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According to new higher education policies, nationally accredited colleges and universities should verify that any distance learning student who registers for a course is the same student who does the work.

 

To abide by this, Acxiom (News - Alert) officials said that their organization is working with community colleges, public and private universities, industry trade associations and accreditation organizations to ensure the implementation of this new policy is consistent with authentication best practices in other industries. The company is also making efforts to ensure that the new policy fits the unique needs of the distance-learning student.

Acxiom’s FactCheck-X Authenticate is an online tool that guards organizations against the risk of identity theft and fraud. By using biographical data, the solution creates user-friendly challenge exams to authenticate the identity of the individual logging on. The information used in the exams such as house number, subdivision name or hunting license data is known to the person being authenticated but not to others.

 

Acxiom's FactCheck-X Authenticate does not require Webcams or fingerprints, and institutions using the solution are notified of pass/fail rates of the authentication exams. As the entire process is delivered by Acxiom through a Web interface, it alleviates any student data management and authentication burden for schools. Also, the university or college releases no information about students, and thus there is no risk of non-compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

 

Tim Christin, managing director, Acxiom Risk Mitigation said that Acxiom helps colleges and universities maintain their academic integrity standards by verifying student identity. He pointed out that this online tool works without an enrollment process, expensive hardware or broadband requirements.

 

Michael Jortberg, Acxiom education project leader, said that the institutions and students who have participated in pilot programs of this solution have been pleased. The ease of use, integration and flexibility of this offering attract college and university professionals responsible for verification and authentication.

Acxiom officials also said they jointly presented the results of a collaborative program with National American University. The program was developed to authenticate online learners at the Higher Learning Commission annual meeting. NAU students enrolled in online courses were able to experience online identification strategies through this pilot.

 

Dr. Jeffrey Bailie, dean of online instruction at NAU said that 94 percent of the students who completed the survey about the pilot program indicated their strong preference for Acxiom’s online authentication service. Seventy two percent of the students had previously relied on face-to-face proctored exams.

Bailie believes that FactCheck-X Authenticate will successfully meet the expectations of distance learners who prefer 'anywhere-anytime' distance learning, while also reducing administrative costs associated with the 'this-time-this-place' examination of traditional, on-site education.

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