CEETE at UW-Madison
Collaboratory for Engineering Education and Teaching Excellence

Honorlock Exam Proctoring

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What is Honorlock?

The online proctoring service Honorlock will be available for use in all timetable courses. If instructors are interested in using Honorlock in the summer or fall semesters, please see this Honorlock overview document to learn more.

How does it work?

Honorlock uses a Chrome extension to monitor students through their webcam and microphone. It uses AI to monitor each student’s focus. Honorlock can detect use of other devices. If Honorlock senses that something is wrong, it may trigger a live proctor pop-in to help students get back on track. Possible incidents are sent to the instructor, who then reviews the video and makes a determination about whether cheating has occurred. At the beginning of each exam, students provide their ID (campus ID, driver’s license, state ID card, or passport) and complete a full 360-degree video scan of their testing space. See Honorlock’s Standard Exam Guidelines.

What options are included?

Options within Honorlock include enabling a basic or scientific calculator, indicating allowed websites for reference, or use of a lockdown browser that restricts visiting other sites and prevents minimizing the browser window to less than 90% of the screen. When copying a course from one semester to another, it’s possible to also transfer the Honorlock settings. Specific accommodations for individual students can be entered in proctor instructions.

How do I let the students know we will be using Honorlock?

We encourage you to talk about the tool with your classes at the beginning of the semester. Since this is a new tool students are unlikely to be familiar with it.  You can also set up practice exams so students can learn how to use the tool in a low stakes format.

If you will be using Honorlock, you should include a statement about it in your syllabus. Language can be found in the new University Syllabus Template.

How do I get support?

For assistance when setting up exams to use Honorlock, instructors will contact Honorlock support directly: support@honorlock.com, by phone at 844-243-2500, or directly in Canvas within Honorlock’s chat feature.

What are alternatives to online proctoring?

There are multiple alternatives to online proctoring that may be more appropriate for your course. Check out the following sites:

Assessment strategies for promoting academic integrity during remote instruction

  • For example, drawing items randomly from a question bank, randomizing answers, using time limits

Alternatives to testing

  • For example, projects, papers, case studies, fact sheets, annotated bibliography, and more

Upcoming Honorlock training sessions

Honorlock Training

This one-hour session will give instructors and instructional staff a solid overview of the tool, and provide previews of how the tool actually works.

Honorlock Q&A Sessions

This one-hour session explores common use cases, customizations, and pedagogical considerations, and allows attendees to ask questions.