Universities continue proctoring despite privacy issues

The results from a survey by the National Student Association (LSVb) shows that the majority of universities continue using online proctoring services to monitor test takers, despite privacy and technical issues raised by students.

Proctoring software makes it possible for examiners to access the webcams, microphones and web browsers of students during tests as a way of preventing people from cheating. According to the LSVb, hundreds of students in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Wageningen have been wrongly accused of cheating after software falsely flagged them for suspicious behavior.

At the Hanze University in Groningen, journalists were able to hack the system and watch dozens of students writing their exams, the LSVb also noted. Due to complications during an exam at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam last September, many diplomas were declared invalid, the union said.

LSVb chairman Lyle Muns, thinks the situation has gone too far. “It is high time that the use of proctoring becomes the exception and not the rule. There are many other options available for writing exams. Students are being victimized twice throughout this crisis due to the special situation and the additional stress in taking their exams,” he said.

His organization has asked educational institutions to stop the use of proctoring software during exams. He pointed out that six universities which do not use such services demonstrate that there are good alternatives at hand.

"From open-book tests and essays to physical exams where students have to take a pop quiz beforehand," he said.