When it comes to remote testing and academic integrity, large colleges and universities (those with over 5,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) students) have some pretty specific needs. With thousands of students taking exams across different departments and campuses, and sometimes states and continents, scalability is a must.
These schools aren’t just giving multiple-choice exams anymore, especially as they’re figuring out how to keep students from using AI. They assign scaffolded projects that students complete using real software, use hands-on coding assessments, and assess students through virtual presentations and oral exams. That means their remote assessments need a proctoring solution that’s flexible enough to handle all kinds of exam formats and work with learning management systems (LMS) like Canvas, Blackboard and D2L.
Beyond functionality
But it’s not just about the functionality of the technologies used in online learning and testing. Campus leaders and faculty care deeply about protecting student data, making assessments accessible for all students who have disabilities or face obstacles like unstable internet, and creating a fair and supportive assessment experience. Faculty also want the freedom to set their own rules, while administrators need clear reporting tools and real-time insights into academic integrity issues.
Scalable, not scammy
Cost obviously matters too. Large schools need pricing that’s clear and scalable. So why is it so convoluted and scammy? Are hidden fees part of the product or what are we doing here? It shouldn’t be that way, and it doesn’t have to be.
Find the right type of proctoring for exams and your students
When higher education institutions deliver proctored exams to thousands of students, every detail matters. It has to work everywhere, for everyone, at any time. But picking the right proctoring method is tricky.
Get it right, students barely notice, faculty actually use it, and exams are secure. Get it wrong, everyone feels it and administrators definitely hear about it.
If you choose the wrong one, your institution is likely to deal with at least two of the following headaches from a solution that:
- Doesn’t really prevent cheating (a cell phone can beat it)
- Ruins the test-taking and making experience for students and faculty members
- Slips in last-second charges for implementation and support, and tacks on extra fees when exams take longer than expected
Remote proctoring options to secure online assessments
AI + Live
A hybrid approach that uses AI exam monitoring to flag suspicious behavior and alert a live test proctor who reviews and intervenes if needed.
Record & Review
Audio and video is captured during exams then reviewed by the institution or proctor service after the exam.
Automated Proctoring
Automated proctoring only uses AI and software to monitor student behavior.
Browser Lockdown Software
Restricts access to websites and applications and blocks keyboard shortcuts like copy and paste.
Live Proctoring
Only relies on human supervision by test proctors who watch multiple students and intervene if they see potential academic misconduct.
“We’re paying for a service that just works. We’re getting a full-time position on the distance education team back. Now that she doesn’t have to spend 100% of her time making proctoring work, she can focus on value-added work for our students. There’s so much more we can do.” Stephanie Ungerank, Director of Distance Education, Arkansas State University-Beebe
How to control the cost of proctoring at large colleges and universities
Look for online proctoring companies that offer flat-rate pricing per exam or per student. When you pay by the hour, exams that run just a few minutes over will cost you.
Many proctoring providers round up by the hour, so if a student crosses the 60-minute mark, you could be charged for a full second hour. But even if they only add up the extra minutes, those extra minutes can still add up to hundreds of unexpected hours when you’re proctoring exams for thousands of students.
And make sure the cost of proctoring services includes implementation and on-going support for students and faculty. To help determine the value, ask whether support is live or automated, whether it’s available 24/7, response times, etc. and have them list what their implementation and training includes and who’s involved to make sure it meets your institution’s needs.
See how the University of Florida saved $1.14 million in remote proctoring costs over three semesters and gave faculty 8.5 hours back per course each semester to focus on teaching instead of proctoring.
Support that solves, not stalls
Make sure the proctoring service offers 24/7/365 live support for students and faculty. Students have busy lives and need the ability to take online exams anytime, day or night. On-demand support gives them the flexibility they need.
Ask the proctoring company:
- How long it takes for support agents to respond and how quickly issues are resolved
- Where the support team is located
- If support is included or an added cost
These details have a big impact on the testing experience and your budget.
“Having access to customer support 24/7/365 is huge. Especially when students may be taking exams at any time of day. You want them to have access to someone who can troubleshoot with them.”
Daphnee St. Val, Senior Instructional Designer, Broward College
LMS integration
The integration between the proctoring platform and the LMS is the difference between a smooth testing experience and a constant flood of support tickets for large colleges and universities. It makes implementation quick and easy, secures data, and creates a better test experience for students and faculty.
Creates a familiar test environment
Students launch proctored online exams from the LMS just like they already do. There’s no new platform to learn. The only difference is that they show their ID to the webcam to verify who they are and complete a quick room scan. It takes about a minute and they’re good to go.
Faculty create proctored exams the same way they build any other assessment in the LMS. After that, they pick the exam proctoring features to use and can add notes to provide specific accommodations for students.
No extra passwords or logins
Students and faculty shouldn’t need extra logins and passwords just to make or take a proctored exam.
Why is this important?
Imagine you’re about to take a big exam. You log into the LMS and click to start the proctored test, but you’re hit with a prompt to create an account or enter your credentials (but you don’t remember them).
Steven Daniello, Director of Assessment Services at Indian River State College
So, now you’re annoyed and wasting time. Creating a new account might seem like a small task, but delays and last-minute issues right before an exam can add to or trigger test anxiety, which is already common among college students (Gerwing et al., 2015; Kolski & Weible, 2018).
Test anxiety
While we’re on the subject of test anxiety, you’ll want to make sure the remote proctoring software you choose doesn’t contribute to it.
When students are already anxious, any extra worry can amplify the negative effects of test anxiety, increasing cognitive load, interfering with concentration, and lowering test performance (Pekrun, 2024), especially in online settings where technical issues are common sources of stress (Alibak et al., 2019).
However, proctoring-related test anxiety often comes from technical concerns, like whether their device will work with the software or internet stability, not from being monitored (Andreou et al., 2021; Woldeab & Brothen, 2019)
How are they helping colleges and universities address test anxiety?
- Are proctors trained to identify signs of physical stress and reply appropriately?
- Can students take practice tests to get comfortable with the software?
- Does the company offer 24/7/365 live support? If so, how long does it take them to respond?
- Do they have an easy way to test their system requirements?
- Are there other help resources available for students (e.g., articles, FAQ, video tutorials, etc.)?
“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, Northern Virginia Community College
The answers to these questions can affect student learning and test performance. But they can also affect academic integrity because test anxiety increases academic dishonesty. However, access to practice exams and system checks can help lower students’ anxiety, which can reduce cheating (Gribbins and Bonk, 2023).
“Honorlock was a lot less invasive and less glitchy. It felt way more seamless and creates an easier testing experience. It just lets you take your test without any interruptions.”
Madi Kuokos, Student at the University of Florida graduate
Remote proctoring features for online exams
Detecting cell phones and other secondary devices
Cell phones make it easy to cheat during exams, and nearly every student has one. That’s why some online proctoring companies say they offer “cell phone detection.”
It’s tough to keep a straight face and call it cell phone detection because, in reality, it’s just a live proctor squinting at a dozen video thumbnails of students taking their exams and hoping to spot a phone at some point.
In other words, they’re crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.
Preventing students using AI to cheat on exams before it starts
What is Cluely?
Cluely is an AI desktop assistant that helps students cheat by answering questions it sees and hears on-screen. It uses transparent overlays and bypasses keyboard shortcuts, which makes it almost impossible to detect during online assessments.
With the right solution, you can proctor writing assignments (even handwritten) just like an exam. But you’ll need a combination of virtual proctoring tools to do it. These tools work together to block students from accessing unauthorized AI on computers, smartwatches, and tablets.
Listening for speech that actually matters
Some students talk to themselves while they work through exams. Some live in noisy households. With sound detection, faculty have to review flags for unimportant noises, like a student talking through a problem or coughing.
Smart Speech Detection listens for certain keywords that may indicate cheating. For example, voice commands that activate virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa on devices that are off-screen.
Finding leaked exam content
There’s a lot of leaked test content available online. Some companies pose as “homework help” sites, but they’re really just big repositories for your content and other resources to cheat on exams.
Search & DestroyTM is a proctoring tool that automatically checks the internet for all of your exam content. If it finds any, you can send takedown requests with one click.
When you compare proctoring platforms, dig into how each one searches for leaked exam content, or you may end up manually selecting each question it searches for instead of the system automatically searching for all of them.
“There’s nothing more nerve-wracking than when you see exam questions have been leaked. Having that quick ability to make sure that when you’ve uploaded an exam, none of those questions have been compromised is important to the teaching and learning process.”
Naz Erenguc, Director of Admissions, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida
Securing third-party exams
The online test proctoring software should allow faculty to secure exams on third-party platforms like MyMathLab, Knewton Alta, WebAssign, and more. Ideally, instructors should only need to register the exam with a password-protected link before setting up the exam. Then students launch the proctored exam and can exit and remove the Honorlock extension when they finish.
Monitoring and recording behavior during exams
Uses the webcam to monitor and record students’ behavior and desktops during proctored exams. Faculty can also require a second side camera for a wider field of view during exams where test takers show their work or have external resources available.
Verifying identity and scanning the room
Before taking an online proctored exam, faculty can have students confirm their identity and complete a quick room scan. This confirms it’s the right person and that there are no unauthorized resources or people in the room.
Using remote proctoring software can also help institutions meet state, federal, and accreditation requirements for identity and attendance verification.
“Honorlock helps us adhere to state and federal requirements, in addition to accreditation requirements, because it provides the opportunity to capture identity verification and attendance verification at the same time. Through Honorlock and Canvas, we were able to verify identity, the time and date stamp, and provide that documentation to the auditor easily.”
Dr. Lee Conerly, Director of Academic Instruction, Coastal Alabama Community College
Improving testing with reporting
Exam reports after the test offer a ton of useful information, but they need to be organized and easy to understand to be helpful. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of data that never gets used.
Look for a solution with an analytics dashboard that provides:
- Understand the most common exam violations
- Compare the use of proctored testing from one semester to the next
- Analyze the impact of specific exam features
Honorlock Analytics HubTM
Honorlock’s Analytics Hub provides extensive data that institutions and faculty can use through a single, easy-to-use portal that saves time, improves assessments, improves academic integrity, and supports students along the way.
Quick exam reviews
Easy-to-read reports show exams with human-validated violations
Filterable and focused
Easily filter flags by risk level to focus on the sessions that matter, and spend less time on reviews and more time on teaching.
Integrity in HD
View proctored exam sessions from start to finish in HD quality with comprehensive recordings and a best-in-class session viewer.
Quick exam reviews
Easy-to-read reports show exams with human-validated violations
Filterable and focused
Easily filter flags by risk level to focus on the sessions that matter, and spend less time on reviews and more time on teaching.
Integrity in HD
View proctored exam sessions from start to finish in HD quality with comprehensive recordings and a best-in-class session viewer.
“The Honorlock Analytics Hub™ has helped us tell our story. It truly tells the story of where our students are and what their needs are.”
Stephanie Ungerank, Director of Distance Education, Arkansas State University-Beebe
“Honorlock was more than a tool to guard or block students from using inappropriate information. It was also a means to detect and determine many different ways that students approach the exams. Because of access to the wealth of data and information, I became better able to utilize it.”
Ryan P. Mears PhD, Lecturer, University of Florida
Accessibility and accommodations
To be truly accessible, proctoring software should support a range of student needs. It should follow web accessibility standards, work with assistive technologies like screen readers, and allow instructors to set accommodations such as extended time, breaks, multiple attempts, or testing without a webcam. It should also include failsafes that keep the system working even when internet speeds drop below streaming thresholds. And to support students with busy or unpredictable schedules, it should offer 24/7 proctored exams with access to live support whenever they need it.
“Honorlock helps instructors ensure that students’ individual needs are met. An instructor can specify individual student accommodations, and then the live proctor will ensure that those accommodations are afforded.
Dana Einfeld, Ed.D, Division Chairperson, Academic Transfer Mathematics & Engineering, Coastal Alabama Community College
“Honorlock helps us get to the core of our mission here at Warrington: being able to offer an MBA to just about anybody.”
Naz Erenguc, Director of Admissions
Warrington College of Business, University of Florida
Online proctoring services can prevent students from gaining an unfair advantage during online testing and written academic work, but it’s not just about catching students who cheat.
That’s a big part of it, but not the whole point. It’s also about giving students access and flexibility they need and making education possible for more people. And as a result, it helps create a level playing field where online testing feels just as solid and valuable as it would in a classroom or testing center.
