BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - ProctorU, a university spinoff, conducts its
1,500th college exam online today making 1,500 students very happy.
College students who take courses online no longer have to make
appointments, travel to a proctoring location, and in many cases pay an
exorbitant proctor fee to take a required exam. ProctorU, developed by
Andrew Jackson University and spun off into a separate company eight
months ago, is now considered by many as the smart choice for students
who take courses online.

“In November 2007 I saw a presentation
by a company that claimed to have an online proctoring service,” said
Don Kassner, president of Andrew Jackson University, “and I said I’d
sign up right then and there.” But Kassner was disappointed when the
person presenting the service said it was not actually ready yet and
turned him away. Kassner waited – not so patiently – until January 2008
and, when the proposed proctoring service was still not ready, he
obtained board approval to develop online proctoring internally.

By
late February 2008, one month after receiving approval to develop an
online proctoring system, the first test exam was proctored. “It’s been
smooth sailing since then,” stated Jarrod Morgan, co-developer of the
unique online system. “We have improved the system by adding live
certified proctors, real time audio/video using TokBox, technical
assistance, practice exams, identity authentication, and the ability to
assist exam-takers by remotely controlling their computers during an
exam,” said a proud Morgan.

“Now that we’ve perfected online
live-proctor exams and coupled the service with identity
authentication,” commented Morgan, “and actually proven the system by
proctoring 1,500 exams, we’re attracting more and more interested
colleges and universities each week.”

According to ProctorU
management, the service is also attracting organizations that are
interested in partnering with it or buying it from its parent company,
Pupilcity LLC. “We are not interested in exploring a sale now,” said
Pupilcity LLC managing member Joe Schmoke, “but we are interested in
partnerships that would provide our online proctoring service to a
segment of the education and training industry that we are not
addressing ourselves.”

Education industry analysts expect the
demand for online exam proctoring, especially when coupled with a
trustworthy identity authentication product, will skyrocket beginning
in 2010. This is when the U. S. Department of Education starts
requiring schools to make sure the person taking the exam is the
student enrolled in the course.

http://www.proctoru.com/