., “I understand that if I am caught cheating on this exam I will receive a zero as my grade, and my name may be submitted to the College Appeals Board.”)
Timed exams
- Reduce the amount of time a student can complete the exam to a tighter timeframe (e.g., reduce from 60 minutes to 50 minutes). This solution will also reduce the amount of time a student could spend finding answers to your questions elsewhere.
Open-book exams
- Give students the chance to use relevant texts and resources during their exam. If your questions are primarily multiple-choice, we suggest adding a time limit to the assessment. This is a good opportunity to include a higher number of difficult questions on your exam.
Shortened window to access an exam
- Instead of allowing students to have many days to complete an assessment, shorten the length of time they can access the test. By limiting the amount of time students can open the exam, you limit the opportunity for collusion between students.
Rethink your policies
- Allow retakes – Take some of the pressure off of students by allowing retakes for full or partial credit.
- Lessen the weight of the exam – This may also reduce students’ desire to cheat.
- Allow students to complete the exam in alternative formats – Oral exams are another way to conduct an exam that was traditionally proctored
- Switch to alternative assessments – Information on alternative assessments is below

Create Authentic Assessments

(Adapted from https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-student-learning/authentic-assessment/)

When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the ideal assessment would be one that not only assesses students’ learning; it also teaches students and improves their skills and understanding of course content. One fundamental aspect of such assessments is that they are authentic.

An authentic assignment is one that requires application of what students have learned to a new situation, and that demands judgment to determine what information and skills are relevant and how they should be used. Authentic assignments often focus on messy, complex real-world situations and their accompanying constraints; they can involve a real-world audience of stakeholders or “clients” as well. According to Grant Wiggins (1998), an assignment is authentic if it

is realistic.
requires judgment and innovation.
asks the student to “do” the subject.
replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal life.
assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task.
allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.

Authentic assessments can be contrasted with conventional test questions, which are often indirect measures of a student’s ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained in a course. Conventional tests have an important place in college courses, but cannot take the place of authentic assessments. The table below, drawn from Wiggins, illustrates the differences between typical tests and authentic assessments.

Typical tests

Authentic tasks

Indicators of Authenticity

Require correct responses

Require a high-quality product or performance, and a justification of the solutions to problems encountered

Correctness is not the only criterion; students must be able to justify their answers.

Must be unknown to the student in advance to be valid

Should be known in advance to students as much as possible

The tasks and standards for judgment should be known or predictable.

Are disconnected from real-world contexts and constraints

Are tied to real-world contexts and constraints; require the student to “do” the subject.

The context and constraints of the task are like those encountered by practitioners in the discipline.

Contain items that isolate particular skills or facts

Are integrated challenges in which a range of skills and knowledge must be used in coordination

The task is multifaceted and complex, even if there is a right answer.

Include easily scored items

Involve complex tasks that for which there may be no right answer, and that may not be easily scored

The validity of the assessment is not sacrificed in favor of reliable scoring.

Are “one shot”; students get one chance to show their learning

Are iterative; contain recurring tasks

Students may use particular knowledge or skills in several different ways or contexts.

Provide a score

Provide usable diagnostic information about students’ skills and knowledge

The assessment is designed to improve future performance, and students are important “consumers” of such information.

Authentic assessments have several advantages over conventional tests. They are likely to be more valid than conventional tests, particularly for learning outcomes that require higher-order thinking skills. Because they involve real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more interesting for students, and thus more motivating. And finally, they can provide more specific and usable information about what students have succeeded in learning as well as what they have not learned.

However, authentic assessments may require more time and effort on an instructor’s part to develop, and may be more difficult to grade. To address the difficulty of grading authentic assessments, it is often useful to create a grading rubric that specifies the traits that will be evaluated and the criteria by which they will be judged.

Examples of Authentic Assessments

Nursing

Provide a case study of a patient and ask students to assess and create a plan of care

Business

Develop a business/marketing/sales plan for an imaginary (or real) company in a student's area of interest.

Computer Science

Troubleshoot a problematic piece of code; Develop a website/app to solve a particular problem and/or meet a set of criteria

Psychology

Examine/critique a case study from multiple theoretical positions

Public Affairs or Service Learning Courses

Consider how a community agency might be impacted by a particular challenge (budget cuts, infrastructure outage, public health crisis, etc.)

Biology/Chemistry

Draw a diagram of how a process works, indicating what happens if X occurs

History

Engage in a role play of a particular event in history; Describe what might have happened if one element of a historical event had changed.

References

Wiggins, Grant. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42.

Faculty Support