Streamline Technology Implementation With Six Sigma

Follow the Six Sigma DMAIC process, which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control, to improve the efficiency of technology implementation at your institution.

In part one, we introduced Six Sigma, which is a set of tools to eliminate defects in production and errors in administration. Six Sigma quickly expanded in many industries thanks to success with manufacturing and technology companies such as Motorola and General Electric. 

In part two of this three-part series, we’ll discuss:

  • Steps to implementing Six Sigma
  • What you need to implement Six Sigma 
  • How Six Sigma Streamlines the Process of Implementing Technology
We’ll use an especially relevant and timely example in higher education:

implementing technology for online proctoring across an institution.

This example is relevant because many universities and colleges were forced to move their educational programs to an entirely online learning format due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

With the sudden move to virtual learning, institutions realized that they needed a way to protect the academic integrity of their online exams and they needed it fast.

Luckily, with a streamlined six sigma implementation process, schools were able apply online proctoring technology in as little as two days. Here’s how the Six Sigma DMAIC process can help streamline any technology implementation at your institution.

Steps to Six Sigma Implementation

Applying Six Sigma starts with the addressing problems and helps your team identify the kind of project that will solve or mitigate that problem. Your team should follow the Six Sigma DMAIC process, which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. 

Six Sigma DMAIC Chart

Let’s look at each phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC process in further detail:

Define
The first phase of DMAIC is to define the problems.
By specifically defining the problem, you improve your chances of successfully delivering on your mission to improve quality and save costs. At this stage, you may use process maps and set out what improvements you seek and/or what benefits you will accrue from the project. In the academic world, identifying the problem is crucial.

Example: As previously described, one problem that quickly cropped up for many schools in March 2020 was how to quickly transition to a fully online learning format and prevent academic dishonesty on their online exams. Institutions had concerns that cheating would increase in an online exam environment. They knew that in an unproctored testing environment, students could easily search for test questions and answers, refer to their notes, and share exam questions with other students.

Measure
Once you’ve defined the problems, you need to measure and collect relevant data about them.

Example: the institution defined the problems they face with the transition to a fully online learning environment and the vulnerability of their online exams without online proctoring.

Now, the institution can collect data on relevant questions such as:
  • How many total courses will be online?
  • How many of the courses require online proctored exams?
  • How many students will be taking proctored online exams?
  • What is the average length of time for an online exam?
  • How long does it take to review an exam and submit the results?
  • How can we integrate online proctoring with our existing LMS?
  • What are the pros and cons of our current online exam proctoring system?

Schools will be able to gather the appropriate data in short order, as most of these are common statistics known to the deans of each faculty and the registrar’s offices. 

If you already have online proctoring software in place but you’re evaluating a new online proctoring system, gather data on the benefits and the complaints you’ve received from faculty and students about the current system. Then, categorize the number and type of benefits and complaints in order to efficiently review and prioritize.

During the Measurement phase, Dr. Jill Simpson of the University of North Alabama College of Business, held focus groups with faculty and students about their experience with online proctoring systems to determine their needs.

Analyze
Once you’ve gathered your data, it’s time to analyze it to identify the primary causes of the problems.

Example: After Dr. Simpson conducted the focus groups, she analyzed the data and identified the root causes of the problems for both faculty and students.

Improve
In this phase, you’re testing solutions to fix and repair problems. The goal is to find permanent solutions to improve the problems you’ve identified.

Example: Faculty would test the online proctoring system to address any deficiencies and improvements and then provide feedback based on their experiences.

Control
Once you’ve made the improvements, you want to control the original problem to ensure that it does not come back. Do so by institutionalizing the improved procedures and technologies and continue to monitor and document the continued success.

Example: In this case, the university implements the online proctoring system and creates procedures, strategies, and documentation to ensure ongoing success and use. The institution should continually monitor the effectiveness of the online proctoring system by collecting relevant data such as student performance on the proctored online exams and overall feedback, and make adjustments to adapt to the changing needs.

What Do You Need to Implement Six Sigma?

Researchers have learned that making the best use of Six Sigma requires focusing on a small number of key performance drivers. To make it all work, you need the following components:
Senior leadership’s full buy-in
They should be trained on the philosophy and principles behind the tools that will assist in implementation. They will take steps to manage the positive change in the institution and encourage a culture of creativity and innovation. Quality improvement teams include both executives and supporting administrators.
Establish communication with stakeholders
The establishment of open and close communication with students, faculty, and other stakeholders. Develop rigorous and replicable methods of obtaining and evaluating everyone’s relevant input.
Create a formal training process
A formalized training process for all stakeholders who will be doing things the new way. One of the benefits of Honorlock is how easy it is for students to work with and what minimal demands it places on faculty members. Still, as with any new system, good training results in smooth implementation.
Develop a standardized Six Sigma framework
Development of a standardized Six Sigma framework for continuous improvement. Make sure you answer your progress questions, “How can we tell that we’re improving?”, “What are our Key Performance Indicators?”, “What does success look like?”

Streamline Online Proctoring Implementation

Research shows that institutions that successfully implement Six Sigma perform better in virtually every category. With thoughtful concern for the ways in which everyone can do their jobs better and more efficiently, universities can streamline technology onboarding, increase enrollments, improve fundraising, control costs, better engage faculty and staff, and, ultimately, improve students’ learning experience. 

Honorlock online proctoring has many similarities with Six Sigma’s methodology because it provides faculty with the ability to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control their proctored online exams.

In the third and final part of this series, we’ll show you that Honorlock online proctoring and Six Sigma have more in common than you think. We’ll show you features and functionality that will define, measure, analyze, improve and control your online exams.

Read Part 1 of this series: What is Six Sigma and how does it apply to higher education?

Read Part 3 of this series: What does online proctoring and Six Sigma have in common?

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Tyler Stike

Tyler has over a decade of experience in ed tech and higher education. He focuses on creating relevant and useful content for educators, institutions, and technologists.

What Does Online Proctoring and Six Sigma Have in Common?

woman proctoring online exam
In the third and final part of this three-part series, we’ll show you how online proctoring and Six Sigma technology have more in common than you think. See how you can define, measure, analyze, improve and control your online exams.

In our previous two blogs, we introduced Six Sigma—a methodology and set of principles that eliminate errors and improve processes—and then discussed how its DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) steps can help universities streamline technology implementation and  tackle a variety of administrative issues. 
Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Applying Six Sigma begins with defining the problem that needs to be solved. When the problem is protecting the academic integrity of your online exams and recognizing the need to implement online proctoring technology, Honorlock’s online assessment resources help you every step along the way. Let’s see how.

Define Your Problems

When you first reach out to Honorlock, you have probably already defined your problem and identified the need to protect academic integrity and improve the proctored exam experience for your faculty and students. 

We will work with you to define and identify exactly what needs to be addressed. Here are some examples:
Have your students reported that they underperformed on their exams because they felt anxious from being constantly watched by a live online proctor during their online exam?
Honorlock’s online proctoring blends the benefits of AI with a human touch. Our online proctoring software watches for possible violations, and records the student’s screen during the proctored online exam, but a live proctor will only intervene when necessary through a chat box. This can be a less intimidating and non-invasive proctored testing experience for the student.
Are your faculty tired of their test questions appearing on study sites without their permission?
Honorlock’s proprietary Search and Destroy software scours the internet for unauthorized copies of your test questions and requests that they be removed.
Are you concerned that students may use a cell phone or another device to look up test questions?
Honorlock’s online assessment resources have you covered with the industry’s first and only online proctoring technology to detect cell phones and other device use while a student is taking a proctored online exam. Our online proctoring software can detect when these devices are accessing test bank content during an online exam. Honorlock also captures a screen recording of the websites visited to provide evidence in the event of a violation.
Do your students complain about having to download bulky proctoring software?
Honorlock’s lightweight Chrome Extension takes moments to install, seconds to delete, and integrates seamlessly with your existing LMS.

Measure & Analyze for Better Performance

Honorlock makes it simple to measure and analyze the data collected in your online proctored exams. University of Florida psychology lecturer Ryan P. Mears found that out, much to his gratification: 

“I felt that I couldn’t trust my test scores before Honorlock. The analytics that come with the flags and real-time recording helped me to understand how students were approaching the course and what strategies they were using to pass the test. Honorlock helped me make sense of what was going on in my online course and it gave me confidence that academic integrity was upheld.”

Mears was able to adjust his questions to better encourage his students to show him what they had learned, which is what all course assessments strive to do.

“Honorlock was more than a tool to guard or block students from using inappropriate information. It was also a means to detect and determine many different ways that students approach the exams. Because of access to the wealth of data/information through Honorlock, I became better able to utilize it,” Mears said.

Reduce Errors and Improve Efficiency

The budding scientists and engineers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute spend their lives thinking about making things work efficiently. When things weren’t going efficiently with WPI’s first online proctoring solution, the students and their instructors spoke up, and the administration responded.

After piloting multiple new online proctoring solutions, WPI chose Honorlock.

We provided them with their following top three goals for improvement:
  1. Successful proctoring of paper-based assessments
  2. Modest learning curve for students and faculty so they could focus on learning and teaching and not the technology
  3. Unlimited flexibility for students taking online exams 

Control Your Online Exams Cost Effectively

The WPI example showcases just a few of the many ways Honorlock can help you improve and thereafter maintain control of your proctored online exams. WPI began using Honorlock in 2019, but then worked with us to help them through the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020.

The entire higher education universe was thrown into turmoil as well, but, as another of Honorlock’s pre-pandemic clients, University of Florida’s Director of Distance Learning & Continuing Education Brian Marchman notes, there have been some “silver linings”:

“We had not planned in our budget for any way to pay for this, so we had to find the funds and not put it on the backs of students, and they were able to make it work for us… We were over a barrel, and they didn’t take advantage of that.”

During that historic spring 2020 semester, Honorlock helped UF administer over 154,000 proctored exams.

Honorlock’s flat-rate cost per online exam or user allows institutions to accurately estimate online exam costs, saving time and removing concerns of variable cost hikes.

Control Your Honorlock Demo

The best way to see exactly how Honorlock can give you more control over online exam proctoring is by scheduling a demo. Here’s what we’ll show you:
Exclusive features and functionality:
  • Automated proctoring + live proctoring
  • Online exam question and content protection
  • Multi-device detection
  • Student authentication in less than a minute
Student experience:
  • Demo a online exam proctoring as a student
  • Student data privacy
Instructor experience:
  • Ease of online exam set up
  • Customizing proctored online exams and accessibility
  • Reviewing online exam reports
A number of our clients switched to Honorlock after experiencing problems with their previous online proctoring systems. Here are three reasons we are confident that more will join them:
  • You can implement Honorlock online proctoring in just 2-days 
  • We have over 300 higher education partners of all sizes
  • We’re proud of our 100% customer retention rate

Inspired by Six Sigma processes that have helped a number of different industries work better and save billions of dollars, Honorlock takes a controlled and efficient approach, offering your institution the best way to proctor your online exams, protect your academic reputation and helping students and faculty to thrive.

Honorlock is an ongoing partner to help you:

  • Define problems and the scope of your online proctoring needs
  • Measure and collect relevant data of your online exam proctoring success
  • Analyze your data to make informed decisions and adjustments 
  • Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your online exams
  • Control your proctored online exams and associated costs

Read Part 1 of this series: What is Six Sigma and How does it Apply to Higher Education?

Read Part 2 of this series: Streamline technology implementation with Six Sigma

Sign up below to receive more resources for tips, best practices, white papers, and industry trends

Want to see Honorlock in action? Schedule a demo.

Tyler Stike

Tyler has over a decade of experience in ed tech and higher education. He focuses on creating relevant and useful content for educators, institutions, and technologists.

How Higher Education Leaders Can Reduce Staff Stress

Lee Skallerup Bessette wrote an excellent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “The Staff are Not OK!” where she reminds us that it is past time to pay attention to the health and well-being of the staff members whose work has pulled our campuses through the Covid-19 crisis. In our scramble to move courses online, our staff members have had to work tirelessly to keep our institutions afloat, in an uncertain environment fraught with fear, often at the expense of their own mental and physical health. 

Mark McCormack at Educause then used that article as a starting point to develop an Educause Quick Poll on Stress in the Workplace, which yielded some eye-opening results.

McCormack checked in with more than 1,500 higher ed IT and tech professionals to see what their stress levels might reveal and explore opportunities to improve well-being going forward.

The poll methodology was as follows:

“The poll was conducted on January 12, 2021, consisted of 10 questions and resulted in 1,522 complete responses. Poll invitations were sent to participants in EDUCAUSE community groups focused on IT leadership. Our sample represents a balanced range of institution types and FTE sizes, and most respondents (96%) represented US institutions.”Ibid

Findings include:

Staff members are stressed out. A strong majority of respondents (76%) reported that their level of workplace stress has increased since the beginning of the pandemic. The figure is even higher for those focused on supporting remote teaching and learning, no surprises there.

They expect more of the same, if not worse.  Yikes.  Few respondents expect relief from stress in the near future.  54% of respondents said they expect their stress to stay about the same as it is now. 36% expect their level of stress to increase over the next 12 months.

They are doing more work with fewer resources and less certainty. 43% cited “additional responsibilities or increased workload” and 38% felt “insufficient staffing in key areas of my work” (38%) were the main drivers contributing to their stress.

“Uncertainty about the future of my institution and/or career” (30%) makes up the last of the top three stress factors. This particular source of stress appears to be more prevalent from the smallest institutions—36%, compared with only 27% among those at the largest institutions.

The top three symptoms noted on all this stress are:

  • Difficulty concentrating while working on tasks 60%
  • Not being able to maintain workplace habits that nurture well being 54%
  • Less energy/more tired at work 42%

To be fair, there was evidence that institutions are trying to step up.  52% of respondents reported that their institution has provided more flexible work hours or schedules, and just under half (45%) reported receiving messages of empathy and understanding from their leadership.

Another interesting finding was most felt supervisory guidance and team-building are lacking.

“Only a quarter of respondents reported receiving guidance or support from their supervisor for managing their health and well-being, while roughly a fifth reported receiving additional PTO from their institution. Very few (9%) reported having more frequent or regular team-building activities or opportunities.”

However, the bad news was that approximately 6% of respondents told us that they have received none of the above supports from their institution.” Ibid

As in any survey, the qualitative information is as informative as the quantitative numbers.

  • Workloads and expectations of staff have not been adjusted

“Now that things have settled a bit…and most courses are operating fine remotely, the workload hasn’t decreased. Other things have taken that place, and we’re still overworked. I guess overworked is our ‘new normal.’”

  • Many staff are feeling overlooked 

“Better recognition (staffing, pay, or simple recognition of work performed), especially for good work done by understaffed offices.”

  • More transparent and frequent communication from leadership is critical  

“Communication has gotten worse during the pandemic, leading to confusion, animosity, and frustration. Clear communication is key.”

How Can Higher Ed Leaders Help Reduce Staff Stress?

There are some stress reduction methods the poll participants were using on their own to help their stress and sense of isolation. Supporting and promoting these stress reduction activities can go a long way with your staff.

These personal strategies include:

  • Increasing physical and mental activities such as going for walks, or meditation that momentarily disconnect them from work and help them feel refreshed.

“An increased focus on meditation, prayer, and acceptance. A daily gratitude practice has been critical as well.”

  • Finding ways to connect with others to mitigate social isolation.

“After-work virtual cocktail socials with others in my field. Participating in more virtual conferences.”

  • Daily work practices and boundaries help.

“Having a routine and a regular place designated for work has helped me avoid stress during this time.”

They also had these ideas for supervisors and institutional leadership.

  • Provide flexibility both in terms of working arrangements and schedules. Flexibility was mentioned as a long-term policy, even after the pandemic has lifted.

“[Because I am] a single mother, flexibility is probably more important than even salary. I have a long commute, and the ability to work from home has greatly DECREASED my stress. I have an extra 3 hours in my day. This is huge. I’m more productive at home and have more time with my teenage kids.”

  • Establish healthy policies and boundaries. “No meeting” times and limiting evening and weekend email activity were suggested.

“I schedule meetings for 45 minutes rather than an hour and take the 15 minutes to walk away from my home computer. I also schedule walks outside twice each day for 20 minutes each.”

  • Listen.

“Display more empathy and understanding from the top. There is not much that can be done to make things measurably better, but knowing the leadership understands is helpful.”

“Ask. Listen. Ask. Listen. Repeat.”

We can all do more as a society to recognize the effort that has been put forth for the betterment of our academic institutions and the students we serve.  Honorlock sees the effort first hand, working with our clients across the country.  We salute everyone who has been laboring to keep our education efforts running smoothly (even if it didn’t always feel that way to our educators).  If Honorlock’s online exam proctoring can make your testing approach easier, please reach out to us.  We know the work you do is so important and consider it our mission to contribute however we can.

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1 Lee Skallerup Bessette, “The Staff Are Not OK,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 30, 2020.
2 Mark McCormack, Educause Quick Poll Results:  Stress in the workplace, Educause Review, January 15, 2021.

Jan Wilson

As an organizational development and learning consultant, Jan has provided strategic planning, process alignment, change management, curriculum development and planning, as well as learning solutions to a variety of clients in pharma, healthcare and state governments. Jan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in information technology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from Vanderbilt University, also in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, she has served as adjunct faculty at the Peabody School of Vanderbilt University.

What is Transformational Leadership?

There’s no one size fits all style for effective leadership in teaching; many variables can affect the type of leadership that is needed, such as the industry and size of the team. While there are many leadership styles, Transformational Leadership has gained much attention and is highly sought after across many industries including higher education.

Simply put, transformational leaders inspire and motivate others to create positive change. While that may seem broad, it’s important to understand the specific qualities that drive transformational leaders and how they impact others, as well as the nuances of this leadership style. 

This blog will address:

What is Transformational Leadership?

  • What are the qualities of a transformational leader?
  • What are the four elements of Transformational Leadership?
  • Transformational Leadership vs Transactional Leadership
  • Where is Transformational Leadership used?

The need for Transformational Leadership in Higher Education

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What is Transformational Leadership?

Transformational Leadership is a leadership style that encourages, motivates, and inspires others to create change and grow the future of the organization. This results in an engaged and productive workforce that feels empowered and supported. 

Marc Hardy Ph.D., leadership expert and creator of Leadership Through Sharing Fire, describes the importance of leading by teaching as a transformational leader, “To be remembered as a transformative leader, we need to see ourselves as a teacher who gives people the tools to create a better professional and personal life. If we want to be remembered as a person who truly had an impact on the lives of others and the organization, we should be willing to share knowledge and guidance.“

The concept of Transformational Leadership was initially introduced in 1978 by leadership expert James MacGregor Burns and further developed by researcher Bernard Bass. Transformational leaders create a clear vision and lead by example to build the trust and confidence of their teams. So what’s in it for this type of leader? “More productive and happy employees. People who look up to you and admire and trust you, not because of your power, but because of your perceptions of them and your belief in their potential,” said Hardy.

What are the qualities of a transformational leader?

Transformational leaders create change in their team and organization. While it’s hard to note every characteristic, here are five common qualities of a transformational leader:

1. Adaptable and innovative

Regardless of the industry, leaders must be able to adapt to the fast-paced and ever-changing work environment and market. They’re able to quickly recognize the situation and audience to adapt accordingly, while still remaining authentic. Transformational leaders are innovative when faced with uncertainty and new situations and seek creative ways to plan and take action. 

2. Forward-thinking and proactive

In contrast to many styles of leadership that aim to maintain the status quo and keep operations afloat, transformational leaders are always thinking “what’s next?” Transformational leaders understand what needs to change and have a great sense of the bigger picture for the team and organization. 

3. Communicative and transparent

Transformational leaders are not only forward-thinking and proactive, they also clearly communicate their vision and goals to their team and organization. Clarity provides context and clear direction of what’s needed to be successful. Oftentimes, trust is built by genuine communication and transparency. Building trust is key to establishing an engaged team that feels heard and supported.

4. Emotionally intelligent and self-aware

Emotional intelligence is key for leaders because it allows them to harness their emotions and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. This reflection provides a true look at areas to improve and continue learning for themselves and others. 

5. Charismatic with strong interpersonal skills

The main focus for transformational leaders is the ability to connect with their team to inspire and motivate them to create a better future. The ability to rally their team towards a clear vision requires charisma and strong interpersonal skills. This includes being truly present, listening, inspiring, and building trust and credibility with stakeholders. 

What are the four elements of Transformational Leadership?

Bass identified four elements needed for transformational leadership:

1. Idealized Influence

1. Idealized Influence

Transformational leaders lead by example and act as role models for their team. When leaders “walk the talk,” they not only build trust and gain admiration from their team, they also demonstrate the qualities that are expected from others. 

2. Inspirational Motivation

Provide clear vision

Transformational leaders provide a clear vision and direction to inspire and motivate others on the team. This helps motivate others to improve their performance and improves morale. The first two elements, Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation, create a strong foundation of credibility and trust with the team.

3. Individualized Consideration

Know your team and build trust

As with any team, each individual has specific needs and expectations. Some are motivated by monetary bonuses, while others are motivated by a simple thank you. Transformational leaders need the ability to identify key motivators for each individual in order to develop and inspire them to continue growing. Truly knowing the individuals on the team allows leaders to grow and develop each individual’s skills and progression in their role.

4. Intellectual Stimulation

Encourage creativity and innovation

Transformational leaders encourage and support others to be creative and think outside the box. By creating a culture that encourages creativity and innovation, job satisfaction and performance can increase as well as overall team morale.

Transformational Leadership vs Transactional Leadership

What is the difference between Transformational Leadership and Transactional Leadership?

What is Transactional Leadership?

Transactional Leadership essentially rewards and incentivizes good performance and uses power to discipline employees based on poor performance. This style of leadership in teaching has a strict structure and order based on process and control. Generally, transactional leaders are focused on maintaining the normal flow of operations today, not strategically looking ahead at tomorrow.

Transactional Leadership Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Simple to implement and follow
  • Quickly addresses operational details
  • Incentives can be a strong motivator for performance
  • Eliminates confusion with the chain of command

Cons:

  • Removes individuality and innovation
  • Does not prepare others to lead
  • No empathy is provided
  • Tends to focus more on discipline and consequences than rewards

The main difference between the two leadership styles is that Transactional Leadership is focused on maintaining results today through process and control, while Transformational Leadership is focused on tomorrow’s vision and innovation by inspiring others to create positive change. 

Where is Transformational Leadership used?

More and more industries are recognizing the positive impact of Transformational Leadership. From technology and finance to education and government – transformational leaders are needed to drive organizations towards success. Transformational leaders thrive in changing markets and new situations because they’re constantly thinking ahead and planning for the future. They’re aware of what’s changing and how their team and organization need to adapt and stay ahead. 

According to Hardy, Transformational Leadership isn’t just a new style of leading, but something that should be adopted across all industries, including higher education, “If we truly want to create successful, sustainable organizations, from the top down we need to discard the old industrial model of negative cultures that no longer work in today’s world and adopt the new models of leadership based on compassion, people and positive psychology.”

The need for Transformational Leadership in Higher Education

While Transformational leadership is increasingly popular across every industry, it’s perfectly aligned with the needs of higher education and can create positive change for the faculty and students of the institution. 

Transformational leaders have the ability to drive student engagement by listening to their views and showing understanding, sparking important discussions through open lines of communication, and encouraging students to do better not only for themselves but for their classmates and campus community.

Increased student engagement typically yields a better learning experience and, ultimately, student success. 

Whether it’s an instructor developing thoughtful class discussions and effective online exams or a dean creating diversity and inclusion initiatives or strategies to engage donors, transformational leaders march towards their vision of a better educational experience for everyone.

“My hat is off to those leaders who understand the importance of leading positive change and who walk their talk. There are some very enlightened leaders emerging who embrace the creation of a positive culture and have had tremendous success,” Hardy explained. With workplaces and industries that are constantly changing and evolving, strong leadership is more important than ever. Understanding the true impact of Transformational Leadership will not only allow your team and organization to adapt and grow, but it’ll also inspire and motivate the next generation of leaders in the workforce.

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Tyler Stike

Tyler has over a decade of experience in ed tech and higher education. He focuses on creating relevant and useful content for educators, institutions, and technologists.

Rapid Shift to Online Education Helps Universities Cope in Uncertain Times

Imagine what would have happened to colleges and universities in 2020 without the online education technology to allow teaching and learning to continue as it did. OK, stop! It was painful enough for those who had never used such technology before but imagine a complete shutdown of all higher education that a similar pandemic would have caused just 10 or 15 years ago. 

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

Set Up Proctoring in 2 Days

The good news for students who want to learn and teachers who want to teach is that most schools were able to respond. Some did it seamlessly, many did it heroically, and they all did it during an unprecedented crisis that hit hard in March 2020  and kept presenting new challenges throughout the year. People who had never before heard the words “online proctored exam” became creative test builders or savvy online test takers within a month. While the uncertain times continue into the winter, even as the first vaccines are being administered, let’s take a look at how today’s online education technology has helped institutions cope with remote schooling.

Old Hands at Online Education

Many schools have offered online courses toward degree programs for the past five, 10, or 20 years. Even schools known for their in-person undergraduate and graduate programs, such as Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Southern California have offered online courses. 

Students from all over the world could take courses in those universities’ distance learning programs, which allowed the schools to expand their mission and—sometimes over the objections of those who feared that academic standards would suffer—enter a lucrative market. Locally, meanwhile, online courses could help traditional students catch up if, for example, they had to take a semester off for personal or financial reasons.

Transition-Ready

Schools that already invested in their own systems were better placed to convert their courses to an online environment, even if the majority of their faculty had never taught online before. To be sure, instructors had to put in an immense amount of work to learn new software and, in many cases, reconceptualize their courses for an online environment. The psychological toll may take years to work itself out, and, while digital transformation can’t be considered a panacea for all that ails higher education, the success stories from this era will certainly contribute to an expanded sense of what’s possible, both now and in the future.

Video Classrooms and Conferencing

As noted, in some schools, the capability to run courses online has been developing for some time, and the support of companies that provide online test proctoring services has also been growing. The ability for instructors to see and hear 25 or more students on-screen at once has become widespread, even if it was only encountered for the first time during the COVID-19 crisis. Students can ask questions of teaching assistants in real-time chat boxes and smaller numbers can meet in online “breakout rooms” for focused discussions and group work.

Many schools without their own dedicated online classroom platforms were able to adapt their video conferencing services that were not originally set up with universities in mind. These services were able to help in a pinch and also allowed instructors and tech staffers to learn what works and what needed to improve with a given interface and student experience as they planned for the future.

How One School Quickly Integrated Online Proctored Exams

When it came time for course assessments, particularly high stakes midterm and final exams, companies such as Honorlock stepped into the breach to help schools maintain academic integrity even as an exponentially greater number of students took web proctored exams for the first time.

Like many schools, Broward College had to react fast. As one of the United States’ largest community colleges, Broward serves approximately 67,000 students, many of whom are the first in their families to pursue their formal education beyond high school. To fulfill their promise to these students in the face of the pandemic, Broward went full steam ahead to transition courses to a fully online environment. Naturally, they faced many of the same obstacles other schools did, as well as those unique to their community. They needed an online proctoring solution that would become a true resource, not an additional problem.

Data Privacy and Building Trust

Daphne St. Val, Senior Instructional Designer at Broward, noted that students were initially concerned about their privacy, but “little by little,” she said, they became comfortable: “When you install the [lightweight Chrome browser] extension, it’s not tapping into anything other than what you do during your screen sharing.”

Support for Faculty and Students

Many instructors and students struggled during the beginning of the pandemic due to the rushed learning curve associated with video-based courses and online test proctoring systems. In contrast, Honorlock users reported relief. “Having access to 24/7/365 support is huge, said St. Val. Especially during times like this when students may be taking exams at any time of day. You want them to have access to someone who can troubleshoot with them.”

Exclusive Online Proctoring Features You Can’t Get Anywhere Else

Three exclusive features that St. Val said particularly sets Honorlock apart from other online proctoring solutions are Live Pop-In™, Search and Destroy™, and Multi-Device Detection. In brief, our AI monitors each exam and only notifies our always-available human proctors when a possible violation of academic integrity (e.g., another voice in the room, a student getting up from the desk) has occurred. Meanwhile, our proprietary software searches the internet for unauthorized copies of the instructor’s test questions and issues copyright take-down orders from question-pool sites. We can also detect whether a student searches for test questions with a smartphone or tablet during the exam itself.

You can see more about Broward’s success story, and those of a range of other schools, here. 

Into the Future

As students take more and more classes online, we may look back on this pandemic nightmare as the beginning of a brighter future for instructors and students. A future that provides instructors and students with broader capabilities to teach and learn, offer classes, and remotely proctor exams to ensure student success.

Want to see Honorlock in action? Request a demo. 

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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.

Educational Tech Trends to Look for in 2021

2020 brought many challenges and unexpected changes to every industry, including education technology. Educational institutions around the world scrambled to transition their on-campus programs to an online format. Honorlock’s online test proctoring solution evolved and scaled with changes this past year and helped hundreds of universities and colleges transition to an online format that is secure, scalable, and cost-effective. While many anticipate another year of uncertainty, here are a few trends in educational technology to look forward to in 2021.

Security and Privacy

Security is a growing concern in every sector of technology. From fingerprint identification to passwords to public Wi-Fi, the modern world seems fraught with opportunities for personal information to be compromised. Privacy is especially top of mind for faculty, administrators, and students in educational settings. As new tech for education provides more flexible learning than ever before, boundaries are needed to ensure rigor and these boundaries can carry some concerns.

For instance, in online proctoring, monitoring is necessary to protect academic integrity, but students want to know that they can still maintain privacy. This is why transparency will continue to be a key factor for educational technology companies. 

From information about how personal data is stored (or not) to insight into how online proctors can prevent cheating without accessing a student’s browsing history or the activity of other devices on their network, students and faculty want to be sure that they can maintain their online security. We’re proud to offer high-quality security to our students today, and we look forward to continued developments as the year progresses.

Accessibility

Pairing education with technology has already done so much to allow students with disabilities to access more course materials than ever before — including providing the flexibility to learn from home. From screen readers to text-to-talk features to auto-generated captions on video and audio materials, students have better access to educational resources than they ever have, but accessibility continues to be a major concern for most institutions. 

As much as technology has improved accessibility, it also often relies on a single mode of content delivery — typically visual or auditory. It’s vital to provide the same quality of education across all levels of ability, however, and tech advances in the next year (and beyond) will likely move us in that direction. From making sure that online exams work for students with visual impairments to providing accurate transcripts of online lectures for students who are hearing-impaired, these moves forward will help schools make sure that all students have access to educational opportunities.  

Artificial Intelligence

Anywhere you turn, someone is talking about AI. It’s integrated itself into our daily lives at home and on the go in our smartphones and smart home devices. It makes day-to-day life better, and it has huge potential to continue improving things for all of us — especially in educational technology fields. 

The possibilities for AI in education are virtually unlimited. We’re already using it to provide a hybrid between live proctoring and record-and-review exams, and other platforms are using it too. It can help relieve pressure on faculty and administration by reducing the need for human involvement in tasks like proctoring, and it can also help make the student experience more integrated and personal. 

Right now, we can only imagine how this field will expand — not just in the next year, but also in the next decade. As AI  technology continues advancing, more and more will become possible — making life easier for faculty, staff, and students. 

Mobile Learning

Technology that moves us toward more mobile learning opportunities is another hot topic in education right now. Like the rest of the world, there’s a strong push for mobility — most of us can already do most of what we need to do on a daily basis using our smartphones and tablets, so why should learning be any different? 

While the effectiveness of mobile learning is still a bit controversial — as are most technological advances — moves in this direction are an important way to provide better educational opportunities to more people. This is a vital learning tool for working adults. It allows them to tune into a lecture or take a quiz over lunch, fitting their learning around their already-busy lives. 

Many systems have already started moving toward mobility by providing access to LMS dashboards and online exams via a tablet. More development is needed to make this a reliable vehicle for teaching and learning, but 2021 is sure to continue moving us in this direction, allowing institutions to continue reaching more diverse learners. 

To 2021 — and Beyond!

As we think back on how far education has come recently, we can’t help but get excited about helping more educational institutions in 2021. It will be an interesting year ahead of us on the ed tech front. From personalized learning to virtual reality and new developments that we can’t even begin to imagine, tech for education will continue to shape the ways we learn and communicate.

We can’t wait to see what 2021 has to offer and to share the new trends in educational technology we’ve been working on here at Honorlock.

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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.

Academic Integrity in the Online Era

At Honorlock, we pride ourselves on helping educational institutions preserve their academic integrity. Most of you, whether students, faculty, or administrators, will be aware of this phrase. Some of you will have thought deeply about academic integrity, while others may think of it only in passing. A few may have come into stark awareness of academic integrity only after being accused of violating it on an examination or a written assignment for a class. In part because of those circumstances, perhaps too much discussion of and emotion about academic integrity centers upon negative behaviors and instances when individuals fall short of the ideal.

In contrast, the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) exists to focus on and champion the positive values associated with our intrinsic drive to do good, not just do well. These fundamental values, honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage, each warrant a look when considering what remote proctoring solution a school administrator chooses, how faculty members create assessments for their students (and indeed how they produce their own research), and how students approach the pursuit of their degrees and their education. They also play an integral role in how Honorlock operates as a company.

Honesty

Honesty is not just the proverbial best policy, ICAI notes that it’s an “indispensable foundation of teaching, learning, research, and service, and a necessary prerequisite” for the five other fundamental values. Institutions need to be clear that dishonest behaviors in an academic community are unacceptable.

Honesty and honor are closely related. The temptation to take short cuts during one’s academic career can be overwhelming, and whether it’s due to stress or disconnection, or “nobody will know,” an extensive and recent ICAI academic integrity survey paints a troubling picture of the percentage of students who admit to betraying their honor at some time or another when completing an assignment.

What can remote proctoring software do in this environment? The answer is help schools limit the temptation, by providing effective deterrence for those who may be tempted to put short-term gains ahead of their own, and their institution’s academic integrity. 

Fairness

Humans have a compelling need to feel that they have been treated fairly. “Life” may not be fair, and, in a competitive economy, things may not always break our way, but we still demand that others deal fairly with us. Our educational communities can be fortified by “predictability, transparency, and clear, reasonable expectations,” as ICAI puts it.

Students want their grade evaluations to be impartial and accurate, and fairness in this sense is what builds trust between them and their instructors and institutions. Honest students need to feel confident that their peers are not gaining an unfair advantage by acting dishonestly. For courses with high stakes online midterms and final exams, Honorlock’s AI, backed up by live human proctors, performs a vital service in ensuring fairness for all.

Respect

“Respect in academic communities,” ICAI reminds us, “is reciprocal and requires showing respect for oneself as well as others.” For the individual, respect means “facing challenges with integrity.” For the group, making sure each member both shows and feels respect is everyone’s responsibility.

When students behave with integrity, they demonstrate respect to themselves, their peers, their families, their teachers, and their school. They also show respect to the alumni who have come before them and whose ranks they hope to proudly join having maintained their school’s good name.

Honorlock was founded by students, and we respect the commitment that everyone in the academic community makes for maintaining academic integrity with our 24/7/365 support. We appreciate our opportunity to contribute to an environment that fosters respect by ensuring that remotely proctored exams are conducted both conveniently and fairly. 

Responsibility

Here is the ICAI on responsibility:

Academic communities of integrity rest upon foundations of personal accountability coupled with the willingness of individuals and groups to lead by example, uphold mutually agreed-upon standards, and take action when they encounter wrongdoing.

Schools are taking on a wider responsibility for the education of the population by expanding their reach through distance learning, and part of that responsibility is ensuring the fairness of their remotely proctored assessments. Schools that successfully shoulder this responsibility engender credibility with the world at large. 

Courage

ICAI highlights courage last because it is less a value than a “quality or capacity” that allows us to act according to our values. Courage is “an element of character” that helps students hold themselves and each other to the highest standards. 

It takes courage to act with integrity when fear creeps in, or when stress derails us. But, in a way similar to intellectual capacity, ICAI concludes, “courage can only develop in environments where it is tested.” 

Protect Academic Integrity with Honorlock’s Remote Proctoring Software

Take courage as you make the most of your experience as a student, faculty member, or administrator. If you’d like to learn more about how Honorlock’s remote proctoring software can help preserve your institution’s values of maintaining academic integrity, request a demo. 

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Alice Cifuentes

Alice has several years of marketing experience within healthcare and most recently in higher education focused on social media growth, tradeshow management, and communication. She is passionate about creatively navigating new challenges and discovering innovative ways to connect with educators.

Surviving Remote Teaching

We recently hosted a live webinar entitled, “Surviving Remote Teaching:  Top 5 Things You Need to Know,” with Gabriela Alvarez, the Director of Learning Design and Innovation at Florida International University.  The information was so helpful, we wanted to share it with our blog readers. We hope you find these remote teaching tips informative and helpful as you prepare for the Fall semester.

The Top 5 Things presented by Gaby are rooted in the Community of Inquiry Model pictured below.

All these various inputs drive learners’ educational experience.  Distance learning is no different.  Teaching is teaching, no matter the medium, but how you present your distance sessions are guided by the following interactions:  

  • Instructor to Student – or how well you interact virtually with your learners 
  • Student to Student – how your students interact virtually with each other
  • Student to Content – how your students interact with the content you provide for them.

We can impact how well our students perform by using these interactions to guide our design of distance learning as well as our own behavior while doing so.

So, here are the 5 Remote Teaching Tips:

Tip 1: Your design really, really matters.

Everyone realizes that we are moving from “Emergency Remote Teaching” to a more thoughtful online mechanism of learning, now that the crisis seems to be passing a bit.  Here are a few things to think about as you contemplate your online sessions’ design.

  • Consider what elements of your teaching benefit most from real-time interaction.  That means really turn a critical eye toward what you need to teach in an interactive fashion.  It may seem onerous, especially in the early stages, to think you have to “be on” every moment of every session, but the truth is, you don’t necessarily have to be.  Think about engaging ways for the students to explore the content without you providing didactic instruction.  
  • Flip where you can. The flipped classroom has been very successful in schools and businesses.  Learners consume pre-recorded content (even by you!) and then come to their synchronous sessions to deep dive into the application.
  • Plan your synchronous interactions.  
  • Simplify where you can.  So much of what we have in the classroom is because we are face to face.  How much of that do you really need to get your instruction across?  Students (as well as teachers, especially now) are trying to balance access, content and structure in and out of our academic lives – so give yourself a break and figure out the best, easiest way.

TIP 2: Your Attendance Is Mandatory

And by that, we mean you.  Not them.  You must be present and engaged to win.  As in Tip 1, people are stressed and you need to try to be intentional with providing opportunities for the student to interact with you.  Here are a few ideas:

  • Let your students get to know you and each other. Spend time intentionally getting to know them and letting them know you.  You’d be surprised at the calming influence this can be for them.
  • Send frequent announcements.  Communication is always key in stressful situations.  Don’t assume they know.  Make sure you tell them.
  • Give substantive feedback.  Teaching is feedback, no matter the medium!  Make sure you develop a way to provide the feedback they need.  They may need more or less right now.  Just ask and follow through.
  • Hold virtual office hours.  Make sure they can contact you.  It also helps to put a lid on the “noise” you may receive in a digital world.  Remember, time and place is interrupted in the digital space.  Where they may hold their questions till “next class” in the brick and mortar world, in the digital space, they can ask things on the fly.  And probably will expect an answer in that way as well.  So making sure they understand when you will be available will save everyone some angst.

TIP 3: Establish boundaries and Set Expectations on at least two parameters:

PERFORMANCE

  • How often, when and how?  Make sure they clearly know what to do.
  • Proctoring requirements, especially if you are new to proctoring
  • Other online-specific course policies that you may have

INTERACTIONS

  • How do you expect students to interact in your course?
  • How can they expect you will interact throughout the course?  Make sure they understand how you expect the class to communicate.

Check out the webinar below to see an example of FIU’s template.  Yours may be different, but it’s a good exercise to go through to understand what expectations are.

Tip 4: Usability matters…a lot!

Spend time looking at your course as if you were a student.  If you have to, enlist others who aren’t as close to the instruction as you might be.  They can sometimes see things you don’t.  If they are having trouble, your students will be having trouble.  For example, these are some things to watch for:

  • Is the course navigation logical and consistent?  If people are lost in the navigation, they don’t consume the content, plain and simple.
  • Is the text-based content legible?  Are you using an old copy of a copy that you scanned in?  Go find the original and make sure people can see what you need them to see.
  • Test your course site navigation (as a student).
  • Orient your student to the layout of your course.  Spend a bit of time (it can even be a pre-recorded module!) that walks them through how to get around in your course.
  • Provide instructions on how and where to solicit technical support.  And lastly, you aren’t the Luddite whisper.  In a very nice manner, post where they go for password resets, etc.

TIP 5: Mind your policies.

Especially if you teach at multiple institutions, make sure you understand what the privacy and accessibility standards might be.

Family Educational Protection Act (FERPA)

Guidelines to consider are personally identifiable information privacy:

  • Know how directory information is defined at your institution.
  • Use the technology provided by your institution.
  • Do not post student grades publicly.
  • Can I record my synchronous sessions?
  • Consider your proctoring procedures.

Consider the abilities of ALL your students in a digital space:

  • Videos should be captioned.
  • Audio files should have transcripts.
  • Use color carefully.
  • Provide accessible documents formats.
  • Provide alternative text for images.

Well, those are the Five Remote Teaching Tips. If you would like more information or remote teaching resources, please view the recorded webinar here.  Be kind to yourself!

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Jan Wilson

As an organizational development and learning consultant, Jan has provided strategic planning, process alignment, change management, curriculum development and planning, as well as learning solutions to a variety of clients in pharma, healthcare and state governments. Jan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in information technology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from Vanderbilt University, also in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, she has served as adjunct faculty at the Peabody School of Vanderbilt University.

Improve Online Learning during COVID

Online learning has been a wild ride for higher ed.  “Just make it so, number one” is how it felt to those doing the instruction. Students needed to finish courses and preserve their credits, COVID or no COVID. 

Educators and institutions have been very clear that they need more help in understanding how to effectively design, develop, and deliver high-quality instruction online. 

This is true for all instructors and institutions but is greatest for those teaching at institutions that serve those who will likely be affected most because they lack access to needed resources and technology.  

What has dropped this week is a faculty-focused online playbook from Every Learner Everywhere that provides those expert resources and guidance to assist us all as we struggle to master the next phase and improve online learning.

The Online Playbook to Improve Online Learning in Response to COVID-19

The online playbook, Delivering High-Quality Instruction Online in Response to COVID-19, was developed by the Online Learning Consortium, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and Every Learner Everywhere, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Here’s a summary of the 55 page playbook about designing with equity in mind, course design, content management, and more.  

To begin with, the online playbook provides a path for continuous improvement of instruction along a quality-oriented continuum and provides guidance along with three milestones:

  1. Initial Design
    Guides immediate and basic needs for moving a course online.  In the past few months, this has been “your hair on fire” modality. And that was totally ok.  Going forward, you will use less “fire” and more thoughtful design. It is useful for the translation of face-to-face or blended courses for fully-online delivery.
  2. Enhancement
    It provides options to strengthen the student learning experience.  This milestone presents itself when you have the time to recognize what worked and what didn’t, and how to improve online learning experiences for your students. It is useful for improving face-to-face course elements that do not translate easily to online modalities.
  3. Optimization
    Optimize offers ideas and resources for online teaching that aligns with high-quality, evidence-based instructional practices. It is useful for the continuous improvement of the online learning experience and student outcomes.  This maps to a more settled milestone where you can incorporate more support for the longevity of any course.

These are all good principles to use whether you are in a crisis or just generally for good learning design.

So, In a Nutshell:

When you are thinking of how to design your course or courses, the use of an evidence-based model (they link to Backward Design) helps you begin with the end in mind.  If you begin with where you want them to end up, it is much easier to see the forest for the trees in laying out your course.

The following is excerpted from the playbook:

Key course design principles include:

Beyond effective design and presentation of content and materials, there are several things you can do to set yourself and your students up for success:

  • Become familiar with the LMS that your institution uses (and your remote proctoring solution if you have one ).  
  • Select supplementary tools based on your course outcomes and goals.  Here is a great list of some from which to choose.
  • Introducing yourself and your course is important for establishing your class environment, setting expectations, and for allowing students and instructors to get to know one another. In an emergent situation, providing a course welcome in the online course can help ease the disruption and set the stage for instructional continuity.
  • Design your course to provide intentional opportunities for students to interact with the instructor, each other, and the course content.
  • Set clear and explicit expectations for your course for both performance and interaction. This is especially important in the online environment, where there are fewer verbal or behavioral cues than in face-to-face courses.
  • Provide options and opportunities for students to communicate with the instructor. This is especially important in online courses, where real-time interaction is limited or unavailable.
  • Provide academic support resources (including institutional resources such as library and tutoring services as well as supplemental resources) and ensure that students are aware of them.
  • After an online course is completed and has been offered, it is important to regularly evaluate and rove the course to ensure that it is up-to-date, relevant, and following current best practices for high-quality online education.

Download the Faculty Playbook here.

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

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Jan Wilson

As an organizational development and learning consultant, Jan has provided strategic planning, process alignment, change management, curriculum development and planning, as well as learning solutions to a variety of clients in pharma, healthcare and state governments. Jan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in information technology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from Vanderbilt University, also in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, she has served as adjunct faculty at the Peabody School of Vanderbilt University.

Fall (not winter) is Coming…But It Kinda Feels The Same

There is a very interesting article in EdSurge this week that covered a new guide to opening schools in the fall put out by New America, a Washington, D.C. based think tank.  While this guide is not a mandate by any means, it does cover four possible scenarios that could be likely. Each of the scenarios, while written for primary and secondary schools, has application for higher ed if you wish to apply it.  

While much ink and airwave energy is being spent on how to open businesses at the moment, that level of pre-occupation on how colleges and universities are planning for the fall and beyond is just not there. That does NOT mean energy is not being expended at a furious rate to figure it out!  But simply that it isn’t getting the press that the business equation commands.

New America’s guide was developed by Kristina Ishmael, senior project manager of the Teaching and Tech team at New America; Rebecca Heiser, a lead instructional designer at Penn State’s World Campus; and Jennifer Payne, an edtech coordinator for an online school in Colorado.  This team used the “present understanding of COVID-19” and health experts’ best advice for school re-openings of all stripes.

Out of the four scenarios, returning to “what was” is conspicuously absent.  

There is a reason for this.  The CDC recently released their guidance for schools that advises refraining from reopening until schools are able to screen students and staff for COVID-19 symptoms and to be able to protect students and staff should a positive result be found.  You can find the CDC guidance for universities and colleges here.

The article states, “All four scenarios laid out in the New America guide are predicated on the idea that distance learning will, in some way, be folded into every school’s plans for the coming year.”

Here is a synopsis of each of the four models.  They range the gamut from traditional in-person classes with a twist to full online models if safety does not present itself.  The article has more detail, but these are the four high-level approaches.

1. Brick to Click Learning

The school district will begin the academic year with traditional, in-person classes, but will have planned and prepared for an outbreak that causes the school community to transition swiftly to distance learning.

2. Click to Brick Learning

The school district will continue online learning in the fall, monitoring public health benchmarks, and communicating with local government and health personnel to determine when it is safe to return to brick-and-mortar classrooms.

3. Blended learning

The school district will offer a hybrid learning environment, in which both face-to-face instruction and online instruction are provided in a consistent, easy-to-follow schedule throughout the year.

4. Online learning

The school district will provide all instruction, programming, and support services remotely so as to best protect the health and safety of students and staff.

What has taken place during the last two-and-a-half months, the authors contend, is “crisis distance learning,” brought on by near-ubiquitous restrictions on movement and stay-at-home orders since March. “The spectrum of crisis distance learning ranged from ‘drive-by’ course material pickups to telephone check-ins to haphazard online lesson plans and ad-hoc video conferences, all of which can be considered a low-fidelity migration to support continuity,” the authors write.

What this pandemic is showing us is that education is education, whether it serves primary school or postdoc.

  • Do you know which of these models (or a hybrid of more than one) your institution will be utilizing?  Hello, fall…you are literally coming at us.
  • Are you using this time to evaluate your approach to distance learning during that “trial by fire” time?

There seems to be some magical thinking going on right now with the pressures to improve the economy and get people back to work.  

  • What if another spike occurs as the result of the reopening of society in the absence of treatment or prevention?  
  • What is the plan if we go backward instead of forward?  A good plan allows for both. A good plan makes people feel protected and supported that there is a way forward, even when the path isn’t particularly clear.

If literally all of the models presented contain a fair bit of distance instruction, how we measure the efficacy of that instruction matters.

  • Is online exam proctoring part of your solution?  
  • Is the online proctoring service provider chosen one you can trust to do the right thing for you and your students? 

Also underpinning these various scenarios is the critical need for professional learning and development over the summer, the authors state.  

  • Do you and your Administrators include a plan to improve your quality of remote instruction?  
  • What resources are you using to up your online game?
  • How do you make online instruction interactive?  
  • Do you have edtech support?  If so, use them!  They are worth their weight in gold.
  • How familiar are you with online proctoring solutions?

Honorlock wants to help however we can.  If you or your students need help with understanding how remote proctoring works, what insights it can provide, or even the nuts and bolts of using the tool, we are here.  

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Jan Wilson

As an organizational development and learning consultant, Jan has provided strategic planning, process alignment, change management, curriculum development and planning, as well as learning solutions to a variety of clients in pharma, healthcare and state governments. Jan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in information technology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from Vanderbilt University, also in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, she has served as adjunct faculty at the Peabody School of Vanderbilt University.