A Virtual Laboratory System with Biometric Authentication and Remote Proctoring Based on Facial Recognition

Virtual laboratories are used in online education, corporate training and professional skill development. There are several aspects that determine the value and effectiveness of virtual laboratories, namely (i) the cost of development which includes the cost of creating the virtual environment and designing and implementing the laboratory exercises, (ii) the benefits brought to the trainees compared with those provided by traditional physical laboratories, and (iii) the operation which includes the communication between trainers and trainees, the authentication and remote proctoring of the trainees, etc. In this paper, a virtual laboratory system with biometric authentication and remote proctoring by employing facial recognition techniques is introduced. The general logic and basic algorithms used to enable biometric authentication and remote proctoring are described. When using this virtual laboratory system, the students log in by scanning their faces with a camera. While performing a laboratory exercise, the students sit in front of the camera and the virtual laboratory system monitors their facial expressions and head motions in order to identify suspicious behaviors. Upon detection of such suspicious behaviors, the system records a video for further analysis by the laboratory administrator. An evaluation of the feasibility of this approach is presented.