Straighterline/proctoru gone to far?

[Leebo]

I haven't used ProctorU, but these questions sound like standard online identification questions, the kind of stuff you'd see if you want to look at your credit report online. I'd probably try ProctorU if they did CLEP or DSST.

[UptonSinclair]

The great thing about a market system is you have choice. If you don't like the way ProctorU operates, avoid Straighterline and TESC.

[forumuser]

Yes, and SL made a bad business decision by going with ProbesU or at least only ProctorU (as ProctorU is famous for being the worst among online proctoring companies). SL will be losing current and potential customers due to this.

The great thing about a market system is you have choice. If you don't like the way ProctorU operates, avoid Straighterline and TESC.

[ironheadjack]

SL will be losing current and potential customers due to this.

I doubt it.

When SL first started requiring a proctor people on this forum were upset by the change, but yet SL is still in business and expanding its partner schools and credit offerings. If anything when they added the proctoring requirement they helped to legitimize themselves.

[ragcajun]

WOW, just checked out the link about ProctorU..creepy stuff! We have so many policies in place at work that if any employees did crap like that they would be fired so fast!

[Devanna]

I've never had a problem with ProctorU. The proctors are all nice and friendly and they let me know what they are going to do and explain it thoroughly (I'm just going to check your monitor settings now, okay?). I can understand them wanting to make sure that I am who I say I am, hence the reason for ID, taking a picture of your face to check that ID against, and asking questions from public records. It's in their best interest to do their job and not be too nosy and tick off customers.

That being said I'm sure every company has some creep or bad apple that doesn't do things the way they should, like the OP's proctor. I don't think that makes the entire company bad or out to get you.

[Lindagerr]

I was lucky enough to finish my one and only Straighterline class before they required ProctorU. I would never let them into my regular computer. I have never had any signs of identity theft and I never want to. I use my computer for lots of things that I don't want out there. I did think about what I would do if I had another class or exam that required ProtorU, I would use either a new computer with no personal info or an old computer that had been wiped of old info. I am lucky because my husband builds computers from scratch so he could do that for me.

I know they are supposed to be reputable and take precautions, but didn't Target say the same thing? I know plenty of people who were really worried around Christmas time about the breaches there. If that video shows what the ProctorU employees are really like whats to say one of them won't get fired and decide to use some info they got while employed? I don't want anyone in my home that I haven't invited. I am willing to go out to have a live person proctor why should I not have that option?

[benjenkinsv95]

Hey guys,

I had my first ProctorU experience today. My dad and I have the same name, I am currently 18 so very little of my information was out their for ProctorU to quiz me on. So instead the information they took, thinking it was mine, was my fathers information. They quizzed me on his knowledge to validate my identity. Believe it or not, I was able to validate myself using his information just because we have the same name and I was a decent guesser . I told them all of this and they validated me anyway, without answering any questions pertaining to my identity. Good to know they don't care about any of those questions that they demand to have.

[forumuser]

Yes, ProctorsU is a very awkward company. I'm glad my university doesn't work with them. At least most universities provide other options besides ProbesU (which many would prefer over some weird guy in India gaining full access to computer). Straighterline is making a mistake by only providing one option, and that option being ProbesU.

Hey guys,

I had my first ProctorU experience today. My dad and I have the same name, I am currently 18 so very little of my information was out their for ProctorU to quiz me on. So instead the information they took, thinking it was mine, was my fathers information. They quizzed me on his knowledge to validate my identity. Believe it or not, I was able to validate myself using his information just because we have the same name and I was a decent guesser . I told them all of this and they validated me anyway, without answering any questions pertaining to my identity. Good to know they don't care about any of those questions that they demand to have.

[forumuser]

... trying to simulate in-class exam environments through invasive and expensive monitoring procedures is flatly in error.

If the school is worried about online test-taking dishonesty, then the curricula of online courses should be changed. Instead of paying for an unsettling new service, set new guidelines for how these tests are structured — make them less prone to cheating, more free-response based, more creatively driven.

An Orwellian proposal - Pipe Dream