It’s always good to take a step back and reflect on our humble roots in the higher education space. We proctored our first higher education exam in 2008 under the company name ProctorU. Since then, we’ve become Meazure Learning—a full-service testing company that offers remote proctoring through the ProctorU Platform and globally employs the largest certified remote proctor and support workforce.
Along the way, our clients spurred us forward and we pushed their limits as well. Together, we have helped reshape the landscape of remote assessment in higher education. Throughout our journey, we’ve made it a company-wide priority to transparently communicate with our clients, listen to feedback, and further improve our products and services so that we can help institutions optimize their assessments, student experience, and institutional goals.
Below, we’ll explore a few ways in which we’ve evolved to meet the needs of the higher education market and offer insights into the future of assessment.
The Progression of Higher-Ed Assessment and Meazure Learning’s Involvement
In recent years, the demographics of higher education students have undergone significant changes, leading to new expectations for learning and assessment. Today’s student population is more diverse—culturally, socioeconomically, and educationally—bringing forth unique perspectives, experiences, and learning styles. Additionally, with the continued rise of digital technology and the accessibility of information, students now demand more engaging, personalized, and practical learning experiences, including assessments.
As a result, higher education institutions and assessment solution providers, like Meazure Learning, are evolving to meet these new needs and expectations, embracing ethical, student-centric approaches and flexible, innovative assessment methods.
“I am often asked about online proctoring and I point out that the opportunity to have a true partnership with [Meazure Learning] and the ability to design a custom solution to fit the classroom is important.”
Tawnya Means, Former Assistant Dean and Director of the College of Business’s Teaching & Learning Center, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Let’s explore some of the changes we’ve made—to our products, services, and overall organization—to better serve the higher education market.
Increased Number of Remote Proctoring Service Lines
Higher education instructors and administrators now have unprecedented flexibility when it comes to the proctoring services we offer. Over the past decade, we’ve responded to feedback from instructors, administrators, and students to improve existing service lines and develop new ones. Now, we’re one of the only remote proctoring vendors to offer a proctoring solution for every exam need. Our Live+ service continues to be used for high-stakes exams with rigorous security needs, whereas our Review+ service is used for mid-stakes exams and our Record+ service is used for low-stakes exams with fewer security requirements. We’ve recently introduced a new product as well: the Guardian Browser, which is a secure proctoring browser fully integrated with the ProctorU Platform. This browser currently powers all remote proctoring sessions through the platform and will soon be available as a separate exam integrity solution for low-stakes exams that don’t require proctoring.
Expanded Global Footprint and Operational Staffing
Even before the increased demand for remote proctoring in 2020, we expanded our physical presence to accommodate a larger number of students across different time zones and ensure uninterrupted service even during natural disasters or pandemic-related lockdowns. By prioritizing operational redundancy, we generated more reliability for institutions and a better, more consistent user experience for students. Today, we have eight proctoring operation centers in five countries, giving us the flexibility to scale our operations according to the testing demand on any given day. We also continue to increase our remote proctoring and customer support workforce, totaling around 1,000 personnel dedicated to ensuring a safe and seamless testing experience for all institutions.
Continued Commitment to Data Security and Privacy
As the world continues to evolve digitally and technologically, so do higher education institutions and their remote proctoring providers. It’s increasingly important that we protect organizational and student data, comply with regulations, mitigate security risks, and build trust within the community.
We prioritized data security and privacy assurance for our higher education users in numerous ways. For example, our remote proctoring platform recently achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance. This certification demonstrates adherence to the System and Operational Controls (SOC) standards for service organizations, set by the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and gives platform users critical insight into how their sensitive data is stored, managed, and protected.
“Obtaining the SOC 2 Type II compliance certification validates our team’s commitment to upholding rigorous data security processes and controls. It shows that we take our responsibility to protect client data seriously and provides transparency around our efforts to continuously improve the ProctorU Proctoring Platform.”
Shawne Hodges, Senior Vice President of Service Delivery, Meazure Learning
More Robust and Convenient Student Support
Today’s higher education students expect convenient learning and assessment experiences. More than ever before, “convenient” means “on my terms.” While students want to take assessments from the comfort of their own space and on their own schedule, they also expect the same level of proctoring and technological support as before. To improve student preparedness, we’ve created extensive and accessible support systems—both within and outside the ProctorU Platform. Students can access self-service support applications and documentation to alleviate the most common tech issues, and they can contact a support representative at any time—day or night—through multiple channels. During an exam, they also have access to designated technical representatives in addition to their proctor. Today, only 0.7% of test-takers who experience technical issues cannot resolve them in the ProctorU Platform, and 95% of test-takers rate their proctoring experience as “satisfied” or “very satisfied.”
Expanded Integration Ecosystem
The value of a seamless testing process via robust integrations cannot be understated. Each year, we continue to expand our proctoring platform integration offerings with leading learning management systems (LMSs), including Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and more. The strategic partnerships we’ve forged have led to smoother exam experiences for students and time and resource savings for faculty. Since our inception, we’ve also grown to offer API and custom integrations for higher education institutions.
The Future of Higher Education Exam Technology
Technology and software engineering have long been key drivers of innovation in the assessment industry, and it’s increasingly clear that they hold immense potential for progress in the coming years. Looking ahead, we believe advancements in the following areas will have a significant impact on how the industry develops and delivers assessments:
- Responsive and agile tech: The need for agility, or speed of executing changes and updates, in technology will continue to increase rapidly. Product and engineering teams will be challenged to keep up, but students and test owners will reap huge benefits.
- Deeper data analytics: An increasing ability to uncover deeper data analytics will allow testing service providers to identify meaningful patterns, trends, and correlations that can inform better strategic direction and decision-making for test administrators.
- Predictive and generative ML and AI: The growing use of predictive and generative machine learning and artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT, will ultimately help exams become more accurate, personalized, and secure.
- Mobile delivery and scheduling: At some point, mobile devices will play a larger role in test delivery and associated portions of the testing process—but to what extent is still unclear.
- Data security and privacy: With the advent of new and changing technology, data security and privacy protocols will need to evolve to ensure student data is always protected.
By embracing these as opportunities rather than barriers, we can continue to drive higher education assessment forward and deliver better outcomes for everyone involved in the testing process.
Conclusion
The evolution of assessment in higher education has brought about exciting changes for institutions, students, and solution providers like Meazure Learning. As we reflect on the advancements in technology and the shift toward student-centricity, it becomes clear that we as a community must continue embracing innovative solutions to meet these evolving demands.
Meazure Learning has taken significant strides in this regard, offering a comprehensive suite of proctoring and exam integrity services that cater to various security levels and customizable platform configurations. With our commitment to data security, privacy, and positive exam experiences, we empower higher education institutions to adapt to current and future assessment needs. To learn more about the ProctorU Platform and how it can benefit your institution, visit our remote proctoring page.