Proctor U (Proctor FU) with Coopersmith... still just as bad

[studyingfortests]

While I've personally not had to suffer the indignities of using ProctorU, I was helping a (pretty non-technical) friend get set up for a ProctorU exam with Coopersmith.  He took them at my place because his Internet connection is unreliable. 

It was a complete clusterfuck.

The first time he attempted to take the exam, I ran through the pre-flight equipment/connection check on my laptop. Everything passed with flying colors EXCEPT the CPU and memory specifications. Apparently Firefox does not provide that information.  So, according to ProctorU, because of that, one cannot use Firefox. Except that it is one of the two approved browsers that they list.  

So I switched to Chrome, where all of the pre-flight passed with flying colors. I left the room as my friend was talking to the proctor.

Well, apparently the proctor decided that the volume on the microphone wasn't adequate, so they connected him to technical support. That took 50 minutes, and at the end of it, the tech support folks said they could not help him, that the volume wasn't loud enough and they could not fix it.  So he rescheduled the exam.  (He still does not know if he will be refunded for the problem.)

The second time around, he used my desktop.  Again, I set everything up with Chrome, tested it, made sure the images from the webcam and volume were fine, but this time I stayed around in case there were problems.  Again, this time, ProctorU could not figure out how to make the webcam talk to their app (even though it was working when I did the preflight test in their app, and separately checked it in Zoom.)  Another 30 minutes, more of the tech support guy being utterly unhelpful. I even stepped in to ensure the camera worked with a different app (it did...) but still they could not make it work.

So while that was going on, I decided to set up the laptop that had failed the previous day, and test the supposedly problematic audio myself.  THE DUMBASS PROCTORU SUPPORT GUY HAD SET THE AUDIO TO AN INTERNAL ROUTING APP INSTEAD OF THE BUILT-IN MICROPHONE!!!  That's why they couldn't hear.  Mind you... I'd tested it 5 minutes before my friend had started the app, using ProctorU's preflight, and it was fine.  So I fixed the setting, preflight tested with ProctorU's test page, and suggested my friend ditch the desktop and switch back to the laptop.

He switched back, and I stayed in the room to ensure that he could actually speak to the proctor, that the proctor could hear and see him, and that everything was good. It was fine. Once that was done, I left... and my friend was finally able to take his test. Almost 90 minutes after the scheduled starting time.

But left to ProctorU's support, it's unlikely he would have been able to resolve the problem.

This was the last of three Coopersmith courses my friend needed to take (similar ineptitude and wasted time with ProctorU each of the other two times, though they were eventually successful), so he's unlikely to have to deal with ProctorU ever again, but it's offputting enough for me to consider discouraging people I talk with from using Coopersmith in the future until they get a competent proctoring solution.

I've used several different proctoring tools including the Respondus Lockdown Browser, RPNow, whatever kludge CLEP uses, and I think one other. *None* have had anywhere near as bad as ProctorU.  I do not understand why Coopersmith (and TESU) don't switch to RPNow or something else, and I do not understand why ProctorU has these issues when other proctoring services seem to work relatively well.

@shaas I don't know if there are limitations with ACE or something else that keeps Coopersmith from switching, or at least offering an alternative to ProctorU, but I can tell you that, especially with the counseling/social work course offerings, those folks in particular seem to be less technically inclined, and ProctorU is likely to be a strong disincentive from people taking those courses.  I hope there's something you can do to explore another option.

[bjcheung77]

@studyingfortests - Oh wow, I've had a couple of issues with StraighterLine/ProctorU but it was much more minor than what transpired for your friend there. Nothing that major has happened, both times I just had to chat with StraighterLine and they posted my results promptly.

@shaas - Yes an example is, Davar Academy gives the option of using ProctorU $25, RPNow $15, and a local proctor, I highly recommend investigating switching to RPNow as it's cheaper as well... Again, for Davar it's is cheaper for RPNow than it is for ProctorU proctoring...

[dfrecore]

I had to take 6 TECEP exams to get residency (back in the day), and Every. Single. Time. it was a nightmare. It took at LEAST 30 minutes (and sometimes as much as 60) to get going versus the maybe 5 minutes other proctoring services require - enough to stress me out each time I had to test. They are truly terrible.

[rachel83az]

I think that they are especially bad right now because they've seemingly been hiring indiscriminately. They need more bodies to cover the increased demand, but most of these new people don't know what the heck they're doing. It is highly frustrating, to say the least. The only reason I'll be taking SL's Calculus is because the exam is technically not required to pass. So it doesn't matter if I flunk that because the proctor sucks.

[studyingfortests]

I think that they are especially bad right now because they've seemingly been hiring indiscriminately. They need more bodies to cover the increased demand, but most of these new people don't know what the heck they're doing. It is highly frustrating, to say the least. The only reason I'll be taking SL's Calculus is because the exam is technically not required to pass. So it doesn't matter if I flunk that because the proctor sucks.

I don't know for certain, but every person my friend has encountered in the past month for his four proctoring sessions sounded like they were Filipino.  My guess is that ProctorU may have contracted with an outsourced call center in the Phillipines... and it' been my experience that the quality of call centers in the Phillipines especially, for anything technology-related, is pretty much universally terrible. I suspect it is an issue of low pay and minimal-to-nonexistent training standards.

[rachel83az]

Sounds about right. I've heard that a lot of companies are leaving India because Indian employees are getting better trained (and better at American-accented English) and are demanding higher pay. So, they're moving to countries with lower pay and less training just to avoid paying an extra $0.50/hr. Personally, I'd rather pay the extra $0.50-$1.00 per hour if it means better productivity. That is, with ProctorU, they're literally paying for an extra 1-2 hours of work (setup, tech support) per exam compared to using competent employees!

I don't blame I don't blame Indians, Fillipenos, Malaysians, etc. for taking these jobs; I hear that they pay VERY well, compared to other local jobs. I do blame the companies for not providing sufficient training and for seeking the lowest-paid employees at the detriment of customer support and satisfaction.

[shaas]

While I've personally not had to suffer the indignities of using ProctorU, I was helping a (pretty non-technical) friend get set up for a ProctorU exam with Coopersmith.  He took them at my place because his Internet connection is unreliable. 

It was a complete clusterfuck.

The first time he attempted to take the exam, I ran through the pre-flight equipment/connection check on my laptop. Everything passed with flying colors EXCEPT the CPU and memory specifications. Apparently Firefox does not provide that information.  So, according to ProctorU, because of that, one cannot use Firefox. Except that it is one of the two approved browsers that they list.  

So I switched to Chrome, where all of the pre-flight passed with flying colors. I left the room as my friend was talking to the proctor.

Well, apparently the proctor decided that the volume on the microphone wasn't adequate, so they connected him to technical support. That took 50 minutes, and at the end of it, the tech support folks said they could not help him, that the volume wasn't loud enough and they could not fix it.  So he rescheduled the exam.  (He still does not know if he will be refunded for the problem.)

The second time around, he used my desktop.  Again, I set everything up with Chrome, tested it, made sure the images from the webcam and volume were fine, but this time I stayed around in case there were problems.  Again, this time, ProctorU could not figure out how to make the webcam talk to their app (even though it was working when I did the preflight test in their app, and separately checked it in Zoom.)  Another 30 minutes, more of the tech support guy being utterly unhelpful. I even stepped in to ensure the camera worked with a different app (it did...) but still they could not make it work.

So while that was going on, I decided to set up the laptop that had failed the previous day, and test the supposedly problematic audio myself.  THE DUMBASS PROCTORU SUPPORT GUY HAD SET THE AUDIO TO AN INTERNAL ROUTING APP INSTEAD OF THE BUILT-IN MICROPHONE!!!  That's why they couldn't hear.  Mind you... I'd tested it 5 minutes before my friend had started the app, using ProctorU's preflight, and it was fine.  So I fixed the setting, preflight tested with ProctorU's test page, and suggested my friend ditch the desktop and switch back to the laptop.

He switched back, and I stayed in the room to ensure that he could actually speak to the proctor, that the proctor could hear and see him, and that everything was good. It was fine. Once that was done, I left... and my friend was finally able to take his test. Almost 90 minutes after the scheduled starting time.

But left to ProctorU's support, it's unlikely he would have been able to resolve the problem.

This was the last of three Coopersmith courses my friend needed to take (similar ineptitude and wasted time with ProctorU each of the other two times, though they were eventually successful), so he's unlikely to have to deal with ProctorU ever again, but it's offputting enough for me to consider discouraging people I talk with from using Coopersmith in the future until they get a competent proctoring solution.

I've used several different proctoring tools including the Respondus Lockdown Browser, RPNow, whatever kludge CLEP uses, and I think one other. *None* have had anywhere near as bad as ProctorU.  I do not understand why Coopersmith (and TESU) don't switch to RPNow or something else, and I do not understand why ProctorU has these issues when other proctoring services seem to work relatively well.

@shaas I don't know if there are limitations with ACE or something else that keeps Coopersmith from switching, or at least offering an alternative to ProctorU, but I can tell you that, especially with the counseling/social work course offerings, those folks in particular seem to be less technically inclined, and ProctorU is likely to be a strong disincentive from people taking those courses.  I hope there's something you can do to explore another option.

Okay, so this reply has been a loooong time in the making, but we've now added on-demand proctoring through SmarterServices that requires no human intervention. Just log in, click on the exam and follow the prompts. So, students no longer need to use ProctorU or any other service that requires interacting with another person or making an appointment.

[bjcheung77]

That's awesome, they're using the same provider for proctoring as Saylor.org does! Not bad, at all: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...lasses-now

[TopHatWombat]

Heck yeah! This now creates an attractive path for completing accounting courses.

[shaas]

Heck yeah! This now creates an attractive path for completing accounting courses.

Speaking of our accounting courses, this is all in the very early stages of course and producing these things takes forever, but for a look into the future of Coopersmith, here's our brand new ACC-101 Module 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-VOUBYGHsk

Here's our MAT-101 playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzZkQZv...cFcur_hFVY

With the resources we have allocated to this project, we can do about 1 or 2 courses per month (it's the video production that's the bottleneck, not the content writing), but the plan is to keep producing these until we have them for all of our "popular" courses (sorry, Medical Marijuana, that means not you.   )

---

Speaking of which, for a look into Coopersmith's future, here is our brand new ACC-101 Module 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-VOUBYGHsk

Here is our MAT-101 playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzZkQZv...ex=1&t=32s

These take a while to produce (we can do maybe 1 or 2 courses/month at this rate), but the plan is to create these for all of our popular courses (sorry Medical Marijuana).