Blog | Talview

Can Proctoring for Online Certifications Be Cost Effective?

Written by Team Talview | Nov 13, '2022

Cost Effective Proctoring?

Online testing, exams, and certifications are here to stay. Prior to the global pandemic, most exams were held at physical centers where a human proctor or invigilator monitored test-takers. Today, businesses, certification providers, exam boards, awarding bodies, and institutions worldwide have made a transition to online testing. This has led to a surge in demand for efficient proctoring tools to ensure the integrity of online exams.

Unfortunately, online proctoring is not without issues. Program managers are struggling to maintain exam integrity with the shift to remote testing. Too many exams are live proctored with almost no use of modern technology. This has led to a low proctor-to-candidate ratio, while substantially increasing the cost per candidate. The high cost of human proctoring has become a major deterrent for scaling certification programs, particularly when it comes to launching entry level certifications.

The high cost of human proctoring is a major deterrent for scaling certification programs.

There are also concerns about the intrusive nature of the online proctoring experience. Test takers have raised safety concerns related to their identity, data, and privacy. These concerns are not only preventing organizations from growing their expert community, in some cases privacy concerns are preventing program learners from even taking an online exam.

It’s currently a bit of a catch-22 situation: proctoring is required to maintain test integrity, but the cost and intrusive nature of human proctoring is a significant deterrent for scaling exam programs. Technology, in the form of ethical artificial intelligence (AI), can provide a solution, but not every AI solution is actually using AI technologies.

Artificial Intelligence & Proctoring

Organizations today are in dire need to certify their partners and customers, as well their own internal staff for specific capabilities. The advent of remote work coupled with the demand for the large variety of certified talent needed for business today has challenged organizations. Centralized learning and physical testing centers are no longer viable solutions.

The primary question has become, how to cost effectively scale an online certifications program without sacrificing exam integrity?

Without a feedback loop mechanism, these so-called AI solutions are anything but... 

Enter AI-powered remote automated and live proctoring solutions. Properly, and ethically, deployed AI technologies can help organizations of all sizes scale their certification programs. AI technology can streamline how testing programs authenticate, invigilate, and credential learners while ensuring the integrity, security, and privacy of the entire process.

But not all AI technologies in the market actually qualify as artificial intelligence solutions. Machine learning technology is an absolute requirement. Without a feedback loop mechanism, these so-called AI solutions are anything but. They are simply screening technologies with a static set of parameters. This is where errors are repeated – costing time and human intervention, as well as negatively impacting DEI. This can also affect test taker attitudes, the bad experience negatively impacting an organization’s brand.

The importance of feedback loops cannot be overstated. No Machine Learning, no feedback loop to continuously improve the quality of AI proctoring, and you are back to human oversight and human proctoring to correct repetitive errors in the system, which in turn drives up the overall cost of the exam or certification program.

World Class Proctoring at Scale

Talview Proctoring provides world-class solutions for organizations to automate the proctoring process. Our Proctoring Solutions are engineered to deliver a flexible platform that can either inject into an existing Learning Management System or Wrap Around an existing LMS. Either option easily scales to meet the needs of any company or organization, regardless of size.

Combine AI technology with Human Proctoring to achieve the least amount of proctor errors and a low delivery cost.

Talview’s AI-enabled Proctoring Solutions have plug and play capability in order to quickly integrate with existing test engines or LMSs, generating a simulation environment that can be used to launch performance-based exams effortlessly. 

Proctoring Solutions

Talview has been at the forefront of designing a minimally intrusive online proctoring experience while ensuring exam integrity. Solutions include:

  • Automated Proctoring – make it easier to authenticate, monitor, and credential candidates and learners anywhere, anytime.
  • Live Proctoring – highly trained and screened human proctors to authenticate test takers, monitor exams, intervene, raise flags, etc.
  • Record & Review – the automated AI-enabled solution tracks and records behaviors, authenticates, and flags critical events.
  • Secure Browser – prevents unauthorized access to the test browser, securing the test environment.

Talview’s chat-driven proctor-candidate communication interface makes the entire test taker experience more empowering and less distracting; it also makes it easier to support a large variety of languages for proctor-candidate communication.

Combine AI technology with Human Proctoring to achieve the least amount of proctor errors, the lowest delivery cost, and a best-in-class test taker experience.

 

6 Proctoring Essentials

To automate, assess, and authenticate a proctoring process from virtually any device or operating system, certification providers require six essential capabilities from their online proctoring solution.

  • Easily integrate with LMS and Test Engines
  • Provide a versatile, user-friendly solution
  • Capability to easily scale
  • Protect content and exam integrity
  • Safeguard data
  • Deliver premier support and services

Enterprise-grade implementation and support services teams are the number one way to ensure your online certification programs run smoothly.  

Canadian Public Health Company Adopts Proctoring

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) is one of 35 Public Health Units operating in the Province of Ontario, Canada. They are a non-profit agency funded jointly by the provincial government and the municipalities they serve. TBDHU oversees a geographic area of over approximately 230,000 square kilometers, with approximately 146,000 residents. 

Today, TBDHU has a 100% virtual certification process that allows test-takers from across Canada to get certified remotely. Talview Proctoring Solutions helped TBDHU to:

  • Leverage AI-enabled remotely proctored exams that ensure safe and secure assessment of the test-takers from anywhere.
  • Scale up the certification process while maintaining evaluation consistency and test integrity
  • Expand reach of TBDHU's certification course throughout Ontario province