Section 176.235  Course Provider Verification of Student Identity and Course Completion

a)         Before being certified, providers must submit procedures to the Secretary of State for verifying the identity of the student taking the course, which may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1)         If the course is to be taken in person, an examination of a government-issued photo identification card, including an Illinois driver’s license or Illinois Identification Card;

2)         If the course is to be taken online:

A)        Web video recording accompanied by an examination of the student’s government-issued photo identification card;

B)        Dynamic knowledge-based authentication;

C)        Web video proctoring with screen monitoring by live certified proctors; or

D)        Any method, or combination of methods, of identity verification submitted by a provider and approved by the Department that reasonably establishes the identity of the student and the student's presence during the online course.

b)         If the method of verification is challenge questions, the student must be asked a minimum of two questions per hour, during each hour of the course, at random intervals.  The answer to the verification challenge question must be verifiable by the course provider or a third party.  Students shall have only 60 seconds to respond.  Students who fail to respond to the question or who fail to respond within the specified time period must be returned to the place in the course where the student last successfully passed a verification.  A student who, for a second time, fails to respond to a challenge question or who fails to respond within the specified time period will be considered to have failed the course. If a student answers a question incorrectly, another challenge question must be asked.  If the student correctly answers the challenge question, the student may proceed with the course. If the student incorrectly answers a third challenge question, the student is considered to have failed a course.

c)         Providers must incorporate a course content validation process that verifies student participation, comprehension of course material, and course completion, including the following:

1)         Built-in timers to ensure that 180 minutes of instruction have been viewed and completed by the student.  Timers must prevent the student from scrolling, skipping, or advancing through the course without reading the material and must not allow the student to take section quizzes or the final examination without viewing or reading the course content.  If a student attempts to take a quiz or the final examination without having spent the minimum time required for a single section or the course, the student must be returned to the place in the course where the student last spent the minimum time required.

2)         At least one course validation question must be asked following each multimedia clip that exceeds 60 seconds.

3)         Students must complete a final examination at the end of the course, which shall consist of 50 questions from a test bank of a minimum of 100 questions.  Questions may be multiple-choice, true/false, or a combination of both, but in no event may more than one-half of the questions be true/false. Questions must be randomized and of such difficulty that the answers may not be easily determined without having participated in the entire course. 

4)         A student must score at least 85% on the final examination.  If a student scores less than 85%, the student must be re-tested using different questions from the test bank.  The student is not required to repeat the course but shall be allowed to review the course before retaking the examination.  The examination may be retaken at any time by agreement between the student and the course provider.  If the student fails the comprehensive final examination 3 times, the student has failed the course.

5)         A student who fails the examination may choose to take a different course before retaking the examination.

(Source:  Added at 47 Ill. Reg. 8640, effective June 5, 2023)