Birmingham, AL – As the popularity of online education grows, schools need ways to maintain academic quality and standards as they extend teaching and learning beyond traditional campus walls. Since 2008, ProctorU has helped over 500 colleges and universities adapt to the evolving landscape and ensure academic integrity through their live online proctoring services. Today, ProctorU announced the launch of Ucard, an online student authentication service based on the traditional school ID card. Seven institutions are already using Ucard in a variety of settings – from attendance tracking to managing financial aid disbursements – and have provided valuable input on the development and uses.

“Testing isn’t the only place institutions have to worry about cheating. Online identity fraud is a growing issue and institutions need to be sure that they are interacting with the right student at every step of the online experience,” said Don Kassner, president of ProctorU.

Ucard employs a multi-layered authentication process to check and verify a student’s identity in a matter of minutes. Via webcam, a live proctor sees the student and checks their government issued ID, just like they would in person. Then, using techniques based on industry leading fraud protection and banking standards, Ucard validates the student’s identity through a series of questions served through public data records. ProctorU’s proprietary, sophisticated keystroke analysis software adds the final layer of authentication to the stepped verification process designed to protect both the student and university from online and academic fraud.

“At WGU we don’t sacrifice quality and our partnership with ProctorU has been essential in helping us maintain academic integrity. Providing students a personalized experience is also very important to us and with their unique mix of people and technology, ProctorU is able to provide students with support in real time,” said Adel Lelo, vendor manager at Western Governors University.

ProctorU recently signed the Student Privacy Pledge, which safeguards student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance and use of student personal information. “We signed this pledge because student privacy is a priority. In order to make certain that student information is protected, proper training is ensured in the usage of data gathered during the proctoring or identity verification process,” Kassner said.