Honorlock’s Pledge To You During COVID

We’re Here for You During COVID

To our customers, friends, partners, and the entire higher education community,

As we move forward during this crisis, we recognize that many of you – administrators, faculty, and students – are navigating new waters as you transition to online courses. Our HonorSquad wants you to know that we’re here for you and praying for your health and safety.

Our focus is to ensure you have the support you need during this transition. We are already actively working with many of you who have transitioned to a fully online model and with others who are preparing to make the jump.

Click for information about implementing online proctoring if your institution is moving to online learning related to COVID.

Here are a few things we’re preparing to help you during this time:

Scaling online proctoring

Honorlock is cloud-hosted and has the ability to auto-scale to keep up with the increase in usage we anticipate. To ensure that we haven’t missed anything along the way we have:

    • Been in contact with AWS to ensure we can provision (proactively), extra capacity to ensure we are operating at a level that is severely higher than any volume expected.
    • Working with our partners (3rd party tools) who provide services such as video services, to ensure they too understand our expected spike in volume, they can provision and scale services, and that we work closely throughout this time to effectively manage the increase together.
  • We have increased our staff (as we do during finals) to account for the proctoring load required in the coming weeks. We are monitoring exam volumes continuously throughout the day and we have staff on standby should we need them.

Support & Training for Faculty

We understand that moving to online learning can create challenges and requires more help from our support and training organizations. To meet this need, we have also ramped up support and will continue to do so as needed. In addition, we have same-day training available for institutions that need to train new faculty members. We want to make sure you have all the resources you need to be successful so no matter the need, we’ve got you! All you have to do is ask.

We know there’s a lot of information available to you and a lot of information coming at you. We want to be helpful and not add to the noise. We feel hopeful as we see the community coming together to share ideas, best practices and support. We are here to help when you need us.

Reach out to use to see how we can help you implement online proctoring in 2 days to protect exams and support your students and faculty during COVID

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Brandon Smith

Brandon has 10+ years of experience in leading organizations in both higher education and ed-tech. He is passionate about building a culture that puts the clients that he and his teams serve first. He hopes to make a positive impact on those around him and anyone he comes in contact with along the way.

Maximizing Efficiency in Education: AI & Automation

If you’ve ever caught yourself feeling overwhelmed by the thought of adapting to new technology in education, you’re not alone — the field is evolving so quickly that it can be challenging to keep up. And, while it’s true that not every shiny new solution is necessary or helpful, it’s essential to evaluate each one and implement those that will improve the experiences of your students and faculty. 

When considering a new piece of technology, you have several priorities to balance. One is efficiency — does this new tool make things run more smoothly, or does it create friction and frustration for everyone involved? At the same time, it’s vital to maintain a sense of humanity and connection — students want to know that they are more than a number and that their learning experience is specific to them. While these goals may seem to conflict with one another, in reality, they often go hand-in-hand.

A Shared Solution

By integrating automation and artificial intelligence into the classroom, you can begin to respond to concerns about both efficiency and personalized learning. This works in several ways. By increasing efficiency in education for teachers, you save them time, allowing them more bandwidth to connect with each student. They can identify struggles, provide guidance and tailor the learning experience. At the same time, implementing artificial intelligence can provide a more personalized learning experience as the software adapts to each student’s needs and helps them learn. And, by creating an efficient and easily navigable context for students, you also offer them more mental capacity to focus on learning. Instead of worrying about the minute details of class scheduling or how to take an exam, they can attend office hours and study sessions to gain further clarity on difficult material. 

Automation and Artificial Intelligence

 At Honorlock, we’ve seen first-hand just how valuable AI and automation can be in the classroom. We’re continually evaluating new educational technologies to find the most useful and streamlined solutions for efficiency in education. Wondering how these tools can help contribute to efficient teaching strategies in your context? Here are four of our favorite ways to harness the power of technology in education. 

  1. Class Registration — When it comes to implementing automation, class registration can be a great place to start. Students love the convenience of registering online from anywhere and using a system that can easily cross-check issues like prerequisites eliminates potential mistakes and helps students stay on track with their degree plans. It’s easier than ever for students to track their academic progress and work with their advisors to create the perfect schedule from semester to semester. AI and automation in this process can also ensure that a student never double books their time. This can prevent headaches down the road from having to change class schedules at the last minute and helps students make sure they get into every course they need each semester so they can graduate in a timely manner.
  2. Room Scheduling & Facilities Management — Few things are more frustrating than reserving a room on campus, only to find that someone else has also reserved it and is already using it. This is a challenge for scheduling conference rooms and private study rooms, but it’s even more of a problem when it comes to classrooms — sometimes disrupting an entire class period (or more) as faculty sort out the issue. Thanks to AI and automation, however, this is becoming less and less of a problem on campuses. By using an intelligent scheduler, your school can prevent conflicts and ensure that the correct people are in the correct place at the correct time. And, by adding automation, you can make it even easier to schedule recurring events like meetings and classes. Ultimately, by making this process smoother and less frustrating, you can help your students and your faculty focus on the learning experience rather than the logistics required to make it happen.
  3. Grading — For faculty, one of the most challenging parts of the day can be facing the stack of papers left at the end of class. Whether assignments are physical or digital, the task of grading can seem impossible. TAs have long been part of solving this problem, and they continue to be vital in the grading process, but, especially in large classes, the amount of correction required can still be overwhelming. Thanks to new developments in AI and automation, however, it can be easier than ever to manage. Whether checking for plagiarism, correcting grammar or grading multiple-choice assessments, there are more tools than ever to help faculty spend less time focused on minute details and more time focused on concepts and student success. 
  4. Online Exams — One of the simplest and most important places to integrate automation and artificial intelligence is in exams. Students are looking for a straightforward on-demand process, and faculty want to know that students are maintaining integrity in answering questions. With a solution like Honorlock’s Live Proctor Pop-In, your institution gets the best in online exams. Students don’t have to schedule in advance — their exams are ready and waiting for them 24/7/365. Throughout the test, students are monitored by artificial intelligence. If the system detects a potential violation, such as talking to someone else in the room or walking away from the computer, it alerts a live proctor. They then pop into the exam session to check in with the student. If the student is attempting to cheat, the proctor can intervene appropriately. If not, they can get the student back on track with the rest of their test. Both students and faculty can have confidence that tests will be proctored effectively, helping students focus on learning and faculty focus on teaching instead of worrying about the logistics of exams.

Using Technology to Maximize Efficiency in Education

When it comes to equipping students to learn well, efficiency is a crucial element. By implementing automation and AI, you free faculty and students from worrying about minute details. Ultimately, this leads to a greater focus on education and higher rates of student success. 

To learn more about automation and AI in Honorlock’s online proctoring system, click here.

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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.

4 Ways Technology is Changing How Students Learn

Ever-evolving technology is continually changing the ways we live in and interact with the world, and education is no different. Today’s educators are tasked with charting the course forward, implementing the innovations that are beneficial and useful while avoiding those that aren’t.

With so many new online teaching solutions on the horizon, however, it can be difficult to determine the right next steps. After all, as an administrator, you are not merely choosing whether or not to use new technology at your school. Y

ou’re trying to parse out the options that will help your students learn best, allow you to offer education to the most people, and help your faculty streamline their processes so students can succeed—all while ensuring that everyone involved is aware of how new software works and assured that their data is secure while using it.

Everyone involved wants to know that these new teaching technology alternatives are just as effective as the systems they’re replacing, and no one wants to feel as though the human touch in education is disappearing altogether. Instead, they want access to technology that can extend their reach. But what does that technology look like?

Technology in the Classroom

Even when students are attending classes in person, educational technology is changing the way they learn. Especially in larger lecture courses, digital innovations help everyone’s voice be heard when an instructor asks a question, and it also gives instructors room for creativity in things as simple as taking attendance by having each student present answer a question from their own device.

It also allows instructors to more easily bring guest instructors into the classroom via videoconference, record lectures for students who may need to review later and create more engaging presentations of their content. Instructors have nearly endless opportunities to innovate thanks to new technology in the classroom.

Remote Education Innovations

Where educational tech shines, however, is in online education. Schools today know that, if they want to grow their programs, online education is key to their success. More students than ever before are looking for education that will fit into their lives—not the other way around. And online education lets them do exactly that.

From lectures to homework to classroom participation to exams, students can experience every piece of their education remotely. All they need to enroll in your program is a computer with internet access—a fairly low barrier to entry for most students.

The Challenges of Online Assessments

While this online learning technology can improve the student experience by making education accessible to more people than ever before, there can still be some stumbling blocks. For many schools, exams are the first one they run into. Can you ensure that remote assessments are as secure and accurate as in-person exams? After all, in the classroom, remote proctoring is the same as it’s always been.

Even with new devices and learning technology at students’ fingertips, the remote proctor’s job is virtually the same—ensure that students aren’t accessing external resources (whether on paper or on a screen). When the entire exam takes place online, remote proctoring becomes significantly more difficult. There are solutions, however.

Because staff and faculty can’t proctor exams for distance learners in person, they need tools to ensure that exams are being effectively administered. That typically means enlisting the assistance of an online proctoring service who can provide the innovative online teaching solutions your faculty needs to ensure academic integrity.

Solutions to the Online Proctoring Problem

In a world where most students have access to multiple devices—from smartphones and watches to external monitors and tablets—what does it look like to prevent academic dishonesty in distance learning? How can you choose an online proctoring solution that will effectively address your faculty’s concerns about testing integrity without compromising the student experience? How can you set students up for success by ensuring that they’re taking the proctored exam process seriously?

Here are a few ways an effective online proctoring solution can help:

  • Browser Locking — As a baseline, any online proctoring system should give instructors the ability to secure the student’s browser to prevent them from accessing other tabs, windows, or external applications. By keeping students on the exam page, you can help them focus on their assessment and prevent them from attempting to access test answers.
  • Printer Prevention — In order to help faculty protect their exam content, you’ll want to provide them with a system that prevents students from seeing the entire exam at once and blocks their ability to capture the data—whether by printing, copying and pasting, or taking a screenshot. This is especially important because, in an online proctoring context, students are taking exams at different times and so may be more motivated to try to share information with one another.
  • Customizable Guidelines — Like in-person exams, instructors need the flexibility to set specific test rules and guidelines —whether it’s open-book or on a specific time limit. And, when they are able to set specific expectations, proctors are more easily able to ensure the security of the exam, only flagging students for behavior that is actually problematic.
  • ID Verification — Online testing also creates the possibility for a student to enlist help by asking someone else to take their exam. Thanks to continued technical advancements, however, it’s easier than ever for online proctoring software to verify student identity prior to beginning the exam, ensuring that each student earns the grade they receive.
  • Detecting Secondary Devices — This may be the stickiest question when it comes to exams—how can proctors ensure that students aren’t using their smartphones to access test information? Technology that helps proctors detect the use of additional devices and allows them to intervene to stop the behavior can go a long way toward helping you prevent dishonesty.

Online Proctoring to Improve Learning

Whether you’re ready to find out how online proctoring can help your program offer education to more students than ever before or are looking for a new, more technically advanced proctoring software, Honorlock can help. You want to offer your students the best possible education, and that includes secure tests with the right features to help you protect your program’s academic integrity.

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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.

Live Online Proctoring: Pros & Cons

In the world of academic testing services, there is an ever-increasing array of options, enabling each institution to choose the best approach for their students and staff. While some may opt to continue offering exams in person, the growth of online education programs necessitates the flexibility provided by virtual proctoring.

However, even after making the decision to use online proctoring software, you will likely find yourself facing many more questions and decisions. Test proctoring services offer unattended automated exams, real-time live proctored exams and everything in between. Determining which format is best for your institution can be overwhelming but researching each online proctoring approach is a great way to get started.

To begin, we’ll consider live online proctoring — the positives, the negatives and why it might (or might not) be the best choice for your school.

Live Online Proctoring: The Cons

Unfortunately, live online proctoring has some significant drawbacks — because a proctor has to be present at every session, everything from scheduling to the exam experience itself can be more complicated. In addition, it is often a more costly solution for institutions.

  • Divided Attention — In many live proctoring scenarios, a single proctor monitors several students at a time — in some cases, up to ten at once. Unfortunately, this divides their attention and can impact the accuracy of their proctoring. While they are observing each student’s behavior throughout the entire exam, they may also miss attempts at academic dishonesty because they were focused on another student. This potential for distraction can undermine instructors’ confidence in the reports they receive for each exam, and it may also make students feel as though they can get away with dishonest behavior, emboldening them to make further cheating attempts in future exams.
  • Inconvenient Scheduling — Live proctoring requires exactly that — someone who can proctor a student’s exam live. As a result, most remote proctoring services limit when students can take exams and require them to schedule in advance. This is frustrating for students and can even lead to additional fees if something in their schedule changes, causing them to miss their time slot. Amidst their busy schedules, students are looking for convenient exam options, allowing them to take their exam whenever they are ready — whether it’s over lunch or after a late-night study session. Unfortunately, when they are tied to a live proctor’s schedule, this isn’t feasible.
  • Student Self-Consciousness — There’s one final drawback to live proctoring, and that is the student experience. Often, when students have a sense that they are being watched, they don’t perform as well on assessments. For honest students, in particular, this can be frustrating and may lead to scores that don’t accurately reflect the student’s body of knowledge. While it’s an effective way to rein in cheating, it also feeds self-consciousness and can feel like a punishment – an assumption of guilt. Many students find exams proctored in real-time to be more invasive and frustrating as they try to focus on the test content rather than the reality that someone is watching them throughout the process.

Live Online Proctoring: The Pros

Of course, there are several benefits to live online proctoring. It can increase faculty confidence in the online testing process and help administrators trust that the testing process will run smoothly.

  • Real-Time Intervention — When a student sits down at a computer to take an exam with a live remote proctor, they are monitored by someone who can intervene if something is amiss. Whether that’s because a student is attempting dishonest behavior (by, for instance, talking to someone else in the room) or because it appears that way (by reading questions aloud to themselves), a live proctor can immediately connect with the student and assess the situation. In the event of dishonesty, they can remind students of the rules and help them complete the rest of their exam with integrity. If, on the other hand, it was a miscommunication, they can easily verify so and help the student resume testing. Either way, in-the-moment intervention helps students have a better exam experience.
  • Human Touch — In a live online proctoring scenario, both students and faculty benefit from the assurance that a human is at the helm of all proctoring decisions. While the role of AI in educational technology is continually evolving to create new opportunities, it also raises concerns and questions for students and instructors alike. Live proctoring, on the other hand, puts everyone at ease because they are confident that their proctor is making accurate judgments throughout the testing process. Both parties have the assurance that, because the exam is proctored live, the report of the student’s behavior sent to their instructor is an accurate reflection of their testing experience.

Live Online Proctoring without the Cons

While many schools like the security provided by live proctors, the decision is not that simple—student experience continues to be key to program success, and live proctoring makes students uncomfortable. They have a harder time concentrating on their exam because they’re aware of a proctor watching them (and may even see that proctor via webcam in the corner of their screen).

The good news is that you can get all the benefits of live proctoring in a way that also helps students to succeed. In many cases, the right online proctoring approach is not live proctoring or automated, unattended proctoring but a hybrid of both.

With a solution like Honorlock’s Live Proctor Pop-In, schools get all the benefits of live proctoring, but students also get the freedom and convenience of an automated exam. Powerful AI proctoring monitors student behavior and alerts a live human proctor when intervention is needed, allowing for a real-time response when an issue arises. And it’s all on-demand, so students can take their exams whenever and wherever they are ready — 24/7/365.

For a further discussion of the benefits of advancing and refining online learning by removing the opportunity and temptation to cheat, have a look at our white paper on the topic.

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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.

What Your Proctor Wants You to Know: 4 Keys to Student Exam Success

Whether you’re new to the format of online exams or just need a refresher, you may have questions about how Honorlock proctored exams work and how you can be your very best for testing. Two of our proctors, Corey and Sa’ed, are here to answer your questions and give you some of their top online test taking tips!

How does the exam work?

You’ll start the exam from your school’s LMS. Keep in mind, all exams have different levels of security, which are customized by your instructor. If you are taking a high stakes exam (like your midterm or final), you can assume that as soon as you begin, your browser will be locked so you can’t access unauthorized information. You’ll be asked to present an ID so we can verify your identity, and then we’ll have you complete a 360 room scan to make sure there aren’t any notes left out or friends in the room. At this point, you’ll be off to the races! The only reason we’ll interrupt you with a Live Pop-In is if our system detects that something might be amiss. 

What is a Live Proctor Pop-In?

Live Pop-In is how our proctors connect with you if our artificial intelligence software detects a potential incidence of academic dishonesty. This could be another person in the room, the use of a secondary display or mobile device, your face going off-screen, or wearing hats, headphones or hoodies. When our proctors pop in, your exam will pause and the exam content will be hidden from view and then a chat box will open so you can communicate with your proctor. We chose to interact with students via chat versus face-to-face video based on student feedback that video felt invasive and creepy. Don’t worry, if you would rather just communicate with us verbally you can do that too. 

Can my proctor see and hear me during the exam?

Yes, they can. For the most part, however, you will be monitored by technology that will alert a proctor if a problem arises. 

When can I take my exam?

Whenever you’re ready! (Well, within your instructor’s deadlines, of course.) Our solution is available on-demand, so there’s no need to schedule a proctor to take your exam. If you’re ready to go at 3 am on Thanksgiving, all you need to do is start. We’ll be ready for you! Because of our deep integration with your LMS, our proprietary algorithms are able to predict the number of exams, the number of students and the time of day exams will be taken, which allows us to ensure we are always adequately staffed.

Do you have any exam tips?

  1. Trust us. We are on your side. We know what it’s like to be a student, and we know how stressful exams can be. Our goal is for the testing process to be as smooth as possible—from the comfort of your own home.
  2. Don’t start your exam at the last minute. There’s always a possibility that you’ll run into technical difficulties, and that can add to the stress. Give yourself enough leeway before the due date to take the exam.
  3. Study your material. Our artificial intelligence (and our proctors) are pretty smart—you’ll have a hard time getting much of anything past them. Your best bet when preparing for an exam is to study hard so you don’t have to resort to academic dishonesty and risk getting caught.
  4. Pay close attention to the exam guidelines. Live Pop-Ins can be disruptive to your exam experience and we try to keep them to a minimum, but we need your help in following directions. Make sure you’re in full view of the camera and make sure you’re alone in the room. (We’d hate to interrupt you because our system detects someone talking in the background when it’s just a roommate or sibling walking behind you.) Following the rules will help ensure that you don’t invite any unnecessary interruptions.

What if I’m having technical difficulties?

You can access our support team 24/7/365. You also have access to Support from the chat window before, during, and after the exam. The way we build our tool, once you log in we have access to who you are, your device info, and where you are in the LMS or Exam. This helps us troubleshoot the issue quicker, which means we get you back focused on your exam faster. We wish you all the best on your exams!

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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.

AI from a Proctor’s Perspective

Earlier this month, we sat down with two Honorlock remote proctors to hear about online exams from their point of view. Many thanks to Corey and Sa’ed for joining us to share their experiences. For more, you can read A Day in the Life of an Online Proctor. During our discussion, we asked them for their perspectives on several specific topics, including artificial intelligence. 

AI is currently a hot topic for discussion and debate in educational technology and with good reason—it provides new possibilities for both online and on-campus program growth, and, when used well, can lead to higher rates of student success. 

In the best cases, AI is paired with human involvement to provide the highest-quality education possible. And who better to pull back the curtain than two of the humans involved in that process? 

AI in Online Proctoring

Some automated proctoring solutions rely heavily on AI. While this has benefits, including ease of scheduling, there’s also a major drawback—no live proctor is present to intervene in real-time in the case of academic dishonesty. These exams are often reviewed after the fact by proctors, but at that point, all an instructor can do is take disciplinary action. There’s no opportunity for the student to get back on track during the exam. 

On the other hand, many proctoring platforms only use live proctoring. A live proctor is more able to intervene and often helps faculty feel at ease about the rigor of the testing process, but there are some drawbacks here as well. A live proctor’s attention is divided between multiple students, so they may miss an incident, and scheduling can also be a challenge for students. 

Live Proctor Pop-In

Honorlock’s remote proctors (and our technology) provide the perfect hybrid between automated and live proctoring so students and schools get the best of both. 

Live Pop-In means that 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 a student talking to someone else in the room—and the proctor pops in to identify what’s happening and intervene as needed. 

At the same time, the human aspect helps put 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 create a flag (like, for instance, reading a question aloud to themselves). 

How do remote proctors and AI work together?

To provide the best insight into how our AI works, we asked Corey and Sa’ed about their experiences working with it on a day-to-day basis. 

Corey: Live Pop-In is our way of intervening in a student’s session to get them back on track. If the AI detects potential dishonesty, it alerts us so we can pause the exam and start a live chat with the student to address the violation and correct the behavior in a timely manner.  It helps prevent academic dishonesty because we are able to intervene at the moment (often before cheating actually happens). This process also helps teach students the importance of having integrity, not only for their exams and courses but also for their professional lives after graduation.

Sa’ed: We try to prevent academic dishonesty before students even answer that first question. For instance, if we see notes during their pre-exam room scan, we can ask them to put the notes away. A student might be misinformed about the rules of their exam or may not have paid attention to the instructions. They usually comply and are able to move on with the exam as planned. 

How do remote proctors benefit from artificial intelligence?

Sa’ed: The AI helps keep us informed so we can make sure we’re paying attention to all exam sessions. I don’t have to worry about a student leaving and going off camera because, if they do, the AI will alert us and we will immediately attend to the alert. This makes my role as a proctor a bit easier.

Corey: As a human proctor, I don’t have the ability to watch every single student taking an exam at once, so we use artificial intelligence to help the proctoring team monitor students. If we receive a notification that the AI has detected multiple faces in the webcam, we will prioritize our time to assess the situation and intervene as necessary. I’m honored (no pun intended!) to be part of a company that constantly innovates and improves our artificial intelligence. Our AI is a great tool, and we have a fantastic engineering team that works on it.

What is your favorite Honorlock AI feature for exam proctoring?

Corey: We have a speech detection element that transcribes what students say out loud during their exams, and it alerts us if it hears specific keywords (such as “Hey Siri” or “Okay, Google”). It really helps when we have a high volume of students testing at the same time. 

Sa’ed: It’s pretty thorough at doing what it’s designed to do — from face detection to mobile phone use. If it detects a student using their phone, iPad or SmartWatch outside the view of the webcam, it alerts us. It documents exactly what the student is searching for and clicking on and their search activity is logged for the instructor to address with them.

Thanks to Corey and Sa’ed for joining us to answer a few questions about artificial intelligence and online proctoring. They’ll be back soon for one more post with exam tips to help students succeed. 

For more about artificial intelligence in higher education, read Artificial Intelligence and Online Proctoring: Friend or Foe? 

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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.

A Day in the Life of an Online Proctor

Anyone who’s taken a proctored online exam has likely wondered who is actually sitting on the other side of the technology. That’s why, for the next few posts, we’re pulling back the curtain so you can meet two of our proctors. We sat down with Corey and Sa’ed to get the details.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Corey: I’m a recent graduate of Florida Atlantic University. While in college, I served as the chairman of academics for my fraternity. I helped raise the fraternity’s average GPA by creating academic plans for at-risk students, and I helped students pick the best classes for their schedule. I joined Honorlock as a part-time technical support agent in college, and now I proctor online exams. 

Sa’ed: I was looking for a job in tech when I came across Honorlock. It seemed like a great company. It’s mostly e-learning, but tech does play a huge role. It’s also one of the few companies that integrate AI into proctoring, and the technology behind it is awesome. I started as a support agent in June and then was promoted to test proctoring a month ago. 

When you proctor online exams, what is the process?

Corey: When a student begins the exam, they are prompted to complete a few preliminary steps. After providing a form of identification and showing the webcam a 360-degree view of the testing area, the student is ready to begin. My role here at Honorlock is to monitor students in real-time to prevent any form of academic dishonesty from taking place and to help students have a positive testing experience.

Sa’ed: Proctoring starts by opening the student’s session and opening the session review page to watch their room scan and make sure that the student followed all Honorlock regulations (as well as any specific room scan regulations set forth by the professor). Then I monitor the student to ensure academic integrity is upheld.

Can you share about a time when a student was going to cheat and you were able to prevent it and get the student back on track?

Corey: One of the best aspects of live proctoring is that we prevent cheating from taking place rather than just flagging incidents and informing the professor after the fact. One time, I noticed unauthorized notes in a student’s room scan. Before the student read the first question, they were advised to put the notes away. The student apologized and after putting the notes away, was able to focus on their exam. The ability to prevent academic dishonesty is one of the most rewarding aspects of my role.

Sa’ed: I remember an instance where a student had notes ready to use that I was able to see in the room scan right before they were about to begin the exam. I initiated a “pop-in,” – a live chat –  and the student cooperated and removed the notes from the testing area.

What was most surprising to you when you first became a remote proctor?

Corey: I was most surprised by how many students wait until the very last minute to take their exams.

Sa’ed: I was most surprised by how seriously many students take it when a live proctor enters their session.  I don’t want to frighten them – I’m here to help.

What’s the biggest challenge you face when you proctor online exams?

Corey: I love my job, but it can be challenging when it’s midterms or finals week. We work extra hours to ensure all exams are effectively proctored and that students have an excellent experience. I am grateful for the awesome people that work with me to proctor everyone.

Sa’ed: Dealing with students that just don’t care enough about their exams and disregard instructions is a challenge.

What’s the most creative way a student has tried to cheat?

Corey: I don’t want to give away any information that can be used to aid academic dishonesty, so instead I’ll share the most ridiculous way a student tried to cheat. There appeared to be another person in this student’s room scan, and the student could be heard reading the questions out loud. They were also looking to the side right before answering each question – as if looking at someone or something that was providing the answers. You wouldn’t believe the look on the student’s face when we asked them to direct the other person to leave!

Sa’ed: The most creative way I’ve seen a student try to cheat was with a smartphone set up next to the laptop. They were wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap so that we couldn’t see their eyes looking towards the smartphone. The only problem was that they didn’t take into account that the screen of the smartphone was reflecting in their sunglasses. When asked to remove the glasses, the student claimed that they were needed for medical reasons. When asked to remove the smartphone, the student claimed that there was no smartphone!

Thanks so much to Corey and Sa’ed for sharing their proctored exam experiences! Hear more from them in these posts: AI from a Proctor’s Perspective and 4 Keys to Student Exam Success.

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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.

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.