Study.com Proctor Questions

[Merlin]

People keep saying Study.com doesn't do LIVE proctoring. What does that mean? Does that mean you don't need a camera? Cause that'd be great since I don't have a fancy computer that has one lol

If you want to take online courses for college credit you'll need a webcam eventually, since most providers require proctoring of some kind to meet academic requirements. There are some that don't, but it seems likely that they will eventually add proctoring as well or lose their credit recommendation.

In any case, as others have stated, the difference between proctor types is really just whether the proctor is "live" and connected to your PC directly and watching you take the test in real-time, or if the software is just recording you and what your computer is showing and someone will watch it back later to verify your academic integrity. I prefer the latter for the time convenience, but it does mean it can take a week or more before you get your official test results.

As for picking up a webcam, most laptops have one built-in, but they tend to suck in quality. Alternatively, you can pick up a decent webcam online for $20 or less, or a very nice webcam for $50-$60. You don't need a nice webcam, but the nicer it is the better the image quality. If you do your testing at night, a webcam with good low-light resolution might be a good investment to avoid proctor issues.

I'm thinking of getting a new webcam myself since the webcam on my laptop is old, low resolution, and doesn't do low-light very well. Plus the webcam would be easier to pan around the room, so I wouldn't have to disconnect my laptop and physically swivel it around to do the 360 degree view.