10 Best Practices For WEBCAM Proctored Test

If you’re taking an online proctored test, you know that it can be super nerve-wracking ordering food for delivery and paying for it, then answering a series of questions about the food and your order, all from the comfort of your own couch. It would be so much easier if there were a less distracting way to do things. 

The number of people who are suffering from situations like these is higher than you think. IT professionals, medical personnel, lawyers and journalists are among those professions that sometimes require being in front of a camera for an interview or to watch over a patient’s vital signs.

With the advent of Webcam Proctoring softwares, online testing has become more convenient and less time-consuming. With this technology and its many uses in today’s society. 

We have created a list of top 10 best practices for Webcam Proctored Test.

1. Always guarantee the exam security: 

The first and foremost rule of webcam proctoring exams is to test only the people who are present in front of the webcam, and their identity. This can only be achieved by making sure that there is a live image of the candidate while they are taking their exam. In case there are technical or hardware issues with video transmission, don’t allow webcam proctoring at all.

2. Eliminate the cheating opportunities: 

Eliminate cheating opportunities in advance by choosing a random password generator for a test that you wish to be Webcam Proctored. Share the password for the exam and share the password just before a few hours of the exam. Focus on the candidate during the exam so that there is no cheating opportunity. 

3. Save Time:

One sure way to prevent webcam cheating is to make your webcam proctoring software multi-user capable so that more than one student is being tested at a time. This will also help you to save a ton of time for you and make remote proctoring easy for you. Taking exams one by one will cost you more effort and at the end you will be exhausted.

4. Make your students feel comfortable while taking their exam: 

For example, you can ask them to wear their usual clothes instead of a school uniform or a lab coat if they usually wear it during classes or lectures. This will help them feel that they are in familiar surroundings and provide them with an atmosphere where they are more likely to have the same mindset as when taking an ordinary exam at school or university.

5. Creating the questions: 

Choose types of questions based on the subject matter of the exam (i.e. long answers vs short answer questions). You can manually type the questions you want to be asked and go through them with the webcam proctoring software. Instead of taking questions from the web try to make questions on your own, doing so will reduce the chances of cheating from the online sources.

6. Check The Compatibility of the software:  

Make sure that the webcam proctoring software is compatible with your exam and exam server’s operating system. Some features are available only on specific OS’ (i.e.: Apple Mac OS X, Linux). Please check if your students have the right computer hardware as well. A software which is available and compatible for different OS will do the work for you. Students can attend the exam from their very own laptop and do not have to rely on finding specific hardware compatible systems. They can also attend the test from their smartphone.

7. For persons with disabilities: 

Try to avoid using webcam proctoring software in cases where exams could have to be taken by people with disabilities, who are not able to use a computer mouse or they have visual impairments and would need special arrangements in order to take their exams properly. Hire a proctor who would arrive at the student’s home or institute and administer the exam.

8.  Hire a certified Proctor: 

When hiring a proctor for webcam proctoring, it is important to make sure that he/she is a professional and has security experience, as one wrong move could ruin your image in front of your customers and clients. A good idea would be to hire someone with a check, who has experience in IT. This way you can guarantee that they are properly trained in the use of webcam proctoring software which is used for testing purposes only. Hiring untrained people can provide a chance of cheating so, always higher a tested proctor.

9. Use Online test for needy students: 

One of the best places to use webcam proctoring is a hospital. It allows patients to be tested while they are lying in their beds without having the need to get up and go to a proctoring location. This can help them recover faster and they don’t even have to miss any school or work days. This will solve many problems for those students who are unable to attend the exam in physical mode.

10. Conduct a Trial season: 

The final step is to always conduct a trial session of webcam proctoring before you start testing your students for real. Make sure that every candidate is being imaged clearly by the video camera and/or software, that there are no technical problems with video transmission and that the Webcam Proctoring software is compatible with your computer hardware, exam server operating system and exam program.

These are the 10 best practices you should keep in mind if you are thinking of taking a webcam proctored test. You should have to keep every aspect for the examination. I will suggest you to go with the Mercer Mettl. Mercer Mettl is a highly advanced designed software which is used for taking online exams. This is surely one of the best budget friendly online proctoring software. You can read about their functionality from the official website. This software also provides you with a demo examinations test, where you can check for the function of the sites which are provided from the software.