Person, Place, Politics: Considering “Context” in Online Learning and Online Proctored Exams

• In Event: Sense of Place: Context, Indigeneity, and Migration

Abstract

Existing conversations about context in learning environments stress the importance of social and physical settings. Yet studies of online learning, particularly in higher education, often focus primarily on technological components. In this study, we interviewed students at a West Coast university about their experiences taking online proctored exams from home, during the COVID-19 pandemic shift to emergency-remote instruction in 2020-2021. Students described their process of preparing for remote-proctoring and conducting themselves during exams, and they relayed the social and material constraints they dealt with. We identified themes and constructed an equity-focused context model that has implications for research, and for universities and schools aiming to support ethical online learning and assessment.

Authors

• Cynthia Carter Ching, University of California - Davis

• Jade Yeon Lee, University of California - Berkeley