London, UK –
Rory McCorkle, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Client Success at PSI Online LLC, discusses the ever-growing demand for digital testing and online proctoring solutions and how to effectively implement them in your institution.
What range of testing modalities does PSI have experience offering?
We have been in business for quite some time, celebrating our 75th anniversary in business last year. We deliver tests in several modalities. We have a global test center network, we still give some exams on paper, albeit sparingly few, as well as via online proctoring. It is important to know that as we think about security, regardless of the modality, there are always things to be conscious of in test security.
What are the most common remote testing security risks and what steps have PSI taken to overcome them?
Probably one of the primary things that gets talked about in remote invigilation is proxy testing. This is a method wherein another individual is taking the test for the candidate using some type of desktop share. We fight this via the use of a secure browser, which ultimately blocks these types of programs. Overall, at the end of the day, ensuring that we combat all these risks is extremely important to make sure that the schools that use our Skills for English program can rely on their results and that the individual coming into the school has the level of language proficiency that we said they have, and of course maintaining the credibility of our Skills for English program.
How can institutions protect the integrity and reliability of their test results when using digital testing and online proctoring?
The best approaches to online proctoring are those that are human centered, but technology assisted. There are things in human behavior that only humans can pick out properly when it comes to the nuance of these types of cheating behaviors. Not to say that A.I. and technology are not incredible as assistive tools. Our platform picks up on facial positioning, audio levels, and other features that help the human proctor, but ultimately, both for our Skills for English examinations plus for the clients that we serve in this area, they ultimately want humans making those final decisions on whether to, for example, dismiss the student from their exam because of misconduct.
Whatever you adopt; pilot, prove it out, and ensure that you have the data to support the holistic approach that you’re taking with A.I., and that you are using it with a big enough sample size to ensure the validity and reliability of those results.
