Distance Education Test Taking

*How do you ensure test taking integrity with distance education students?*

This can be somewhat difficult with a distance education class. However, there are a few ways I believe work for administering a distance education exam. The first way to ensure test taking is to have the students come to campus if it is at all possible. This way, you can see for yourself that the student is taking their exam for them self. The second way to administer a test is to have the student find a certified proctor and have them sign a sheet saying when and where the student took the test. Of course as the teacher, you might want to check up on the listed proctor to ensure honesty. You could also work out something with a college close by to the student so that they could go there and take their exam. This would be a little more work for the teacher seeing as she/he would have to make sure to fax or email the exam to the qualified proctor at the school.
Distance education makes exams a major issue. The main aspect here is that you as the teacher be able to put trust and faith in your students that they keep their academic honesty. I would use the proctor sign in sheet and actually talk to the proctor to make sure the student is truthful. I understand that one of the advantages of distance education is for students to complete tasks on their time, but if push comes to shove and cheating happens, the student may have to sacrifice and come in to the classroom to take their exams.