Established in 1856, Auburn University is a land-grant institution in Alabama, serving more than 33,000 students. With a diverse offering of more than 150 majors and a dedicated staff of approximately 5,500 full-time employees, it ranks among the top 50 public universities in the nation according to the 2024 edition of the U.S. News & World Report.
Auburn’s Challenges and Overall Goal
Auburn adopted online proctoring in 2014 when it established Auburn Online, a central unit to support faculty and students engaged in a growing number of online offerings. By early 2020, Auburn Online was well-established and mature, but it lacked consistency in how each program facilitated remotely proctored exams. The university maintained contracts with multiple remote proctoring providers, allowing each instructor to choose which provider they used. Moreover, some programs were still mailing paper exams and requiring students to find their own in-person proctor.
Auburn administrators recognized the toll this fragmented approach had on its programs. “At Auburn, we value creating the best student experience, and we realized our approach of allowing variability was not delivering that,” says Asim Ali, Executive Director of the Biggio Center at Auburn. “There was also a burden on our student success folks because they had to support all different kinds of solutions.”
Using multiple proctoring providers led to three major challenges for Auburn:
- Inconsistent Student Experience: The lack of a standardized proctoring system caused confusion for students who faced different processes, interfaces, and policies for each exam/course.
- Fragmented Administrative Workflow: Administrators struggled with competing policies, communication channels, training demands, reporting formats, and support networks.
- Vulnerable Exam Integrity: Varying security protocols across proctoring systems raised concerns among faculty and instructors regarding the reliability of exam integrity.
Auburn ultimately sought a more cohesive and efficient approach to online proctoring. “The goal wasn’t necessarily [to] just pick one solution. It was more [about] what kind of streamlining can be done,” Ali says.
Meazure Learning’s Solution
While Auburn didn’t initially intend to transition all its online proctoring needs to a single provider, the university eventually chose Meazure Learning’s ProctorU Proctoring Platform, paired with the Guardian Secure Browser, as its sole solution. Auburn valued the range of proctoring options available through a single platform, combined with the level of support provided. By using Meazure Learning for its exam integrity needs, Auburn implemented a flexible yet consistent process that can be adapted to the specific needs of each exam or program.
“There are human proctors regardless of the service line. Three service lines from the same provider makes pedagogical sense because assessments vary, but it still allows us to deliver a seamless student experience.”
—Asim Ali, Executive Director, Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn
The Results of Auburn’s Unified Approach
Auburn’s use of a single exam integrity provider has helped the university meet its goal of streamlining the overall testing experience while delivering impactful benefits for everyone involved.
Consistent Student Experience
Students have only one system to learn and use for every exam, increasing their comfort with technical requirements, support channels, and data privacy policies. This has resulted in approximately 90% of all university students choosing to take their exams remotely.
Efficient Administrative Coordination
By interacting with a single system and team, Auburn administrators have simplified their operational workflow—from technology management to communications and troubleshooting.
Strengthened Exam Integrity
Faculty and instructors have newfound confidence in the reliability of their exam integrity due to the involvement of highly trained professionals throughout the testing process.
Conclusion
By engaging Meazure Learning as its sole exam integrity provider, Auburn University has streamlined the testing process across its online programs. This partnership has unified all exam-related technologies, policies, communications, and support channels—creating a cohesive testing environment where university staff and students feel familiarity, ease, and trust at every stage.
To learn how Meazure Learning can help your institution, schedule a call with our team.