Press Release: Honorlock Announces New AI to Detect Keywords Spoken By Students During Online Exams

Honorlock’s AI listens for specific words or phrases, such as “Hey Siri” or “OK Google” to identify students who may be attempting academic dishonesty.

BOCA RATON, Florida, January 23, 2020 — Honorlock, an online proctoring service that is transforming how educational institutions protect the academic integrity of online courses and assessments, today announced new AI capabilities designed to thwart academic dishonesty during online assessments. Honorlock’s AI analyzes the student’s voice transcript in real-time to identify keywords commonly used by students who have committed acts of academic dishonesty during their online exam. If a keyword is detected by the AI, it alerts a live proctor to pop into the exam session via chat to intervene and redirect the student.

“Honorlock’s Voice Detection is unique in the industry as it goes beyond audible sound spikes and listens for specific words or phrases that indicate the student needs help from our live proctor or alternatively that they are attempting to enlist unauthorized resources during their online exams,” said Michael Hemlepp, CEO of Honorlock. “By combining AI with a live virtual proctor, our clients benefit with improved exam integrity and a better exam experience for their students.”

Feedback from faculty users has indicated that simple alerts detecting sound is not useful and is typically over flagged within exam sessions. This is annoying for faculty and puts undue stress on students. Honorlock’s new AI capability delivers a more robust voice detection system that reduces false flags and gives students who like to read questions aloud the peace of mind that they will not be flagged inappropriately.

About Honorlock

Honorlock is revolutionizing the way education institutions protect the academic integrity of their online courses and assessments. Used by three of the 10 largest universities in the US, Honorlock’s proprietary features provide educators with the assurance that their test is protected, and students with the flexibility of proctored exams whenever and wherever they need it. Honorlock is dedicated to providing world-class service and support 24/7/365. www.honorlock.com. 

Contact: Tess Mitchell tmitchell@honorlock.com 941-504-3255

Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

AI from a Proctor’s Perspective

Earlier this month, we sat down with two Honorlock remote proctors to hear about online exams from their point of view. Many thanks to Corey and Sa’ed for joining us to share their experiences. For more, you can read A Day in the Life of an Online Proctor. During our discussion, we asked them for their perspectives on several specific topics, including artificial intelligence. 

AI is currently a hot topic for discussion and debate in educational technology and with good reason—it provides new possibilities for both online and on-campus program growth, and, when used well, can lead to higher rates of student success. 

In the best cases, AI is paired with human involvement to provide the highest-quality education possible. And who better to pull back the curtain than two of the humans involved in that process? 

AI in Online Proctoring

Some automated proctoring solutions rely heavily on AI. While this has benefits, including ease of scheduling, there’s also a major drawback—no live proctor is present to intervene in real-time in the case of academic dishonesty. These exams are often reviewed after the fact by proctors, but at that point, all an instructor can do is take disciplinary action. There’s no opportunity for the student to get back on track during the exam. 

On the other hand, many proctoring platforms only use live proctoring. A live proctor is more able to intervene and often helps faculty feel at ease about the rigor of the testing process, but there are some drawbacks here as well. A live proctor’s attention is divided between multiple students, so they may miss an incident, and scheduling can also be a challenge for students. 

Live Proctor Pop-In

Honorlock’s remote proctors (and our technology) provide the perfect hybrid between automated and live proctoring so students and schools get the best of both. 

Live Pop-In means that the AI doesn’t actually make decisions about student behavior. Instead, it flags a potential incident so a live proctor can pop in to assess the situation. The AI flags common problems—like a student talking to someone else in the room—and the proctor pops in to identify what’s happening and intervene as needed. 

At the same time, the human aspect helps put students at ease—they know that the system doesn’t make the final call, so they don’t have to worry as much about accidentally doing something that might create a flag (like, for instance, reading a question aloud to themselves). 

How do remote proctors and AI work together?

To provide the best insight into how our AI works, we asked Corey and Sa’ed about their experiences working with it on a day-to-day basis. 

Corey: Live Pop-In is our way of intervening in a student’s session to get them back on track. If the AI detects potential dishonesty, it alerts us so we can pause the exam and start a live chat with the student to address the violation and correct the behavior in a timely manner.  It helps prevent academic dishonesty because we are able to intervene at the moment (often before cheating actually happens). This process also helps teach students the importance of having integrity, not only for their exams and courses but also for their professional lives after graduation.

Sa’ed: We try to prevent academic dishonesty before students even answer that first question. For instance, if we see notes during their pre-exam room scan, we can ask them to put the notes away. A student might be misinformed about the rules of their exam or may not have paid attention to the instructions. They usually comply and are able to move on with the exam as planned. 

How do remote proctors benefit from artificial intelligence?

Sa’ed: The AI helps keep us informed so we can make sure we’re paying attention to all exam sessions. I don’t have to worry about a student leaving and going off camera because, if they do, the AI will alert us and we will immediately attend to the alert. This makes my role as a proctor a bit easier.

Corey: As a human proctor, I don’t have the ability to watch every single student taking an exam at once, so we use artificial intelligence to help the proctoring team monitor students. If we receive a notification that the AI has detected multiple faces in the webcam, we will prioritize our time to assess the situation and intervene as necessary. I’m honored (no pun intended!) to be part of a company that constantly innovates and improves our artificial intelligence. Our AI is a great tool, and we have a fantastic engineering team that works on it.

What is your favorite Honorlock AI feature for exam proctoring?

Corey: We have a speech detection element that transcribes what students say out loud during their exams, and it alerts us if it hears specific keywords (such as “Hey Siri” or “Okay, Google”). It really helps when we have a high volume of students testing at the same time. 

Sa’ed: It’s pretty thorough at doing what it’s designed to do — from face detection to mobile phone use. If it detects a student using their phone, iPad or SmartWatch outside the view of the webcam, it alerts us. It documents exactly what the student is searching for and clicking on and their search activity is logged for the instructor to address with them.

Thanks to Corey and Sa’ed for joining us to answer a few questions about artificial intelligence and online proctoring. They’ll be back soon for one more post with exam tips to help students succeed. 

For more about artificial intelligence in higher education, read Artificial Intelligence and Online Proctoring: Friend or Foe? 

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Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

A Day in the Life of an Online Proctor

Anyone who’s taken a proctored online exam has likely wondered who is actually sitting on the other side of the technology. That’s why, for the next few posts, we’re pulling back the curtain so you can meet two of our proctors. We sat down with Corey and Sa’ed to get the details.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Corey: I’m a recent graduate of Florida Atlantic University. While in college, I served as the chairman of academics for my fraternity. I helped raise the fraternity’s average GPA by creating academic plans for at-risk students, and I helped students pick the best classes for their schedule. I joined Honorlock as a part-time technical support agent in college, and now I proctor online exams. 

Sa’ed: I was looking for a job in tech when I came across Honorlock. It seemed like a great company. It’s mostly e-learning, but tech does play a huge role. It’s also one of the few companies that integrate AI into proctoring, and the technology behind it is awesome. I started as a support agent in June and then was promoted to test proctoring a month ago. 

When you proctor online exams, what is the process?

Corey: When a student begins the exam, they are prompted to complete a few preliminary steps. After providing a form of identification and showing the webcam a 360-degree view of the testing area, the student is ready to begin. My role here at Honorlock is to monitor students in real-time to prevent any form of academic dishonesty from taking place and to help students have a positive testing experience.

Sa’ed: Proctoring starts by opening the student’s session and opening the session review page to watch their room scan and make sure that the student followed all Honorlock regulations (as well as any specific room scan regulations set forth by the professor). Then I monitor the student to ensure academic integrity is upheld.

Can you share about a time when a student was going to cheat and you were able to prevent it and get the student back on track?

Corey: One of the best aspects of live proctoring is that we prevent cheating from taking place rather than just flagging incidents and informing the professor after the fact. One time, I noticed unauthorized notes in a student’s room scan. Before the student read the first question, they were advised to put the notes away. The student apologized and after putting the notes away, was able to focus on their exam. The ability to prevent academic dishonesty is one of the most rewarding aspects of my role.

Sa’ed: I remember an instance where a student had notes ready to use that I was able to see in the room scan right before they were about to begin the exam. I initiated a “pop-in,” – a live chat –  and the student cooperated and removed the notes from the testing area.

What was most surprising to you when you first became a remote proctor?

Corey: I was most surprised by how many students wait until the very last minute to take their exams.

Sa’ed: I was most surprised by how seriously many students take it when a live proctor enters their session.  I don’t want to frighten them – I’m here to help.

What’s the biggest challenge you face when you proctor online exams?

Corey: I love my job, but it can be challenging when it’s midterms or finals week. We work extra hours to ensure all exams are effectively proctored and that students have an excellent experience. I am grateful for the awesome people that work with me to proctor everyone.

Sa’ed: Dealing with students that just don’t care enough about their exams and disregard instructions is a challenge.

What’s the most creative way a student has tried to cheat?

Corey: I don’t want to give away any information that can be used to aid academic dishonesty, so instead I’ll share the most ridiculous way a student tried to cheat. There appeared to be another person in this student’s room scan, and the student could be heard reading the questions out loud. They were also looking to the side right before answering each question – as if looking at someone or something that was providing the answers. You wouldn’t believe the look on the student’s face when we asked them to direct the other person to leave!

Sa’ed: The most creative way I’ve seen a student try to cheat was with a smartphone set up next to the laptop. They were wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap so that we couldn’t see their eyes looking towards the smartphone. The only problem was that they didn’t take into account that the screen of the smartphone was reflecting in their sunglasses. When asked to remove the glasses, the student claimed that they were needed for medical reasons. When asked to remove the smartphone, the student claimed that there was no smartphone!

Thanks so much to Corey and Sa’ed for sharing their proctored exam experiences! Hear more from them in these posts: AI from a Proctor’s Perspective and 4 Keys to Student Exam Success.

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Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

Can Online Proctoring Help You Meet Your Program Goals?

As yet another semester comes to a close, administrators at schools across the country are evaluating what’s working (and what isn’t) in their context. If you’re among them, you’re not just measuring this semester against your institution’s curricular goals — you’re also looking toward next year, setting new goals, and looking for technological solutions that will help you get where you need to go.

Of course, in order to find tools to help meet goals, first you need to know your priorities. When we hear from schools, they usually tell us that they’re thinking about three primary factors: accreditation, student success, and growing their programs. Whether they’re a technically savvy campus or are just getting started in educational tech, the right software can make all the difference.

Proctoring Technology to Protect Accreditation

Whenever online proctoring comes up in conversations, one of the first concerns is about academic integrity. You don’t want to put your institution’s reputation on the line, but your students are looking for convenience and a streamlined experience. How can you provide the best of both worlds? 

Selecting the right online proctor is vital — it’s the best way you can protect the peace of mind for your faculty and administration. By choosing a proctoring software for your assessment platforms that effectively monitors students and prevents cheating, you can provide online courses with the same level of quality as in-class experiences.

By making academic dishonesty a fruitless path, you motivate students to pay attention, engage with the material, and study well. In the end, this ensures that your graduates are well-educated and ready to meet the expectations of their future employers. Thoughtful, engaged, competent graduates are the best testament to your reputation. By providing rigorous online assessments, you increase the effectiveness of your program and may even find yourself worrying less about accreditation.

Online Exams for Student Success

Ensuring the quality of your online exams isn’t just a question of accreditation or reputation, however. You also want to set your students up for success — from day one of freshman year through graduation and beyond. And most of the students who enroll in your program want exactly the same thing. Whether they’re online or on campus, they’re in class because they want to learn, and you can help them do that. 

The right online exam system will offer your students two key things — convenience and academic rigor. Online exams are, of course, necessary for students who are part of a completely digital program, but they also offer incredible flexibility to students on campus. By providing them with the freedom to take their exams anytime, anywhere, you help them make sure they’re prepared and in the very best frame of mind possible, increasing the chances that they’ll do well. 

Online proctoring for remote assessment platforms also gives you the opportunity to, with the right parameters, make academic dishonesty incredibly difficult. From preventing copying/pasting and locking the browser to detecting attempts to use mobile devices to access information, these systems help motivate your students to study by making that the easiest and most rewarding route. At the same time, you can take advantage of developments like artificial intelligence to help honest students have a positive testing experience without the feeling that they’re being watched the entire time. 

Digital Solutions to Scale Your Program

Once you’re comfortable with using online proctoring to secure your reputation and help your students succeed, you can turn your attention to growing your program — an ever-present goal for all institutions. Whether you want to increase online or on-campus enrollment, the right proctoring system can help you get there. 

Of course, it’s especially important for growing online programs. Without the tech infrastructure, your students and faculty will struggle. When the right tools are in place, however, students can thrive from anywhere in the world, and their rewarding experience and high-quality education will equip you to continue growing.  

In addition, when you can proctor exams online that you know are accurately reflecting student learning, you take an immense load off your faculty’s shoulders. They no longer have to worry about exam proctoring and can instead focus on teaching — and, in many cases, teaching more students because they’re dealing with one fewer administrative hurdle. This also lets them keep class time 100% focused on the content they’re teaching without losing valuable lecture time to exams. 

What to Look For: Online Proctoring to Meet Your Goals

Now that you’re thinking about your curricular goals — and how online proctoring can help you get there — you may be considering what to look for when it’s time to pick a system. The best solution for you will come down to your unique needs and context, but there are several questions that can help you narrow your options.

  1. Does it protect academic integrity? Is the system equipped with the tools you and your faculty need to monitor student behavior and encourage adherence to your school’s policies? Does it make it difficult to cheat and easier to engage with the course material? 
  2. Does it provide a comfortable, convenient testing environment? Can students take exams whenever and wherever they would like? Does it offer flexibility so that dishonesty is discouraged but honest students don’t have to worry about being watched — a feature like Honorlock’s Live Pop-In? 
  3. Does it take work off your faculty’s plates? Does the system make it easier for your faculty to administer and grade exams so you can grow your program? Or does it create more hurdles due to technical difficulties?

Once you’ve defined your curricular and student success goals and answered these questions, you’re ready to consider options and decide what will best help you continue to provide high-quality education — both online and in person. With the right proctoring solution, you’ll be ready to grow by leaps and bounds next semester, next year, and beyond.

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Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

5 Best Practices for Successful Online Exams

Online Testing Best Practices:

  1. Provide a practice test for students
  2. Use question banks to mix things up and engage students
  3. Include a variety of question types (multiple-choice, short answer, essay, etc.)
  4. Questions should require critical thinking, not regurgitating information
  5. Review and optimize online exam settings

Whether you’re teaching an online course or want to streamline your on-campus lectures, online exams are the perfect tool. If you’re new to teaching online, however, you might be overwhelmed by the process and wondering how to make sure your exams are optimized for online use. And, even if you’re a more seasoned online instructor, you’re likely seeking a few new ideas to improve your online assessments.

What’s Different with Online Exams?

For a successful online assessment, you don’t need exam questions that are different than what you’d need for in-person proctoring — you may just need a few more of them. The main difference is how you’ll present the questions. Whether you’re writing your first or your thirtieth online exam, these tips will help you get started.

1. Provide a Practice Test

No matter how long you’ve been teaching online, it’s important to remember that online testing may be new to your students. And, even if they’ve taken exams online before, they may be new to the platform your school is using or might need a refresher after the summer break. Practice tests are a great way to make sure they know the process, get everyone on the same page and set expectations for assessments in your course. 

When creating your practice test, be sure to use settings and questions that are similar to what you’ll use for actual tests and quizzes. If students will be timed, time the practice quiz. If you’ll be including both multiple-choice and essay questions, use both on the practice test — but be sure to keep it light and fun. You can even use this as an opportunity to learn more about your students by asking about their hobbies or favorite things. Regardless of the content, by the time they’re done with the practice test, your students will be familiar with the technology and ready to jump in when the first quiz comes around.

2. Use Question Banks

The main difference with online exams is that instructors have less control over the testing environment. Because of this, it’s important to employ strategies that will help motivate students to study and succeed in exams — in part by making dishonesty more difficult. 

One of the best features online exams have to offer is the question bank — a solution that helps you keep your students on their toes, make sure they’re engaged with the content and mix things up from student to student. To use the question bank to its full potential, you’ll need to create more questions than actually needed (for instance, if your exam has 20 multiple-choice questions, create 30). When your students take the test, the system will randomize which questions are pulled for which students, making sure that no two exams are the same.  

3. Provide Variation

In addition to question banks, online exams offer many other opportunities to keep your students engaged and learning. One way to do this is with various question formats. By combining multiple-choice, short-answer and essay questions, you provide your students with multiple avenues to show you what they’re learning and even where they might be struggling. 

Another way to make sure they’re on their toes is to use randomization features. In addition to shuffling questions, you can also randomize answers so that, even when two students get the same question, the multiple-choice answer options come in a different order. 

4. Lean into Critical Thinking

Your goal at every stage of the teaching process is to engage your students. When you’re crafting exam questions, you don’t just want to know that they’re able to regurgitate information — you also want to see how they’re able to apply what they’ve learned. 

How do you know whether your questions require students to think critically? A good litmus test is to ask how easily the answer could be found with an online search. If it’s just a click away, try making it a bit more engaging. By asking questions that apply your course information to their lived experiences, you help your students engage with the material and increase their chances of succeeding in your course. 

5. Review & Optimize Your Settings for Online Exams

While you may not have control over a student’s direct environment while they’re testing, online proctoring does offer many settings to make sure you (and your students) are set up for success. For instance, you can choose to only show one question at a time. This has a dual benefit of both making it more difficult for a student to screenshot or copy exam content and also making sure that their progress is saved after every question. You can also use features like randomization and disabling copy/paste to help protect your exam content. 

All online proctoring systems provide a number of settings so you can optimize exactly what your courses and exams need for successful remote learning instruction. Ultimately, you can choose what works best for you and your students by getting to know the features and what they do. And, once you’ve chosen your favorites, remember to review them every time so you know you’ll get the results you want from your assessment. 

Writing Online Exams Doesn’t Have to be Complicated

If you’re looking for more ideas to make your online exams the best they can be, talk with the faculty in your department. Find out what’s worked well for them and what they’ve learned the hard way. Most of them will be more than willing to share their hard-earned knowledge with you as you begin (or refine) your online exam creation. 

With just a few adjustments, you’ll be ready to write online tests that will engage your students, help them learn and help you accurately assess their knowledge.

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Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

The Instructor’s Guide to Online Proctored Exams

Every change in technology creates a learning curve for instructors. You want to focus your time on preparing syllabi, teaching, and research, but instead, you have to spend hours learning a new system. And it sometimes seems like things change so fast that it’s hard to keep up.

Whether you’re trying to get ahead of the game or are dragging your feet and only switching to online exams because your administration now requires it, you have questions and concerns about the process. You want to know that your students are still getting the best testing experience, that your exam results are reliable, and that you won’t have to lose precious time due to a frustrating system.

The good news? When your school chooses Honorlock for online exam proctoring, your job gets easier. Our system is intuitive, easy to learn, and supported around the clock by a highly skilled team.

Here’s everything you need to know about Honorlock as an instructor:

Setting up online proctored exams is easy

You don’t even need a separate account to do it. You can easily set up and enable exams with your school’s LMS. No more extra passwords or duplicating information. You simply need to write your exam, log in, and walk through our quick and easy setup process. Then? Kick back (or start working on the next thing on your never-ending to-do list) and wait for your students to begin testing.

So is accessing reports

Honorlock records all exam sessions, and, as the instructor, you get access to this recording right from your LMS—in real-time. We’ll also send you a report after the exam with timestamped notes about any incidents of potential academic dishonesty. Need to verify a student’s behavior during an exam or provide proof when determining appropriate discipline? Everything you need is easy to access right in your LMS.

You can seamlessly integrate with third-party exam sites

Do you need to connect to a third-party exam site like McGraw-Hill Connect or MyMathLab? Honorlock has your back. And, once again, you can do it all from right within your LMS. No more flipping back and forth between tabs and accounts. You now have a one-stop-shop for everything you need to set up and manage your exams.   

You get 24/7/365 support

Have you ever tried setting up exams on a Saturday morning or weekday evening, only to find your progress suddenly halted by technical difficulties? You check the clock and realize that the business day is over, and support can’t help you now—you’ll have to wait it out and hope that the issue somehow fixes itself. You don’t have to worry about that anymore. Honorlock provides 24/7/365 US-based support. Our trained technicians are on call to help with any problem that may arise. They’re also available to help your students 24/7, so you’ll never again have to field a middle-of-the-night phone call from a panicked student who can’t access their exam. 

You can whitelist websites students can access during exams

You want to prevent your students from accessing exam answers while they’re testing, but you also want to be able to let them access specific sets of information. We get it, and we’ve built a system that can help. Our browser guard keeps students locked into only the exam and whatever webpages and applications you whitelist. Want to provide access to a calculator or a site with a set of equations on it? No problem. Just enter the approved sites during exam setup, and you and your students will be good to go.

You can customize your exam parameters

Honorlock provides several ways to protect your classroom’s academic integrity, and each one is customizable. Do you want to prevent students from printing exam content? Just select that option during setup. Want to detect secondary devices or have the student scan the room ahead of time for any illicit notes and aids? That’s easy too. No matter what you need to do to prevent cheating, we have you covered.

Your test content is secure

We get it. Nothing’s as frustrating as finding out that your exam content has been leaked to a test bank website. Now you have to create new test questions so students can’t cheat as easily, and that cycle repeats semester after semester. Not anymore. With Honorlock’s search and destroy feature, we search the web for illicit copies of your exam questions and then file takedown notices. No more worrying that students have prepared for the exam by looking at the answers rather than studying the course materials.

Your students can’t use phones or tablets to cheat on exams

Today’s students have myriad ways to access the internet. If you or your TA aren’t in the room to proctor an exam live, how can you make sure they aren’t using them just out of site to find test answers? Honorlock’s proprietary Secondary Device Detection technology does just that. By detecting the presence of secondary devices, you can protect academic honesty in your classrooms—even if you aren’t there to oversee the process.

We verify student identity for added security

Another common concern among instructors is whether an online proctoring system can effectively verify student identity. After all, an exam is only an accurate reflection of a student’s knowledge if the student answered themselves. Fortunately, with Honorlock, you don’t have to worry about this anymore. Before each exam, we use AI technology to take an image of the student’s photo ID as well as their face, and then we compare that to the information in the LMS to ensure that students only get credit for their own work.

Your students will love it

Honorlock was built by students for students. Our exams are on-demand, so students don’t have to worry about any headaches with scheduling. We offer easy-to-access 24/7/365 support for any technical issues. We don’t require bulky, security-compromising software downloads. All they need to do is install the browser extension and begin the exam. It really is that easy.

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Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

Press Release: Honorlock Launches Universal Third-Party Exam Integration

Honorlock customers can now proctor exams administered by third-party exam services. 

BOCA RATON, Fla, September 10, 2019 – Honorlock, a cloud-based proctoring solution that is transforming how education institutions protect the academic integrity of online courses and assessments, today announced it has launched Universal Third-Party Exam Integration allowing customers to effectively proctor exams taken in third-party education systems.

As the popularity of online education continues to grow, many schools and universities use third-party education systems to expand and enhance their online courses and assessments. Honorlock’s Universal Third-Party Integration allows customers to launch and customize these exams from within their LMS and activate proctoring of these exams to protect academic integrity.

“When faculty need to administer exams outside of their LMS, they want solutions that provide effective evaluation while preventing the possibility for academic dishonesty,” said Michael Hemlepp, CEO of Honorlock. “Honorlock has developed a system that makes it seamless for both faculty and students.”

Honorlock’s Universal Third-Party Exam functionality is the latest innovation from the company. Other exclusive features include Secondary Device Detection which detects a student’s use of a mobile phone or tablet during an assessment, and Search and Destroy, which removes unauthorized test content from websites making the content inaccessible to students taking online exams.

About Honorlock

Honorlock is revolutionizing the way education institutions protect the academic integrity of their online courses and assessments. Used by three of the 10 largest universities in the US, Honorlock’s proprietary features provide educators with the assurance that their test is protected, and students with the flexibility of proctored exams whenever and wherever they need it. Honorlock is dedicated to providing world-class service and support 24/7/365. www.honorlock.com.

Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

The Buyer’s Guide to Online Proctoring Services

If you’re looking for new online proctoring or online testing solutions, you know just how overwhelming the process can be. There are countless features to compare, and you also need to consider the needs and perspectives of students, faculty, and administration.

But where do you even begin? Start by considering these ten factors.

1. Flat-rate cost per exam

Each instructor, not to mention each course, has variable requirements for assessment length. This can lead to unfair hikes in cost—when online proctoring services charge per hour, you may pay twice as much for longer exams.

As you grow your online programs, you need cost-effective testing. Systems that charge a flat rate per exam protect your bottom line and help you accurately estimate testing costs.

2. LMS integration

Your faculty are busy. The last thing they need is to find the time to learn a whole new system. Unfortunately, many online proctoring services require just that. Instead of focusing on teaching or research, they’re spending their days setting up exams.

You and your institution can’t afford to lose this time—you need a proctoring service that directly integrates with your LMS and allow faculty to set up exams in your LMS with just a few clicks.

3. 60-second student ID verification

With the growth of online education, verification of a student’s identity has become an important factor for success. For some programs, ID verification is required, but all schools want to ensure that the student taking the exam is the same student enrolled in the course. It’s important that the proctoring solution you choose can read the content on the student’s ID and then compare and match it to the student’s name and information in your LMS before the student is permitted to launch an exam. 

4. Cell phone detection

Pretty much any student has a cell phone or a second device such as a tablet or smartwatch. As student technology advances, you need the ability to detect cell phones and prevent students from using them to cheat on exams.

Most online proctoring services have yet to solve this problem, leaving your results vulnerable. You, your faculty, your accrediting bodies, and the businesses hiring your graduates want to know that the degree your students earn is an accurate reflection of what they’ve learned. 

5. 24/7 support based in the US at no additional cost

For faculty, there may not be anything worse than hearing from a student at 3 am because they’re having trouble with an exam. It’s frustrating for students too.

When online proctoring systems offer sub-par support or have limited support hours, they place the burden on faculty and administration. You need an online proctoring service that will provide assistance whenever your faculty or students need it. On-demand exams only work with on-demand technical help.  

6. AI proctoring software proctoring combined with human

Most of the proctored online testing solutions on the market today follow one of two models (live or automated) both of which come with challenges.

Those that offer live proctoring create discomfort for students, who feel like they’re being watched. They can also be somewhat less reliable because a single proctor watches multiple students at once, making it easier to miss instances of academic dishonesty.

By using an automated, record and review format, it’s impossible to intervene in real-time if an issue arises. You need a solution that combines AI with a human touch for the perfect hybrid—the AI proctoring software monitors the student for potential problems, and, if it detects any, a proctor is prompted to pop in and work with the student to address it before it turns into anything too serious.

7. 24/7 exam scheduling

Choose a solution that allows students to take their proctored online exam at any time, day or night. This helps alleviate the stress of scheduling and then waiting for the remote proctor before they can start the online exam.

Limited proctor hours can prevent students from being able to take the exam when they are most ready and most alert. With on-demand proctoring, students can take assessments from anywhere at any time—even if it’s at 2 am over Thanksgiving break. Your students deserve the freedom and convenience of taking exams on their schedule without any headaches.

8. Test content protection

Few things are more frustrating for faculty than discovering that their exam questions are available on test bank websites. Unfortunately, this is becoming more common, and instructors have limited tools to respond. Instead, they find themselves creating new exam content every semester to stay ahead of cheating and protect academic integrity.

When you’re selecting proctored online testing solutions, this is an important consideration—does it do anything to protect test content? Look for one that will search test bank sites for illicit exam questions and file takedown notices. You can save faculty time while protecting your program’s academic integrity.

9. Actionable proctored exam reporting

As online educational tools become more widely used, both students and faculty expect faster turnaround times for evaluations. Unfortunately, many online proctoring systems can take up to three days to provide exam recordings for faculty review, and faculty then need to log into a third-party system for access. Your faculty and students don’t want to wait that long for results. You need a system that will provide real-time access to exam recordings—right in the LMS.

10. No bulky software downloads

More and more students are concerned with cybersecurity—and with good reason. The last thing they want to do is download extra software to take an exam. These third-party browsers are often slow and take up an unreasonable amount of computer memory. Even if they’re deleted immediately following the exam, they can slow things down, and they can make students even more apprehensive about security. You need an online proctoring system that utilizes browser extensions to prevent unnecessary extra software and protect your students’ peace of mind.

The good news? While this is a lot to keep in mind when selecting a proctoring service, you can find all of it in one place. Honorlock offers all this and more. Our proctoring software protects academic integrity, and our system is intuitive, easy to learn, and convenient for students and faculty alike. 

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Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

Press Release: Northwest Career College Expands Its Programs with Honorlock

Career college seeks to improve their students’ experience with Honorlock’s exclusive functionality.

BOCA RATON, Fla, August 20, 2019 – Honorlock, a cloud-based proctoring solution that is transforming how education institutions protect the academic integrity of online courses and assessments, today announced they were awarded a multi-year contract by Northwest Career College. Honorlock will automatically verify student identity, protect unauthorized use of test content, provide automated and live pop-in proctoring for online assessments and real-time test review and reporting for faculty.

 “We are committed to expanding the possibilities for our students’ personal and career growth while supporting them to be the best professionals they can be,” said Dr. Thomas Kenny, Northwest Career College’s Chief Academic Officer.  “We are delighted to work with Honorlock to improve the quality of our online assessments and we value the benefits it will provide our students.”

 Northwest Career College offers career and degree programs in a variety of healthcare fields, Paralegal Studies, and Criminal Justice. Their 700-plus student body takes courses at their Las Vegas, Nevada campus and online.

 “At Honorlock, we choose to invest in the integrity of all students and align our services to improving their assessment experience and outcomes,” said Michael Hemlepp, CEO of Honorlock. “We’re excited to support Northwest Career College as they invest in their students to prepare them for high-paying careers.”

About Honorlock

Honorlock is revolutionizing the assessment experience for students and faculty at academic institutions worldwide. Our patented, proprietary technology transforms an otherwise intrusive interaction into a positive experience promoting trust, confidence, and peace of mind. Used by three of the 10 largest universities in the US, Honorlock is dedicated to providing world-class service and support 24/7/365. honorlock.com

About Northwest Career College

Founded in 1997, Northwest Career College is an accredited college offering career and degree programs in various healthcare specialties, criminal justice, and paralegal studies. Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, our goal is to change lives through education and assist our graduates to find employment in their chosen field. northwestcareercollege.com

Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.

Press Release: Honorlock Achieves Privacy and Security Awards: SOC 2 Type 1 and General Data Protection Regulation readiness

Honorlock’s online proctoring solution demonstrates compliance and offers academic institutions added security.

BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ —  Honorlock, an online proctoring solution that is transforming how education institutions protect the academic integrity of online courses and assessments, today announced it has successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) readiness.

The audit affirms that Honorlock’s information security practices, policies, procedures, and operations meet the SOC 2 standards for security, availability, and confidentiality. Honorlock met or exceeded the industry-leading standard in all areas.

SOC 2 is considered the gold standard for security compliance for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies. SOC 2 requires companies to establish and follow strict information security policies and procedures, encompassing the security, availability, and confidentiality of customer data.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU).

“The achievement of these privacy and security measures reinforces Honorlock’s commitment to the security, availability and processing integrity of our platform,” said Michael Hemlepp, CEO of Honorlock. “In today’s environment, trust and security are a top priority. Our customers can feel confident that we are making every effort to maintain the highest level of security and compliance so they can focus on what they do best: educating the next generation.”

About Honorlock Online Proctoring

Honorlock uses AI test monitoring software & human test proctors to help bring integrity, humanity, confidence, and positive outcomes to online exams.

We’re revolutionizing the online proctoring and remote testing experience for students and faculty at academic institutions worldwide. Our patented, proprietary online proctoring technology transforms an otherwise intrusive interaction into a positive experience promoting trust, confidence, and peace of mind.

Used by over 300 institutions, Honorlock is dedicated to providing world-class service and support 24/7/365. honorlock.com

Tess Mitchell

Tess has 20+ years of experience heading up corporate marketing teams in healthcare and higher education. She is passionate about thinking differently to lead teams to discover new and innovative ways to drive positive outcomes.