The University of Toronto (the University) has been using remote proctoring platforms, such as Examity for several years.
Examity® has been carefully assessed by the University and complies with privacy and security requirements and policies governing student data. It has been audited by our information technology security team to comply with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). The University of Toronto has a contract (the Contract) with Examity that protects the privacy of the recordings and other personal information in keeping with these standards.
The Contract clearly outlines the principal purposes for which personal information collected by Examity may be used, and how long information collected in an exam will be retained. The purpose for collection of your information is to enable Examity to deliver a service through which it confirms the identity of students taking assessments and to use video and audio monitoring and student behaviour to support the academic integrity of assessments.
The contract defines different levels of service, comprising automated or live authentication and automated or live proctoring that instructors may choose to use in courses.
The Contract governs the use of your information by Examity and takes precedence over the privacy statements that Examity or its web site show you when you create a profile on the Examity platform prior to the exam.
Examity may not directly or indirectly use, collect, disclose or destroy any Personal Information for any purposes that are not authorized by the University as specified in the Contract.
Specifically, Examity has agreed through the Contract to the following terms respecting your personal information:
- Examity agrees that it will collect and store data including a student’s name, address, email address, phone number and institution of enrollment and an image of photo identification when a student creates a Examity online profile.
- A digital signature is collected in the form of typing pattern when entering your first and last name.
- Students must create three challenge questions for the purpose of identity verification at the time of the exam.
- During proctoring, a student’s webcam and computer screen may be monitored, viewed, recorded, and/or audited. In this process the student and their immediate surroundings and anything else within range of their webcam or viewable on their computer screen may be monitored, viewed, recorded, and/or audited during the exam or assessment.
- During the exam process, Examity will record the student and may make notes regarding the recorded behavior of the students, and store such recordings and notes, together with data that may include the name and email address of the student.
- Recordings made in exams/evaluations will be stored for 60 days and will be available to designated University staff, such as the student’s instructor.
- If academic integrity concerns are flagged, the flagged videos will be retained for a year so that they are available to assess and address those academic integrity concerns.
- Examity will delete recordings after these timeframes have passed.
For your further information:
- When asked to provide an identity document, you should show your T-Card rather than government-issued identification, unless you cannot find your T-Card. Examity does not directly process or store any financial information from U of T students; if a student is required to directly pay for a proctoring session, Examity passes information about the payment method directly to a payment processing service.
- Student account profile data is retained for future exams/evaluations within the length of Examity’s contractual relationship with the University of Toronto.
If you have questions, please refer to your course instructor or to the Director, Digital Learning Innovation through online.learning@utoronto.ca.