Online education is inclining towards becoming a new normal the same as working from home after the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down the world. However, though online learning is one trend in recent years, the forceful shutdown of schools, colleges, and universities opened the doors to many challenges. While the unprepared professors for online teaching are one challenge, monitoring test takers to prevent cheating is the other.
However, thanks to technology, online proctoring services such as ProctorU chased away the challenges the universities and professors facing- proctoring the students taking online tests. ProctorU is a completely automated proctoring service that uses both a live proctor and AI. Though online education is becoming more popular and the use or demand for ProctorU is likely to increase more, the question of how it makes money is still probing.
Let us unveil the business model of ProctorU and how it makes money in this article. So, are you game?
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What is ProctorU?
ProctorU is both AI and a human-based online proctoring service for online exams. It serves various universities, professional organizations boosting the online exam trend while also ensuring exam integrity. Simply put, it uses webcams and screen-sharing technology to proctor students taking online tests.
ProctorU was founded on 1st October 2008 by Jarrod Morgan, ProctorU Inc. is currently headquartered in Hoover, Alabama, US. The founder originally created the proctoring service for Andrew Jackson University before the institutions across the world started using it. After the founder realized that students loved the software when he attended a conference, ProctorU was made a business.
Though the software has tough competitors like Examity, Proctorio, and ExamSoft WorldWide, etc., ProctorU is unique in its way by providing great convenience and flexibility for students and effective results for institutions. In fact, it is more effective than an in-person proctor who alone has to monitor a group of students in a room. Because ProctorU offers one-on-one proctoring for high stakes exams protecting the exam integrity. The company has a good number of employees, out of those over 80% are proctors.
ProctorU has protected over 3,934,863 exams in the last year. It removed over 1,653,000 unpermitted resources before the exam and took action on 547,000 during exams in the last 12 months period.
Thus it held over 500000 exams in the last 6 months. Additionally, ProctorU’s proctors have earned a 91% satisfaction score from test-takers.
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ProctorU Business Model
Okay, let’s get into the topic of how ProctorU makes money. For this, you need to know how this popular online proctoring service works. Though the revenue and profits of ProctorU are unavailable. It was reported that in 2010, the proctoring service had generated over $100,000 revenue with around 20 clients. However, let us see how it works to analyze how much it makes.
How ProctorU Works?
ProctorU ensures online exam integrity by verifying the identity of the test taker and preventing any prohibited activities such as receiving help from others in the room. It records the screen of a test taker to detect the use of any unauthorized materials.
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So, here is how it works.
Once the ProctorU software is activated on the test taker’s PC or laptop, it asks the person to show two photo ID proofs to verify the identity before the exam starts. The webcam and AI technology help to verify if the right student is taking the test. The test taker further needs to answer some questions and enter a biometric signature to prove the identity.
Now, after the identity is verified, the person needs to show he/she is alone in the room in which he/she is taking the test with the help of a webcam.
The test-takers need to have a computer, webcam, microphone and reliable internet connection to activate and take tests using ProctorU.
ProctorU’s both live proctor and AI monitors the test taker and detects suspected behavior such as the test taker going out of view of the webcam or copying, opening another browser, leaving room for help, or someone else entering the room. The AI can detect things that a proctor can’t detect sometimes. Say, AI detects faint reflections, suspicious eye movements, low sound levels, shadows etc.
Additionally, the whole exam is recorded for future reviews and records.
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So, as this whole process involves expert proctors and advanced technology, the pricing may be a little expensive. However, the pricing is not listed by the company publicly. The pricing plans include:
ProctorU Auto
ProctorU Auto is a fully automated proctoring service where no proctor is present during the test. Though a proctor is not present, the AI technology verifies the right test taker using multi-factor verification. It even flags any suspicious behavior and records the test for future review purposes. Educational institutes and low stake exams mostly prefer this plan.
ProctorU Live+
ProctorU Live+ is suitable for higher stake exams such as government or professional certification exams that need close monitoring. Here live professional proctors monitor the test takers one-on-one and the test is monitored by AI as well.
Thus even the small things can be caught that humans can’t detect and vice versa.
Proctor Pro
This is a premium version of Live+ service as it provides higher customizability and highly trained proctors and a team to troubleshoot technical issues.
Exam Fee
As you have seen above, ProctorU makes money from exam fees and convenience fees.
When it comes to exams fee, nearly half of institutions pay exam fees for students whereas the other half is paid by test takers itself. The convenience fees are generally paid by students.
Though the costs of ProctorU are not available on the website, it is estimated as follows. The pricing for an exam proctored by ProctorU varies based on the time allotted for the exam. The cost range is between $8.75 to $30 per exam.
According to Illinois Online, the pricing of ProctorU is as follows:
- $8.75 for a 30-minute practice exam
- $14.75 for 1-hour exam
- $21.50 for 90 minute and 2-hour exam
- $30.25 for a 3-hour exam
It refunds the fees if the exam is canceled within 48 hours before the test time.
Convenience Fees
Whenever appointments are made less than 72 hours prior to the test time, ProctorU charges $5 as a convenience fee. It charges an $8.75 convenience fee if appointments are taken less than 24 hours before the exam.
Investor Funding
Additionally, the company is also backed by funding from Eastside Partners. ProctorU raised $13 million in funding over 2 rounds held in January 2020.
As said, there are no reports of the exact revenue of the company. However, analyzing the success of the company, on average it generates about at least $30 million in revenue every year as per a report.
Final Thoughts
The demand for online education, e-learning is rising exponentially and so is the demand for online proctoring. Hence, it is clear that ProctorU is making a good amount of profits. Especially, after the college doors were shut down, the traffic for the company has tremendously increased. Despite all, ProctorU has a profitable business model that is bringing notable revenue growth to the company.
