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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6 Ways to Improve Exams Using Technology

Technology improves online exams by:

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

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

1. Online Exams Save Faulty and Classroom Time

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

2. Individual Monitoring is More Effective

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

3. Secondary Device Detection Prevents Cheating

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

4. Incident Reports Make Academic Dishonesty Easy to Handle

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

5. Flexibility Increases Student Engagement

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

6. Online Proctoring Easily Scales with Growing Programs

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

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

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

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Top Five Mistakes in Online Assessments

Mistakes to avoid in online exams:

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

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

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

Start by correcting these five common mistakes:

1. Not Detecting Cell Phone Use

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

2. Not Verifying Student Identity

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

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

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

4. Not Monitoring in Real Time

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

5. Watching the Entire Exam Live

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

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

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