Judgment of Compliance

Narrative

Sam Houston State University (SHSU) does not require distance education or correspondence education students to utilize identity verification services for which they are required to pay an additional charge or fee [1].  Instead, the university makes available to its distance and correspondence education students a number of free identity-verification options.  Faculty members are advised to include information regarding these options within course syllabi, and information is also available through Blackboard, the learning management system for SHSU, and the SHSU Online website.  A list of the identity-verification options utilized by SHSU is provided below.  

Supplementary Proctoring Services  

The Distance and Education Learning Technologies (DELTA) Center makes testing services, such as Tegrity or ProctorFree, available to faculty members for use in their online courses.  These remote proctoring services are fully funded by the DELTA Center, resulting in no costs to the faculty or students.  The remote proctoring service, Tegrity, is made available to all online learners in all online courses. Tegrity’s remote proctoring feature ensures the integrity of exams taken off-campus by recording video of (a) the student’s government issued ID presented at the start of an exam, (b) the student taking the exam, and (c) the associated screen activity during the exam.  

In addition, SHSU has licensed ProctorFree [2], an on-demand, automated online proctoring service that deters cheating in an online testing environment and provides student identity verification.  Using biometric and machine learning technologies, this innovative technology leverages facial and voice recognition software for identity verification of distance education and correspondence students.

Testing Center in Local Area 

At times, a student might need to attend a physical testing lab for an examination.  These official testing centers require students to present, prior to the exam, an original and current ID issued by a city, state, or federal government agency or the by the university.  Although SHSU does not offer test proctoring services at its campus or off-site locations, distance and correspondence education students may attend testing centers in their local areas.

Public Library Agreement 

Another methodology utilized by SHSU to assist learners who require a physical testing setting is to connect the student with a public library in his or her geographical region that will proctor an exam at no cost.  When this rare instance occurs, the DELTA Center brokers conversations on behalf of the distance education learner and the public library in the student’s geographical region.  Public libraries adhere to common test proctoring protocols regarding the verification of test takers’ identities, including the authentication of valid, government issued IDs.

Supporting Documentation