ProctorU Offers Online Eyes for Online Testing

MOOC's movers and shakers
(Image: Chronicle of Higher Education)

When the MOOC phenomenon began a couple of years ago, the hype suggested the world would soon receive free courses from the globe's top academic minds. That siren song has slowly evolved into universities paying for MOOCs. The P&L for MOOCs versus live teaching was just too attractive for the institutions and profs to ignore.

One issue that emerged alongside the MOOC stampede was the matter of secure testing. The standardized testing world, especially in Asia, is corrupt and prone to profound bouts of cheating. That situation has created what Americans like to characterize as an "opportunity." In this case, a few enterprises, whose purpose was to provide online monitoring of online testing, were started. One of anti-cheating firms, ProctorU, was the centerpiece of a feature story in today's siliconvalley.com.

Ironically, PU's proctors are typically college-aged students who earn less than nine dollars per hour for their snooping. The U makes proctors available at any time of day, probably to accommodate international students. According to the siliconvalley.com story, students are charged $20 for the service.

That sounds like tip money until you start doing the math. A full-time student typically takes at least five courses per semester. That's $100 for the online testing portion of their semester's academic experience. Meanwhile, over 6.5 million students took online classes in fall 2011. Multiply that figure by $100 and you come close to what Twitter's IPO generated, without any SEC or Wall Street analyst hassles to outfox.

The next time someone suggests there is no money in education, think about ProctorU's cash-strong business. Yes, something stinks at PU.