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 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.

Artificial Intelligence and Online Proctoring: Friend or Foe?

Artificial intelligence is everywhere today, and, if you’re like most of the population, you probably have some questions—and even concerns—about it. If you’re an education administrator, you may have even more qualms. 

 New technology has tremendous potential to improve learning outcomes and student experience – AI in higher education can be a powerful tool to help both faculty and students in and out of the classroom. But, before it’s implemented, it needs to be understood and evaluated. 

AI in Higher Education

As online programs continue to expand, there are a number of ways for artificial intelligence to help make the learning experience more integrated. One of the first places you might see it pop up is in virtual proctoring. The good news for you, your faculty, and your students is that it can give everyone a better experience, but, of course, you have questions first. 

Let’s jump into some of the things you need to think about when looking at AI solutions to your education challenges. 

First Things First: An Open Book

Ultimately, when you start asking questions about the systems you’re considering for online learning and exams, you need information straight from the source. You need a company that is open about their approach, what algorithms they use, how they collect and store data, and how decisions are made. 

For instance, if you’re looking at an online proctor that uses any sort of face detection to confirm student identity, you want to know what data it’s collecting and how long it’ll be stored. Having a solid answer will give you peace of mind, and it will help you reassure any concerned students along the way. Your faculty might also have questions about exam content. They’ll want to know that, by using the service, they aren’t signing away the rights to the exams they’ve poured their expertise into creating. 

Ultimately, It Comes Down to Rapport

You want to make sure that you are investing in a tech solution provider that has clear answers to all of your questions. Get as specific as you can with your questions, and make sure their answers match up— as they share how they use their algorithms and even software libraries, you’ll become familiar with the process. And, when you get more comfortable with how it works, you’ll start to get excited about everything AI in higher education brings to the table for your program and school.

How Much Can AI Access?

In order to protect academic integrity, many online proctors have a way to detect if a student is trying to access information via another browser or even a secondary device. It’s perfectly understandable that you and your students might be concerned about this. What else can the technology do? Is it accessing other information on the network? How does it tell when other devices are involved without snooping on everyone’s activity? Is it limited, and, if so, how? 

This is something you’ll want to be extra sure that your proctoring solution is honest with you about—and that they explain it in a way that is easy for you to then explain to faculty and students when they raise concerns. 

How are Decisions Made, and Who’s at the Helm?

When you’re incorporating artificial intelligence into an educational setting, you want just that—a system that is intelligent enough to actually make the process better or easier. But, if you have technology making decisions on your behalf, you want to know exactly what’s involved in that process. Ultimately, you may want to opt for a system that provides a hybrid between the tech and the human touch. 

For instance, in a system like Honorlock’s, 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 another person entering the room—and gives a rating of low, medium, or high. Then the proctor jumps in to identify what’s happening and can intervene as needed. Based on the proctor’s response and feedback, the system learns and adapts and is able to reduce the number of false positives. 

A Hybrid of AI and Human Proctors Sets Students at Ease

At the same time, the human aspect helps set 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 raise a flag (like, for instance, moving their face off-camera). And, they don’t have to worry about being watched by a live proctor throughout the entire exam duration. 

AI for Scalability

You want to scale your online programs and offer quality education to even more students, and artificial intelligence can help you get there. And, by using a system that learns and adapts to be as accurate as possible when it comes to academic honesty, you can offer the benefits of one-on-one proctoring without the cost for the 99% of times when no one is doing anything wrong. 

AI and Student Success

Ultimately, your biggest concern is student outcomes—you want to equip them to succeed, and artificial intelligence helps you do just that. The more laid-back feeling of an AI-monitored exam (as opposed to a live proctor) helps set students at ease and create a seamless, unobtrusive testing experience for those who are doing the right thing. And, for students who are tempted toward dishonesty, the technology makes it hard enough that they often decide it’s no longer worth it—studying becomes the easier option, and they get the benefits of engaging with a quality education. 

Use Caution, but Don’t Delay

The adoption of new technology in education can sometimes be slow, and with good reason—it should be tested and understood before it’s implemented, but that shouldn’t stop you from looking into options. You may just find that it makes life better for you, your faculty, and your students. Find a company that will pull the curtain back for you, learn everything you need to in order to implement it, and then jump in with both feet! You and your faculty will love the freedom that the new innovations bring. 

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

Comparing Proctoring Services: AI vs. Live Proctoring

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? 

Automated Proctoring

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.

The Pros of Automation

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. 

Automated Drawbacks

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?

Live Online Proctoring

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. 

Upsides of Live Supervision

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. 

The Cons that Come with Live Proctoring

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? 

The Perfect Hybrid

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.   

What’s Best for Your Faculty and Students?

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.

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

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.

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.

WEBINAR: A Better Proctoring Experience for You and Your Students

Institutions of higher education are concerned that academic honesty violations undermine the integrity of their online degree programs (D’Souza and Siegfeldt, 2017). To combat cheating, many institutions require remote proctoring software for online course exams. The University of North Alabama’s (UNA’s) College of Business has tried various online proctoring solutions over the past few years, including automated proctoring, recorded proctoring, and live proctoring, as well as a proctoring solution called Honorlock that combined all of these options into one. Our case study aimed at finding a proctoring solution that was both effective and user-friendly to faculty and students. The results of our case study suggest that Honorlock is both the most effective and the most user-friendly product from both the faculty and student perspective.

Speakers:

Jill Simpson, PhD

University of North Alabama

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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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

8 Signs You Need a Technology Upgrade

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:

1. Your Faculty Hate Setting Up Online Exams

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.

2. Most of Your Faculty Don’t Even Use Your Proctoring Service

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.

4. Your Faculty’s Test Content Ends Up on Test Bank Sites

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.

5. You Don’t Have a Way to Detect Smartphones and Other Secondary Devices

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.

6. Your Students Have to Schedule an Exam Time in Advance

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.

7. Your Students Have to Download Software for Exams

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.

8. Your faculty and administration aren’t confident in score accuracy

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.

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

8 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Proctoring Services

If you’re investing in online proctoring services and software, make sure that your faculty will actually use it.

With so many options available, here are eight questions to ask each proctoring service that you’re evaluating:

1. Can students schedule and take exams 24/7/365 scheduling flexible?

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.

  • Do students have to reserve an exam time in advance?
  • If so, are they charged a fee if they miss their exam timeslot? Are there times when students can’t schedule exams (for example, overnight)?

2. What support does the proctoring service provide?

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.

  • Is support available at all times when students are taking proctored exams and faculty are setting them up?
  • Will faculty and students actually speak with a human support agents?
  • Are support agents trained to troubleshoot and effectively answer questions?

3. Do students have to download a bulky software to use it?

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.

4. How does the proctoring software prevent cheating?

Make sure that the proctoring software has features that effectively prevent cheating while still supporting student success.

  • Can the proctoring software detect cell phone use and voices?
  • Does it have built-in ways to prevent access to browsers and applications during an exam?
  • Can students scan the room before beginning to ensure they aren’t using any additional resources?
  • Can it protect exam questions and answers from being shared on unauthorized websites?
  • Does it verify student identity before launching the proctored exam?

All of these are important ways to preserve academic integrity.

5. Can the proctoring software detect cell phones?

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.

6. Who are the test proctors?

  • Who is monitoring and reviewing the exam?
  • Are the remote proctors trained to handle of student anxiety?

7. Do faculty at other schools like it?

Online exam proctoring only works if faculty use the service.

  • Do faculty at other institutions find it easy to use?
  • Do they find the support to be helpful?
  • Has the school broadly adopted it?
  • What are their top pros and cons of the online proctoring software?

8. Does it improve student outcomes?

Ultimately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.

timately, this is the most important question for any proctoring service.

  • Does the system normalize bell curves?
  • Do faculty and administrators have confidence that it’s maintaining academic integrity?
  • Is it flexible and adaptive enough to fit into students’ lives and increase student engagement and retention?
  • Is it scalable and helping programs grow?

Now that you’ve asked these remote proctoring questions, you’re ready to start making a decision.

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

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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.

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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Jordan Adair

Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience.