January 29, 2021 |
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced it will stop using remote-proctoring software Proctorio after the summer 2021 term, following near a year of criticism on campus and nationally, The Verge reported.
Students and faculty alike have panned Proctorio, citing anxiety, breach of privacy and potential discrimination against minorities.
Use of such software rose in 2020 with the surge of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among other features, the prominent platform uses machine learning and facial detection to record test-taking students through webcams and check the position of their heads, alerting professors of “suspicious signs” for assessment.
Professors using Proctorio through the summer term are “expected to accommodate students that raise accessibility issues,” and the school is looking into longer-term remote proctoring options, according to an email to instructors from ADA coordinator Allison Kushner and Vice Provost Kevin Pitts.
Other criticisms include the requirement of a webcam and sufficient internet speeds and issues with identifying students with darker skin tones.