Determination by the Provost on digital invigilation of examinations

Preamble

Under section 1 c of the Examination Regulations (the regulations) in order to be credited with a course, a student needs to have ‘completed to the satisfaction of the examiners and in accordance with these regulations any prescribed examination’. Under Section 4 b of the regulations, examinations will comprise ‘such written, oral and practical examinations as the examiners may determine’. This may include ‘examinations that are to be completed in a digital mode’.

Section 5 a of the regulations further stipulate that ‘Students must sit examinations at times, at places, and in modes which shall be determined by the University’. ‘Modes’ refers to the way the examination is carried out and includes paper-based or digital (computer based or online) delivery. Examinations in digital modes may be completed as invigilated or non-invigilated examinations.

Digital invigilation is used for selected examinations where the consequences of academic integrity breaches or the undermining of academic standards could have adverse outcomes for students and/or for the University.

Determination

Under section 5 a of the regulations, and in keeping with Council’s duty to ensure that proper standards of integrity are maintained, I hereby determine that the courses listed in Appendix A will be carried out in online mode with digital invigilation in 2021. This determination is made under the Provost’s delegated authority to approve academic matters under University statutes and regulations.

Academic misconduct

Decisions on breaches of academic integrity in digitally invigilated examinations will always involve human oversight and judgement. To assist in the determination of academic misconduct recordings made using digital invigilation may be reviewed by University staff where potential breaches of academic integrity are:

  • flagged in a report generated by digital invigilation software; or
  • identified by live invigilators using Zoom or similar; or
  • indicated by other evidence.

Privacy

The University has a lawful purpose to collect personal information about a student, through the use of digital invigilation in online examinations, in order to protect the integrity of its examination processes. The collection, use, and retention of data captured by digital invigilation will comply with the University’s Privacy Policy. The retention period for examination data will align with the University’s period of retention for paper examination scripts, except where the data is used for an academic misconduct case. The retention period for examination data used for an academic misconduct case will align with the relevant period of retention for academic misconduct information.

A Privacy Notice is available to students that outlines information on the collection and use of data through digital invigilation.

Equity

Alternative invigilated examination arrangements will be offered where, for legitimate reasons, a student cannot access or download the required digital invigilation software, or where accessibility requirements or approved special conditions cannot be met.

Advice to students

Students will be advised if their examinations are to be digitally invigilated.

Students enrolled in a course that will be using digital invigilation software are required to install the required software on to the device they will be using for their examination.

Approved: Professor Valerie Linton, Provost
Date: 14 October 2021


Appendix A – Courses approved to use digital invigilation, 2021

ACCTG 211 ACCTG 211
ACCTG 221 LAW 301B
ACCTG 222 LAW 306B
ACCTG 311 LAW 458
ACCTG 312 MAORIHTH 22H
ACCTG 323 MAORIHTH 24H
ACCTG 331 MEDIMAGE 202
COMLAW 201 MEDIMAGE 203
COMLAW 203 NURSING 302
COMLAW 301 OPTOM 416B
DIETETIC 708 OPTOM 430B
FINANCE 251 OPTOM 442B
LAW 121G OPTOM 450B P
LAW 131 AEDS 601B
LAW 141 PROPERTY 311
LAW 201B PROPERTY 331
LAW 211B PROPERTY 382
LAW 231B