I am on several committees school where the subject of online teaching or distance education comes up. Usually in these committees, which are mainly composed of faculty members, the issue that concerns most people is academic integrity. Are the students on the other end of the computer connection who they say they are? And are they cheating in some fashion (group work, plagiarism, etc)? A recent article in The Wired Campus (“Is That Online Student Who He Says He is?”) introduces some new technology, such as the Securexam Remote Proctor or Kryterion’s Webassessor, that is under development to help universities deal with this issue. The issue is a pressing one since the Higher Education Act now requires universities and colleges to verify the identities of their online students in some fashion. It will be quite interesting to see how this develops in the future as colleges compete for online students.
RSM
Ancient History Ramblings 