MasterSoft’s Proctoring: Preventing Malpractices in Online Exams

With advancing technology, the education sector is also growing technologically, enhancing the educational quality of India. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, the education sector has witnessed a major shift towards online learning and examination platforms.

With this transition, students and institutions have gained convenience and flexibility and also experienced exposure to new challenges. This has helped in ensuring the integrity of online exams.

However, with rising technological advancements, there has also been an increase in malpractice during online exams. To deal with these issues, MasterSoft has developed a powerful proctoring feature to prevent malpractices and maintain the credibility of online examination

Today, we will discuss how MasterSoft’s proctoring feature works and its effectiveness in combating malpractices in online exams.

What is an Online Proctored Exam?

Before diving into MasterSoft’s proctoring feature, it is important to understand the concept of online proctored exams.

An online proctored exam is a way of conducting exams with the help of web-based technologies and proctoring software. The proctoring software monitors the examinee’s desktop, webcam, and audio, ensuring they follow the exam rules and do not cheat.

Online proctored exams offer many benefits for both students and teachers, such as convenience, flexibility, scalability, and security.

There are also some requirements that are necessary for efficient online assessment. In order to take an online proctored exam, students need to have

• A reliable internet connection
• A webcam
• A microphone
• A compatible browser

Besides the above-mentioned, students also need to register for the exam and complete identity verification using multi-factor authentication. This helps make sure the candidates themselves are the ones taking the test, not someone else.

Now, the question that arises is how does it ensure integrity during examination?

During the exam, the proctoring software records and analyses the students’ behaviour and flags any suspicious activities. such as:

• Opening other tabs
• Using external devices
• Looking away from the screen

Integration of Online Proctored Exams with Different Tools

There are various online examination platforms that support online proctored exams. These platforms also provide an end-to-end solution for creating, conducting, and evaluating online exams. These online examination platforms also offer features such as:

• Assessment management
• Automatic grading
• Customizable questions
• Reporting and statistics
• Skills assessment.

Online proctored exams can also be integrated with various online assessment tools that measure. These measure the student's knowledge, skills, and abilities in various domains. These tools can be used for different purposes, such as employability skills, lateral hiring, and content writing.

Lastly, online proctored exams can be accessed through various ERP campus solutions. These ERP campus solutions manage the entire examination process through user-friendly interfaces.

ERP Campus Solutions syncs and manages all the work processes inside the campus, such as the library, accounts, transportation, inventory, and security.

Why is Online Proctoring Needed in The Modern Education System?

Online proctoring is the key to an effective and efficient online examination. It is necessary to ensure the quality and integrity of online education and examinations. With the rise of online learning, traditional methods of invigilation are not effective anymore.

Online proctoring acts as a bridge over this gap. It provides a robust system to authenticate students, monitor their activities, and identify any signs of academic dishonesty. This develops confidence in the evaluation process, ensuring the credibility of online education.

There are various reasons why online proctoring is needed. Some of them are:

Meeting Legal and Accreditation Needs :

To ensure compliance with the legal and accreditation standards of educational programs that require student ID verification.

Flexibility for All :

Ensuring that it enables exams to be taken or administered at any time and place. This eliminates the need for physical presence or supervision for both students and instructors.

Cracking Down on Cheating :

To implement advanced features like browser lockdown, cell phone detection, live pop-ins, and AI proctoring to prevent and deter cheating during exams.

Fair Play for Everyone :

Online proctoring is also needed to establish a fair testing environment, irrespective of a student's location, background, or abilities.

Insightful Reporting for Faculty:

To provide detailed reports and analytics for faculty members. It assists them in understanding student test-taking behaviour, patterns, and outcomes. This supports them in improving teaching and assessment practices.

Versatile Exam Support :

It is also needed to support various exam types. These include multiple-choice, essay, short answer, or performance-based assessments, catering to different learning objectives and domains.

Accessibility and Inclusivity :

To enhance accessibility by allowing accommodations and adjustments for students with special needs or disabilities.

Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness :

Lastly, it is also required to reduce the administrative burden and costs associated with traditional test centres, invigilators, and logistics. At the same time, it is needed to increase the scalability and efficiency of online exams.

Online proctoring is needed to meet the challenges and opportunities of online education. It is a modern and innovative way of ensuring academic integrity and quality in online exams.

With all that out of the way, let’s move on to the lead character of this article.

MasterSoft: A Comprehensive Online Examination Platform

MasterSoft is a leading ERP campus solutions provider for educational institutions. We offer a comprehensive online assessment platform that meets the needs of both students and institutions.

Our online examination platform combines advanced technology with user-friendly features to deliver a seamless examination experience.

MasterSoft Proctoring Feature: How Does It Work?

MasterSoft’s proctoring feature uses a combination of Artificial Learning and Machine Learning algorithms to monitor students during online examinations. It can also be easily integrated into the existing online examination platforms. This makes it easy to implement for institutions.

Facial Recognition Technology :

The first and one of the key components of MasterSoft's proctoring feature is facial recognition technology. During an online exam, the system captures the student's face using their device's camera.

This helps in verifying the identity of the student and ensures that no impersonation takes place.

Real-time Monitoring :

MasterSoft's proctoring feature provides real-time monitoring of students during exams. Our AI-powered algorithms analyse various factors, such as head positioning and keyboard activity, to detect any suspicious behaviour.

In case any malpractices or irregularities are detected, an alert is sent to the invigilator for further investigation.

Browser Lockdown :

To prevent students from accessing any websites or resources besides the active exam session during exams, our proctoring feature offers browser lockdown functionality.

This makes sure that students can only access the exam interface. This prevents them from navigating away to search for answers or refer to external materials.

Audio and Video Recording :

MasterSoft's proctoring feature also records audio and video during exams. This helps to provide additional evidence in case of any malpractice allegations.

These recordings can be reviewed by invigilators or authorities if required.

Passive Exam Proctoring :

MasterSoft's proctoring feature takes snapshots of students at random to analyse student behaviour and catch any malpractice in the act. It also tracks students' on-screen movements and how long the exam browser has been kept idle.

Malpractice Log Records :

Our proctoring feature tracks and maintains a smart log record of any warnings and malpractices by individual students. This helps with a fair and just review of student performance, maintaining the integrity of the examination.

Easy integration with Existing ERP Softwares :

Another advantage of MasterSoft’s proctoring feature is its easy integration with ERP software. Seamlessly integrate our proctoring feature with your multiple APIs as well as existing ERP Software. This seamless integration enhances the efficiency of complete online examination process