Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change

[GoodYellowDogs]

I'm curious as to how many testers the proctor watch at one time?

So, this is where ProctorU hires it's employees from:

Part-Time and Seasonal: Exam Proctor

Assured quality.... Yeah right!!!!

[Ace_King]

Straighterline. First of all, why though? If a partner college doesn't require proctored examinations than why are you (a non-regionally accredited institution) requiring this? It doesn't add up to this "Academic integrity". As many mentioned, this is a purely money making scheme you guys are implementing! You guys are requiring students to pay for a proctor and I believe that colleges make a fortune off students already! If a proctored examination is here to stay, than make us find our own proctor. If it's really about "academic integrity", than sure let us FIND OUR OWN PROCTOR. Look how Penn Foster does it http://www.workforcedevelopment.com/form...e_Form.pdf That is their proctor examination form.

Penn Foster doesn't require us to use a for profit organization to proctor or do they have us pay for a proctor. Penn Foster, originally International Correspondence Schools or ICS, was founded in 1890. 1890!?!? Straighterline? They been out for more than 100 years and they must be doing something right. I took proctored examinations at Penn Foster at my local community college without a hassle and without paying for it. Many students do not want to purchase a new computer for meeting the proctor u requirements. And you keep stating that they don't have control access to your computer. Proctor U uses a similar model of protocol as a software named TeamViewer.

You are blatantly lying to your customers Straighterline. It is sad that, this forum and our sister forum, is where you originally got well known. The Big three. Many customers helped spread the word to other students who loved the self paced format and non proctored examinations because the partner schools they chose didn't require proctored examinations.

[Ace_King]

GoodYellowDogs, it's some one whose getting paid minimum wage, whose also just their for a paycheck. They don't CARE about private information or your social security numbers. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they are recording you take your test on their mobile device. Looking at the requirements for a proctor U job is totally embarrassing. At least have a non profit company who is in the education field, or some one such as a professor supervise us taking our exams, which is still an exaggeration because I still wouldn't take it through a computer. What a joke!

[Publius]

Pjbarney you bring up a few valid points. While it may be true that if someone is going to cheat, they can try...That is hardly justification to not improve academic integrity. Only one pricing model is affected for an increased cost of $10 which will be less than the cost of your gas to drive to take an exam at an in person proctored location. (Not even account for the time spent driving.)

$10 huh?

I’d much rather spend 2x that in gas (which I don’t even have to do for gas to get to my local proctor), and 3x the time then have some take a picture of me and my I.D. and store it. We all know that there are students who cheat. What about the crocked proctors? In any career, there are going to be people who don’t play by the rules and seek self gain in while jeopardizing others. You can't say that every proctor from proctor U is reliable. And now you guys are FORCING us to have them proctor us when the colleges we're going to don't require it for your courses.
$10 is a very cheap price to PAY to put my identity at risk. Thanks but no thanks.

EDIT: How do you know it costs more people $10 in gas to get to their proctor? At current prices, that's about 2.5 gallons of gas. On an awful car/truck, you where you get 10 miles a gallon, that's 12 miles there and 12 miles back. Most people in urban areas have a test center or library within 12 miles.

And how about all the military members that are oversees and can't get access to it? They're serving this nation and you're making it even tougher for them.

[deucess]

This is stupid! Here I am telling my friends and family how great SL is, and now SL come out with this crap to get more clients - penalizing us in the process. We're in this forum and other places boosting their credibility and marketing them daily. I am enrolled at EC and my sister at TESC, neither requires proctor. I don't have the time to go schedule for exams. That's one of the reasons I signed up with them. I can study on my own at my own pace. I am struggling enough to find study time. I am a single mom and I barely have the time to sleep, I am literally up at 3:30 in the morning reading or trying to take exams; now they want me to schedule exams. If they are going to come with this crap, I might as well enroll at a brick and mortar school.

I hope Instant Cert, Aleks or another company get them out of business. This is purely shitty.

I will sign the petition - Hit me up!

[bldclot2]

StraighterLine,

Let us not forget that you rely on your loyal customers to advertise by way of word of mouth advertising.

1) This was a poorly executed plan on StraighterLine's part, trying to implement changes that they themselves weren't fully ready to implement properly always spells trouble.
2) By forcing us to use Proctor U and not allowing for additional proctoring options, StraighterLine has alienated their loyal customer base. A customer base that thrives on independent non-traditional higher education that’s affordable.
3) By making proctoring mandatory for everyone regardless of whether it is required by their educational institutions, StraighterLine has effectively punished all for the actions of a few.
4) If proctoring makes StraighterLine’s coursework a more reliable/viable source for educational credit, again why can’t the student select their own proctor, for example a local librarian or City College proctor that will make the cost of proctoring low or free?
5) I would liked to have seen StraighterLine approach this change with more consideration for their loyal customers, by implementing the required proctoring change by phases and using the “Problem Solving Process” below.

PHASE 1 - Inform the customer of changes to come.
PHASE 2 - Spell out the changes and the additional cost to the customer (Don’t put out some half-ass explanation of the changes)
PHASE 3 - Set date for changes to take effect (Don’t blindside the customer with changes that take effect within weeks, give them time to react and finish courses before the change, why not implement a change date of January 1, 2013)
PHASE 4 - Implement changes.

PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS
1. Recognize And Define The Problem
2. Gather Facts And Make Assumptions
3. Define End States And Establish Criteria
4. Develop Possible Solutions
5. Analyze And Compare Possible Solutions
6. Select And Implement Solution
7. Analyze Solution For Effectiveness

ROAD BLOCKS TO PROBLEM SOLVING
Fear Of Failure
Tunnel Vision
Over Seriousness
Over Certainty
Binding Customs
Fear Of The Unknown
Command Pressure
FAILURE TO PROPERLY IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
FAILURE TO TALK WITH OTHERS WHO HAVE DEALT WITH THE PROBLEM
LACK OF ADEQUATE INFORMATION TO MAKE VALID ASSUMPTIONS
NOT IDENTIFYING ALL OF THE PLAYERS
NOT SPECIFYING THE DESIRED ENDSTATE

[IrishJohn]

We are updating our website in real time, please be patient with forthcoming details and page updates. We are not going to require a bunch of prior students to come in and retake exams. The policy change is preemptive to prevent future cheating. We just reserve the right to identify previous cheating and act accordingly.

Thank you, that's more reasonable. The wording in your original statement made it seem like anyone who finished a bunch of courses quickly would be forced to pay for retaking the finals. That I found to be unacceptable. Real evidence of cheating by an individual past or present is one thing, flagging someone on such an arbitrary basis without evidence and treating them as if they are guilty of cheating is something entirely different. I still think that the changes SL is implementing are unwise and counter-productive to what your company is known for. At the very least forcing everyone taking courses after November 1st to use ProctorU smacks of a money-making scheme and is IMO unreasonable because many of your partner colleges don't require this. Yet even more important, many online colleges allow the use of acceptable third-party proctors besides ProctorU, which in my case has usually been Strayer University. By using SU I spent only $20 each time I needed a proctor and no one had access to my personal computer, something I'm extremely leery of allowing. Some folks also use their local public library, which should be an acceptable source for proctoring. I'd strongly suggest taking all of this into consideration.

[IrishJohn]

StraighterLine courses are great for any self-paced learner. Those that are already knowledgeable can prove it by taking the assessments. Those that need to learn the material are greatly benefited by our course content that uses McGraw Hill and other high quality resources. The fact that there is no time limit on the class completion is a benefit all of its own. You can't find this kind of flexibility anywhere else. Other services we are going to start offering include the ability to optionally add a professor to your course who will guide you through the content and be able for help.

Except that CLEP and DSST exams are accepted by far more colleges and universities than SL courses are, and given the extra costs for proctoring now as well as the very real possibility of having to pay for extra month to finish a course at SL, are cheaper. I spent $80 for each exam, $20 for proctoring at Strayer U, and about $20-30 in study materials for each (some more, others less it depended what I found online and how comfortable I was with the subject). Seems to me that one could just as easily take a course via Saylor.org or one of the other open courses websites to prepare and then take a CLEP or DSST exam. Much cheaper without having to turn over one's personal computer to some stranger.

As for your invasion of privacy concerns, what sort of policy could we implement to make you or other students feel comfortable? How is our choice to use a proctoring service which we can monitor any different than other colleges requiring online or in-person proctoring services?

Because right now you do not allow acceptable third-party proctoring. There is no reason why someone shouldn't be allowed to use their local public library, testing centers like at their local community college or Strayer U, etc. Most online schools I'm aware allow this but SL's new policy does not.

The proctor doesn't get control of your computer like you're describing, they can just see what you see. The webcam you use isn't location specific and you can take it on a public computer at a location of your choosing, or in the comfort of your own home. Some students may be concerned about privacy, others will prefer the convenience this service offers. Both types of students have choices.

You do not know this for sure and certainly cannot guarantee such mischief won't occur. You're proposing to use an outside proctoring company that will have access to someone's personal computer, something that can very easily be abused without you knowing about it.

[LaterBloomer]

Darn! I had planned to take Managerial Accounting, and my math class with them. Now it looks as though I'll have to find another option. I've had my local library and a friend with a degree proctor tests, but I'm not having some stranger do it. As for cheating? Pleeease! Where there's a will, there's a way.

[alleycat]

You can do Managerial Accounting through Penn Foster. You will most likely have to have your final proctored. But it's your choice of proctor.