A few years ago, we started a pilot at eduKan to test a new biometric signature password to ensure that the students who used our online learning system, were in fact the student who should be logging. We’ve successfully launched this technology and have used it to build trust with our faculty and staff as well as deter cheating and unauthorized use.

Yesterday’s Security-Today.com article, by David Rizzo, entitled “The Next Step in ID Verification” talks about the recent security breaches at banks and how institutions need to up their game and positively identify online users with technology that can identify behavior and gestures that are unique to each individual. They contacted me to find out more about our switch to using biometric signature passwords to build trust and meet requirements to positively identify students who take our online courses.

“We have used signature biometrics for nearly three years with more than 10,000 student users, and it has exceeded our expectations,” said Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan, a consortium of community colleges offering online courses and degrees. “It provides an identity-proofing means that is transparent to our students while respecting their privacy. [It] is available anytime and stays cost-effective for the institution.”

                                                                       Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO, eduKan

Click here to read the complete article.

What are you using to secure your online systems? Share with me below or if you have questions, I’d be happy to share more about our cost effective system from Bio-SigID.

Worried about online authentication for your students? I’m excited to share this case study published about eduKan in Community College Week’s Spring 2014 Technology Supplement. Click here to download the case study to find out how this biometric technology from BSI has helped cut operational costs, student proctoring fees and deters online cheating by students.

CCWeek Case Study: eduKan and BioSig-ID

CCW’s 2014 Technology Supplement features case studies, and the development and use of mobile Apps in community colleges.

Sloan Effective Practice Award Nomination

eduKan manages the online courses for a consortium* of 6 colleges in Kansas and wanted to reduce proctoring costs and deter online cheating while meeting verification regulations for distance education as required by the Department of Education and their regional accrediting agency. Dr. Sarver worked with the team at Biometric Signature ID (BSI) and Pearson to pilot test BioSig-ID(TM) as part of the LearningStudio authentication process since BSI’s technology matched eduKan’s needs versus other webcam-based, hardware intensive technologies. The pilot ran from March-April, 2011 with 174 students from multiple classes using BioSig-ID(TM) to authenticate their identity 6 times before their final exam. There were 6,300 verifications and only 9 help desk calls during the trial period. eduKan conducted a survey after the pilot ended and found that 97% of the students preferred BioSig-ID(TM) to finding a proctor or driving to a facility for physical proctoring while 94% of them had a positive experience with the verification process.

The final results of the pilot including the survey and cost analysis proved that the BSI technology would more than meet their goals. The faculty and administration were also very positive about their user experience making it a “win-win.” The outcome has been impressive and has allowed eduKan to achieve their goals of reduced costs, increased compliance, dramatically lower student fees to help gain a competitive advantage, and ensure academic integrity. eduKan now meets and exceeds the requirements for verification of online student identities and can be confident that the same student who submits assignments, takes exams, and earns a final grade is the same one who enrolled in that course and has received financial aid. *Pratt Community College, Barton Community College, Garden City Community College, Seward County Community College, Dodge City Community College and Colby Community College.

Read more here.

Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan and Jeff Maynard, CEO of Biometric Signature ID will be presenting their case study during a session in the Digital Learning Environments and Communities track at the Sloan-C 5th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning.

eduKan – Innovating Education

Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan, a consortium of colleges in Kansas, and Jeff Maynard, CEO of Biometric Signature ID, (BSI), are scheduled to co-present at the upcoming Sloan-C Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning. The presentation will highlight the dramatic cost savings and long-term benefits from eduKan’s use of BSI’s patented BioSig-ID™ biometric technology for student identity proofing. The case study report released earlier this year shows an 80% reduction in proctoring fees, among other benefits. BSI is the only company with a patented software-only biometric technology that exceeds NIST accuracy requirements in the $12.6B Identity and Access Management (IAM) authentication market.

Sarver and Maynard will be sharing the results of a pilot study conducted from May-December 2011 with eduKan students who were using BSI’s technology to authenticate their identity. eduKan’s CEO was seeking a solution that would reduce operational costs, increase student identity compliance, keep student fees low to help gain a competitive advantage, and ensure the highest levels of academic integrity for their growing enrollment.

“eduKan was concerned with costs, ease of use, privacy, accuracy and accountability,” said Jeff Maynard, CEO, Biometric Signature ID. “BSI was excited to work with Dr. Sarver and knew our innovative technology would allow him to accomplish his goals, track the success of the project with documented milestones and show quantifiable results.”

From the beginning of the pilot to the rollout for institution-wide usage, eduKan is now benefiting by:

1. Lowering operational costs for physical proctoring by 80% including faculty / staff time and physical management expense (8,000 + hours on average / per year saved)
2. Reducing and/eliminating proctoring costs for students – which can average $38 per proctored exam / $380 per year and helps reduce their overall cost of education
3. Using a fixed fee structure for *unlimited* student ID authentications – under $15 per student per year which increases the number of validations now available to eduKan for the school term, not at final event time
4. Ensuring student privacy by using the only biometric that can be revoked and reissued
5. Offering easy to use technology with 94% positive user experience
6. Decreasing student support needs while increasing ease of deployment for eduKan’s growing student enrollments as BSI can be used on any system, tablet, smart phone, Android, Mac or PC, Flash or HTML5 without installing any additional software or hardware
7. Utilizing the most accurate biometric validation system on the market with 3rd party test results indicating 99.97% accuracy rate for keeping impostors out

“We believe in being proactive and using technology that helps us leverage our current staff while expanding our capabilities,” says Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan. “The risk-reward in adopting new technologies comes down to ‘the plan,’ and we had a very methodical plan with clear goals and objectives that we were able to achieve and are excited to share at Sloan this year.”

Attendees of the Sloan-C 5th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning can see this presentation on July 25, 2012 at 1:30 PM in Casanova 603 at the Venetian | Palazzo Resort in Las Vegas. Sarver and Maynard were also nominated for a Sloan Effective Practice Award and have published their submission here: http://sloanconsortium.org/effective_practices/student-identity-proofing-biometrics-meet-regulations-lower-operational-costs-re.

About eduKan
eduKan provides access to quality higher education, including ESL courses, via college degrees, certificates, and individual courses, with affordable online classes. eduKan was founded in 1998 as a cooperative effort between member colleges to offer courses via the Internet. eduKan’s consortium schools are all accredited Kansas learning institutions with excellent reputations and long histories of providing degrees in traditional settings, as well as through online courses. eduKan Consortium member institutions are: : Barton Community College, in Great Bend; Colby Community College, in Colby; Dodge City Community College, in Dodge City; Garden City Community College, in Garden City; Pratt Community College, in Pratt; and Seward County Community College/Area Technical School, in Liberal. For more information, please visit http://www.edukan.org.

About Biometric Signature ID
A Dallas-based software company, Biometric Signature ID, Inc. (BSI), provides solutions to reduce identity fraud through its’ patented BioSig-ID Online™ biometric handwriting and gesture technologies. BSI has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan for developing the Product Innovation of the Year in 2010, have been vetted by the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund advisory committee and granted a commercialization award for their break-through technology. BSI has also received a 99.97% rating of accuracy (false positive rate) proof-of-performance validation from the Tolly Group’s independent testing lab, which exceeds NIST recommendations by a factor of three. Their identity proofing products have worldwide applications including student ID authentication, secure online banking, mobile banking, or to create a secure password authentication before allowing access to any online portal or site like healthcare or gaming, for Internet-based transactions. To learn more about how BSI solutions can help with your Identity proofing needs visit our website at http://www.biosig-id.com or call us at (800) 871-2817.