On Un-Proctoring Exams, Unleashing Learning

In the current sudden expansion of online learning due ot COVID-19, many institutions are increasing spending on proctoring services for classes; some, for the first time.  The proctoring platforms are jumping at the chance to increase their sales, and are offering special discounts to new users.  

Proctored exams, it seems, are the ultimate way to prevent online cheating. Using a proctored exam system, students cannot navigate beyond their test to the Internet itself, and in many cases are actually watched - monitored by video feeds - to ensure that they do not look down to check notes or their phones, speak to another person, or - heaven forbid - take a bathroom break. In many cases they must pass through an airport security-like check-in; showing their ID cards, stating their name, and making sure their faces can be seen clearly.  Any student who is “flagged” is reported to the teacher, who can then - with complete and utter confidence - give the student a 0 on the exam.

Photo by Surface on Unsplash

This assumes that the students will be working on computers with built-in webcams or that one is purchased for exam use; some faculty require that students purchase a second webcam, to show their hands as well as their faces during an exam. Beyond the equipment purchases,  proctoring makes more unrealistic assumptions; it assumes that all students have a desk and chair in a quiet room where they can take the exam for 1-2 hours, uninterrupted.  No kids asking questions, no work calling to say you are needed. It assumes students are native speakers with academic backgrounds, and will never have to look up a word or phrase. And last but not least: It assumes that students are trying to cheat.  

Here's a tweet by an Instructional Designer Dale Coleman at Tacoma Community College (used with permission):

Accessibility score: Perfect Click to improve

The spy-like visuals of this experience are not only nerve-racking, but fly in the face of the culture of online learning,  where students and teachers not infrequently do their work from the comfort of their beds, back porches, or living room couches, laptops on laps or cellphones in hands. In my own experience as both an online student and teacher, working online means working in pajamas, working in the car, working while eating, and working while others are holding conversations in the same room. One of the main differences between the online experience and the face-to-face experience is the independent study opportunities they provide; we can interact on our own time, in our own way. 

Proctoring takes everyone's focus away from course content and puts it on a very big billboard-like message that says: Trust not Found here. Proceed with Caution.  It causes student discomfort even before it happens; taking a quiz is made into daunting experiences akin to airport security checks; Do I have my passport? Do I have my ticket? Where's my driver's license? Many of our students have stressful experiences in refugee camps and visa offices that still reverberate in their minds. Often this process results in - at the very least - a section in the course devoted to how to take an exam (which could have been used for actual course content); students spending time and often scant resources buying onetime use equipment and preparing to take exams (which could have been used for studying); and multiple, repeated tech issues and help desk requests that must be resolved by support offices (which have many other issues to take care of).  Proctoring - besides the actual high cost of the service - costs in many other ways as well. 

Un-proctoring exams can mean unleashing learning;  supporting lifelong learning involves skillfully utilizing our many free online tech tools, the Internet itself, and our own creativity and knowledge to enhance learning. The Learning Management systems already provide a secure login, and offer a wide array of assessment types that go beyond the proctored environment, from practice quizzes to video projects and everything in between. Combine these options with teaching strategies that chunk material and a UDL mindset that finds ways for students to show what they have learned by creating assessments that build learning, this is exactly the time that the costly add-on of proctored exams should be falling out of fashion, shifting the institutional funds instead towards better empowering faculty to teach online with the resources and professional development  they need to promote academic integrity and trust.  

Tweeting as Practice in Metacognition

My Twitter journey has been an intentional one.  I had never used Twitter at all when I signed up for a Canvas Network MOOC on social media in 2013. (You can read about it my experience, which I likened to Whitewater River Rafting, here.) Thinking it would be a "light" and easy course, I discovered that it took quite a bit of effort to get going in a meaningful direction. I was interested in learning to use Twitter as an educator; to network and learn from other educators, and I kept myself in that mindset.  Our task was to find people in our fields to follow, and to get 50 people to follow us as we practiced the fine art of creating 140-character units of meaning that are powerful enough to catch the attention of others.  It took me nearly 10 weeks to do it, but I did. Here is a snapshot taken the day before the course ended, when I had tweeted 89 times, followed 155 others, and finally got 50 people to follow me: 

I have now tweeted 1,332 times and am following 625 educators, and  have 441 followers.  I look at Twitter as a professional development tool, an inspiring friend, and an intelligent and friendly social network.  For someone as busy and somewhat introverted as myself, it is a treasure. And, I have found that it is a great tool for metacognitive practice.

Metacognition: Thinking about Thinking

When I go to conferences, I listen, pull out main ideas, and tweet.  I take photos and add words, and my brain starts to put ideas together.  I lean my head down, listening, and re-word main ideas from keynotes and presentations. I am acutely aware of using the tool to make my thoughts clear, to find connections with the concepts and myself,  and to make meaning from my immediate world. My initial self-consciousness at even having my phone in my hand has given way to a purposeful taking of photos, adding thoughts, ideas, and questions to them.  It may look like I'm not listening.  Actually, I'm listening - and remembering - much more than I ever did in the past.  I used to take notes that were kept in unopened folders that were eventually recycled.  Now I stretch my brain and connect on a much deeper level.  

It did take some practice; messaging, typing, snapping photos all at once.  It has become much easier for me, and I'm sure would be even easier if I were as adept at using a cellphone as many people are.  But I persevere, and find that - even if I happen to miss a sentence or two of what is said along the way - I come away with a lot more than I used to. I love how this is immediately shared and often built upon by others.  It is a memory-booster and idea-generator all at once,  I can review tweets later, and I can like and retweet  the ideas of others, and  add them to my personal collection. 

Tweeting also helps me keep my metacognative mindset in everyday situations as well.  I take photos of students on our campus, ask permission to tweet it (so far always greeted with enthusiasm) and then add thoughts to them.  The combination of words and images is powerful. Pausing in a busy day to take a picture, connect with an individual, and share that connection, is powerful. I have started making a conscious effort to allow this room for connection and reflection. 

I have been influenced by the ideas of others on twitter, and am constantly amazed at the intelligence and creativity I encounter in the education community.  I rarely have time for a "tweet chat" but the few I have participated in have been incredibly thought-provoking. Just seeing some of the remnants of the chats of others has been useful.  My Twitter community has opened my eyes to things I need to think more about related to teaching and learning; accessibility, equity, diversity, tech tools, professional development, data, research and more. 

Tweeting stimulates my thinking process; I have to think about what I want to take away and  how to express it. For me, the process of tweeting is thinking - often deep thinking.  

Have you had this kind of experience? How do you approach twitter?  I'm interested in your experiences.  On twitter I am @lizfalconer80. 

Teacher as Student

Summer is a time of re-energizing for many faculty. It is also a great time for some focused professional development without the constant stress of teaching. One of the best forms of professional development available it to become a student yourself. It is through the experience of putting on the student hat that I often find myself seeing a need for deeper empathy for busy schedules, distractions, and the frustration of unclear navigation or assignment directions.  When I take online PD courses such as Quality Matters, it requires me to work in Moodle, a platform I am unfamiliar with, and it brings to light many of the stumbling areas that our students experience when working online. Directions that seem clear to the instructor can be interpreted with confusion by students; vocabulary we are familiar with ("Download"; "Post"; "Attach") may be very familiar to us, but not to someone new or coming back to school after many years. 

In RTC's  eLearning Certificate courses for faculty, we have "soft" weekly deadlines, asking that participants use them for guidelines, but understanding that some will be working in spurts and starts.   I have had many participants express gratitude for this.  Are there ways we can allow the kind of flexibility in our regular courses?  

Face to face courses offer us similar opportunities to glean teaching ideas based on our experience as a learner. I have found so many Do's and Don'ts  by attending classes, seminars, and presentations. While sitting in the student seat, we have a chance to step back and reflect on what it means to learn according to someone else's standards and expectations. It gives us the chance to re-think our own style, incorporate new ideas, and make mental notes on what to avoid. 

Faculty, I hope you have the chance to be a student this summer. If you are looking for ways to do this, you can sign up for a MOOC at Canvas.net or Coursera.org, or look for opportunities in your institution or area, including free library presentations and programs offered by the city.  Re-energize as a student, and start fall with a refreshed perspective. 

#OUTCOMES

     
     I am just finishing checking and collecting course outcomes for almost 500 courses at our college. That means over 2,000 outcomes, in an epic spreadsheet, ready to be added to our website. It so happens that this year I have also become a co-facilitator in several Quality Matters workshops offered by our state system as well, all of which focus on course outcomes, alignment of outcomes  with assignments, and assessment. That means that this year I have had the opportunity to take a very close look at hundreds of course pieces; syllabi and modules and rubrics and discussions on how to improve all of the above. For someone who loves building curriculum (I also spend a lot of time developing and facilitating other professional development courses for educators as well) this has been a fantastically fascinating (albeit time-consuming) experience.

     The outcome of this?  I have a new respect for the power of outcomes and what they can do for both faculty and students. They help faculty deeply consider the main aspects of their course and how to best bring that to the students.   To not get too distracted or stray too far off course. They help students see what it is they are going to get out of a course, and - especially with the help of rubrics - what the expectations are for how they will get there. Clear language regarding outcomes helps to bring an immediacy to the learning experience.  Together, the faculty and students strive to work through the activities;  to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create.  (I have made a list of Bloom's action verbs available on our Canvas LMS help tab for faculty to easily refer to when writing their outcomes.)

     Writing outcomes takes some thought; it is a process that is something akin to painting an abstract picture. It requires expressing your thoughts about a whole course in a few succinct sentences. (Later, this helps you to break down each module you teach to support those course outcomes as well.) Many faculty teach with a very general idea of what needs to be done, adjusting as they go based on student needs, time, and materials.  Most have no time to write formal lesson plans, per se. Outcomes should respect this need for creativity and on-the-fly adjustments; they should not confine that very important personal aspect of teaching. They need to convey the general underlying concepts, not the details of any given course. And they are most powerful when they address the truly meaningful aspects of learning.  

    Thoughtful outcomes create an improved pathway for both faculty and students. I look forward to the continued journey in working with more and more faculty on outcomes and their related aspects. Outcomes, like online learning, are becoming a part of the 21st century learning experience, and can be artfully embedded into any course. If we embrace them and allow them to help us teach, our classes will become all the more vibrant. 

PARK | Flickr - Photo Sharing! : taken from - https://www.flickr.com/photos/winnybiets/27862291556/Author: winny biets https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Whirlwind of Ideas

This is the last week of the Canvas Network course I'm facilitating, Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds. It has been such a whirlwind of ideas that have brought me back to discussions again and again -- finding something new each time. It is like taking a walk on a beach in the morning and finding some shells, and then taking a walk the next day and collecting another beautiful basket of shells.

Photo: John Falconer - Tacoma at dusk

I don't exactly know what I was "expecting" in this course -- I spent several months planning and designing it. From scratch. (More on that in a future post!)  I guess the main thing I was hoping was that it made sense and people found it useful.  Beyond that, my inner hope is always the people become inspired.  It is obvious that they have. I feel so happy I practically skip to my computer.

I also wasn't expecting how much the course would teach me, or what kind of seeds would be planted. Everyone was excited to see how international we are: our pinmap project shows that we are truly global. We started a Faeebook page that immediately became quite active: It is open for anyone interested in Hybrid teaching and learning to join; Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds.  And our "Six-word" wordwall  shows  the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness of the participants:  Derrick Logan's "Aging Educator still hungry for knowledge" stands out to me as representative of the kinds of people who continue to expand and learn in the MOOC environment.

Partway through the course I saw a need for students to be released from trying to read Every. Single. Post. and to understand how to navigate this huge cocktail-party of discussions. I wrote a post for MOOC News and Reviews about how to navigate large discussion forums:  Engaging in MOOC Discussion Forums: The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower  based on what I saw happening in the course.  And a student in the course, Randy Orwin, wrote a post,  MOOC Overload! that addresses the how-tos of understanding how the forums work in the Canvas network.  Several students wrote blogs: Martine Reverda has reflections on the course at  My MOOC Experiences and Cathy Anderson wrote on her Cathy Anderson Blog.  Tweeting went on as well via #CNHyBest.  (Where did I learn about the benefits of tweeting? In another Canvas Network course on social media that I took early this year.)

MOOCs are empowering because the focus is on learning, and this allows learners to have a chance inspire each other. We are all winning.