Pros:
- added security. The instructor/proctor can be assured that the student, who presents ID, taking the test is the student that is enrolled in the course.
- Satisfies federal laws stated in the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which requires schools to be able to validate student identities when they are being assessed.
- Test sites usually have at a minimum broadband, which means that quite sophisticated methods can be used for an assessment – something that can maybe not be done if students were to use technology at home.
Cons:
- Loss of convenience (travel and time).
- Expensive for institution (and therefore probably for the student)
I really do not care for the travel requirement. We are trying to bring top quality education to those who are unable to attend courses as traditional college students. Taking away one of the benefits of online courses would be counter productive. However, student identity is a big deal and will be more so in the future when the HEO Act goes into full effect. But technology is keeping pace, there are various ways that cheating online can be decreased (remote proctoring*). And we have to live with the fact that, just as in F2F classes, there will be cheaters. It is the institutions responsibility, not the individual instructors, to prevent cheaters and deal with consequences when rules are broken – but that is a whole other issue.
*For a companies that sells remote proctoring services check out http://www.kryteriononline.com/
or http://proctoru.com/.
(I am pretty sure that this method will probably also be expensive for institutions)
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