F.A.Q. – Online Proctoring

Online proctoring is online invigilation. There are different forms of online proctoring. The scope of these FAQs is restricted to the form of proctoring based on automated reviewing by means of software from Proctorio. The software works with automated review support and storage of proctoring data (among other things, the footage). This means that reviewers are not watching what you are doing in real time, they will retrospectively only review moments at which the software detected ‘abnormal behaviour’. In configuring the software, abnormal behaviour will be pre-defined for each exam. For example, is the student allowed to use reference works during the exam or start other software? An example of abnormal behaviour is when the student walks away or looks away or when somebody else is seen in the room. The reviewer will receive notification via a report which is automatically generated on the basis of behaviour that has been defined in advance as ‘abnormal’. The reviewer can watch those specific moments and decide whether there is reason to ‘suspect irregularities’. For example, this will prevent drinking a glass of water from being seen as a case of ‘suspect irregularities’. The proctoring data (such as the footage) will be retained for one month, after which they are automatically deleted, unless the Examination Board needs more time to see the footage because of a suspicion of irregularity.

If your lecturer has made a mock exam available to you, you can practise taking a proctored exam.

You will get your grade within the regular grading period, unless otherwise communicated by your degree programme.

To ensure that there is no suspicion of any irregularities in connection with the use of the laptop (internet use, mail), exam sessions will be reviewed. The software creates a report per student, which includes among other things screenshots taken during the exam session. Because there will be no webcam images and sound recordings, this is a lot less labour intensive than with online proctoring. 

Sometimes, an exam requires additional software. This means that students must have that particular software installed on their laptops.  
Note: A lot of software, such as MS Office (including Excel and Word) can be purchased by students using their HU accounts, which affords them a discount. This can be done via www.surfspot.nl. Degree programmes that use PuTTY, Power BI and SPSS usually know how students can obtain this software.  
If students cannot be expected to have the required additional software installed on their laptops, the degree programme will have to include this in the schedule application. Further instructions about this situation will follow. 

Facilities such as extra time will be organised as usual. Students who are entitled to the use of ClaroRead can download and use this software themselves, free of charge.

Click here to read how to install ClaroRead.

It may happen that students are ill, they have a cold or there are other reasons that they need to miss their exam because of this. In that case, students, in accordance with the procedures, can submit a request to the Examination Board via HUKAS for another exam opportunity. 

A valid ID is required to take an exam.

The HU considers privacy a very important issue and therefore handles your personal data carefully. Our Privacy Statement explains what happens with your personal data and how we safeguard your privacy if you take an exam with online invigilation, which will from this point onwards be referred to as proctoring.

The processing agreement with Proctorio contains all the provisions that the supplier of the proctoring tool must adhere to. These are in accordance with European guidelines for privacy. During the negotiations with this supplier, we have continuously paid close attention to the measures taken by the supplier of the proctoring tool with respect to protecting privacy.

The data collected are not sold to third parties.

No, Proctorio can only watch you with a webcam and use the microphone while you are sitting the online proctored exam (for now only available for individual exceptions). In the case of a BYOD exam, only screenshots are taken.

As soon as you exit Proctorio, your device is no longer accessible. With the exception of the installed plug-in, no data from Proctorio will remain on your device. Nor is it possible to take over control of your device.

Initially, the personal data that are collected during an exam at a non-HU location subject to online supervision are processed automatically. They are seen exclusively by staff members of the HU who because of the very nature of their jobs play a role in processing your personal data for the above-mentioned purposes and for whom it is necessary to have access to these personal data. For example: an examiner. This only happens in those cases in which irregularities have been detected by the system that can point to abnormal behaviour.

If you take an exam online where the HU uses proctoring for the purpose of invigilation, then the HU processes the following personal data: First name and surname; email address; picture of your proof of ID: identity card, driving licence or passport (without citizen service number (BSN)); a picture of you, taken by the webcam on your laptop or computer; video and audio recordings of you and the room in which you sit the exam, made with the webcam on your laptop or computer; monitor activities during the exam; keystrokes; head and eye movements; the IP address of the computer network to which your laptop or computer is connected; the web pages you visit during the exam; your answers to the exam questions.

If you use the chat feature for questions about the proctoring tool during the exam, then your email and IP address are immediately encrypted and stored with an organisation that processes these data inside the US on behalf of Proctorio.

You can submit your question about privacy to the Privacy help desk. Send an email to askprivacy@hu.nl.

Yes, the data are stored in countries that must comply with our privacy legislation.

At any rate one month, and if there is a suspicion of irregularities and the Examination Board has to investigate this, or in the event of appeal or objection proceedings having been initiated, the data may be stored longer, but no longer than necessary.

At any rate one month, and if there is a suspicion of irregularities and the Examination Board has to investigate this, or in the event of appeal or objection proceedings having been initiated, the data may be stored longer, but no longer than necessary.

The personal data that are processed in the context of your participation in the examination are only retained in encrypted form in countries within the European Union. If during the exam you use an email or chat message addressed to the help desk, then your IP address and your email address will be safely stored, in encrypted form, in a location in the US, in line with the arrangements laid down in the processor agreement.

All personal data are only seen by a limited number of HU staff members. Initially, the personal data that are collected during an exam at a non-HU location subject to online supervision are processed automatically. They are seen exclusively by staff members of the HU who because of the very nature of their jobs play a role in processing your personal data for the above-mentioned purposes and for whom it is necessary to have access to these personal data. For example: an examiner. This only happens in those cases in which irregularities have been detected by the system that can point to abnormal behaviour.

Your personal data are used exclusively for the following purposes:

a.) authentication. After you have sat the exam, we will check whether you are indeed the person you claimed to be;

b.) checks for fraud. After you have sat the exam, we will check whether you complied with the rules during the exam and did not use unauthorised sources such as crib sheets (“cheat sheets”), chats and the internet.

We process your personal data on the basis of a so-called ‘legitimate interest’ (Article 6.1(f) of the GDPR). This means that processing is necessary for protecting a legitimate interest and your rights and freedoms are sufficiently safeguarded in the process. Pursuant to the Higher Education and Scientific Research Act(WHW), the HU is free to choose the practical methods for organising examinations. However, the interests of the educational institution must always be weighed against the impact on the privacy of the students. These deliberations must be recorded. The Covid-19 pandemic rendered it impossible to administer exams on a large scale at an HU location. In those cases where it was impossible to choose an alternative form of examination and other forms of supervision are not feasible either, the HU decided in this exceptional situation to administer the exams by means of online proctoring. This obviously affects the student’s privacy, which the HU endeavours to protect as much as possible by taking various measures.

No, the citizen service number (BSN) is not needed for sitting the online exam. Your citizen service number (BSN) is stated on the back of your driving licence and identity card, so it will not be visible when you scan these. However, it is included on the front of your passport as part of a longer code. so the best thing to do is to mask that bit. Should you forget to mask your citizen service number (BSN), not to worry: it will only be stored in encrypted form and will only be seen by the HU staff member who verifies the proof of ID.

The privacy statement on the Proctorio website concerns the arrangements in the US. Different arrangements have been made with European universities and colleges, and they apply within the European privacy legislation. The Privacy Statement of the HU is based on these European arrangements.

Only the data shared with the Proctorio helpdesk in the event of technical problems during the exam are stored in the US. They are not shared with third parties.

The HU has made technical and organizational arrangements with Proctorio in order to safeguard the processing of your data. Among other things, they contain provisions that data recorded during the online supervision must be encrypted before they are sent and stored. The data stored are only accessible to staff members of the HU who are involved in checking and assessing the exam session, not to Proctorio or other customers of Proctorio.

Proctorio has taken all sorts of security measures to minimize the risk of a data leak. For example, by encrypting the data immediately and by storing the files on secure systems. Nevertheless, a data leak can never be ruled out and therefore we made agreements about this in accordance with the GDPR.

In the processor agreement, we have stipulated that Proctorio informs us (our Data Protection Officer) of a data leak without any delay, assists in the investigation into the data leak and takes measures to limit the impact as much as possible. The Data Protection Officer will also notify the Data Protection Authority immediately of the data leak and if necessary, the Data Protection Authority will launch an investigation. For more information about the data leak procedure, please go to AskHU.

All personal data are stored in encrypted form. However, one can never rule out that personal data may leak in the event of a data leak. Regrettably, absolute guarantees cannot be given.

The browser extension of Proctorio is automatically provided with the latest updates. This means that you are always using the most recent version and that you do not need to update it manually.

You should only get Proctorio and the associated notifications regarding the use of the camera/microphone/screen when taking a test in TestVision. To take a test with TestVision in combination with Proctorio, you need Proctorio’s browser extension. Of course, you may remove or deactivate it again after completion of the test. And of course, make sure you use your common sense when you browse the Internet, and be careful with software on the Internet.

To sit an exam with online proctoring (now only available in exceptional individual cases), you will need your own computer on which you have installed the Chrome browser and a Proctorio plug-in. The webcam and microphone of the computer are needed to use the Proctorio software. Your computer must meet the minimum system requirements set by Proctorio, they can be found on: https://proctorio.com/support#faq

Step 1) Try to get them to work yourself.

Step 2) Try to borrow a device from someone in your surroundings.

Step 3) Please contact the help desk.

Step 4) Go to the Examination Board / your student counsellor.

Are you (currently) without your own (suitable) laptop? First of all, we will ask you to do your best and to look for alternatives in your surroundings. If such alternatives are absent, please contact your Examination Board for a possible alternative via http://hukas.hu.nl.

In addition to the plug-in from Proctorio, Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome are necessary to take an exam with Proctorio. Exams in TestVision that do not use Proctorio may also be taken using other browsers (Chrome, Edge and Firefox are the recommended browsers for TestVision).

The lighting must be sufficient.

It is okay to have a mirror hanging on a wall in your room.

No, everything must be done with the same device.

Online proctoring is only allowed in specific individual cases, an example might be taking an exam abroad. As long as you have a quiet room somewhere, with a stable Internet connection and a computer with a webcam, microphone and Google Chrome, you can sit the exam anywhere. However, take into account any time difference between the country where you sit the exam and the Netherlands.

If you are entitled to the use of special facilities, you can discuss this with the student counsellor.

ClaroRead has a setting with which the page is not read out in full, but only the part underneath your mouse, this should solve the problem. The option can be found under ‘Geavanceerde spraak’ (Advanced speech). You can also drag a box over text, after which the text will be read out. Please bear in mind that the text should consist of high quality recognisable characters, for example it must be selectable, as a picture of text is not recognised as text and cannot be read out.

This is only the case for online exams, which are only done in exceptional cases.

The room scan is to be made immediately after completing all other steps with Proctorio and just before you start your exam. If you use a laptop, you move the laptop around so that your room is visible. If you use a movable webcam, you move the webcam so that the room is visible. Making a room scan is not part of the process to go through before the exam begins in every case.

Depending on the settings chosen by the lecturer, you can use features of your browser and computer to varying degrees during the exam. If the settings chosen by the lecturer do not limit a certain feature (such as opening documents), your use of that feature will still be recorded.

No, unless this has been stated explicitly by your lecturer for a specific exam.

Your time in TestVision does not start until you have clicked on ‘Start’ after the pre-checks. They take about 5 minutes.

If the webcam has trouble recognising your face, make sure your face is well lit and there is not too much light from behind you. Also make sure there is no hair or clothing blocking your face.

For online proctoring that is not allowed. Sounds and movements of another person in the room where you sit the exam will be registered. This may lead to the inclusion of an entry in the report about your exam.

The Proctorio software does a number of things.

1. Use identification and verification that you are indeed who you say you are, and make sure that everything works correctly before you start the exam.
2. Limit the possibilities you have to use certain features of your computer or browser during your exam.
3. Record webcam images, the screen of your computer and audio from your microphone during your exam. On the basis of the third category (recordings), the software automatically looks for moments at which students display potentially suspect behaviour and those moments are then marked.

Subsequently, a staff member will review those marked moments to see if something is amiss or whether the student for example only had a sip of water. If the staff member thinks that something odd might be going on, the Examination Board will be contacted and they will review that footage themselves as well. Your behaviour is not labelled as fraud by the software itself, in every case at least two different people will make an assessment.

With an online proctored exam, you can prove your identity with your student card, passport or driving licence. The scan reads the data from your ID and encrypts them immediately. Only HU staff members carrying out the ID check will be able to see the data on your proof of ID. If your citizen service number BSN shows at the front of your proof of ID, we will ask you to mask it.

TestVision saves all your answers you have already given every minute. TestVision also saves the answers given so far when you navigate to another question.

If you started the exam and you are temporarily not in the loop of the exam, the clock is stopped.

Try and close as many tabs and applications as you can. If that does not work, it may help to restart the computer. In general, you can also continue the exam in spite of the warning.

TestVision saves all your answers you have already given every minute. TestVision also saves the answers given so far when you navigate to another question.

You can minimize the Proctorio pop-up, so you will no longer see yourself. You can also move the pop-up to a place is convenient for you.

You may drink from a transparent bottle or glass. You are not allowed to eat, unless you are entitled to the use of this special facility.

There are various things you could try. Move the proof of ID, particularly towards and away from the camera. It may also have something to do with lighting in the room, it may be too bright or too dark. If this does not help, the cause of the problem is bound to be your hardware. When push comes to shove, it is up to the lecturer to decide whether he or she can identify you satisfactorily.

You can report faults via the Proctorio chat feature. If you are unable to go online, then you can also contact the HU via onlinetoetsing@hu.nl. The reports are registered. If the problem cannot be fixed by yourself or the help desk, and you have to abort the exam, you can report this to the Examination Board and submit a request to re-sit the exam.

Close the browser by clicking on the cross in the top right corner (do not specify in the exam that you have finished it). When you close the browser, all your TestVision answers are retained. Start the browser again, navigate to the exam, and Proctorio should start again as per usual.

Proctorio will mark this as an irregularity but because the footage will be reviewed by an examiner in case of doubt, it will be clear that this is a request for help, so this will not be classified as fraud. This is why we ask you to send your questions not from your mobile telephone but via the PC that you are using for the exam, this will make it transparent for the examiner.

No, that is not allowed. Nor are you allowed to capture screenshots or to record the exam with a camera.

During a TestVision test, you can see how much time you have got left at the bottom of your screen.

When you have registered for the exam and you are not sitting it, instead of the result the information an NA (Niet Aanwezig, Not Present) will be recorded in OSIRIS. You will be deemed to have had – and used – an exam opportunity.

Yes. Registering and recording personal data is governed by strict legislation. Within the HU we have a Data Protection Officer who can explain everything about privacy protection. If you still have insurmountable objections to a proctored exam, you can submit a request for another form of examination to the Examination Board.

If you do not wish to participate for privacy reasons or other, you can notify the Data Protection Officer, Mrs Roos Roodnat. Please send an email to roos.roodnat@hu.nl