There are many types of remote proctoring on the market, spread across dozens of vendors, especially new ones that sought to capitalize on the pandemic which were not involved with assessment before hand. With so many options, how can you more effectively select amongst the types of remote proctoring?
What is remote proctoring?
Remote proctoring refers to the proctoring (invigilation) of educational or professional assessments when the proctor is not in the same room as the examinee. This means that it is done with a video stream or recording, which are monitored by a human and/or AI. It is also referred to as online proctoring.
Remote proctoring offers a compelling alternative to in-person proctoring, somewhere in between unproctored at-home tests and tests delivered in an expensive testing center. This makes it a perfect fit for medium-stakes exams, such as university placement, pre-employment screening, and many types of certification/licensure tests.
What are the types of remote proctoring?
There are four types of remote proctoring, which can be adapted to a particular use case, sometimes varying between different tests in a single organization. ASC supports all four types, and partners with 5 different vendors to help provide the best solution to our clients. In descending order of security:
| Approach | What it entails for you | What it entails for the candidate |
Live with professional proctors |
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Live, bring your own proctor (BYOP) |
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Record and Review (with option for AI) |
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AI only |
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Some case studies
We’ve worked with all types of remote proctoring, across many types of assessment:
- ASC delivers high-stakes certification exams for a number of certification boards, in multiple countries, using the live proctoring with professional proctors. Some of these are available continuously on-demand, while others are on specific days where hundreds of candidates log in.
- We partnered with a large university in South America, where their admissions exams were delivered using Bring Your Own Proctor, enabling them to drastically reduce costs by utilizing their own staff.
- We partnered with a private company to provide AI-enhanced record-and-review proctoring for applicants, where ASC staff reviews the results and provides a report to the client.
- We partner with an organization that delivers civil service exams for a country, and utilizes both unproctored and AI-only proctoring, differing across a range of exam titles.
How do I select a vendor?
First, determine the level of security necessary, and the trade-off with costs. Live proctoring with professionals can cost $20 to $100 or more, while AI proctoring can be as little as a few dollars. Then, evaluate some vendors to see which group they fall into; note that some vendors can do all of them! Then, ask for some demos so you understand the business processes involved and the UX on the examinee side, both of which could substantially impact the soft costs for your organization. Then, start negotiating with the vendor you want!
Want some more information?
Get in touch with us, we’d love to show you a demo or introduce you to partners!
Email solutions@assess.com.
Nathan Thompson, PhD, is CEO and Co-Founder of Assessment Systems Corporation (ASC). He is a psychometrician, software developer, author, and researcher, and evangelist for AI and automation. His mission is to elevate the profession of psychometrics by using software to automate psychometric work like item review, job analysis, and Angoff studies, so we can focus on more innovative work. His core goal is to improve assessment throughout the world.
Nate was originally trained as a psychometrician, with an honors degree at Luther College with a triple major of Math/Psych/Latin, and then a PhD in Psychometrics at the University of Minnesota. He then worked multiple roles in the testing industry, including item writer, test development manager, essay test marker, consulting psychometrician, software developer, project manager, and business leader. He is also cofounder and Membership Director at the International Association for Computerized Adaptive Testing (iacat.org). He’s published 100+ papers and presentations, but his favorite remains https://scholarworks.umass.edu/pare/vol16/iss1/1/.
