Cameras installed in Steiner testing rooms to handle increasing usage
Grinnell College’s Disability Resource Center (DRC) is in the process of installing closed-circuit cameras in its testing rooms to handle an increasing volume of students.
Students at the College who receive disability accommodations have the option to use testing rooms in the DRC, located in Steiner Hall, to take exams or quizzes. The testing rooms in Steiner have seen a 136 percent increase in usage since the fall 2021 semester, with 860 exams taken in fall 2024 as compared to 364 in fall 2021.
Due to this increased usage, a limited number of testing proctors need to cycle between testing rooms to monitor students taking exams and relay important information from professors.
“Most of the students who use the testing center have a reduced distraction accommodation … it’s often disruptive to have people going in and out,” said Autumn Wilke, associate chief diversity officer for disability resources.
The installed security cameras are intended to help with monitoring students during exams or quizzes. Stacy Turley, disability resources operations coordinator, manages the cameras, which are connected to a small monitor on her desk. They do not record footage during exams and are inactive when the monitor is turned off. Additionally, the cameras do not have Wi-Fi capability or the ability to connect to any other device.
If continuous recording is turned on, the cameras record 10-minute periods of footage that overwrite themselves. When recording with the included memory, footage is overwritten approximately every three days.
The cameras are currently installed in three rooms in the testing center. They have a wide-angle view of the rooms they are installed in and are not focused on any one location or seat, except for specific cases in which a student’s accommodations require additional monitoring, such as cases in which a student needs to use their own computer. Mobile camera options are also being considered for rooms that are not used solely for testing purposes.
The cameras were first installed on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, and students using the testing rooms were notified about the installation via email. The cameras were first used on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, with 29 exams conducted on that day.
This configuration of cameras is intended to replicate standard testing conditions with faculty members, but without the need for a proctor to repeatedly enter and exit the room.
“It gives us an opportunity to also be able to have a sense of [if] things seem fine in the different rooms,” said Wilke.
