Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the second-largest multi-campus community college in the U.S., needed a scalable, student-friendly proctoring solution that could scale to keep pace with its rapid online growth while supporting academic integrity across diverse course modalities.
Challenge
NOVA needed a scalable, student-centered proctoring solution for its rapidly growing online programs.
Solution
NOVA adopted Honorlock’s AI + Live Pop-InⓇ to align with its equitable, exceptional education mission.
Results
Honorlock reduced friction, restored faculty trust, and elevated the online learning experience.
NOVA At-A-Glance
- Public, multi-campus community college in the D.C. suburbs
- 2nd largest multi-campus community college in the US
- 80,000+ students served each year
- 180+ countries - a diverse learning community from around the globe
- 75+ Years - Long-standing distance learning program since 1975
- 25%+ enrollment growth in NOVA online in the past year
Challenge: Rapid Online Growth Revealed Gaps in Equity and Trust
As the second-largest multi-campus community college in the U.S., NOVA serves an incredibly diverse student population in age, background, and learning modality. The school offers everything from asynchronous courses to hybrid and hyflex formats, and its rapid 34% growth in online asynchronous enrollment over three years created a critical need: a flexible, accessible, and trusted proctoring partner. Previous proctoring tools introduced significant friction, leading to:
- Scheduling barriers that hindered student flexibility
- Unnecessary student anxiety around proctored assessments
- Limited scalability across its 80,000+ students
- Accessibility issues, particularly for Chromebook users
- Faculty distrust in the effectiveness of the tools leading to concerns about academic integrity without adequate support or data
- Administrator bandwidth challenges as they grappled with troubleshooting instead of strategic planning
The prevailing solutions lacked the behavioral nuance, ease of use, and holistic coverage required to align with NOVA’s mission of equitable and exceptional education.
Solution: Honorlock’s AI + Live Pop-in® for Scalable, Student-Centered Proctoring
NOVA selected Honorlock’s AI-enhanced Live Pop-In® proctoring solution to align with its commitment to equitable, exceptional, and transformational education. Unlike legacy tools, Honorlock offered a growth-minded, student-centered approach that emphasized behavior change and academic integrity, not punishment.
Honorlock aligned with NOVA’s core values by providing:
- Flexibility for diverse learning modalities (asynchronous, hybrid, HyFlex)
- Student-centered experiences that reduced anxiety and barriers
- Essential guardrails to support academic rigor without increasing complexity.
Faculty appreciated Honorlock’s meaningful control over proctoring parameters, including the ability to customize settings per exam, per course, or at the enterprise level, and receive validated flags reviewed by certified proctors, ensuring accurate and relevant incident reporting.
“We’re empowering ourselves with a growth mindset. Honorlock gives us solutions that reflect that.”
— Caryn Sever, Director of Instructional Design and Development
Honorlock’s intuitive integration with Canvas and responsive customer support helped NOVA quickly scale its pilot program. Faculty praised Honorlock’s intuitive setup, flexible integration with Canvas, and the ability to maintain exam security without sacrificing accessibility. With Honorlock, proctoring evolved into a partnership, not a policing mechanism. Students faced fewer barriers, and faculty reported stronger confidence in exam outcomes.
Results: Elevated Integrity, Empowered Faculty, and Transformed Support
Faculty Confidence and Buy-In
Honorlock is helping NOVA redefine proctoring as a pathway to trust and transformation. Since the pilot launched, adoption has expanded, even winning over previously skeptical departments like chemistry and physics. With Honorlock, faculty reported stronger confidence in student performance and the integrity of online exams.
Faculty surveys revealed overwhelming support:
- 4 out of 5 faculty report being pleased with Honorlock.
- 70% recommend continuing the use of Honorlock across NOVA.
- Only 5% opposed (most had not participated in training), showcasing broad acceptance.
These qualitative findings are backed by significant Honorlock usage over the past year:
- 53,352 total exam sessions
- 565 active courses
- 2,084 active Honorlock-enabled exams
- 11,013 active exam takers
Better Student Experiences, Fewer Barriers
Honorlock’s ease of use, especially for Chromebook users, contributed to improved accessibility and smoother student testing experiences. Additionally, fewer students opted out of Honorlock and expressed fewer concerns than with previous proctoring solutions.
With NOVA’s diverse student population, Honorlock provided flexibility for students to successfully complete proctored exams in 46 states and 81 countries, truly supporting global accessibility.
– Caryn Sever, Director of Instructional Design and Development
Customer Support that Truly Shows Up
Equally impactful was the exceptional support NOVA received from the Honorlock team. Unlike previous solutions that left faculty and students stranded, Honorlock delivered consistent, compassionate customer service in real time. NOVA faculty and administrators consistently praised Honorlock’s responsive, empathetic support, especially during stressful exams.
“It’s the empathy that sets Honorlock apart. Our students are anxious enough; having someone actually respond and care made all the difference.”
Caryn Sever
Director of Instructional
Design and Development
From Policing to Partnership: The Integrity Funnel™
Honorlock’s proctors serve as early behavioral mediators, enabling conversations rather than consequences. This proactive approach has allowed NOVA’s online learning team to reclaim time and focus, no longer consumed by troubleshooting.
“We’re empowering both students and faculty with a better, more human-centered proctoring experience.”
– Caryn Sever, Director of Instructional Design and Development
NOVA’s Integrity FunnelTM reflects the proactive shift from surveillance to student support and success. Highlights include:
- In 41% of exam sessions, Honorlock prevented instances of possible academic dishonesty.
- Only 18% of exam sessions included potentially high-risk behaviors, demonstrating effective deterrence.
- 89% of exam sessions were completed without incident, showcasing student responsibility.
- Only 12% of exam sessions were reported to faculty for review, showing Honorlock reduces escalations and saves faculty time with human-validated violations.
Further reinforcing student responsibility and academic integrity, the most commonly blocked extension at NOVA online was Grammarly, which was only presented in 2,500 sessions or less than 5% of all exam sessions over the past year.
Scaling a New Standard of Excellence
The move to Honorlock has been so successful that NOVA’s administrative council unanimously voted to extend the pilot into the summer semester and beyond. As NOVA continues its upward trajectory, Honorlock remains a key lever in scaling excellence across all campuses, ensuring every learner has a fair, supported path to success.
“Honorlock is intuitive, affordable, and offers a gold standard of care.”
– Caryn Sever, Director of Instructional Design and Development
As NOVA continues to grow, Honorlock remains a strategic partner in transforming student support, protecting integrity, and setting a statewide standard in online learning excellence.
“Honorlock is not just working, it’s helping us lead.”
Dr. Cynthia Pascal
Associate Vice President of eLearning
