Verificient Technologies
Fostering Credibility for Online Education with Proctorless Remote Monitor

Online programs are an integral part of today’s education system. “Over the last decade, the growth of online education has exploded at the rate of 480 percent,” says Tim Dutta, CEO of Verificient Technologies. “However, about 76 percent of students who have taken online tests admit to misconduct without being caught,” he adds. This highlights the main challenge in the proliferation of online education: preventing cheating and maintaining academic integrity. This can undermine the value of online degrees and certifications.

The first wave of products that addressed this problem are manual: proctors monitor a large number of students through web cameras. Human proctors remotely gain complete control of students’ computers. This leads to unavoidable security breaches and other privacy concerns. The next business model records students taking tests and sends video results overseas to have human proctors review each video for signs of cheating. With the lack of robust solutions in the market place, Dutta co-founded Verificient Technologies and the group was accepted to the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, powered by Techstars, in 2013. Its mission is to increase the credibility of online tests by eradicating cheating. Verificient achieves this through its patent pending, proctorless identification system, Proctortrack. “When it comes to online learning and tests, if there’s no adequate verification setup, institutions have no way to know if students deserve the grades that they have scored,” adds Dutta.

Proctortrack performs identity verification through computer visioning, facial recognition, machine learning and biometrics. It utilizes multi-form factor authentication, including a face scan, knuckle scan, ID scan, full hardware check and continuous monitoring of the mouse, keyboard, monitor, browser, webcam, and microphone. Proctortrack also performs a system check that monitors keystrokes and blacklisted applications.

We're ensuring the integrity of the online credential, while setting the standard of trust and confidence through our automated, secure remote proctoring solutions

“Proctortrack is a fully-automated remote proctoring solution that continuously verifies the identity of online test takers through 1800 impressions per minute. It can immediately detect if the student has someone replace him or herself, leaves the test, receives assistance from other people in the room, or opens up another browser,” explains Dutta. “Proctortrack simplifies behavior data to display students’ low integrity scores, based on configurable violations to testing policies, “he adds.

Proctortrack is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) compliant and exceeds the current gold standard of privacy procedures by ensuring that testing videos are not shared with any third party. Proctortrack’s multi-form factor identity verification solution can also confirm students’ class attendance by maintaining a full record of their online participation—helping government-funded institutions to demonstrate the appropriate distribution and use of funds which are now becoming an an important requirement for all federally funded financial aid programs.

Proctortrack does not require any advance scheduling. “Other options in the marketplace, require advance scheduling—a window between certain times. Often students have scheduling conflicts and instructors become overwhelmed by the rescheduling requests,” states Dutta. Proctortrack’s continuous monitoring enables institutions to log on and administer a test, irrespective of the location and timezone of students. Proctortrack seamlessly integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn, eCollege and Sakai, so that students and instructors never have to leave the LMS environment when using Proctortrack.

Proctortrack has been the preferred choice of remote proctoring software for K-12, Higher Education, Universities and Certification Programs since it was created in 2013. Verificient’s prestigious clients include the University of Southern California, University of Southern Florida, St. George’s University, Indiepay, eCornell, and Flatworld Knowledge. Going forward, Verificient wants to go beyond the education sector and establish its presence in all verticals where identity verification is key. The company has recently launched a version of its platform for tablets called Proctorscreen,as well as ProctorIQ, a tool that helps Human Resource Managers to verify pre-employment assessments.