Inside DELTA: 5 Questions with Brad Collins

From an undergraduate student to a current employee of the university, Brad Collins has come full circle in his role as a testing coordinator at DELTA.

Collins began his career with DELTA in 2014. The NC State alumnus graduated with a double major in Political Science and Sociology. Collins currently works with a team to administer and proctor exams for all Distance Education courses at NC State.

How would you describe your job?

“As a Testing Associate, the best description of my job is that we administer exams on behalf of NC State Faculty. In the past our patrons were exclusively DE faculty and students, but recently we have taken on more responsibility. Our office has partnered with DSO to assist with face-to-face student overflow. We also administer exams for some traditional face-to-face courses. Still, the majority of our faculty and students are DE who do not have a designated space to take exams, so we gladly assist them.

“While our primary responsibility is to ensure the integrity of each exam, my colleagues and I have various individual job responsibilities to meet that organization goal,” said Collins. His five responsibilities include:

• 1) Managing the deproctor@ncsu.edu email address, acquiring exam material and responding to inquiries.
• 2) Vetting and disseminating exam material to remote proctors.
• 3) Training and development for staff and temporary employees.
• 4) Assisting with distance education disability services.
• 5) Assisting with face-to-face overflow disability services.   

“When I started this job we were still at Venture II and I was responsible for approving remote proctors and sending exam material. Since then I’ve seen an expansion in my job responsibilities. I now manage the deproctor@ncsu.edu email address and work on outreach to faculty and students who use our services,” said Collins.

What has been your favorite project that you have worked on?

Collins explained that as a group the DELTA Testing staff will brainstorm ideas throughout the year. Goals range from short, intermediate and long-term. Areas of focus include faculty and student campaigns, such as directing new students to appropriate testing center, final exam location and adverse weather experiences. Another focus is expansion, which changes yearly with influx of courses and student enrollment. A final area of focus is on maximizing student and faculty experience through student interaction and involvement, clarity in exam procedures and increasing necessary exam materials.

Recently the team collaborated with Instructional Technology Support and Development to create a virtual tour of Venture IV. This helped to eliminated skepticism and provide clarity for students who may have never taken an online exam before. The 360° photos allow students to go online and click through the photos to see exactly where they are going once they come in for their exam. “The project is a personal favorite of mine because it is something I think will be really positive for students taking these proctored exams,” said Collins.

What is the biggest challenge of your job?

“The biggest challenge is disseminating information in a timely fashion to all students,” said Collins. He explained the current way of getting information out to students can lead to frustrations between faculty, students and his team. Despite emails and texts, the department is still trying to be able to communicate more effectively with students.

“We are a walk-in testing center. The majority of students may find that the center isn’t busy all semester, but when finals come they may not be able to walk in and immediately take a test. This comes as a shock to some students and can create anxiety if they scheduled to take their test on a particular day.”

Collins offers his advice for combatting the sometimes crowded testing sites. “Arrive in the morning! The testing center is rarely at max capacity in the morning. There are a number of factors to cause this, whether students are still preparing for their exam or have other responsibilities, but we are typically less crowded then.”

Collins also addresses the growing needs of testing services. “We brainstorm to be proactive and try to troubleshoot problems we experience each semester. We also consider future issues that our staff, students and faculty may experience. Included in that is how we can introduce new technology that will make administering 60,000 exams a year feasible,” said Collins.

“The proctor tool is the homegrown system that Jeff Webster and Drew Davidson manage. It is how we collect course information each semester, facilitate remote exams and manage the local testing on a day-to-day basis. We could not do our job without it.”

What is your favorite part of your job?

Three different elements appeal to Collins in his current role with DELTA. First, he enjoys monitoring the testing facility. “My coworkers call me ‘Inspector Gadget’ because I can read people and their body language pretty well.”

Second, Collins enjoys working with his coworkers as a team. “They make the job enjoyable. We are always bouncing ideas off each other and we rely on each other a lot. We could not manage the number of exams we do each semester without teamwork.”

And finally Collins enjoys the aspect of working with both students and faculty, especially as a former student at NC State.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

When discussing how Collins spends time outside of work, the 6-foot-7-inch athlete is quick to mention his love for basketball. “I play with a group of guys that I’ve played with since 2005. They all still come back. We always play together against some of the younger kids. We play in the grad, faculty and staff league and we’ve won it probably the last three years. My love for playing basketball flourished in my junior and senior years of high school in Goldsboro.”

Collins explained his decision to come to NC State for his undergraduate degree. “I was still pretty raw as a player since I primarily played football until my junior year. Before graduating, I had some scholarships from some D-1 schools, mostly mid-major to low-major programs, but NC State offered me an academic scholarship. I figured the experience at NC State would be best for me.

“Now I like playing basketball because it connects me to my brother and family back home. We also played in mini-tournaments and the winner, of course, would brag. Most of the men in my family are my height, so things are pretty competitive. I also play because I don’t like running on the treadmill. It is boring to me. One series in basketball is never the same. Plus, the team element gels you together for a single goal.”

Collins also describes himself as a “diehard NFL fan.” In particular he roots for the Tennessee Titans. “I am excited that they are no longer one of the worst teams in the league,” Collins laughed. “It was brutal to watch the last few years. My wife and I took our first trip to an NFL game, driving to Nashville for the Titans last home game of the 2016-2017 season. We had an awesome time.”  

In his free time, Collins also enjoys art. “During the ups and downs of my life, painting was a medium I used to express myself. I always enjoyed drawing and architecture growing up. My high school art teacher actually gave me my first canvas.” Now Collins does not have the space or equipment to paint as much as he used to but he still enjoys reading and spending time with his wife Breanna, who also works for DELTA, and their dog General Beau Bradford Collins.