WEBINAR: A Better Proctoring Experience for You and Your Students

Institutions of higher education are concerned that academic honesty violations undermine the integrity of their online degree programs (D’Souza and Siegfeldt, 2017). To combat cheating, many institutions require remote proctoring software for online course exams. The University of North Alabama’s (UNA’s) College of Business has tried various online proctoring solutions over the past few years, including automated proctoring, recorded proctoring, and live proctoring, as well as a proctoring solution called Honorlock that combined all of these options into one. Our case study aimed at finding a proctoring solution that was both effective and user-friendly to faculty and students. The results of our case study suggest that Honorlock is both the most effective and the most user-friendly product from both the faculty and student perspective.

Speakers:

Jill Simpson, PhD

University of North Alabama

6 Ways to Improve Exams Using Technology

Technology improves online exams by:

  1. Saving faculty time
  2. Effectively monitoring individual students
  3. Detecting cell phones and other devices
  4. Providing reports that are easy to review
  5. Increasing student engagement
  6. Scaling online proctoring for growing programs

If you’ve heard that online proctoring is the next big thing in education, you may be skeptical. And with good reason—without the right tools in place, online exams can be full of pitfalls. With innovative software and online test tools, however, electronic assessments can actually increase student engagement and lead to exam improvements.

1. Online Exams Save Faulty and Classroom Time

With effective online exam administration, faculty don’t have to worry about losing classroom time to proctor their own assessments. That time stays focused on learning course content, and, when exams are easy to prep, faculty also have more time to focus on their research.

2. Individual Monitoring is More Effective

It’s nearly impossible for a single in-person proctor to notice every instance of academic dishonesty—there are simply too many students in the room to be able to watch all of them at the same time, and there are too many ways a student might try to cheat. Online proctoring provides a more individualized approach so each student’s exam is monitored carefully. It also includes safety measures to make sure students aren’t using notes or electronic resources to access test content.

3. Secondary Device Detection Prevents Cheating

In a classroom setting, a remote proctor’s only defense against mobile phones is to watch for them and try to prevent students from using them to cheat. The right online technology, on the other hand, can detect the use of any secondary device to access test answers—even if the device is out of sight.

4. Incident Reports Make Academic Dishonesty Easy to Handle

In a record-and-review model, instructors get a straightforward report with notes of any instances as well as a timestamped video. They can easily review potential issues and have video proof of any students they need to discipline for cheating. In addition, services that offer live proctors allow for in-the-moment intervention without disrupting other students or creating unnecessary embarrassment.

5. Flexibility Increases Student Engagement

On-demand proctoring makes it easier for students to keep up with assessments even if they need to miss a class. They can test from anywhere, anytime. And, because they can take exams wherever they are most comfortable and focused, they are more likely to stay engaged with the test content and process.

6. Online Proctoring Easily Scales with Growing Programs

Many school staff and faculty are stretched thin and limited in how much more they can undertake. By saving them time and effort with online exam proctoring, you equip them to serve more students and help your program grow.

With ever-changing technology, can your online programs can keep up? 

If you’re ready to see how online test tools like online proctoring can help make your testing more effective and lead to exam improvement, schedule a demo today. Honorlock’s platform is easy, convenient, and secure. We can help you grow both online and on-campus programs while maintaining your good standing as an academic institution.

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

8 Signs You Need a Technology Upgrade

Are you wondering how your online programs can keep up with ever-changing technology? Do your students and faculty complain about outdated systems? Is your exam proctoring platform capable of detecting and preventing mobile phone usage? Here are eight signs you might need a technology upgrade:

1. Your Faculty Hate Setting Up Online Exams

Many online proctoring services are known for being a pain to set up. The software often isn’t intuitive and easy to use, and support can be difficult to get ahold of. If your faculty are complaining about exam setup, they may have a point—and it may be time to look for a new way to administer assessments.

2. Most of Your Faculty Don’t Even Use Your Proctoring Service

Your school’s investment in an online proctoring solution only pays off if faculty are using it. If they aren’t, there’s a missing link. They may be unclear on how the technology works, it may be too complicated, it may be buggy, or students may be cheating. You need a proctoring service that works for and not against your faculty.

4. Your Faculty’s Test Content Ends Up on Test Bank Sites

Few things are more frustrating and time-consuming for faculty than having to create new exams every semester. Unfortunately, when test content ends up online, they often need to do just that so students can’t cheat as easily. You need an online proctoring solution that will search for illicit test content and file takedown notices so faculty don’t have to reinvent the wheel each semester and can instead focus on teaching.

5. You Don’t Have a Way to Detect Smartphones and Other Secondary Devices

In a technology-saturated culture, it’s imperative that your online proctoring service is able to detect the use of smartphones, tablets, and watches trying to access test answers. Otherwise, students can (and will) easily cheat. If your platform isn’t helping you identify and handle secondary device use, it’s time for an upgrade.

6. Your Students Have to Schedule an Exam Time in Advance

When on-demand proctoring solutions are available, there’s no reason students should have to deal with the hassle of scheduling an exam in advance (and potentially paying fees if their plans change). Your students deserve the flexibility of taking exams anytime, anywhere.

7. Your Students Have to Download Software for Exams

Until recently, one of the only ways to prevent students from accessing test content during an exam was to require them to download a bulky browser. Those days are fortunately gone—you can now offer exams using easy and secure built-in browser extensions. If your students are still downloading software when they take exams, it’s time for an upgrade.

8. Your faculty and administration aren’t confident in score accuracy

You have a reputation to protect. To do so, you and your faculty need to be able to trust that exam scores are an accurate reflection of student learning. If you’re using online proctoring but are concerned that the scores reflect academic dishonesty, it’s time to find a solution that prevents cheating and protects your institution.

If any of these issues sound familiar and you’re ready to talk with someone about upgrading your online proctoring service, we can help. Honorlock provides on-demand proctoring services for schools and universities. Our simple, affordable platform operates around you—no scheduling, headaches, or bulky software downloads. We prioritize academic integrity and are continually innovating to hinder cheating, and our patented mobile device prevention system is the only technology of its kind. Request a demo today to learn more.

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successful-online
Instructors-Guide
Comparing-Online

Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

8 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Proctoring Services

If you’re investing in online proctoring services and software, make sure that your faculty will actually use it.

With so many options available, here are eight questions to ask each proctoring service that you’re evaluating:

1. Can students schedule and take exams 24/7/365 scheduling flexible?

Your students deserve the flexibility to start their exam whenever and wherever they’re ready—even if that’s at 2am in bed or on a holiday.

  • Do students have to reserve an exam time in advance?
  • If so, are they charged a fee if they miss their exam timeslot? Are there times when students can’t schedule exams (for example, overnight)?

2. What support does the proctoring service provide?

Technical difficulties are always possible, so it’s important that your students and faculty always have access to top-notch support services. If the proctored exam service is available 24/7/365, that means support should be too.

  • Is support available at all times when students are taking proctored exams and faculty are setting them up?
  • Will faculty and students actually speak with a human support agents?
  • Are support agents trained to troubleshoot and effectively answer questions?

3. Do students have to download a bulky software to use it?

Students are concerned about the security and performance of their computers, and they don’t want to compromise either by downloading extra and unnecessary software.

They also don’t want to have to build in enough time to install additional software. The good news? Extra software isn’t necessary anymore. A service that uses a built-in browser extension saves time and hassle.

4. How does the proctoring software prevent cheating?

Make sure that the proctoring software has features that effectively prevent cheating while still supporting student success.

  • Can the proctoring software detect cell phone use and voices?
  • Does it have built-in ways to prevent access to browsers and applications during an exam?
  • Can students scan the room before beginning to ensure they aren’t using any additional resources?
  • Can it protect exam questions and answers from being shared on unauthorized websites?
  • Does it verify student identity before launching the proctored exam?

All of these are important ways to preserve academic integrity.

5. Can the proctoring software detect cell phones?

The only way to truly secure exams and prevent cheating is to be able to detect the use of cell phones and other secondary devices like tablets and smart watches.

If a proctoring service doesn’t have a way of preventing mobile phone use, students can use them to find test answers online.

6. Who are the test proctors?

  • Who is monitoring and reviewing the exam?
  • Are the remote proctors trained to handle of student anxiety?

7. Do faculty at other schools like it?

Online exam proctoring only works if faculty use the service.

  • Do faculty at other institutions find it easy to use?
  • Do they find the support to be helpful?
  • Has the school broadly adopted it?
  • What are their top pros and cons of the online proctoring software?

8. Does it improve student outcomes?

Ultimately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.

timately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.

  • Does the system normalize bell curves?
  • Do faculty and administrators have confidence that it’s maintaining academic integrity?
  • Is it flexible and adaptive enough to fit into students’ lives and increase student engagement and retention?
  • Is it scalable and helping programs grow?

Now that you’ve asked these remote proctoring questions, you’re ready to start making a decision.

And, if you ask these questions of Honorlock, you’ll find that we check all these boxes (and more). From best-in-class US-based support to on-demand proctored exams to faculty adoption and academic outcomes, we offer online exam proctoring that’s easy to use and will actually be used by your students and faculty.

Interested in learning more? Request a demo today

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

Top Five Mistakes in Online Assessments

Mistakes to avoid in online exams:

  1. Not verifying student identity
  2. Not detecting mobile phones
  3. Not checking for notes, friends, and other help
  4. Not monitoring in real time
  5. Watching the entire exam live

Online assessments provide a flexible and efficient alternative to the traditional classroom assessment, but they can pose serious challenges. Ever since they became an option, educators have weighed the pros and cons. The flexibility is great for students, and it helps free up classroom time for teaching, but online proctored exams can be full of pitfalls if you’re not prepared.

How do you continue to grow your online course offering while preserving your institution’s academic integrity and prevent cheating?

Start by correcting these five common mistakes:

1. Not Detecting Cell Phone Use

Most of today’s students have a plethora of ways to access the internet. Cell phones, tablets, and multiple computers create a huge obstacle for online assessments. How do you make sure that students aren’t accessing test bank sites for answers during their exam? Unless your proctoring solution is equipped with technology to detect external devices and alert the proctor, you can’t know for sure that exams are an accurate reflection of a student’s knowledge. Your students need to know that their external device use will be monitored and that, if they attempt to access unauthorized content, it will be detected and penalized according to their school’s Honor Code of Conduct.

2. Not Verifying Student Identity

When a student logs in for an exam, the first step is to ensure their identity. Are you making sure that the student is taking their own exam? How can you do this in a remote proctoring context? The best way is to use the webcam to capture an image of both the student and their photo ID. Once you know that the two are a match, the student can move forward with the exam, and you can know that the answers on the assessment are from the correct student.

3. Not Using Video Proctoring to Check for Notes, Friends, and Other Sources of Help

While online exams give students flexibility, the freedom to take an assessment anytime, anywhere opens the possibility that students will access illicit resources for answers during the exam. A student may ask a knowledgeable friend to join them in the room and help with answers, or they may have a textbook or notes on the desk with them. Is your online proctoring system equipped to detect and prevent this kind of academic dishonesty? A good place to start is to use a system that has the student scan the room with their webcam before beginning. This ensures that the student is alone in the room and doesn’t have resources on their desk. In addition, technology that detects when a student stands up, leaves the room, or diverts their eyes from the screen helps make sure the student stays on track. Exam proctoring solutions also need to block access to other browser windows, new tabs, and applications that students might use to access answers.

4. Not Monitoring in Real Time

For some online proctoring services, offering on-demand services means sacrificing real-time monitoring. Are you relying on a record and review model? While it can help identify incidences of academic dishonesty, the only solution these systems provide is to penalize the student after the fact. By providing real-time monitoring, you can prevent cheating before it ever happens. Proctors can intervene, interrupt any issues, and help students get back on track in the moment to help improve academic outcomes.

5. Watching the Entire Exam Live

While real-time monitoring is vital, live proctoring can create added stress and anxiety for students—especially those who are honest. Do your students feel as though they’re being watched throughout the entire exam? If so, their performance may be suffering as a result. In addition, live proctoring requires students to carefully schedule their exam timeslots and may even charge them if their plans change at the last minute. Live proctors also usually watch several students and exams at the same time, so there’s a higher possibility that they’ll miss an indicator of cheating. Using AI proctoring to monitor the exam and alert proctors to potential issues provides more flexibility and relief while still maintaining integrity.

You need a solution that will let you provide the best in technology and flexibility while protecting your program’s reputation and integrity. You want to know that your assessments are an accurate reflection of what your students actually know without adding stress or frustration to the process. These five mistakes are a great place to start. Honorlock can help you correct these pitfalls and more as you expand your online education options. Schedule a demo today to learn how.

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successful-online
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Comparing-Online

Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.