Assessment Proctoring Guidelines

The guidelines below can help instructors decide the type of proctoring needed for their assessments.

Is the assessment formative or summative?

Formative assessments are not proctored. These assessments are used by students and teachers to gain feedback about student learning during the instructional process. Formative assessments provide a low stakes way for students to get feedback early in the learning process so they can identify gaps in their knowledge. General characteristics include:

• Open book
• Multiple attempts
• Non-graded practice quizzes
• Not timed

Summative assessments should be proctored or supervised. These assessments are mostly used by teachers to gain information about student learning after the learning has been completed in order to assign a grade based on the knowledge that was demonstrated by the student. Summative assessments are high stakes and typically occur at set points during, and at the end of, the course. General characteristics include:

• Single attempts
• Closed book
• Timed

Does the assessment include a written component?

Written exams should be supervised either in class or by a live proctor.

Should assessments be given in the classroom or testing center?

Where possible assessments should be given in the classroom, during class time. Instructors have more control over assessments given in class, can monitor students closely, be available to answer questions, and quickly gather completed materials.

Testing centers, or virtually proctored assessments, are useful for large classes (e.g 50+) where, monitoring, answering questions, and gathering completed materials can be time consuming. Also, classrooms for large classes tend to be configured poorly for assessments with small desks, close seating, and limited student authentication.

Should the assessment be monitored by a live proctor or by a virtual proctor?

Live Proctoring vs Virtual Proctoring (e.g. ProctorU or Proctorio)