Student Authentication

Do You Know Who Your Students Are?

Many faculty say that they do not want to teach online because they have no way of proving that the students who are taking their classes online are really the students who have signed up for their class.  It's important to note that most faculty do not know that the students in their face-to-face classes are the students who signed up for their class.  Given that faculty may express concerns regarding knowing who their online students are, it should not be a surprise that others would share this concern.

How can a college prove that a student taking an online course is who she says she is?

The accrediting agency for the CCCs as of October 2016 (and during the development of this course), ACCJC Links to an external site., has offered the following minimum requirements regarding authentication of online students:

  • Each college must have institutional password protection in place for students for verification.
  • Over time, the authentication process must become more efficient.
  • This is to be done without interfering with student privacy.

Currently, the course management system (CMS) used by your college is probably the institutional password protection vehicle that is in use.  So, in order to meet this requirement and also to meet the third requirement to be done without interfering with student privacy, all faculty teaching online courses must use their campus CMS.  Smiling students in a classroom.