WGU Webcam vs. Personal Webcam

TechGuy215

Has anyone used a personal webcam for the On-Line Proctored assessments?

Better question, are you allowed to use your own?

I have a Logitech C920 (720p 16:9 with Built-in Microphones with a Polaroid 8in Mini-Tripod) and assume it's way better quality than the junker they'll be sending.

Bottom line is I scored high on two pre-assessments for a few classes (way above the cut score and my mentor has since approved) and would like to schedule and knockout the actual assessments this weekend.

I've heard it can take up to 2-3 weeks to receive the WGU supplied webcam.

Anyone have any experience / insight with this?

As always thanks in advance!

Legacy User

To my understanding they are adamant about using only the WGU provided webcam. When I got mines it took about a week or so to arrive. Thats the only thing that aggravated me the first 2 weeks is that I had to wait for the webcam to arrive but after that didn't have any hiccups afterwards.

TranceSoulBrother

You can use either. If it's a laptop webcam, you would have to get a reflective surface (cd, mirror...) to show the proctor a 360 view of your test environment. ProctorU will run a detect script for the webcam/mic/bandwidth and then you start your process with the proctor.
With the external webcam, it's easier for them so that they can "keep watch" on you and your environment to prevent any cheating.

EnderWiggin

I used my built-in webcam for both EC-Council cert assessments. They didn't care much about what I used. To add to Trance's comment about the reflective surface, I used my cell phone's front-facing camera to show them my workspace.

I don't know if this made any difference, but I just thought of it as I was typing this post. I had my laptop on a table, and I sat facing a wall. So once the proctor saw there was nothing on the wall in front of me, they may not have cared that they couldn't see in front of me, as they lnew there was nothing on the wall, and no door for someone to come through with potential cheating materials....

Legacy User

I guess it was a policy change since I attended 2 years because I made a big stink about using my own webcam to schedule my first exam instead of waiting for theirs to come in the mail but they said its against policy or whatever.

gespenstern

I wasn't allowed to use my cams and had to wait for WGU cam to arrive in order to take assessments. No idea how guys above use their own cams and is it against the rules. I mean, I could've tried to use my cams, but I just assumed that it's a no-go after hearing on that from my mentor so I never tried.

EnderWiggin

Interesting. I never asked what cam to use, and just signed on with the built-in one, and the proctors didn't care.