It is easy to game a system with visible loopholes. However, the advent and the growing popularity of online proctoring have lent safety and security to systems with vulnerabilities. For instance, Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard and D2L, once unable to deliver exams safely due to the absence of strict supervision, now comes integrated with online proctoring. Resultantly, proctoring on an LMS has significantly improved the exam experience. SecureProctor has warmed many naysayers to the idea of online exam-taking via an LMS by solving simple concerns and alleviating systemic barriers. Some persistent concerns include the lack of comfortable internet bandwidth, negligible software setup and initiating on-screen monitoring software. Such has been its impact that several leading universities and academic institutions employ it as one of their most advanced and secured ways to administer online exams with integrity.
Many educational entities, however, are still concerned or experience discomfort when accessing this digital environment. Their unfavorable perception about proctoring on an LMS being complicated, challenging to deploy, and hard to use for students and faculty alike creates a massive gap in its usage. Also, the inability to find the answers to even the most rudimentary questions on proctoring plug-in hinders their transition.
But here’s a key to addressing these issues
Below is all the information you need to start proctoring services on your LMS.
From walking you through the meaning of SecureProctor, familiarizing you with the process, to communicating the right approach from faculty’s and students’ perspectives, we have spilled the beans in incredible detail.
This exhaustive list assuages concerns and acts as a tool for preparedness to drive greater acceptance of SecureProctor.
SecureProctor is a state-of-the-art, cloud-based remote proctoring tool that allows exam administrators and faculty to initiate proctored exams without leaving their LMS environment. This proctoring tool can be integrated with any system, software or platform.
SecureProctor helps ensure reliable and scalable exams and maintains their integrity. Furthermore, it instills confidence among universities in using online examinations by offering students a similar or sometimes even a superior means to support an impartial, trustworthy and comfortable test-taking experience.
All professors creating the exams or quizzes and students taking the exams need to install SecureProctor. Proctors who would only invigilate the assessment or the quiz do not need to install SecureProctor.
Here is how exams look like on an LMS:
SecureProctor is enabled instantaneously if an LMS is LTI compliant. However, it takes up to a week to set up SecureProctor on a system if the LMS is non-LTI compliant or a personal LMS, which requires customized propositions.
SecureProctor is readily accessible, affordable, easy to use, scalable and secure software that requires no learning of any new technology/software. Moreover, minimal internet connectivity, negligible software setup, and a sophisticated invigilation system enables online proctored exams successfully at any given time on an LMS.
These are the two ways to enable SecureProctor on any LMS or assessment platform:
One can enable SecureProctor with just two steps, for LMSs such as Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard Learn and D2L, without writing a single code. It can be set up within hours.
Clients who seek a custom proctoring workflow or have a non-LTI LMS or web platform can opt for deep integration. Deep integration takes up to a week or more to set up as it involves using REST APIs.
SecureProctor can be integrated with any web-based platform using SecureProctor APIs. For the SecureProctor Chrome extension, you can refer to the following:
It depends. Institutes that own a platform or LMS can add SecureProctor to the existing platform. Proctoring also comes integrated with a platform if you don’t have one.
An online proctoring service is made available as a secure, web-based plug-in that can be integrated with any LMS. Since most LMSs open in browsers, this plug-in is added to the browser to equip any popular LMS or legacy platform to undertake safe exams, which is valid for Moodle, Canvas, BB and D2L. For other LMSs, SecureProctor APIs can be consumed to enable proctoring on the client’s system.
No, faculty do not require any technical training or learning to use SecureProctor on an LMS. Instead, one needs to log into their existing LMS account and set up a proctoring setting for the exam with the click of a button. The entire process is straightforward and seamless.
SecureProctor makes cheating next-to-impossible for test-takers when giving an exam on an LMS. Enabling minimal browsing tolerance, eliminating any impersonation possibility by validating the exam-takers and providing the most relevant results to administrators lend utmost integrity to the examination.
No. Enabling SecureProctor will have no impact on your existing quizzes or exams hosted within your LMS.
Mercer | Mettl’s features such as Super Proctor ensure more robust visibility in a live proctored drive. It lets the examiners or faculty members access any proctor’s classroom view, enabling them to monitor the proctor and student activity. Besides, they can check the overall invigilation quality by observing how the proctors respond to student queries, flag cheaters and suspicious activities, etc. Thus, it not only replicates a physical center’s experience but also assures exam controllers of the drive’s integrity.
A standalone proctoring service provides all features that come under remote proctoring. They include:
Mercer | Mettl undertakes the following candidate authentication process to negate impersonation:
Yes, human proctoring is possible with SecureProctor. Proctors can easily monitor test-takers remotely, from start to finish, to negate any untoward incident using one-to-one and one-to-many proctoring view available to them. They can even granularly verify the test-taking environment for any anomaly.
A lockdown browser is a highly secure and controlled environment that limits test-takers’ navigation controls and deters their cheating attempts while taking exams online. Adopting this technology can significantly improve the quality of online exams.
The lockdown mode of SecureProctor restricts students from navigating away from the exam window by enabling a KIOSK mode on their browsers. This mechanism has no impact on the candidates’ systems and is restored as soon as they complete their test.
Mercer | Mettl offers cross-lingual support in over 19 languages, available across multiple time zones. This provision enables educational institutions to conduct swift and secure exams in any language of their choice.
The three different proctoring types include:
A human invigilator supervises the exam remotely, using a webcam.
AI-based advanced proctoring monitors the candidate’s live webcam feed and auto-flags up to 18 digressions with upward of 98% accuracy.
No proctor is involved in monitoring the exam-taking session in real-time. Instead, audio-visual and screen-sharing feeds are recorded throughout the test and reviewed later by authorized proctors at their convenience.
No, one doesn’t have to deploy a proctor for each test-taker. But Mercer | Mettl believes a 1:10 ratio is ideal for strict invigilation, i.e., one proctor for every ten test-takers.
Yes, Mercer | Mettl provides trained, vigilant and mindful online proctors such as offline invigilators. These proctors ensure a respectful, responsible and honest drive. Additionally, Mercer | Mettl’s team also assists in training faculty members on various aspects of exam proctoring.
None, as SecureProctor is an entirely cloud-based product. Thus, there are no storage implications.
Yes, students can access their LMS from anywhere for a proctored exam, provided it is a complacent environment free from fraud.
Please check your system compatibility on the link given below:
https://support.mettl.com/portal/en/kb/articles/taking-an-secureproctor-enabled-exam
One can take an online proctored exam from any safe remote location of their choice. There are no specific proctored exam locations unless specified by the institution in consideration.
Before commencing an exam, test-takers should ensure fulfilling the criteria mentioned below:
The test-takers need only to download the proctoring Chrome extension and follow the LMS quiz’s usual steps. Just as the candidate clicks on the “Start Quiz” button on the LMS, they will be shown a pop-up notification about proctoring.
An online proctored examination begins only at the scheduled time, pre-decided by the exam-giving authority.
No, students do not require any additional technical training or learning. The entire process is free from complications and extremely easy to remember.
No, there is no change in the candidate experience after initiating proctoring services on an LMS for their exam.
In a live proctored test, once a test-taker grants explicit permission to a proctor, he/she can view the test-taker’s live feed, his/her screen and can chat with him/her.
The proctoring faculty are given one-to-one and one-to-many view features to proctor the exam thoroughly, just like a classroom view. Should they wish to communicate, Mercer | Mettl provides a live chat option, enabling the invigilator to immediately connect with the student to address misunderstandings or dilemmas in real-time.
Yes, educators can efficiently conduct exams where they want the proctoring services and allow students to refer to online and offline material during the exam. Here’s how:
Enabling this feature ensures that candidates' tests run mandatorily in the full-screen mode, and they won’t be able to exit it.
This feature ensures that candidates take their test in the lockdown mode, which restricts them from navigating away from the test window and opening new browser tabs, etc.
The admins can view proctoring reports and details such as the number of test-takers. Besides, they can easily access Credibility Index scores directly from the LMS.
Report generation is almost instantaneous. Once the student finishes and submits the exam, the faculty gets a detailed proctoring report on their system.
Mercer | Mettl’s provides report viewers with an option to filter test-takers based on their Credibility Index and Credibility Score and make quick decisions on their candidature without going through thousands of reports.
SecureProctor stores candidates’ data on its secure servers. It is GDPR compliant; therefore, it gives the control of the data back to the exam-giving authority. SecureProctor is present globally and gives its clients the option to store their data on the servers of their choice. The servers are locating at the following locations:
SecureProctor is bound by the design of your LMS in such a scenario. When the internet gets disconnected, the test-taker will receive a pop-up from the LMS and the proctoring service provider informing him/her about it, after which the browser will be closed.
When the internet is restored, you will have to click on “Re-attempt” on the LMS to continue with the exam from where it was disconnected/discontinued. Proctoring will re-activate, and the webcam and screen feed will be captured after the examination is resumed.
Test-takers can encounter technical problems owing to power cuts, computer malfunctions and internet instability.
But proctoring service providers like Mercer | Mettl offers round-the-clock customer support to promptly resolve issues and preserve the integrity of the exam. Besides, Mercer | Mettl’s customer support teams ensure the exam starts from where the glitch occurred, and the student gets the same time left before the test was disconnected for attempting the remainder of the exam.
Yes, Moodle exams can be proctored if integrated with a proctoring service that makes Moodle exams, assessments and quizzes Moodle proctored. Moodle online proctoring done via SecureProctor disables any form of unwarranted on-screen instances by predicting and detecting cheating with 98% accuracy. This means SecureProctor is free proctoring software, which prevents any Moodle exam cheating for all Moodle users.
A proctored exam on Canvas means a proctor can monitor students and course participants from within the LMS without leaving the environment. A pre-requisite for Canvas proctoring is that students must enable proctoring on their devices by accepting screen, video and audio sharing. SecureProctor is already compatible with and available as a Chrome extension on Canvas.
Yes, quizzes on Canvas can be proctored by initiating a proctoring feature. SecureProctor is already compatible with and available as a Chrome extension on Canvas to enable safe proctoring within the LMS environment.
Depending on the test proctoring software provider, various anti-cheating mechanisms are available to clamp down on cheating. The best test proctoring software will offer state-of-the-art proctoring tools to prevent students from indulging in unethical activities.
Yes, Blackboard exams are proctored. SecureProctor is already available on the Blackboard LMS via a plug-in. Hence, examiners can initiate a Blackboard proctoring to proctor exams, assessments and quizzes easily. Furthermore, Blackboard proctoring via SecureProctor also disables any form of unsavory on-screen instance by predicting and detecting cheating with 98% accuracy. This means SecureProctor is a free proctoring software, which prevents any form of exam cheating for all Blackboard users.
Yes, teachers can tell if you cheated on a Blackboard online exam using SecureProctor available on the LMS as a plug-in. A Blackboard remote proctoring system integrated with SecureProctor disables any form of unsavory on-screen cheating instance by predicting and detecting cheating with more than 98% accuracy.
Yes, D2L tracks cheating using SecureProctor, integrated with its LMS. This proctoring plug-in makes exams, assessments and quizzes easily proctored. D2L proctoring via SecureProctor also disables any form of unsavory on-screen instance by predicting and detecting cheating with more than 98% accuracy.
Students often encounter technical problems during an online exam owing to power cuts, computer malfunctions, internet instability or any other unforeseen glitches. We recommend informing the proctor or faculty about any technical bottleneck during the exam. In case any student gets disconnected during the exam, Mercer | Mettl’s customer support team promptly resolves issues and minimizes the glitch’s impact on the exam. It ensures the exam commences where it got disconnected, and the student gets the same time left to attempt the remainder of the test.
SecureProctor does not capture any additional student data aside from candidates’ email IDs, which is taken via API calls. Students continue to get a seamless experience.
An exam usually commences from where you left it, with the remaining time, if you’ve accidentally closed the exam window during a low-stakes exam. However, a proctoring service provider such as Mercer | Mettl ensures no such incident using a secure exam browser feature that removes options such as closing or minimizing the test window. A test-taker will need to complete the entire exam to move out of the test window.
No, the proctoring stops as soon as the test-taker finishes the exam. It is an automated process with no need for student intervention.
SecureProctor offers a two-way live chat option during the exam session that enables test-takers to reach out to their invigilators and seek clarification or support.
One can always reach out to Mercer | Mettl customer support that provides high-quality and real-time assistance, irrespective of the time zone.
Please feel free to drop us an email at contactmettl@mercer.com for any further clarification or detail.
You may also connect with our product experts for more information on the numbers mentioned below:
Australia: +61 3 90699664
Indonesia: +62 8 5574678938
India: +91 9555114444
Singapore: +65 3 1386714
South Africa: +27 8 75517192
The USA: +1 858 260 3322
UAE: +97 1 8000320460
Do check out the answers to all your proctoring questions for any more queries on proctoring.
Originally published August 31 2021, Updated October 7 2024
Shirisha has been helping countless brands gain traction with her content. Her deep understanding of the education sector and sound knowledge of technical skills have helped her structure the most creative solutions for key stakeholders. Shirisha has also ghosted pieces for several industry honcho’s successfully published both online and offline. When she's not keeping up with the world, you're sure to find her catching up on bollywood stories or gramming for fun.
Online remote proctoring is the technology through which exams are conducted online in a cheating-free manner, using high-speed internet and a computer with a webcam. Online remote proctoring uses video streaming and AI or human proctors to invigilate large-scale exams securely.
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