Dependable distributed testing: Can the online proctor be reliably computerized?

Distributed Education (DE) enables education, both teaching and learning, anytime, anywhere, using any media or modality, at any pace. Assessment, especially testing, is a major component in the overall evaluation of an educational program. However, there still is an important component missing from most DE programs to enable its full realization in a distributed environment: dependable distributed testing (DDT). The paper presents a comprehensive risk analysis of dependable distributed testing that classifies seven (types of) risks, introduces the resultant DoDoT (Dependable observable Distributed online Testing) reference model, and examines its coverage by three commercial systems. However, these systems are not yet in use in most DE frameworks and do not have yet full DoDoT coverage. The vision of the DoDoT reference model is the continued pursuit and adaptation of new, innovative technologies and methods to make dependable distributed testing increasingly more computerized, reliable, affordable and prevalent.