Several institutions are using all mechanisms to eliminate or reduce cheating when the students are doing their exams. Among the most effective software for surveillance is Proctorio. We seek to explore whether Proctorio cheating is possible, how it detects cheating and how few students try to cheat it.
This program has several features that enable the instructors to hold examination sessions and detect any cheating cases. In this guide, we want to share with you how this software functions to prevent cheating cases.
Numerous institutions have been using Proctorio to detect cheating. This aims to promote academic integrity in all students. Let us learn how it works.
How Proctorio Works to Curb Cheating
Basically, Proctorio replaces the physical person in the room to monitor students in the examination session. In addition, Proctorio can record the webcams, screens, microphones, and any site that the students visit during the assessment. let us understand what it is.
What is Proctorio?
Proctorio is a proctoring service software that allows users to apply it remotely. It is a powerful program that works with web browsers to monitor test takers to detect any suspicious behavior.
The cool thing about this program is that it enables users to take the exams anywhere at their convenience.
Moreover, one does not need to download the software but download the Proctorio extension of Google chrome.
Many institutions use Proctorio programs to promote academic integrity that leads to fairness in awarding grades after exams.
This software can protractor tests on both on-campus and online students. They also provide system support to their clients, which are largely educational institutions
How Does Proctorio Work
Proctorio software can observe test takers and detect over 20 behaviors. Later, it prepares the report to let the professor review and make an appropriate decision. Some of the behaviors that this program can observe are navigation, screen activity, audio, and video recording.
The software programs will flag out any suspicious behavior for the faculty to review. Then, the instructor must determine the type of characteristics by making an appropriate setting for the program.
The following are the details that Proctorio records during an exam session.
- It records your voice and photo.
- Recording from your microphone.
- Your mouse location.
- It video scans your testing location.
- Your IP address.
- It takes the video of the computer’s webcam.
- Head, mouth, and eye movements.
- Your open window and browser tabs.
- The entire screen.
- Any permitted website that you access during the examination session.
- Any running application.
Proctorio has three options set for the exam, which are:
- First, a recording option, meant to control the information that Proctorio records during the examination.
- The lockdown option helps increase security during the exam.
- The verification option ensures the students’ hardware is in proper form and the student’s face is visible when recording.
The only quiz tools that one uses during the examination session are the calculator and the whiteboard. When students encounter challenges during the test, they can contact Proctorio through a live chat to sort out technical issues.
Students Requirement’s During Proctorio Proctored Exams
For any student to take the exams in a Proctorio environment, there must be the following items:
- Laptop or a desktop computer since a mobile device does not work.
- The computer should have a Proctorio chrome extension and the latest chrome web browser.
- A reliable internet connection.
- A working microphone and a webcam.
- A clear photo identification.
Before using Proctorio, you should install it on your device. One can only enable Proctorio on Canvas assessments since you use canvas to get the results. In addition, you get the color indicator which can suggest if the exam should undergo further review whenever it flagged potential issues.
The teacher has access privileges to review Proctorio recordings. Ensure that you have your student’s ID. Some settings may allow you to hold it in your hand if you are a test taker.
Still, you should be ready for room scans. Such involves turning your web camera at 360-degrees. Unfortunately, if the program detects more noise in the background, it may prompt you to scan again. But, again, the intention is to ensure that there is no other person in the room.
It is noteworthy that a flagged exam does not necessarily mean that the student cheated. The software has algorithms for detecting suspicious parts, and therefore the instructional team must review it properly.
Some common false flags could be a loud noise in the background or a student adjusting a position. These are similar requirements on other proctoring apps like Proctor to prevent cheating as discussed in that post.
How Proctorio Detects Cheating
Proctorio detects cheating by using strict proctoring software that monitors the activities of students on their computers. It also captures the examination environment, helps identify the students, and monitors their positions in the exam room.
Moreover, it records audio and video around the student for the instructors to monitor their activities.
Proctorio has different parameters that it uses to detect any suspicious activity from the test taker. First off, the software has your photo recorded. Then, if someone else comes to use your laptop or computer hardware rather than the one recognized by the program, it will flag the action as suspicious.
Better yet, Proctorio records your voice during the examination session. Therefore, when you exchange any examination materials via your voice, know that it will record it and cause the instructions team to evaluate the content to establish its integrity.
Before you begin doing your exams, the program scans your location to establish if there are people or any materials that could lead to cheating.
For example, if you place suspicious materials like textbooks on your table, Proctorio will indicate that on its reports for evaluation. This is how most schools catch those students cheating on proctored exams and report them.
Besides, this software can detect eye, body, and facial movements. However, one should not panic when moving eyes or adjusting the sitting position since some are unavoidable issues.
It will only become suspicious if you are advancing the movements to cheat. This is why most proctors watch students through the webcam and allow examiners to see what is happening.
Can Proctorio See the Following:
Your Screen?
Yes. Proctorio has a mechanism to see the activities of your screen. For example, this program will see all the opened programs on the screen.
In addition, it indicates all the sites that you access during the test period. Proctorio takes screenshots and records the web traffic.
Your keyboard?
Proctorio can detect your keyboard. Before you start doing your test, Proctorio scans all the attached hardware, including the keyboard and the mouse. In addition, since it monitors the webcam cam, it sees how the user types answer in session.
Your history?
No, Proctorial does not see or collect your web browser history. Instead, its role is to gather the web activity during the test-taking session as long as the instructor activated such a setting before allowing you to use it.
Your Location?
Yes, Proctorio has a mechanism to track your location. There is a globe icon that assists one in accessing the geo-location data. Such data includes recording the location and internet information when the test-taker is doing the examination remotely.
Phone?
Proctorio is effective software that scans the room and sees all available hardware at your disposal, including phones. The instructor can adjust the setting to recognize a phone as an element that increases suspicious ratings.
Does Proctorio Track Your Eye Movement?
Proctorio monitors eye movements to determine if you involve them in suspicious action while doing the exams. In addition, this software program has eye and head sensitivity movements. This feature ensures that the user must be avoiding looking away from the exam for a prolonged period.
How to Cheat on Proctorio
Although Proctorio is an examination surveillance software, it has shortcomings that other students are taking advantage of to cheat during examination sessions. The most common method that test takers are using is the virtual machine.
One can connect a virtual machine in the adjustment room and make another person use it to provide answers. The person in the adjacent room will research the solutions quickly and answer those questions as fast as possible.
Here, the one on the virtual machines will be doing all the work. The user also connects the mouse on this virtual machine to confuse the Proctorio software that the student in the camera view clicks and typing.
Another loophole that can make a student cheat is putting a phone stand near the keyboard to avoid the camera seeing it. Instead, you can position it so that you see it and the examination question.
Then, you can use a 10 meter HDMI cable that connects your laptop and the TV screen in a different room. Then, someone in the next room can send the answer via WhatsApp. Check out how to cheat online classes for more tips on such.
Can Proctorio Detect Phones?
Proctorio program has provision for the prevention of using any smartphone when you connect it to the computer. Notably, it will not detect the phone hardware while disconnected on the computer. However, if you hide it somewhere behind the camera, it will not see or detect it. That could be a loophole that cheaters use to advance their missions.
Can Proctorio Detect Other Devices?
Proctorio is a surveillance program that scans the laptop or your computer to detect all connected devices on it. If you connected any hardware on the laptop, it would detect it such as a microphone. For one to be on the safe side, ensure that you connect only any device that the settings of your instructor allow, such as a mouse and keyboard.
How Do You Know If Proctorio Flagged You?
Proctorio is an exam monitoring software that only records attempts by the student to steal answers. Remember, it does not monitor the exams in real-time. As such, it only flags you for the instructor to review it later. For a student, it does not indicate that it flagged you. If the software has clear evidence that you cheated, the faculty will notify you to know the irregularity.
Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.