Thread by @niftyc

I'm a college prof but I took some online courses **as a student** during the pandemic. Here's a thread about 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 because I don't think other profs know how much of a TOTAL RAGING DUMPSTER FIRE 🔥🗑️it is. #pandemiclife #teachertwitter 1/?

Context: I took courses for ADULTS from a few different places that used third-party proctoring tools like the kind deployed at colleges and universities. An example of this kind of service is ExamRoom.AI 2/?

These services are expensive, totally full of nonsense hype bullshit about "AI" that doesn't seem to be true, and are extremely unpleasant and dehumanizing. Here are examples: 3/?

First big problem: THEY BASICALLY NEVER WORK. I've spent so much time filing tech support tickets because some part of the proctoring is buggy. You always have to turn off all of your browser plugins or do a clean install or sacrifice a chicken. 4/?

THEY OPERATE ON FEAR + MYSTIFICATION -- they promise to use "AI" to detect cheating in v. unlikely ways. e.g., you must type nonsense "to teach the system your unique typing rhythm" so it can detect if someone else is using your computer... for a multiple choice test???!? 5/?

They are EXTREMELY DEHUMANIZING. Before you begin an exam, many services require you to Zoom/Skype with a human proctor who must be shown the inside of each of your ears to prove you don't have a headset on. 6/?

You usually have to 360° your camera to show the proctor the inside of your room to check for forbidden materials. Talk about invading your PRIVACY -- they will sometimes comment on your decor etc. 7/?

The room rules are UNREASONABLY STRICT, e.g. "no posters or anything posted on the wall" that could contain info about the test. To avoid disqualification some places suggest that students take tests 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. 🚽 8/?

I'm sure the SENSE OF BEING WATCHED lowered my performance, especially on the services that required me to join a zoom with my phone pointed at me in profile so they had 2 simultaneous views of me (laptop cam + phone cam) from different angles. 9/?

SECURITY problems with the systems abound -- I had to install some pretty weird .exe stuff and accept all kinds of permissions to get some of the proctoring services to work. Maybe they're still watching me now? 10/?

For most services human proctors are UNAFFILIATED with the teachers, so they don't know anything about the class topic. Would they be able to detect inappropriate material in any case? They don't even know what the exam is about! Math? Cooking? 11/?

After all this nonsense, I'm convinced I COULD STILL EASILY CHEAT if I wanted to on many systems. There are too many holes in the procedures, especially if you've had the same service before and you've seen how it works. 12/?

Thanks for listening. The main target of this thread is teachers like me who may otherwise recommend a third-party online proctoring because they think it is a good idea, but they have never tried it or seen it in action. My advice: don't do it. 13/?

I'll close by saying I did have one online proctoring experience that I'm pretty sure "worked" in that it made cheating very difficult. It was a small class and the teacher conducted the test in real-time over Zoom... 14/?

One test question was shown to everyone at the same time via a powerpoint slide on a shared screen. The key thing was the test design -- the questions were written so that the answer was not the kind of thing you could look up quickly. 15/?

However even in this "good" proctoring design it was excruciatingly slow as you had to wait for everyone to finish each question before moving on. I'm sure there was a huge question writing overhead as the Qs were reportedly not re-used. 16/?

So the "good" proctoring was still very unpleasant. In sum: Online proctoring -- thumbs down. 17/17

Update: I should have added that FWIW I did NOT take these classes at the University of Michigan, my employer! I hope we are not using these systems. Obviously I am not. 18/17

More: Others have shared that some online proctoring services FORBID BATHROOM BREAKS. I didn't notice this one. Dang is that even legal? What if you are already taking the test from the toilet? 🤨 19/17

Forgot one source of horror: Some teachers use "free" online test services whose business model is to INTERSPERSE ADS BETWEEN TEST QUESTIONS. I did get one of these. (In other courses the proctoring fee was passed on directly to me making the pandemic class more expensive.) 20/17

Someone DMed that I haven't even mentioned the problems with automated facial recognition algos used by these proctoring tools. I didn't have these problems but maybe that's because I'm white. 21/17

https://twitter.com/futureesq1990/status/1306393725099278336

e.g. see: theverge.com/2021/1/5/22215… 22/17