Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Coping with online assessment 181 
to the Internet, so you can’t look things up. However, universi-
ties are aware that you could use these USB devices on one laptop 
but still look things up using your mobile phone or have a phys-
ical textbook open on your desk. To avoid this, some proctoring 
software will take pictures of you working on a regular basis. If 
you have used your mobile phone to check something or ficked 
through the pages of a textbook, there will be a photo of you do-
ing that. Another form of proctoring is where your webcam is 
switched on, and a video is recorded of you completing the exam. 
Tere is also a form of proctoring software that switches on your 
webcam and allows a remote invigilator to “pop in” and see what 
you are doing. All of these systems are in place to help prevent 
cheating. 
Having said all this, many universities are also wary of proctored 
exams. Tere are issues with accessibility for disabled students, 
for example. Tey may not be able to use the proctoring software 
or may not have access to special programs if they are blind or 
dyslexic, for example. Tis is clearly unfair and is discriminatory. 
Also, proctored exams cost more money and take more time to 
organise. Tis is another reason why some universities do not like 
this kind of online exam there are concerns with privacy by taking 
images or videos of the home settings of students. However, there 
is another particular problem that universities are grappling with. 
Studies have shown that students perform worse in proctored ex-
ams than in similar exams without proctoring (Dafn and Jones, 
2018). Tis may be due to the difculties with using the software 
itself or feeling under pressure as though you are constantly being 
watched via the webcam. An alternative explanation is that the 
systems prevent students from cheating and that the higher marks 
obtained in other forms of online exams merely show the higher 
level of using textbooks and looking things up online. Te result 
of all this confusion is that some universities do not like proctored 
exams, whereas others prefer them. Indeed, you can fnd fans of 
exam proctoring in one faculty at a university, with another fac-
ulty at the same university set against the use of proctored exams. 
Terefore, you may be asked to take a proctored exam, or you may 
never encounter one. It is not predictable. 

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