The Fourth Industrial Revolution of connectedness has led to tremendous opportunities in diverse fields, from manufacturing, medicine, transportation to banking and education. However, as connectedness increases, so is the need for privacy, confidentiality and security. The vulnerability of systems to connectedness has given rise to whole new fields of cyber and digital security. How do we ensure a secure and credible future? This is the key question in the face of the current digital revolution. We explore what the digital revolution is doing to online education and what this means for the future of education generally.
In 2015, the online education market was estimated to be worth $107 billion. Coursera, Udacity and EdX, the largest online learning platforms, now count over 24 million students. Even traditional universities have caught the bug of online education, with 64% of universities in the US considering online education an important aspect of their long-term strategy, in a survey conducted by Babson College. In the same survey, 44% companies have intentions of using online learning tools for corporate training. The pointers show that the digitisation of knowledge transfer is happening very fast. As learning happens online, we have to come up with better tools for assessment and to guarantee the credibility of tests taken online. This is the challenge for online education.
Ensuring credible online exams anywhere, anytime and on any device is the best evolution of digital assessments. Any company focusing on providing education platforms (online and offline) with a tool to guarantee the credibility of exams would be a potential beneficiary. By combining the web camera and browser of a student’s laptop or in-room device, the solutions can create video feeds of all activities going on a student’s environment. These video feeds would then be processed technologically and automatically vetted for cheating and/or unusual behaviour using state-of-the-art algorithms.
So, how big is the market opportunity for digital assessments? Some facts would help make it clear:
The online education market stood at $107 billion in 2015;
There were 30 million online learners across the world, in 2015;
*1 in 4 students in traditional universities take online courses;
* 74% companies in the US use online education.
* There are some problems associated with digital assessments. For example, it is difficult to authenticate a student’s identity during online exams, it is impossible to control aggregated students’ behaviour during exams, it is expensive to deploy live proctors when conducting exams with a large number of students, etc.
Now, technology can enable the solution, by:
*Providing automated proctoring supervision of exams: live, asynchronous or automatic;
*Catching cheating behaviour using eye tracking, face tracking, screencast analysis, audio analysis and typing signature. For additional security, there is also the possibility of using the student’s smartphone to record all activities in the background.
At the same time, technology has evolved too.
Personal identification: Facial recognition and detection algorithms, biometrics and ECG analysis can act as documents confirming the subject’s identity.
Monitoring and recording of the exam: Connecting external camera and screen of the user in real time to monitor the exam. Processing and recording of multiple data streams into a single exam protocol file.
Integration with LMS platforms and MOOCs
System seamlessly integrates with massive online learning platforms and learning management systems. Exchange of data between the systems includes import and export of examination protocols, providing access to data securely.
Value proposition
* A solution offering flexibility both for budget and convenience;
*Niche market in developing countries with high online education growth;
*Convenience for students, who can now take exams anywhere, on any device at any time;
*Credibility for online education providers, increasing traction for enrolment and trustworthiness of online degrees;
*Possibility for corporate to conduct tests/interviews in a controlled environment;
* Automated proctoring, reducing all ambiguity associated with human error and reducing cost.
In fact, at ProctorEdu.com, an EduGild accelerated company, they take pride in developing adaptable solutions for universities and online education providers to make exams taken online credible and trustworthy. How do they do this? They deploy the understanding of the real world to develop automated solutions for identity verification, authentication and behaviour analysis. Their system monitors the test taker through his/her webcam, watching and analysing for suspicious behaviour. In fact, background noise, looking away from the webcam, and other people in the background are automatically detected and recorded by the system. For high-stake exams, an external camera, for example a smartphone, can be connected to the exam session to bolster the robustness of the system. All video feeds are saved on the cloud and available for further scrutiny, if the need arises.
This is the future of online assessment: with minimal human interaction, exams will be vetted with a high degree for accuracy and credibility.
What does this mean for the future of education? It means we can scale quality education across the board, removing constraints imposed by traditional methods. It means the smart kid in the village can have access to quality education and prove his worth. It means recruiters now have tools to make informed decisions not tied to the prestige of candidates’ universities but rather their true performances.
Rishi Kapal is CEO, Edugild