What students need to know about virtual proctoring

Students are encouraged to try out Respondus Lockdown Browser + Monitor a week before their exam to make sure that they are able to log in effectively. The sample quiz can be found on the Learning Management System (LMS) website.

• If you have issues logging in to D2L, contact the CCS Helpdesk.
• If you have any issues during the test or exam (for example, accessing or submitting the exam), contact your professor.
• Chang School courses are supported by ce@torontomu.ca.

Toronto Metropolitan University has strongly recommended that instructors redesign traditional high stakes assessments, like midterm and final exams, for remote teaching whenever possible.

If after careful consideration the circumstances still require a proctored examination, Toronto Metropolitan University has given instructors the discretion to decide whether to utilize virtual proctoring tools. 

In selecting any systems to be used by the Toronto Metropolitan University community and integrated with other Toronto Metropolitan University IT systems, such as D2L Brightspace, Toronto Metropolitan University conducts a privacy impact assessment (or privacy risk assessment), IT security assessment, and accessibility assessment. The virtual proctoring systems available at Toronto Metropolitan University have gone through these assessments.

Some of the main goals of these assessments are to protect students' privacy rights, to ensure Toronto Metropolitan University students' data are protected and secured (e.g. the transmission and storing of the data is done using industry standard encryption in accordance to Toronto Metropolitan University’s IT security standards), and to provide inclusive systems for everyone and ensure that people with various disabilities, including those who use assistive technology, can access information and systems independently without barriers.

Proctoring software will need access to your webcam, microphone, a list of your active applications and processes running on your computer at the time, connected device list, desktop screen, process logs, system level logs to do a system check of any technology that could facilitate test policy violations. In some software, it will also require access to the hard drive disk space to temporarily store the recording until it is uploaded to their servers.

If the system is integrated with D2L Brightspace, only the user’s name and Toronto Metropolitan University email address is shared with the proctoring system for access and system authorization. This technology prevents instructors and students from creating a new account in the proctoring system.

During the identity verification process, photos of the student’s face and identification cards taken from the webcam will be captured and stored.

During the proctoring session, the system captures and records student’s audiovisual activities from the webcam and microphone, and if their instructor enables it, records their actions on screen.

With an automated virtual proctoring system, the monitoring is done through artificial intelligence, not a person. Therefore there will be no human being monitoring a student while taking an exam.

After the exam, only the instructor (or TA) will be able to view the recordings. The recordings can be viewed in the virtual proctoring system instructor dashboard which can only be accessed via the D2L Brightspace course where the instructor is teaching.

Respondus employees do not review/analyze the recordings, except as may be required to: resolve technical problems, improve system performance, modify Respondus Monitor, investigate violation of the terms of use, or as may be directed by Toronto Metropolitan University. Random samples of video and/or audio recordings may be shared with third parties under contract with Respondus for research purposes, but no personally identifiable information (e.g. name, institution, student IDs) for students is provided to third party researchers. (See Respondus privacy information for more details. (external link) ) 

Toronto Metropolitan University has directed the vendors of these virtual proctoring tools to retain student data and recordings for two years, aligning with Toronto Metropolitan University D2L Brightspace course shell lifecycle.

After this retention period, these recordings and data will be destroyed in accordance with the university's Information Protection and Access Policy and Record Management Policy.

Virtual proctoring acts as a deterrent to academic misconduct by preventing students from accessing unapproved web resources and applications and is a form of invigilation. Virtual proctoring takes the place of a live invigilator you would typically have for an in person exam. Invigilation is a common practice to help ensure academic integrity is part of the formal examination process.

The goal of virtual proctoring is to ensure that the student who is taking the test or exam is who they claim to be, and are not engaging in academic misconduct. 

Despite the measures that virtual proctoring platforms use to ensure the integrity of a test or exam, these tools cannot prevent all types of academic misconduct.

The personal information collected on virtual proctoring systems is collected under the authority of the  (PDF file) Toronto Metropolitan University Act and the Toronto Metropolitan University Notice of Collection and is needed to complete an assessment in the course and other related or consistent purposes.  The University will collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (external link) .

If there are any questions about the collection, use and disclosure of student information by Toronto Metropolitan University, please contact the Privacy Officer at fippa@torontomu.ca

Students are encouraged to contact their instructor, or reach out to their department chair.