Proctor U Question and Feedback Requested

[bricabrac]

Security was always my argument regarding proctorU. You can search the other thread where I posted my comments. TESC students quickly spoke out about this service (negatively). I never used the service, at TESC those that do not want to use it have been allowed to opt out and take their tests with the usual proctor.

There is no way I would give these folks access to my computers until there is a liability agreement in which their company would be held responsible should there be any issues. You could I guess also purchase a $200 refurb computer on newegg etc. to use specifically for proctorU if your school requires using them for testing. Give access to my main computers, no way in this world. In my work, they would also never allow third party access to company computers; well not a service like this without full security checks and signed service agreements.

[fordp86]

jt003806 I am sorry you had a bad experience and that no one contacted you. If you want to email me your contact info I can have someone contact you today. My email is fhenley@proctoru.com

Marianne, customer service is a high priority for us. We were founded to be a service for students to take exams without having to travel to campus and not to be the test police. Our phone number is listed in the footer of the website and we can be reached at 925.273.7588. We have dedicated employees on the phones to answer your questions. I apologize that you were unable to find the number on our site. What page were you on when you were looking for it? I would like to know so I can help make it more accessible for other students looking for our number. Following FERPA regulations is extremely important to us.
Also, your school dictates the duration of the exam to us and we add the time they to our system. You can finish the exam at your own pace. If you email me I will make sure that someone contacts you today so that we can help you fully understand the process in more detail.

IrishJohn I am not familiar with the details on which of our partners might provide testing for CLEP or DSST. We Proctor similar test with other institutions and certifications. If you email me I will forward it to someone that could answer that for you.
I am working on updating the contact page so that we can better help the customer but if you haven’t heard from anyone please email me, contact@proctoru.com or give us a call at 925.273.7588.


Ford

[jarrod-at-proctoru]

Hi Guys...

Ford and I were reading the responses here, and I thought I would chime in as well to clear up a few misconceptions.

In regards to the "access to your computer" question, we do not have the ability to do anything you cannot see. We see your screen, and (if you let us) move your mouse and keyboard. So, as you can imagine, the only things we can do are the things you can SEE. If we were to open files on your computer, you would literally see us opening them. It's just like you invited a computer repair guy to sit at your desk and use your computer as you watch.

Also, keep in mind that ProctorU proctors are all in-house employees that work in teams and are closely monitored by managers. You are not getting just a random person who is off by themselves dealing with you.

As far as customer service, I am very sorry you don't get the impression that we are high on customer service, but I think if you talk to most people that use our service, you will find out we are. We have people on staff called "Student Advocates".... who's only job is to help students who's exams crashed on them or may need someone to run interference for them at their school. (Also, you can view ProctorU: Partnership Institutions to see what schools we works with - most of them are traditional schools.) While we may run into technical issues with your computer, we are happy to work for as long and as hard as we need to in order to fix it, and FOR FREE (technical support is ALWAYS free).

Lastly, online proctoring isn't for everyone (although we do find that MOST people really like it). If you don't feel our service is a good fit for you, we will always support your decision to go elsewhere. Almost 100,000 students have used our service and that overwhelming majority love it.

For those of you that HAVE used the service and would like to send in some suggestions on how we can get better, please email me at jarrod@proctoru.com. As with any organization, we aren't perfect... but what matters is how hard we try to fix anything that we may have gotten wrong.

Thanks for letting me jump in the conversation, guys. I hope everyone has good luck in their classes!

-Jarrod Morgan
ProctorU

[jt003806]

My suggestion is to not change my settings after I declined three times!!!!!
Also, why list a "contact me" option on the survey if you plan to ignore it?

[marianne202]

Ok, so I wanted to update those that were curious about Proctor U's online proctoring service. I know most of us are used a test center proctoring environment and I have to say I think that in-person proctoring is still preferrable. I have now taken two exams with Proctor U. Prior to my first exam I was contacted after my post here and was able to talk with some employees of Proctor U about my concern about the security of information on my computer. Since I'm a college instructor my computer contains student information that must be kept confidential. I also have my own personal financial and other data to protect. They understood my concerns and went so far as to create a new student rights type of document that clearly states their liability for breech of confidentiality and gives the examinees some confidence in them not trolling your computer for personal data. I did have an issue with them somehow changing my appt. without notifying me to 6 hours after my scheduled time. I had to call and get that corrected. The exam went fine, but it was weird knowing someone was watching my every move, it was kinda creepy in a voyuristic way. After my exam my son checked the system and their "logmein" software was removed and no longer remained on my computer so they could no longer remote access my computer.

I took my second exam this weekend. The first proctor made some off color comments while on camera without the mic on, but I read lips so I know what he said, not very professional. Then while about at the halfway point of my exam I received a message from windows indicating their software was using a huge amount of my CPU resources. The next thing I know my exam locked up and I could no longer enter text in the text boxes. I notified the proctor. He had no clue and transferred me to a technician. The technician offered to refresh my page, but I told him I didn't want him submitting the exam. He tried refreshing the page which gave a warning box that the exam would be submitted if he continued, he continued anyway. I have worked with blackboard for 10 years and I knew what would happen...he did not! So now my exam was submitted with a zero and I was locked out without finishing it. He said he would contact the school, but didn't know who the message went to. Their tech support isn't tech support! I had a supervisor call me who was very nice and agreed to let me retest same day if I could get my teacher to reset the exam. I was able to do that after having to call my teacher on the phone who was at the hospital with her father. She reset my exam and I had to take the entire thing again, but it went off without a hitch, except that the proctor wanted me to disable my firewall, which was never done before. I was able to complete it regardless. In the end I have mixed feelings about this service. I have to pay for each exam since it isn't covered in school tuition or technology fees. I think that is a huge mistake on part of the school. I like the convenience, but I don't like giving up control of my computer and I don't like the idea that someone is watching me. Twice during the first exam the proctor popped up the text chat box for no reason. That distracted me and I think it caused the lock up because it was right after that it happened. There needs to be some way to get resolve technical glitches, like having admin rights to reset an exam immediately if they submit it by mistake. The problem was I wouldn't have been able to take this final before the deadline if my teacher didn't reset it yesterday. That is too huge of a risk for such an important grade. I encourage you to try it out if you want new technology in testing, but I think I still prefer a good old fashioned test center and I don't see this replacing that too soon. The other reason is their verification data on two occassions said I gave incorrect answers and I didn't I know my fathers name and where I have lived! I it scored me below 50% I wouldn't be allowed to test! I think some refinement needs to happen before it is widely accepted. I hope this helps anyone considering using them who wants to know what to expect.

[mrs.b]

I have used ProctorU a few times. While I was very skeptical at first, I did quickly become a fan, but then again, I have not had any serious technical issues like those you experienced. The first time I used them, my connection must have been too weak to sustain a webcam connection for too long; I guess the camera feed would disconnect, but I messaged the proctor as soon as I noticed, and she quickly had it going again so I could continue. Dual monitors has confused one or two proctors initially until I drag all the windows together for them. It is a little creepy that someone may be staring at you the whole time (particularly since we cannot see them once the exam opens over top of that window), but if an in-person proctor is doing their job, the same potential exists. Like others, I think I would pop a gasket if someone asked me to disable something or change a setting, particularly without permission or warning, but in the various exams I've now taken with them, none of the proctors I've run into ever asked me to do that. Every proctor I've had behaved professionally and seemed friendly and patient (my camera never wants to sit back in place after the room spin due to weird monitors, so it takes me a minute or two to get the thing back in place without falling).

The thing that has made me a fan is that many of my courses have been essay-happy. I cannot stand - at all! - writing out an entire essay by hand. By the end of the first paragraph, my fingers start cramping, and my handwriting is rarely legible by the end unless I really take my time, which is not usually possible since it takes so much longer to write versus type. Also, you can rearrange sentences and paragraphs without making the paper look like a football play of arrows or scratch-outs. This semesters, I have two courses with midterms, and both are pen and paper at a local proctor. I'm a little grumpy I was not given the choice, because I know I'm going to walk out of there feeling like I have arthritis.

[jmichelle79]

I have been wondering about this service. In theory I like the idea, but like all of you I do not like the idea of possibly compromising my system.
Ideally, I could install windows (on an extra laptop), duel boot and run window s through VM. However I wouldn’t be surprised if tech support does not know what VM is. I just read in another forum. Someone attempted to use Linux (he didn’t mention the distro), and it was unsuccessful. The tech support told him to boot into Windows and didn’t understand that there was no windows partition. ((Not all of us Dual boot Windows and Linux)).
So, I suppose my plan if I have to have one, would be to fresh install windows on a separate laptop. The thing that sux, is I would have to purchase a windows OS. I really hope I do not have to use this service.

[beargins]

I have been wondering about this service. In theory I like the idea, but like all of you I do not like the idea of possibly compromising my system.
Ideally, I could install windows (on an extra laptop), duel boot and run window s through VM. However I wouldn’t be surprised if tech support does not know what VM is. I just read in another forum. Someone attempted to use Linux (he didn’t mention the distro), and it was unsuccessful. The tech support told him to boot into Windows and didn’t understand that there was no windows partition. ((Not all of us Dual boot Windows and Linux)).
So, I suppose my plan if I have to have one, would be to fresh install windows on a separate laptop. The thing that sux, is I would have to purchase a windows OS. I really hope I do not have to use this service.

I also considered the VM option. I started off a bit neutral about proctoru, however due to recent problems with the poorly coded online testing application, I do not like taking the tests online and would prefer a local proctor. The thing that has gotten me to disdain the online testing at TESC is the fact that 3 times now my tests failed to submit properly. Although it seemed like they submitted and I had the proctor look to ensure I did everything correctly. Because of this I have been waiting almost 2 months for a professor to grade one of my calculus finals... TESC marked the course as incomplete on my transcript, although I had already notified them of the issue (via email) and requested that they either re-enable the final so I could retake it (i would hate to do that, but you gotta do what you gotta do). They were able to find the test eventually, however i'm still waiting for it to be graded and posted (almost 2 months after I took the test, the course has already ended!!!). I'm going to call them today. I also feel a bit less confident when taking the exam with the camera staring at my face.
Given this experience, plus the concern of others, I'm leaning towards the negative side of the online proctoring service AND the horrible testing application used at TESC.

I've literally had tests error out and restart on me, making me start all over! Theres also security issues with those exams, that could possible enable someone to cheat. Thats a whole other store though, hopefully TESC will redesign the testing application AND provide a proctoru/local proctor option for ALL courses. </end rant>

[jmichelle79]

I also considered the VM option. I started off a bit neutral about proctoru, however due to recent problems with the poorly coded online testing application, I do not like taking the tests online and would prefer a local proctor. The thing that has gotten me to disdain the online testing at TESC is the fact that 3 times now my tests failed to submit properly. Although it seemed like they submitted and I had the proctor look to ensure I did everything correctly. Because of this I have been waiting almost 2 months for a professor to grade one of my calculus finals... TESC marked the course as incomplete on my transcript, although I had already notified them of the issue (via email) and requested that they either re-enable the final so I could retake it (i would hate to do that, but you gotta do what you gotta do). They were able to find the test eventually, however i'm still waiting for it to be graded and posted (almost 2 months after I took the test, the course has already ended!!!). I'm going to call them today. I also feel a bit less confident when taking the exam with the camera staring at my face.
Given this experience, plus the concern of others, I'm leaning towards the negative side of the online proctoring service AND the horrible testing application used at TESC.

I've literally had tests error out and restart on me, making me start all over! Theres also security issues with those exams, that could possible enable someone to cheat. Thats a whole other store though, hopefully TESC will redesign the testing application AND provide a proctoru/local proctor option for ALL courses. </end rant>

That is horrible!! It’s bad enough to have set up a new system just to take an exam, but to waste money and not get your results?? Feel free, rant away… Your experience makes me consider re-writing my degree plan to fit Excelsior. 
Is TESC phasing out the local proctor option? This could be a deciding factor on where I attend.

[beargins]

That is horrible!! It’s bad enough to have set up a new system just to take an exam, but to waste money and not get your results?? Feel free, rant away… Your experience makes me consider re-writing my degree plan to fit Excelsior. 
Is TESC phasing out the local proctor option? This could be a deciding factor on where I attend.

Hey jmichelle79 I'm not sure if they are phasing out the local proctor option completely, but some courses are actually requiring proctoru. Its either stated in the syllabus or in the "Exam" link on the courses blackboard. Yeah its a pretty stressful situation because I have been in contact with TESC regarding this problem since the day after my exam, which was in April. Still no results and I'm still waiting because I want to apply for a graduate program fall (wanted to in the summer but had to push the plan back due to transcripts). All of my other experiences with TESC have been great except for this one, and the time it takes for CLEPs to be posted to your evaluation (still waiting since April).