Under what circumstances is it appropriate to have video cameras as part of exam proctoring?

Question

When professors proctor exams, part of our job is to answer student questions and clarify the exam, and part of our job is to prevent/catch cheating. At my university in the USA, there is also a "testing center" where students with accommodations (e.g., the right to take the exam in a private space) can take the exam. These spaces have video cameras to prevent/catch cheating.

This made me wonder: would it be possible/appropriate to have a video camera in the primary testing location, for in-person exams? If so, there would be an added disincentive to cheat, and there would also be proof in case the professor witnessed cheating (to prevent a "he said/she said" situation). I found previous questions about video but mostly pertaining to remote exams during the pandemic:

Creating a secure test environment for a programming lab practical

Stance of universities on remote video proctoring of online exams

I also found a discussion of video cameras in academic spaces, suggesting that it's legally allowable:

Preventing leaking exam papers/cheating using phone cameras?

Let's assume that for any class where exams might be video recorded, this information is in the syllabus and students can choose not to take the class. For context, I have been at small liberal arts colleges my whole life, where cameras are not commonly part of the culture. I've never been at a large university so I don't know how normal or unusual video cameras in testing spaces are. Not sure what other considerations would go into the choice of whether or not to add video recording to testing spaces.

Answer 1

This is definitely the kind of thing that can be regulated or disallowed under university policies. There are privacy concerns that different institutions may value in different ways. In the US, FERPA law is implicated as such recordings, especially if used for disciplinary action, would be considered educational records; see Department of Education's FAQs on Photos and Videos under FERPA. Overall, I would assume such recording is still rare, but, e.g., Indiana University's policies include the relevant GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO PROCTORING OF QUIZZES AND EXAMS. IU's policy seems relatively permissive. Besides CYA content ("All operators of video proctoring systems must be trained in the technical, legal, and ethical use of the equipment.", "All operators of video proctoring systems will be required to complete IU’s standard FERPA training.") some relevant parts include

Protection of Academic Freedom

The protection of academic freedom is of the utmost importance at IU. In accordance with this belief, video proctoring systems should only be used to monitor or record classroom areas when quizzes or exams are being administered or in cases of emergency. Video proctoring systems should never be used to monitor or record lectures or other instructional activities.

Notice Requirements

In all classrooms that are equipped with video proctoring capabilities, signs that are clearly visible must be posted to provide notice of the video cameras. Any instructor who desires to use video proctoring for a quiz or exam must give all students in the course written notice of the intention to do so prior to the quiz or exam.

Disclosure of Video Records

In cases of suspected academic misconduct, operators of video proctoring systems may disclose relevant video records to (1) the instructor of the course and/or (2) relevant University administrators involved in the student judicial process. If a student is accused of academic misconduct based on evidence recorded by a video proctoring system, the student will be provided an opportunity to view the video records that support the allegation of academic misconduct. If the accused student desires that other individuals be present for such viewing, the student will need to sign a FERPA release form in which the student gives consent for these individuals to view the video records. No other disclosures of video recordings may be made without prior approval from the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel.

Preservation of Video Records

Academic units that use video proctoring systems should maintain recordings of all video proctored quizzes and exams for a period of one year. In cases of academic misconduct or alleged academic misconduct, the full video of the quiz or exam should be preserved in the appropriate Dean of Students’ or Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs’ office for a period of two years following the internal resolution of the student judicial process.

Answer 2

Legal concerns aside (you should definitely check with your particular institution's legal consult team, instead of trusting internet strangers for legal advice). I fail to understand this from a pragmatic perspective.

In my experience with in-person exams, students are spaced out and there are usually at least a dozen proctors (human) sitting in high vantage points and a couple that are actively roaming around. Essentially, these proctors would have an unobstructed view of of the entire exam hall, which is essentially what your camera would have. So from a real time monitoring perspective, cameras aren't really needed.

If your goal is to record footage for post-exam analysis, then think about how many hours of footage that you have to comb through and also the size of the venue. The University I attended/worked at certainly did not have this capacity to my knowledge.

The only foreseeable scenario where I think cameras would come in handy is cases of cheating with no physical evidence, so footage can be used as evidence, which really there is only one case and that's when someone is literally looking at other people's exam papers in the exam hall. This can be easily prevented by spacing out each exam taker's desk.

I think the TLDR is basically, the cheaters that do get caught in an in-person exam, will get caught regardless if there are cameras are not. The ones that don't get caught, won't get caught even with cameras.