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Too many of us locked down during the global pandemic, new restrictions and regulations seemed to present an almost insurmountable challenge. Despite this, educators and students across the world bravely took steps to continue their important work and complete the spring term, many with the assistance of an online proctoring service for the first time. In the wake of the initial crisis, the expanding staff at Honorlock has worked intently to prepare an increasing number of colleges and universities for their first exclusively online semester. If your school hasn’t used remote proctoring software before, now is an ideal time to discover why so many others have chosen Honorlock to help assess student learning while preserving the academic integrity of their degrees and programs.
Students everywhere are outspokenly protective of their privacy. At the University of Maryland, administrators address these privacy concerns accordingly:
“We looked at many different product options and benchmarked them against a list of requirements. Honorlock was found to be one of the best solutions with respect to student privacy. We found it less invasive when compared to many other products. Honorlock proctors do not watch students all of the time, only when specific behaviors trigger alerts. Our purchase of Honorlock is for pop-in proctoring, which means proctors only appear when behaviors trigger the need.”
What type of behaviors, you ask? Getting up from the computer would be one, as would talking to someone else in the room. A student who simply prefers to read test questions aloud, however, would not run afoul of the system, though they might incur a pop-in from our certified live proctors, who offer the ultimate in student flexibility by being available 24/7/365. Proctors’ faces won’t suddenly appear on the student’s screen, but they do have the ability to pause the exam (with no time penalty) and inquire about the situation via our chat box. The object, and the effect, is to provide each student with the most convenient, most secure, and least stressful online proctoring experience.
Going hand in hand with a commitment to respecting student privacy is the responsibility of institutions to ensure the security of their data. The College of William and Mary explains the following to its students:
The university selected Honorlock after a rigorous vetting process involving IT security specialists and the Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation. The information security review included an assessment of the vendors’ information security controls across 15 distinct information security domains. Additionally, in the case of Honorlock, the university Registrar vetted the companies Student Privacy Statement, GDPR Privacy policy and FERPA statement.
Elsewhere, William and Mary indicates that they deemed Honorlock “to be the most effective tool due the program’s simplicity and security.” They do so in part because Honorlock is not a bulky browser or application that students must download and take time to learn; it is a Chrome browser extension that takes moments to install before the exam and seconds to uninstall after the exam.
Disclaimer: This webpage discusses Honorlock’s widely available services and software for teachers. In May 2021, Honorlock launched a feature in limited release at a few schools that works through an app students download onto their computers, in addition to a Chrome extension.
The simplicity appreciated above is also the heart of Honorlock’s scalability. Soon after Covid-19 hit, Austin Peay State University entered into a short-term partnership with Honorlock when their regular online proctoring vendor was unable to handle the increase in demand resulting from face-to-face courses abruptly forced to make the switch to an online environment for the second half of the spring semester. Honorlock’s success with APSU students and faculty was such that the contract has been extended through the fall.
Another school with a pressing situation was St. Petersburg College, which called upon Honorlock last fall to perform for their 30,000 students and more than 110 degree and certificate programs just two days before finals. The challenge faced was the failure of their previous provider to integrate with the college’s D2L LMS, but Honorlock’s team managed to solve the problem immediately so that the online exams went ahead with barely a hitch. SPC’s Executive Director of Academic Technology Christopher Harvey said, “All of the faculty were able to adapt within two days; all were able to use it and review the tests. We did it quick!”
Honorlock support was additionally praised by SPC’s Online Course Testing Coordinator Lindsey Eaton for managing the remote proctoring of their high-stakes nursing assessments. (It’s not just the schools themselves, but patients everywhere that have an interest in the academic integrity of degrees earned by medical professionals!) “The platform worked really well for them,” Eaton said. “They have a couple of third-party exams, but they have managed to make it all work well.”
At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, administrators sought out a new proctoring
solution when the one they had been using did not provide the support the faculty needed to be successful in delivering online assessments. “The support team was not open to receiving feedback,” said WPI’s Director for Teaching and Learning Services Kate Beverage. Things changed for the better with Honorlock. WPI had the following requirements, all of which Honorlock satisfied:
Beverage was impressed: “Honorlock’s support model is great! The live chat has been very helpful for us. The resources provided for faculty in terms of creating exams and proctoring options when enabling exams are excellent!”
More and more colleges and universities will be migrating to online environments in Fall 2020 and beyond, and some will find that online programs best suit their constituencies as they move forward. When they do, Honorlock’s exclusive technology, savvy developers, and friendly customer support staff will be there to ensure that students can focus on their goals and schools can enable their students achieve those goals honestly and with due pride.
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
No sooner has the most unprecedented and disrupted academic term in modern history finished, than colleges and university administrators must make difficult decisions about their plans for the 2020-21 academic year. You can see what your likely options are in our previous blog entry.
As an increasing number of schools redesign their courses to give students the greatest chance of success from an online environment, exam proctoring systems offered by companies such as Honorlock are being called on to help ensure the integrity of academic assessments. The best are grounded in a student-centric approach that results in features that empower rather than punish.
Let’s take a look at how Honorlock’s capabilities compare with other online proctoring services.
A common worry of course instructors is that their test questions will appear elsewhere online. Search and Destroy™, Honorlock’s proprietary test bank removal technology, seeks out and eliminates unauthorized copies of test questions. Test bank websites have made leaked test questions too tempting for certain students to find and share, and no other proctoring company searches for and removes that content for the school. Dr. Juliette Mersiowsky of Longwood University reports that Honorlock’s Search and Destroy feature “surprised and delighted” her faculty. For added protection, we also prevent students from copying, pasting, and printing during the exam. Instructors using Honorlock rest easy knowing they won’t have to create new test questions each term.
Dr. Jill Simpson of the University of North Alabama trialed four different online proctoring services over two years after her school’s faculty reported that some students “felt that they were being penalized because they were NOT cheating.” One solution could effectively verify students’ identities, but it wasn’t easy to use. Moreover, the exam report took two weeks to get to faculty, in many cases after grades were due which meant that it was too late to address potential infractions. Honorlock’s real-time reporting freed UNA faculty from this dilemma.
Students want minimal administrative hassle in the first few moments before taking an exam. Anything that adds more tension to an already stressful situation is best avoided. Honorlock can also seamlessly integrate our security with multiple third-party exam systems such as MyMathLab, ALEKS, Pearson, and McGraw Hill.
Any minimally effective online proctoring system will ensure that students cannot freely access other tabs or windows. The most significant challenge, meanwhile, is how to prevent students from accessing study materials or test answers via smartphones or tablets. Honorlock has patented a first-in-the-industry system to solve this problem. During the exam, Honorlock detects the use of secondary devices, prevents them from accessing test bank information, and takes a screen recording of the attempted infarction. The result is that students are rewarded for their demonstrated knowledge and the integrity of your courses and degrees is sustained.
Some competitors offer simple alerts that faculty tell us detect too many sounds that may occur during an exam session. Over-flagging incidental sounds annoys faculty and puts unnecessary stress on students. Honorlock’s AI proctoring services deliver a smarter 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 penalized improperly. Honorlock’s Voice Detection feature listens for more than just specific keywords or phrases, such as “Hey Siri” or OK Google.” When a valid issue arises it immediately alerts a live proctor who will pop into the exam session via chat to determine whether the student is acting appropriately.
Honorlock offers the Goldilocks approach when it comes to Live vs. AI proctoring. Some completely automated services record the test-taking session and then review it afterward. One of these, as reviewed by Dr. Simpson, was fine with students but not faculty as it was clunky and could not verify student identities. On the other hand, live proctoring that verifies identities by forcing students to schedule a specific exam time has its own drawbacks. A student who misses the appointment may have to pay a fee and then wait 24 hours to reschedule. Imagine the calamity if the exam in question was set to close before those 24 hours had expired!
Having a proctor’s face hovering in a box on the student’s screen serves mostly to increase test anxiety— “creepy” is a common way for students to describe the experience. Honorlock avoids both this problem and scheduling frustration with a blended on-demand solution that verifies each student’s identity quickly and easily and monitors their tests via AI proctoring. Should a potential violation occur, one of our 24/7/365 certified proctoring team is alerted. They will see an analysis window first, then pause the student’s exam and “Pop-in” via chat box to redirect the student. A live proctor must catch infractions live or else miss them, which can be a serious challenge when watching up to 10 students simultaneously for extended periods. When our certified Live Pop-In proctor is alerted by the AI, the proctor focuses exclusively on the one student.
The ideal exam proctoring service will be welcomed by both faculty and students. It will uphold academic integrity while respecting each student’s privacy. We do not sell that information to third parties.
It takes a lot of effort to make the complicated seem simple, which is a considerable part of the genius that sets Honorlock apart. Honorlock’s minimal intrusiveness and maximum ease of use, backed up by world-class always-available US-based support allows students to focus on their academic success and school administrators and faculty to preserve the value of your degrees and programs.
This guide covers 5 important areas to consider:
Why is online proctoring needed?
What are the types of online exam proctoring
Functionality questions to ask
Implementation and support questions to ask
Cost structures and avoiding additional costs
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
Tip: Listen to the feedback objectively and then do something constructive with it. It could be something as simple as someone needs further explanation, but you won’t know if you don’t ask!
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
When you compare online proctoring services, you may be surprised to find that they come in so many shapes and sizes. You get the freedom to choose whatever might be best for your school, but it can also be really overwhelming. Where do you even start? What are the most important factors to consider? How do you pick a tool that will run smoothly so students can focus on learning and faculty can concentrate on teaching?
One of the best places to start is by looking at one of the core structures of online assessments—the proctoring process itself. There are two basic structures—automated proctoring and live proctoring—and some programs that offer a hybrid. Ready to get into it and discover what might be best for your students?
This is, well, just what it sounds like—an automated process for proctoring. A student sits down for the assessment, verifies their identity, and then gets started. AI technology monitors them throughout their exam, and then someone reviews the recording of their session and prepares a report for the instructor. The instructor can also review the session recording to check in on any flagged incidents. There are a few good reasons why this might work well.
For starters, automation works because it’s convenient. Since no one has to be present for the session, students can access the exam at any time—day or night. They don’t have to worry about scheduling in advance or paying for a missed appointment. This format also makes it easy for instructors to review any incidents. The report provides key details, and then they can take a look at the footage themselves to determine if the student broke any rules. If they do decide to move forward with disciplinary action, this also gives them what they might need to confront students with objective evidence. But it isn’t all ease and simplicity.
One of the main cons of video proctoring is that the entire system can be a bit clunky. There’s no way for a proctor to intervene in real-time if a student is cheating or trying to cheat—there’s nothing that can be done until the instructor receives the report and makes a call about the incident. And, when AI technology is helping monitor exams, there’s a chance that an issue will be missed. On top of that, the exam has to be reviewed after completion so that a report can be prepared for the instructor, and this can sometimes be a lengthy process—creating frustration for faculty and students by delaying the grading process.
So, what’s the alternative?
Systems that aren’t automated usually use live proctors instead. This, too, is precisely how it sounds—a live proctor watches the student as they take their exam to ensure that academic integrity is protected. They’re often able to intervene live when an issue arises, and, after the exam, they prepare a report for the instructor. They also send over the recording of the test session so the instructor can verify for themselves any potential issues. There are several reasons why this might be a good fit.
The most significant benefit of live proctoring is, of course, that it’s live. You get many of the same benefits you’d get with a TA or instructor proctoring their own exam in person. A human being handles all the monitoring, and that often makes instructors more comfortable that the integrity of their test will be protected. Live proctors may also be able to intervene in real-time if an incident of academic dishonesty does arise, and that can help keep the entire exam from being a wash. And, of course, the session is still recorded, so it’s easy for instructors to take a look at everything that happened and decide when disciplinary action may be warranted. There are a few drawbacks, though.
Most live proctors don’t just watch one student at a time—sometimes they watch up to ten. While they’re monitoring everything, there’s always a chance that, because their attention is divided, they’ll miss an incident with one student while keeping an eye on another. There’s also the issue of scheduling. When a live proctor needs to be on-hand, students usually need to select their exam time in advance. It can be harder to work around their other commitments, and they may also face penalties if they end up having to reschedule at the last minute. Live proctoring can also be a problem for honest students—even when they aren’t doing anything wrong, they feel watched, leading to a heightened sense of self-consciousness that could distract them from the exam content.
What’s a school to do?
You need a solution that pairs the best of both worlds—something that lets your students do their thing without increased paranoia but still provides the opportunity to intervene at the moment and prevent cheating before it happens. Hybrids like Honorlock’s Live Proctor Pop-In are AI-triggered and human-reviewed. It lets you harness the best of AI proctoring to flag potential incidents, but you also get the benefit of a real person checking in who can help the student get back on track with their assessment. And these hybrids often still offer the flexibility of automation.
Ultimately, only you can answer the question of what’s best in your context. You may find that the pros of live proctoring outweigh its cons. You might find that you’d prefer an automated system. Or you may opt for a mix of both. The great news? With all three, you can empower your faculty to provide top-notch assessment tools to help students succeed. And, because faculty doesn’t have to worry as much about protecting academic integrity, they can maintain focus on optimizing the learning experience. Thanks to their peace of mind, your students get the best possible education. That’s a win all the way around!
Honorlock’s hybrid solution is working for an increasing number of schools and colleges, including one who faced the very issues discussed in this post. Want to learn more? Contact us and we’ll show you how Honorlock’s remote proctoring works.
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
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.
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.
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.
Make sure that the proctoring software has features that effectively prevent cheating while still supporting student success.
All of these are important ways to preserve academic integrity.
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.
Online exam proctoring only works if faculty use the service.
Ultimately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.
timately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.
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
Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.
