This is a request for students taking exams on Populi to test with a lock screen. As a institution in this day and age, students are becoming much more savvy in terms of the internet and finding ways around testing online to outsource the answers. AMG's students test with ATI and Hesi as an NClex examination predictor, which has the feature of a lock screen, shutting off the exam after a certain time and even notifying the proctor if a student tries to click outside the browser. Populi doesn't necessarily need all of those things but to at least have a lock screen would be ideal for testing.
32 comments
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Aaron Smith I'm wondering if there is a way that a Populi test could be taken using something like Safe Exam Browser or Respondus LockDown Browser. I have had many students write many exams on Populi, however due to an increased rate of incidents of cheating on these exams, we are now needing to rethink this use of Populi. If there was a way that students could take their text/quiz/exam while having no access to other files on their computer (i.e. class notes) or a web browser (to look up answers), as an institution more professors such as myself would make use of Populi's online testing options.
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Jazmine Anderson I agree Aaron, I've spoken with Populi support in regards to this request, but they're working on one issue at a time. The Populi support team has also suggested possibly giving strict timing on the exam for example: only 1 minute per question, to reduce cheating but our institution has found it doesn't necessarily work for every student.
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Phuong Nguyen We would very much like this feature as well and I agree with all the comments that have been made.
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Leslie Barkley In programs that require licensure such as nursing or dental hygiene, it is imperative for mechanisms to be established to deter cheating. Passing an exam by means of cheating does not mean that the student will pass their Board Exam. Our students are not just opening another web-browser, they are opening their photos where they have taken screen shots of charts and other data. So we could really use a lock-down browser. We have moved all our test to paper and considering moving our online test to CourseSites which is free and includes Respondus. This is extra work for us on the front end but if it deters cheating, then it is worth it.
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Father Ephraim Willmarth HTOS is using Software Secure's Remote Proctor Now service. To force students to use a third-party proctoring service and to enter Populi through their system (which monitors the student through a webcam and special browser which "watches" all computer processes) Populi would need a password feature which RPNow would enter. As it is, we can declare an exam invalid if there is no proctoring record, but the password link would eliminate the need to compare and verify.
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Linda Smolich We have been hesitant, also, to use Populi for exams. I'm concerned that they would take a screenshot of the exam. That's such a fast and easy thing to do without anyone noticing.
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Brendan O'Donnell Thanks for all your comments. While it doesn't address everyone's concerns to the T, we did recently release a test proctoring feature for online tests.
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Father Ephraim Willmarth Brendan, I did see that, and it's a good solution for live proctors in remote areas. We may make use of it, but for most exams we use Remote Proctor Now, which monitors not only the student by way of the webcam, but also monitors the entire computer and all processes. Taking a screen shot or any kind of cheating would not escape notice. We are impressed with the product. It works as is with Populi, except for the password feature which prevents someone from entering the test without Remote Proctor Now. If such a case occurred, the test could be simply considered invalid.
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Carl Loewen I have started using Populi for online exams and would also like to see a lock screen to prevent cheating. That would be a significant update for Populi tech people to work on.
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Robert Frankel Any possibility to work with Responds Monitor for remote proctoring? http://www.respondus.com/products/monitor/index.shtml
It locks down the browser and uses the webcam for the tests.
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Larry Tarka We'd like to add our name to the list of schools that would like to see a locked down browser for online test administration.
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Father Ephraim Willmarth We are still using Remote Proctor Now, which we are satisfied with as a product, but would like to see some kind of compatibility. We would also consider another product if it works well with Populi.
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Robert Frankel Anyone using any third party remote proctoring service for an exam in Populi? Any ideas?
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Adam Sentz We're actively looking into possible solutions for remote proctoring. So far I can confirm that, as of now, Respondus is not an option. ProctorU, and Remote Proctor Now seem like a possibilities, but we don't have clear answers yet as to what is required to get an integration in place. If you're using one of those systems, or would like to, letting them know you'd like them to integrate with Populi probably wouldn't hurt.
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Robert Frankel I just sent an email to Remote Proctor Now. Thanks!
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Robert Frankel I also sent an email to ProctorU.
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Robert Frankel Catlin at Remote Proctor Now just responded with the following:
"While I do not believe we have direct integration plans with Populi, we do have 3rd party integration options where we have an LTI application that will work with any LTI compatible LMS. I will let Mark hammer out some of those details with you." Mark was my primary contact at RPnow so I wait to see what he says.
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Adam Sentz Robert Frankel Thanks, that's great. RPNow looks like it wouldn't be too bad to implement. We just need to know the specifications of how the test password work with LTI. Mark is welcome to get in touch with us directly.
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Robert Frankel Adam Sentz Spoke to Mark. He filled out a form on the Populi website to initiate conversation. He says RPNow uses LTI for integration so it shouldn't be too big a deal.
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Paul Pennington In future WCIU would welcome any solution that integrated.
We initially spent 6 weeks of a short implementation window with ProctorU and they ended up telling us they couldn't work with Populi. They never explained exactly what led them to determine that. It may have partly been our small size and limited number of exams that required proctoring, so any effort at integration wasn't worth their while.
At the same time, they did spend 6 weeks looking into it, and if there was greater demand, might reconsider. We also don't know how much effort they put into talking with your Populi staff.
They were also fairly expensive, so if there is another economical solution, we would be interested. Due to our tight window this time around we ended up going with ProctorFree that wraps their proctor monitoring system around their own Moodle instance.
We would prefer a way to meet DEAC's requirements mandated to us in a way that integrates with Populi. That required the proctor to first check the photo and government issued ID of the student taking the test. And then the proctor had to ensure that the student doing the exam was the same student (video verification).
Paul
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Adam Sentz Paul Pennington I've been working on getting info from ProctorU on what we can do to integrate. Been a few weeks since they've written me back, but I just emailed them again. I'm speaking to the people that make RPNow as well. We'll see how that goes.
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Devin Miles I would like to add my vote to this process. Having a lock screen would be very helpful
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Christopher Dickerson I add a vote!!!
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Father Ephraim Willmarth To respond to Paul's comment above about pricing, RPNow can charge the institution or the student directly. If they charge the student directly, it's $20 per exam.
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Robert Frankel Adam Sentz I found a possible remote proctor solution that requires no further integration. https://monitoredu.com/ uses no required downloads they use the webcam and your phone camera. They have live and on-demand proctoring. the on demand proctoring is started with a live proctor, and they we can accept inbound texts to proctors as an easy way to release the exam, who may be able to receive the current Populi Proctor text and give the code to the student to enter.
Adam Sentz I also have the founder contact info for you.
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Lisley Anco We are looking for a secure browser as well. Something that wont let the students click outside the exam page.
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Chandrakanth C Bose Please implement Browser security and lock the right click google search facility during online exam time.
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Father Ephraim Willmarth I would like to pass on a request from a student who is also an IT professional. He suggested to make the "take test" link in a given course go directly to the remote proctoring solution (we are currently using Remote Proctor Now). Any updates on RPNow or any other solution?
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Adam Sentz Father Ephraim Willmarth - We are still working on getting RPNow working via LTI, but I heard from them that you could use RPNow with Populi's test password feature.
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Elizabeth Reed We are very interested in the locked browser tab feature for test taking.