Reasons to Fear Online Education
With the increasing importance of a college education, employees are actively seeking opportunities to earn a college degree without interrupting their busy lifestyles. Therefore, earning an online education has become an increasingly popular trend. In comparison to traditional learning, distance learning offers many advantages including providing the ability to set your own schedule and study time, the avoidance of wasting time and money to commute to campus, and the ability to continue maintaining a career while furthering your education. The majority of corporations are embracing the idea of their employees participating in this virtual world of education. However these companies along with universities are becoming concerned with whether or not students are retaining the material that is being taught. This has become a concern due to many universities authorizing students to take non-proctored exams.
A non-proctored exam allows students to take an exam at their location of choice within a scheduled time frame. Students are unsupervised with no one to monitor their use of materials throughout the exam. A proctored exam is a supervised exam. Students are responsible for arranging for a proctor to supervise them. The proctor must be approved by the university, and many universities require that the proctor be one of the following: school administrator, counselor, certified librarian, military educator, test administrator at a testing office, or a minister of an established church or synagogue. When a university is deciding whether or not to utilize non-proctored vs. proctored exams, it is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both, as well as their effect on final course grades. Non-proctored exams offer many benefits in the virtual environment. They can provide accurate results in low stakes situations where the temptation for cheating is minimized, they give students a sense of ownership and responsibility, and they offer convenience and lower costs to educators and students.
Although non-proctored exams offer many benefits, there are several disadvantages that should be a concern for universities. In an online learning environment there is no one reminding students about assignments being due or upcoming exams that are going to be administered. Of course, students are told the dates of exams, but when they know too far in advance, more often they will continue to push back studying until it’s too late. Not being prepared to take the exam could be a disadvantage that leads to cheating during a non proctored exam. In today’s society, the pressure to excel and receive good grades is growing. By having no proctors for an exam, students will get the extra urge to use resources for a test in order to meet those pressures of getting good grades. Another issue is the absence of verifying the student identification for non-proctored settings, it is impossible to know whether the registered student or a substitute has ta
