Online or Correspondence Courses that Don't Require a Proctor

[JaronB34]

I want to compile a list of online sources for college credit that don't require a proctor. I will start with what I already know about and I would love for you to add to it.

Our closest testing center is a pretty far drive and they charge $30 a pop. It would save us in the long run to avoid proctoring as much as possible.

1. ALEKS - Math credits with no proctor, plus only $20 per month
2. Straighterline - Offers ACE credit courses with no required proctor
3. Western Washington University - Independent Learning at WWU Homepage there are a LOT of courses that have papers instead of exams. So that means no proctoring for many courses (especially all the English ones I checked out). Note these are quarter credit courses at a price $115 per quarter credit for correspondence courses)
4. Penn Foster - Offers ACE credit and needs a proctor, BUT is very lenient on who the proctor is so there is no need of a formal testing center.

Let me know of more that don't require proctors!

[rebel100]

I was able to find many courses at CSU-Pueblo that did not require a proctor nor any real test (but plenty of writing). You would have to look at the syllabus for each course to identify them though Colorado State University-Pueblo > Schedule of Courses

BYU has some BYU Independent Study - Online Courses

University of Arkansas has a few University of Arkansas Independent Study Online Courses These are really quite affordable as well!

Schools will often allow you to specify a proctor at the local library, local high school, military base, or in some cases even at your place of employment. It doesn't always have to be a qualified testing center.

[dcan]

Sounds like a page to add to the wiki so it doesn't disappear into the nether reaches of the forum in a couple of days. hint hint

[JaronB34]

I was able to find many courses at CSU-Pueblo that did not require a proctor nor any real test (but plenty of writing). You would have to look at the syllabus for each course to identify them though Colorado State University-Pueblo > Schedule of Courses

University of Arkansas has a few University of Arkansas Independent Study Online Courses These are really quite affordable as well!

I cannot find online syllabus information for either college. Is there a way to check before enrolling to see if it requires proctored exams or not?

[rebel100]

I cannot find online syllabus information for either college. Is there a way to check before enrolling to see if it requires proctored exams or not?

Strange, CSU used to allow you to click on the course title and they gave you all the info including syllabus....IDK why its not working. About 1/2 their courses or so didn't seem to require testing/proctring.

[dcan]

deleted disregard

[rebel100]

I took the following last year from CSU Pueblo without any testing or proctoring. nursing ethics, healthcare society and aging, world geography, organizational theory, and organizational leadership.

[JaronB34]

After going through each course description, I found the following courses from BYU Independent that don't have proctored exams:

ANTHR 101 Social/Cultural Anthropology – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Aspects of society and culture: kinship, beliefs, economy, and political order among peoples worldwide. Methods and perspectives used in social/cultural anthropology. 6 lessons, 6 assignment submissions (3 computer-graded [Speedback] assignments, 3 instructor-graded assignments); no examinations.

TMA 101 Introduction to the Theatre – Paper/Online – 3 Credits $471
Reading, viewing, analyzing, writing about, and interacting with contemporary plays and performances to explore both theatre fundamentals and ways theatre addresses questions and concerns of our time. 16 lessons, 16 assignment submissions (9 computer-graded [Speedback] assignments, 7 instructor-graded assignments); no examinations.

TMA 150 Public Speaking – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Principles and methods of public speaking; speaking experiences. 9 lessons, 7 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no final examination.

ENGL 218R-002 Creative Writing – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Prerequisite: ENGL 115 (College Writing and Reading) or equivalent skill. Individual sections dealing with poetry, personal essays, drama, fiction, science fiction, or combinations of these. Focuses on reading, writing, and revision of personal essays, poems, and short fiction. 15 lessons, 6 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no final examination.

ENGL 220 Composing Personal History – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Composing personal history through writing, mementos, oral history, chronologies, letters, documents, journals, and other mediums. Online access to Brigham Young University library services. 18 lessons, 20 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no final examination.

TMA 251 Playwriting 1 – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Basic playwriting principles through reading, completing writing assignments, testing, and writing the first draft of a one-act play. 16 lessons, 13 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no final examination.

ANTHR 309 Language, Culture, and Society – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Linguistic anthropology as a way of doing ethnography; language as symbolic form, vehicle of thought, and instrument of social interaction; speech events as cultural texts. 13 lessons, 13 assignment submissions (10 computer-graded [Speedback] assignments, 3 instructor-graded assignments); no examinations.

ENGL 317R Writing Creative Nonfiction – Paper/Online – 3 Credits $471
Prerequisite: ENGL 218 (Creative Writing) or instructor's consent. Creations of style and technique in prose nonfiction; discipline and practice of the writer. 12 lessons, 12 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no examinations.

ENGL 336 The American Novel – NEW! Online – 3 Credits $471
Prerequisite: ENGL 251 (Fundamentals of Literary Interpretation and Criticism) or ENGL 252 (Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism). Representative novels of the American tradition from the late eighteenth century to the present. Online access to Brigham Young University library services. 18 lessons, 18 assignment submissions, all instructor-graded; no final examination.

[Grand Wizard]

I want to compile a list of online sources for college credit that don't require a proctor.

Oregon State University Ecampus offers some courses that have only online exams and others that have no exams but rather a significant amount of essays and papers. Please note that the courses are synchronous (not self-paced like print correspondence courses). One thing about OSU is that you don't have to be admitted as either a degree-seeking student or a non-degree student in order to take a course. You can check on whether there are proctored exams by checking the course listings for the session in which you want to enroll. There is an extra fee for the courses that do require a proctor.

Undergraduate Degrees Online -- Online & Distance Degrees -- Oregon State University Ecampus -- OSU Extended Campus

[clep3705]

A course with proctored exams is going to be more expensive, which makes comparison shopping tricky. Most people should be able to afford ProctorU.com, but a course with several exams that must be proctored at a commercial testing center could be expensive. Vanderbilt University uses Secure Testing | Online Proctor | Software Secure, which requires the student to buy an expensive custom camera device. But compared to the tuition at Vanderbilt, the device is only a fraction of the cost of a semester hour. For a literature course, it's easy to argue that a paper is a better way to assess a student than a test, be it proctored or unproctored. Students have legitimate needs to keep the total cost of an education as low as possible. Additionally, students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities can benefit from taking unproctored exams because they can take as much time as they need.

Prenursing students at certain large public nursing school can take unproctored pathophysiology and pharmacology online and transfer those courses to a BSN program at a brick and mortar nursing school. There are numerous surveys showing that the overwhelming majority of college students cheat. Other surveys suggest that 20% of nursing students cheat. Now imagine that your premature child is in the neonatal ICU being treated with drugs administered by a nurse who took an unproctored pharmacology course. How do you feel about unproctored exams for nursing students?