Fall 2020 Testing Service Update

OHIO’s Testing Service provides exam proctoring, a consistent and accessible student experience, support for faculty using online proctoring, and scheduling, as well as providing accessibility accommodations for student testing. To support OHIO’s Fall 2020 Scenario recommendations, the following changes have been implemented to the Testing Service:

1. Online proctoring student fees will be covered by OIT for all automated proctoring for Fall 2020 semester.
2. On-campus proctoring provided by the Testing Center (located in Bromley Hall) is scheduled to remain closed during Phase I of the Athens Campus: Multi-Phased Return Plan.
3. Once open, the Testing Center will be limited to approximately 50% of its current capacity (21 testers at a time) to adhere to CDC guidelines. OIT recommends that instructors consider using online proctoring for all high-stakes mid-terms and quizzes.
4. OIT recently conducted a survey to understand faculty and student feedback of OHIO’s preferred online proctoring tool, Proctortrack, and the findings have been published. Using this valuable feedback, OIT will continue working with the vendor to improve this service offering.

Online Proctoring for Fall 2020

OHIO’s automated online proctoring solution provided by Proctortrack will continue to play an important role in proctoring high-stakes exams during the Fall 2020 semester. As OHIO’s Fall 2020 Scenario Recommendation 3.A highlights, “Ohio University will operate in a reduced density model with a revised academic calendar that is intended to reduce 'churn' between hometown and campuses," including an "on-schedule start in August (for most programs) and … remote closure of the semester with one week of instruction and one week of final examination/assessment conducted remotely (Weeks 14-16).”

Because OHIO’s Testing Center will be operating on reduced capacity, OIT recommends that instructors consider leveraging online proctoring for all high-stakes mid-terms and quizzes that instructors traditionally would’ve considered the Testing Center for. Additional information about exam scheduling for faculty and students will be communicated in the coming weeks.

OIT has received excellent feedback from faculty and students who used Proctortrack during the Spring semester. To allow the university community to express additional feedback and to align with the Fall 2020 Scenario Recommendation 6.A, OIT will solicit faculty feedback from spring terms about current tools for online test-administration via a survey by the end of July. Results of this survey will be shared with the vendor, posted on the OIT website, and help shape OIT’s training and communication strategies.

Please feel free to reach out to the Office of Information Technology at servicedesk@ohio.edu and one of our experts will gladly share more. You may also visit the Keep Teaching site, which highlights assessment-specific workshops and other relevant information for teaching and learning.

The Office of Information Technology will continue to provide updates throughout the summer and closer to the semester start of August 24, 2020.