Online Education Platform Adds Biometric Authentication Option

San Diego-based online attendance and engagement platform CourseKey has announced the release of a new attendance solution that uses biometric authentication to improve security in the education landscape.

The new Face/Print Scan attendance solution leverages the biometric capabilities of users’ mobile devices, allowing them to sign in to CourseKey’s online platform with either a fingerprint scan or facial recognition, with no additional actions required from the instructor.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak thousands of schools and businesses have been forced to conduct education and training courses virtually. This increase in online education has also led to an increase in the opportunity for fraud, and turning to biometrics for user authentication is a way to mitigate the security risk by offering instructors a real-time view of who is participating in their course, and by ensuring that the identity of the person they see on their screen matches the one listed in their enrollment data.

CourseKey is the latest in a growing list of companies turning to remote biometric authentication in order to adapt to the new landscape that is being carved out by the social distancing measures implemented during COVID-19.

Overall, biometric authentication, screening and security solutions are being relied upon heavily by schools, businesses and government agencies around the world, especially as many regions begin planning the transition to reopen their economies following the lifting of lockdown measures.

Prior to this latest update to its platform, CourseKey offered a GPS-based geolocation attendance solution that would draw a ‘virtual fence’ around a designated classroom or external site, allowing students to check in for class once their device pings back the correct pre-determined coordinates.

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May 14, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis