It is a large understatement to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the world of education. Many colleges have had to transition to a fully online learning model or a hybrid format. However, there is still the question of how to assess students on what they’ve learned. Taking exams online on a computer, table or similar electronic devices has already been becoming standard practice, albeit gradually, due to large benefits around security of exam content including test questions, ease of marking and management of candidate results. However, providing online proctoring was less mainstream, possibly due to concerns around academic integrity being maintained during testing.

The pandemic has made remote proctoring exams online a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’, which enables secure, proctored exams to take place without students having to gather in large numbers at test centres or campus halls. Online live proctoring is now essential for educational institutes and professional associations to be able to maintain their examination programmes for assessment of learning and access to key data.

It appears educational institutes expect live a test online to remain as the new norm. The flexibility and convenience of this system will make it less attractive to return to test centres, but perhaps what we will see is a blended approach, scheduling the in-person exams complimented by online proctoring. The benefits of remote proctoring exams online are numerous, for both the examining body and the candidate, and to have the flexibility to switch to online live proctoring delivery as required may be a necessary feature for any assessment software in the future.