Thousands of university students will begin sitting end-of-semester exams this week, many without leaving their own homes because of coronavirus protocols.
Australian National University deputy vice-chancellor academic Grady Venville said any formal examinations would be conducted online and remotely with the use of an invigilation software called Proctorio.
The software allows the course convenor to watch students while they take an online exam through a webcam video.
A photo of the students' faces and university ID card is captured and sent to the examiner to confirm their identities.
"It works in a very similar way to when students come in and sit in an exam in person," Professor Grady said.
"The only person that can see the video is the course convener so that's the students' teacher that they know and who knows them."
She said the ANU had done a security and privacy assessment of the software and found it satisfied their policies and was more secure than other programs, such as Zoom. Students were able to take a practice exam to make sure their computer met the requirements of the software.
Professor Grady said many ANU domestic and international students were unable to return to Canberra for semester two so remote exams allowed them to continue with their studies.
"Through these really challenging times with COVID-19, where many of them have been in lockdown, we're really proud of what we've been able to deliver to enable those students to continue with their studies and to also complete their studies by participating in exams."
University of Canberra deputy vice-chancellor academic professor Geoff Crisp said his institution had moved away from formal exams where possible to other forms of assessment conducted throughout the semester.
In semester two, only 24 out of 74 exams will be proctored with the remaining 50 exams to be conducted in computer labs on campus and invigilated by staff members in person.
In comparison, the university held 80 exams in semester one which were all proctored using the Proctorio software.
At the University of Canberra, the Proctorio software is used to record the students' screen movements during the exam, rather than using a live webcam video. Any unusual behaviour is flagged and sent to the course convenor at the end of the exam.
Professor Crisp said the proctored exams were designed to be open book to negate the issues of students having access to their textbooks or other devices.
"What we try and do is move away from recall questions, where all you have to do is memorise something or you can easily look it up somewhere so that's really to do with assessment design."
Both universities have had adapt their teaching and assessments to online delivery this year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to close their doors.
"We've had to move very quickly and learn these techniques on a larger scale," Professor Crisp said.
University of Canberra students begin exams on November 2 and ANU exams begin on November 5.
