If you take online classes through ULM, you might see some additional fees that haven’t been there during previous courses. At the beginning of the semester, some online students discovered they had to pay out of pocket for a new testing feature, ProctorU.

ULM partnered with ProctorU so the university is able to keep issues like cheating at bay. ProctorU comes with incident reporting which helps eliminate any issues that come up during exams, according to Katie Dawson, the director of ULM’s online program. 

“This is done to preserve the integrity of the examination by ensuring the students are really learning the course work,” Dawson said.

Right now, ProctorU is only being used in math and science courses, and students are only required to use the feature during their midterm and final exams. However, a proctoring session must be scheduled at least 72 hours before the exam.

It costs $20 to test with the ProctorU feature. The fee is paid directly to the ProctorU company and not through the courseware or Moodle. The fee also cannot be found on Banner.

Through ProctorU, students will be monitored during the exam process. A webcam and reliable internet connection is required for use of the feature.

Once students sign in to take tests, their webcam will be used for an official known as a proctor to monitor the exam process. The proctor will ask the student to introduce themselves and then ask to see their student ID. According to Dawson, this is done to verify the identity of the student and match it to the one registered in the course.

The proctors being used have all gone through background checks issued by the ProctorU company. The proctors can also be audited at any point in time. This increases the efficiency and trustworthiness of the proctors.

ProctorU provides students with a wide range of times to schedule their exams.