Online testing is a biased mess, and senators are demanding answers

We finally know who watches the (exam) watchers. 

On Thursday, six Democratic senators sent an open letter to the CEO of the online test-administering company ExamSoft. At issue are claims online proctoring and remote-testing software is biased against people of color and people with disabilities, and that it invades students' privacy.

"We write to request information on the steps that your company has taken to protect the civil rights of students and ensure that ExamSoft is not creating barriers for students' futures," the senators write. 

For those fortunate enough to not have had their education derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, remote proctoring may be a foreign concept. It some cases, it literally involves a stranger watching you take a test through your webcam ostensibly to guard against cheating. In other instances, an opaque computer-vision system attempts to detect "abnormal exam-taker activity" — whatever that means.  Read more...