The importance of making sure that the student who signed
up for an online class is actually the one taking it has been magnified by the
emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Solutions range from keystroke software to webcams
to programs that shut down web browsers during an exam.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology started using
webcams with the MITx XSeries sequences for some of its courses that began this
fall and plans to expand the program next year. It takes between six months to
two years to complete each of the sequences, which use content from two to four
traditional classroom courses. MIT is testing webcam photos of students to
confirm their identity for the sequences. edX is also testing the ID-verification
process with three of its MOOCs from MIT and the University of California at
Berkeley.
While there is a cost to using webcam verification, it should add just a few hundred dollars to the cost, according to a report in eCampus News. A free “Honor Code Certificate of Achievement” option is also available
to students, but credit is not.
“This is all an experiment,” said Steve Carson,
external relations director at MIT OpenCourseWare. “We’re trying different
things and looking at what learners are interested in—what kinds of
certificates do they want, what kind of programs are they pursuing.”
