How Schools Like Yale and Harvard are Conducting online exams?

Update 2023: Harvard has not moved to a proctoring solution

Exam Proctoring has become a debatable topic, more so during the pandemic. Since everyone had to study online and get evaluated online, all the universities tried their best to balance exam credibility and student experience.

Some went with the flexibility of video-conferencing and set rules and practices around it, others went with market ready solutions like ProctorU, Examity, Proctorio, Canvas Logs and so on. There are some which have now totally moved back to Physical Exams.

We looked at how various Ivy Leagues are doing their proctoring currently.

Harvard : [1] Video Conferencing Based Proctoring using Zoom, LMS - Canvas , Hand-written answer sheet

Yale: [2] Video Conferencing Based Proctoring using Recorded Zoom(flagged), LMS - Canvas , Hand-written answer sheet

If an instructor believes a student violated exam procedures, we recommend that the instructor start by talking to the student about the activity. It is possible the student can provide an explanation for their actions that lead to the determination there was no academic dishonesty. Evaluating actions on a recorded Zoom session is challenging; the student should have the opportunity to discuss the situation with the instructor.

If the student is unable to provide a satisfactory reason for their actions, the instructor should follow the process established for the “Submission of matters to the Executive Committee: 1. Reports of possible Academic Offenses.”

Columbia University: Proctorio

Cornell University: Highly Sensitive to Anxiety. Uses Examity

Dartmouth  University: Used LMS Canvas Quiz Logs to detect cheating but was not able to prove the case because of disclaimer from Canvas LMS.

University of Pennsylvania: ProctorU – Canvas at Penn (upenn.edu)

References

Proctoring a Closed-Book Exam in Zoom | Department of Government (harvard.edu)

Online Exams and Proctoring | Academic Continuity (yale.edu)

Proctoring Services | Center for Teaching Innovation (cornell.edu)

Victory! Dartmouth Ends Unfounded Cheating Investigation After Students, Rights Groups Speak Out | Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org)

ProctorU – Canvas at Penn (upenn.edu)