Moodlerooms Partners with Acxiom To Provide Student VerificationNov 1, 2008 1:00 AM EDT
Partnership Meets Distance Education Federal Legislation Requirements
Acxiom® Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) has teamed with Moodlerooms, a provider of wrap-around technical support services for the Moodle open source learning management system (LMS), to meet the online authentication needs of higher education institutions.
The partnership addresses recent legislation that requires institutions to have policies in place and show evidence of how they verify student identities in distance learning. The objective is to make certain that the student who registers in a distance education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the program and receives the academic credit.
“Colleges and universities have been struggling with the issue of student testing verification as technology has advanced,” said Lois Davis, dean of educational resources at Casper College in Casper, Wyo. “Colleges with distance learning programs are looking for an affordable solution to meet the authentication mandate.” Casper College is one of several higher education institutions piloting the Moodlerooms/Acxiom distance learning student authentication solution.
Moodlerooms has integrated the popular Moodle learning system with Acxiom’s proven FactCheck-X Authenticate identity management program. FactCheck-X is widely known for authenticating online banking transactions.
“We can ensure colleges and universities can improve online academic integrity as well as meet the authentication requirements,” said Michael Jortberg, who leads Acxiom’s initiative in the higher education market. “This online student verification system does not require a broadband connection or any enrollment process, so online institutions can immediately begin using the solution.”
Colleges and universities are able to verify that the Moodle user is the actual student enrolled in the class. The student identity verification is performed over the Internet in the Moodle environment with no intrusion into the learning process. Acxiom’s authentication system asks verification questions that only the student enrolled in the course is able to answer.
“The need to know that the student taking a test online is in fact the actual one enrolled in the class continues to be a concern for all distance education programs,” said Martin Knott, CEO of Moodlerooms. “Combining the testing environment native to Moodle with a tested authentication tool like FactCheck-X will give colleges the tools they need to be compliant with the new 2008 Higher Education Act Reauthorization.”
Acxiom’s solution does not require hardware, and institutions using FactCheckX Authenticate control when, where and how frequently students authenticate. Instructors and administrators are notified of pass/fail rates. The entire process is delivered through a Web interface, alleviating any student data management and authentication burden for higher education institutions. The university or college releases no information about its students; as a result, there is no risk of noncompliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).