For the past few years, online learning has become the ‘new in thing’ for pursuing higher education courses. People have begun to take up online programs way too often than before. If you go through some of the recent studies on this topic, you will find out that a huge number of students, under the age of 25, prefer studying for their education degrees online rather than attending college.
People are slowly moving away from traditional forms of learning & to cater to the demands of such persons, many institutions have begun to offer influential online courses. The best things about such programs are that they are quite affordable & do not require you to visit a college campus to attend classes.
Though online learning was not considered to be a very authentic way of pursuing education sometime back, with the introduction of exam proctoring services, people’s faith in taking up online courses has been revived. In this article, I am going to talk about the different types of proctoring & which one do students prefer over the others.
At present, there are two major approaches to proctoring –test center proctoring & online proctoring.
In the first one, you are required to travel to a test center where proctors are present to supervise the whole examination process, while, in case of online proctoring, you can take the exam anywhere you want but under the supervision of a proctor who would observe you with the help of a web camera over the internet.
There are different pros & cons to both the approaches & I am going to explain that you below.
Factors involved in online proctoring
- Travel time is reduced
Exams that are proctored online do not require you to travel long distances to reach a test center. You can just take the exam at your home and save a lot of traveling time.
- Scheduling is convenient
It is possible for you to schedule an exam at a time that is convenient for you and that too at a short notice. So, if you are working or have some family responsibilities, you can always select a time that is best for you.
- Accessibility
As an online proctored exam is taken on your own computer, you get to use the accessibility aids (like screen readers or some special input devices) that you normally do. Whereas, if you take the test at a proctored exam center, these things require a setup.
Factors involved in test center proctoring
- Standardized computers
In online proctored exams, you are required to have your own computer, webcam & internet connection, while, test centers provide you with an appropriate computer which doesn’t need to be set up.
- Perfect setting for long exams
During an online proctored exam, you are not allowed to take a break due to security reasons. So if the exam that you are taking is of a really long duration, it makes more sense to take it in a proctored exam center.
As we mentioned earlier that both the approaches have their pros & cons. Which one is suitable for you would mostly depend on your preferences & circumstances.
