Freed-Hardeman University recognizes the need to validate the identity of the learner and ensure the integrity of the assessment process in digital learning environments. Student identity and assessment integrity may be facilitated through various means such as authentic assessments, presentations, portfolios, timed exams, intense writing assignments, and proctored exams.
Proctored testing is one method to enable the university to ensure the academic integrity of assessments and to comply with federal regulations that require universities offering online and distance education to verify student identity. The instructor of a distance learning course may elect to require proctored exam(s) as a means of assessment.
Freed-Hardeman University has partnered with Honorlock to help bridge the gap between student convenience and academic integrity through the use of proctored exams. Honorlock provides on-demand proctoring services for schools and universities that is designed with the student in mind. Students are now able to take an exam in the comfort of his/her home at any hour of the day and have a live virtual proctor to administer the exam at no cost to the student.
Refer to the guides and videos below to help you learn how to set up and review a proctored exam using Honorlock.
Below are the top 10 items to remember in order to ensure your success (and your students’) when using Honorlock.
The University recognizes the need to validate the identity of the learner and ensure the integrity of the assessment process in digital learning environments. Student identity and assessment integrity may be facilitated through various means such as authentic assessments, presentations, portfolios, timed exams, intense writing assignments, and proctored exams.
Proctored testing is one method to enable the university to ensure the academic integrity of assessments and to comply with federal regulations that require universities offering online and distance education to verify student identity. The instructor of a distance learning course may elect to require proctored exam(s) as a means of assessment. Online proctoring helps prevent academic honor violations such as:
Proctored exams will be administered through the University’s approved online testing service, Honorlock, at no additional cost to the student. The student will, however, be responsible for supplying a web camera to be used during the testing process. In the event the University’s approved testing service is not applicable to meet the learner’s needs, the instructor may appoint/approve an in-person proctor in which the student will incur any associated costs. In-person proctors must be approved by the instructor and attest that there is no relation to the student by family, marriage, close friendship, or subordinate relationship. Services at the Freed-Hardeman University Testing Center or an official testing center at another regionally accredited college or university may also be used.
No. As the instructor you are not required to administer proctored exams and may elect to use a variety of assessment strategies that don’t include online proctoring. When the nature of the course or instruction makes online proctoring a necessity, you are asked to use Honorlock to ensure the academic integrity of your test rather than other proctoring protocols.
Honorlock understands that you don’t want to have to write new exams every semester, but as online test bank sites become more common, it gets harder to use the same questions from semester to semester. Honorlock’s virtual proctoring system includes proprietary technology to search for and destroy unauthorized copies of your test. Once you enable Honorlock on an assessment, the software automatically searches for leaked questions and works with the website to remove the test questions before the exam opens to the students. Note: You will need to have Honorlock applied at least 48 hours in advance to allow the system time to search and destroy unauthorized copies of your test that may appear on unauthorized sites.
Honorlock verifies the photo and name on the student’s ID to ensure he/she is the correct test taker. The student may use any government issued (i.e. driver license, passport) or a student ID that has their clear, recognizable photo and name.
The student can still test but will be directed to a live proctor to bypass the authentication process. A report will be sent to the instructor within 24 hours.
There is no charge to FHU students for using Honorlock. The University will cover proctoring charges associated with Honorlock. The student will, however, be responsible for supplying a computer and web camera to be used during the testing process.
Students do not have to schedule an appointment to take Honorlock proctored tests. The student may take your proctored tests on-demand any time, day or night, during the testing availability window you have designated.
By default, Honorlock is disabled on all quizzes. You may select which quizzes you wish to enable Honorlock be required for within each of your courses.
Student Instructions appear to the student prior to starting the exam. Proctor Guidelines only appear to the Honorlock proctor and provides your expectations for how you wish them to handle the testing environment.
Yes, you can control the open and closing of test dates and testing exceptions through the Canvas test options.
No, when Browser Guard is enabled, the student will not be able to navigate to other areas of the course.
You will need to provide these URLs to the students as well as list them in the Honorlock Whitelist URLs section. It is recommended that the links be included in the exam so that students can easily access them after the exam begins.
If a student attempts to use screen-capture, this will cause the exam session to briefly go out of focus which will generate a flag. If the student attempts to photograph the screen, the action will be recorded by the webcam, in which you would be able to view the offense and take appropriate action.
Secondary devices, such as phones, can be detected, but this is not accomplished by network snooping. Students using their smartphones to search online resources for test questions should note Honorlock utilizes a manual technology to detect academic integrity issues. Specifically, Honorlock hosts websites with seeded test questions that, when accessed during an examination session, sets off an action on the phone. This action is picked up during the student’s session and alerts the instructor to review for academic integrity issues. Honorlock does not initiate any technologies to eavesdrop on the student’s smartphone activity either during or after an examination session. It is important for your students to understand your policy regarding the authorization to use a phone or tablet during an Honorlock proctored examination.
All of proctors are based in the United States. The proctors are alerted by artificial intelligence of any students who may be engaging in dishonest behavior. They then look at the students session and if necessary pause the exam momentarily and stop the behavior in real-time. They then leave a flag for the instructor letting them know why they had to engage with the student.
The AI automatically generates a flag if unusual activity is detected, such as another person entering the room, and can alert standby proctors to “pop in” and briefly monitor the session to correct problems. There is no live person watching the student during the entirety of the exam. Once an exam session is completed, you, the instructor, are able to review flagged recordings to determine if a cheating incident may have occurred.
You as the instructor makes the final assessment about whether suspected cheating has taken place during an exam session. Only students engaging in unusual activity during an exam are flagged and reviewed. If you review the video and determine that the student did not violate FHU’s academic dishonesty policy, no action is taken. However, if you determine that the student violated the academic dishonesty policy, you will follow the appropriate channels for academic dishonesty policy violations.
No, unfortunately, Honorlock is only accessible when taking the exam. Once the exam has been submitted, the system releases the monitoring of the student’s computer and test session.
If a student is unable to meet the technical requirement to complete an exam using Honorlock, the student will be directed arrange to take the exam at the testing center on the FHU campus.
The Honorlock extension is a small program that modifies the Chrome web browser and not the personal computer. Nothing is installed on the computer. The Honorlock Chrome extension can be uninstalled at any time should the user desire.
Honorlock offers technical support 24 / 7 / 365 to assist students before, during, and after their proctored tests. If a student should need any assistance, direct him/her to contact Honorlock’s support agents through Honorlock’s Live Chat service. The student should always contact Honorlock support via chat if a problem is encountered during the exam.
If the student is being prompted for an access code or password, the student is most likely not in Google Chrome or does not have the Honorlock Chrome Extension installed.
Honorlock is VPAT certified and fully accessible to students with special needs. Additionally, Honorlock works with screen readers if needed.
Time modifications (i.e. 1.5 x or double time) will still need to be managed through the Canvas Quiz Moderation feature. Additional accommodations (i.e. reader/scribe, formula sheets, break during testing), along with the student’s name, will need to be include in the Proctor Guidelines for each quiz. The proctor will honor any and all accommodations provided in the Proctor Guidelines during the exam.
Proctor Guideline Example: Gunner Smith has accommodations to use a 4 or 6 function calculator, formula sheet, and reader/scribe during the exam.
No. The university’s agreement with Honorlock for online test proctoring does not allow Honorlock to sell student information to third parties. Our contract with Honorlock has specific legal requirements for the protection of student information that binds Honorlock to all of the protections supplied by FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).
No. Honorlock does not scan home networks or monitor data from any device on the network other than the one used for testing. Secondary devices, such as phones, can be detected, but this is not accomplished by network snooping. See the questions below for more detailed information on how Honorlock tracks and monitors data and devices.
Honorlock does not employ any technologies to allow detection of secondary devices connected to a student’s local/home network used during the proctoring session. No agents or applications are downloaded to these secondary devices to initiate any type of surveillance activities. Other users connected to the local/home network during a student’s Honorlock session can process personal or confidential information concurrently without fear of the student’s Honorlock session monitoring or eavesdropping on secondary device activities. In addition, the application does not have the capability of intercepting local/home network communications from devices connected during the student’s session.
Honorlock uses an encrypted and secured connection during the exam. All videos and photos are stored in Honorlock’s platform. Their system runs in a secure, private cloud within Amazon’s AWS cloud platform in US data centers.
Honorlock has defined data retention periods of 12 months, after which all student-related data is automatically purged, unless the university requests an extension of a particular student’s data related to an academic integrity case. Upon request from the university, Honorlock can extend the data retention of a student’s data up to an additional 12 months.
All data, including photos and video, is stored in an encrypted format on isolated storage systems within Honorlock’s private cloud in Amazon’s AWS US data centers. They are SOC 2 Type 1, US Privacy Shield and GDPR compliant.
Only key staff within Honorlock will have access in order to provide quality control and support for FHU instructors. Those accessing student data are bound to the FERPA and privacy requirements required by the FHU/Honorlock service agreement.
The Chrome Web browser extension allows Honorlock to interact with the student and the exam content during the exam. This includes launching the webcam window and interacting with student behavior within the exam. During the exam, the following data is captured, analyzed, and stored:
Webcam and audio analysis has certain AI capabilities built in, such as detecting the presence of zero, one, or more faces in the camera, one or more voices, etc. This AI will generate a “flag,” prompting the instructor to review the exam session to determine if additional action is necessary to remediate any academic integrity issues.
