Modern recruiters face several challenges, including identifying top talent, reducing recruitment costs, and ensuring the integrity of the assessment process.
To put this in perspective, 68% of HR professionals struggle with talent shortages, while 42% are focused on reducing recruitment expenses, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
One solution that's gaining traction is remote proctoring, which has seen a 70% increase in adoption among organizations, according to a 2021 report by Gartner.
Remote proctoring offers a robust and scalable way to address these challenges, making it easier for recruiters to conduct secure assessments and streamline the hiring process in our increasingly digital world.
What is Remote Proctoring?
Remote proctoring, also known as online proctoring, is a method of invigilating or supervising students or candidates during remote examinations to uphold the integrity of the test.
It utilizes technology, such as webcam monitoring, screen recording, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, to monitor and ensure that exams are conducted fairly and securely, even when participants are not physically present in a traditional exam setting.
The main purpose of remote proctoring is to prevent cheating, unauthorized behavior, or any form of academic misconduct during online assessments. It replicates the role of an exam invigilator in a physical classroom but does so through digital means, allowing exams to be conducted remotely without compromising on security or fairness.
Types of Remote Proctoring Methods:
Live Online Proctoring
In this method, a human proctor monitors the exam in real-time via a video feed. The proctor can intervene if they observe any suspicious behavior and ensure that the exam is conducted according to the established rules and guidelines.
Recorded Proctoring
Also known as automated proctoring, this method uses AI algorithms to record the exam session, including the test-taker's screen activity, webcam feed, and audio. The recording is then reviewed later to detect any irregularities or potential cheating instances.
Advanced Automated Proctoring
This method combines AI-driven algorithms with additional features such as facial recognition, keystroke analysis, and browser monitoring to enhance exam security and detection capabilities. It can flag suspicious behavior in real-time and provide detailed insights into exam integrity.
Remote proctoring is widely used in educational institutions for conducting online exams, quizzes, and assessments.
It is also utilized by organizations for remote employee training, certification exams, and recruitment assessments, especially in the era of remote work and digital transformation.
Overall, remote proctoring ensures that exams are conducted with integrity, fairness, and security, regardless of the participants' location or the mode of assessment.
What is an Online Proctored Exam?
An online proctored exam is an online exam that is proctored or monitored by a proctor using a type of software. This software typically allows for a video recording and uses AI to detect if there is any cheating or misconduct by observing facial recognition and background noises.
It also allows an invigilator to monitor examinees in real time using an audio-video call between the examinees and the examiner.
How do Online Proctored Exams Work?
For conducting an online proctored exam, institutions/organizations need a robust online proctoring software integrated with their internal learning and examination system.
There are three main steps in this software to help you conduct a seamless online examination.
Authentication
Just like an examinee would identify himself as the original examinee who is supposed to take the exam, the same process is followed during an online proctored exam.
Students will have to show their valid ID card and switch on their webcam to let the software match their identity through the video feed. Once the identity is verified, the student can begin taking the exam.
Real-Time Monitoring
This is the main task of an online proctoring software. Real-time monitoring is done through either a real human being by keeping a watch on all the exam participants through an audio-video call or an AI-driven tool built within the software.
Some of the real-time monitoring features that you get through an AI-powered software are listed below.
Forcing the browser to full screen
This feature forces the participant’s browser to go in full-screen mode forcefully, leading to zero distractions from other tabs or applications.
Recording tab-change activities
When the examinee switches between tabs during the test, it is recorded through this feature. It helps in analyzing if the candidate gets involved in any suspicious activities.
Disabling external copy/paste feature
This one disables the copy/paste feature from any external window to the examination tab. However, the examinee will still be able to copy/paste within the exam window.
Multi-screen detection
This feature helps protect the security of your examination by detecting the use of multiple displays during the test. This restricts candidates from seeking external assistance to finish the examination.
Whole screen recording
This one records the video of the entire screen of the candidate during the time he or she takes the test. Thus, it is a great medium to quickly identify if there are any malpractices during the examination.
Video proctoring
The AI-powered video proctoring feature of the software offers an advanced and secure system to monitor online examinations. Through the use of facial recognition, video and audio analysis, detection of another person in front of the webcam, and other behavioral cues of the examinees, the video proctoring system easily detects if there is any suspicious or unauthorized activity at the examinee’s end.
WeCP's online proctoring solutions offers all these features and much more to make your online examinations secure and seamless.
Data Storage and Review
All the activities that each of the candidates performs during the examination are recorded by the online proctoring software to the cloud. These recordings can later be used to uphold a candidate for any misconduct during the exam or to resolve ambiguous cases, if any.
Why is Remote Proctoring Essential for Organizations?
Remote proctoring makes much more sense to an organization than to an educational institute today. COVID-19 not only forced students to stay at home and study and take examinations, but it also forced organizations to make all their employees work from home.
Now, in 2024, working from home is not an alien concept for any country or company. And, organizations too need to evaluate their employees, who are working from homes, to assess their skills and competency levels and the need for training and development of the workforce.
Additionally, organizations also need to evaluate their job applicants for technical and soft skills to shortlist them for the interview round. Now since several recruitments today happen at a global level, where candidates are expected to apply and appear for the hiring process remotely, the need for such remote proctoring systems also arises.
These online proctoring solutions offer a great system for testing hundreds of candidates simultaneously on their skills and expertise, thereby helping in the recruitment process. The use for such software ensures reliability, security, and integrity of these skill assessments, enhancing the organization’s reputation and branding.
Why is Remote Proctoring Essential for Educational Institutions?
Remote learning is on the rise like never before. And with that, comes the need to conduct online examinations in a fair, reliable, and secure manner. Remote proctoring provides the most trustworthy tool to conduct examinations while maintaining the integrity of the exams as well as the educational institutes.
Several techniques used by these remote proctoring software make sure that no misconduct happens during the examination, retaining the reputation of the educational institutes.
They include technologies like image, audio, and video analyses to capture and observe the facial features and expressions of the examinee. The incorporated artificial intelligence in the software analyses these activities and detects any potential misconduct or cheating. These biometric data also help verify the identity of the exam taker.
Additionally, features like forced full-screen, multiple tab detection, and screen capturing can easily tell if there are other open windows or tabs on the exam taker’s desktop. All these features of an online proctoring software combinedly ensure that the examination is free from any unfair practices.
Therefore, remote proctoring is essential for educational institutes to conduct reliable, secure, and fair online examinations.
Benefits of Online Proctoring
Enhanced Assessment Security
Remote proctoring employs sophisticated AI algorithms to monitor candidates during online assessments, ensuring a secure testing environment. Features such as facial recognition, keystroke analysis, and browser monitoring help detect and prevent cheating or unauthorized behavior.
Global Talent Evaluation
One of the significant advantages of remote proctoring is the ability to assess candidates from anywhere in the world. This expands the talent pool for recruiters, allowing them to tap into diverse skill sets and cultural backgrounds that may not be accessible through traditional recruitment methods.
Cost-Efficiency
Remote proctoring eliminates the need for physical exam centers, on-site invigilators, and logistical expenses associated with in-person assessments. This leads to significant cost savings for recruitment processes, especially for organizations conducting large-scale hiring initiatives or global talent searches.
Time-Saving
Conducting remote proctored exams streamlines the assessment process, enabling recruiters to evaluate a large number of candidates simultaneously. Automated proctoring features such as real-time monitoring, screen recording, and behavior analysis help expedite the evaluation process and reduce time-to-hire.
Fairness and Transparency
Remote proctoring ensures fairness and transparency in assessments by providing a level playing field for all candidates. Standardized monitoring protocols and secure exam environments help maintain integrity, mitigate biases, and promote equal opportunities for candidates regardless of their location or background.
Conclusion
Remote proctoring software have the potential to become an integral part of the learning industry, be it in educational institutions or organizational upskilling. They are also essential for companies in their recruitment processes.
WeCP offers a great online proctoring solution that is powered by artificial intelligence and provides advanced features to monitor students or professionals appearing for online examinations.
With its ability to detect any kind of suspicious activities at the examinees end, such as opening different tabs or windows, presence of another human being, ambiguous noises, capture images and videos, etc., it can easily determine if there is any cheating or misconduct happening, ensuring a secure examination.
Want to know more on how WeCP can help you out? Try WeCP for free or Schedule a Call with WeCP Team.
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