Distance Learning Programs and Students Need Authenticated Tests

Earlier this year, another U.S. university received NCAA sanctions when coaches gave dozens of student athletes the answers to assignments and examinations from a distance-learning course so they would remain eligible to play.

Many in the distance learning field have similar stories to tell. And now some of them are turning to the ACT Centers™ network for help in solving the problem.

“Our ACT Centers fill a niche,” said Terry Ausman, director of business development for ACT. “Distance learning programs can use our nationwide network to administer tests in a secure environment and to authenticate the test-takers.”

Before the ACT Centers network was available, distance learning programs largely avoided testing.

“They found ways to get around giving tests,” Ausman said. “They used papers and projects for final grades rather than exams.”

But papers and projects can mean more grading time for professors.

“Those major projects were very labor intensive for the faculty,” Offerman said. “So the faculty, over the last year and a half, have been warming to the idea of giving tests.”

Both Capella University and Boston University have developed pilot programs with ACT Centers to provide secure testing for distance learning students.

“At an ACT Center, we know what the arrangements are,” Offerman said. “We know that Center staff will be looking to see that the person who gives them a photo ID is the one who is completing the exam.”

Boston University is an example of a traditional university that is moving quickly into the realm of distance learning. BU has given hundreds of tests for four distance-learning courses through the ACT Centers in the last year, and plans to administer many more in the coming months. The volume of testing required makes a nationwide network of testing centers vital to successful online classes.

“Early on in distance learning, you called up another institution near where the student was and said, ‘Hey, would you proctor an examination for us?’ That works when you’ve got a few dozen examinations,” said John Ebersole, associate provost and dean for BU’s Division of Extended Education. “But it becomes a real pain when the number of exams gets up into the thousands.”

ACT Centers allow students and colleges to work through an automated system to schedule tests.

“The school sends us the title of the test and when it should be given, and tells us how long it is going to last,” Ausman said. “Then they send us a list of students and we send the students information on how to schedule their tests. Students schedule at any of our ACT Centers. Then, after the student has taken the test, all of the results go directly to the school.”

Because there are more than 200 ACT Centers across the country, most of the students in the distance learning programs at BU and Capella are less than an hour from a testing center.

Perhaps the most significant benefit for students, however, is the credibility that authenticated testing can add to a distance learning degree.

“There is a concern out there that a distance learning degree isn’t quite as good as an on-campus degree,” Ausman said. “The ACT Centers network helps students who don’t have the option of coming to a campus—but who work just as hard as the students who do—to get the respect they deserve for the degrees they earn.”