An institution
that offers distance or correspondence education: (a) ensures that the student
who registers in a distance or correspondence education course or program is
the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and
receives the credit. (b) has a written procedure for protecting the privacy of
students enrolled in distance and correspondence education courses or programs.
(c) ensures that students are notified, in writing at the time of registration
or enrollment, of any projected additional student charges associated with
verification of student identity.
x Compliance o Non-Compliance o Partial Compliance
The University of
Louisiana at Lafayette, through its Distance Learning Leadership Council and
the Council's Student Authentication Task Force, has instituted the following policies and procedures to address student authentication, consistent with current
accreditation standards.
Identity Management
All enrolled
students receive individual secure logins for the University learning
management system (LMS), Moodle. Student accounts are automatically generated
by the University’s Student Information System (Banner). Students activate
their own accounts through the Banner Password Self Service.
The University
has adopted student authentication policies for hybrid and online courses,
based on a course-by-course method and implemented by trained faculty members:
1.
At least one additional authentication
measure must be implemented by course instructors and professors. The Office of
Distance Learning assists in establishing these and other measures, in
collaboration with colleges and departments.
2.
Additional measures should be
consistent among multiple sections of the same course with different course
instructors.
3.
The syllabus for each course
identifies additional student authentication measures.
4.
Colleges and departments are
ultimately charged with enforcement of additional measures.
Additional
measures to be selected by departments and colleges may include:
1.
Proctored examinations. Students
enrolled in electronic courses may be required to take proctored exams.
Instructors are responsible for providing students with test dates, proctor
requirements, and other details of the exam process in the course syllabus.
Instructors must accommodate the proctoring requirements of students who are in
a separate geographic location, and an appropriate alternate proctor within
their region must be authorized.
The Distance Learning Leadership Council has adopted guidelines
to assist faculty in using any form of proctoring in
hybrid and online courses. Options for proctored examinations
include:
a.
Physical proctoring centers for exam
delivery. If a course is designed with a high-stakes exam, then physical proctoring
may be appropriate and required. The instructor must make provisions to allow
multiple approved proctoring sites.
b.
Virtual proctoring. Hybrid and online
students may be required to purchase a live monitoring service that connects to
their computer and "watches" them take an exam.
2.
Use of LMS tools. Reporting functions
that exist within the LMS, such as Logs, may be used to detect possible cases
of academic dishonesty. Logs can be used to
see what pages the student accessed, the time and date they accessed it, the IP
address used by student, and student actions (i.e., view, add, update, delete).
3.
Other student identity technologies.
Faculty also have access to identity verification methods, such as Examity ID
Verification and ProctorU Uauto.
These services authenticate a student’s identity using fingerprint, face and
voice biometrics, or multiple-choice questions about their personal history,
such as last street address, name of elementary school, or mother’s maiden
name.
The Chief
Information Officer and the Director of Communications and Marketing have
verified that UL Lafayette’s existing Student Privacy Policy is in effect for
all distance learning activities. The Office of Distance Learning website
publishes a student privacy statement and the University's privacy policy, which apply to all students, including those enrolled in
distance and correspondence education.
To inform students of additional charges associated with verification of
student identity, UL Lafayette requires a standard note be posted in the
registration system for all courses coded as hybrid (HY) and online (OL). This
note alerts students that the class has additional costs and directs students
to a website explaining the costs, including additional costs for student authentication.
Proctoring costs vary depending on the course, and instructors include
projected costs in syllabi and other course materials available to students.
Faculty Guidelines for Proctoring in
Distance Learning Courses
Office of Distance Learning: Student
Privacy Statement