How does Honorlock work?

The basic need to use this technology is due to the pandemic and the online growth in academic sessions. The instructor has to teach and also test the student online which is a difficult task. The instructor needs to proctor the exam in remote locations. Many colleges and universities use Honorlock services to make it easy for the instructor to proctor the exam.

Quick Takeaways

• Honorlock is the one by which you can proctor online exams. 
• It used AI which helps to detect cheating and it will help to detect the phone used, record the voice or video, etc. 
• This software also contains AI (artificial intelligence) that analyzes student behaviour.

However, you must read till the end to know how Honorlock works.

What is Honorlock?

Honorlock is an automated and remote proctoring service provider (just like Respondus) for academic institutions for creating a fair test-taking environment. It is mainly used in higher education institutions worldwide and is a more effective tool as compared to other tools used for proctoring exams due to its simplicity and security. Honorlock for the approval process has undergone a strict and systematic process by experts in the field of technology.

How does Honorlock work?

For the work of Honorlock on your computer required to install the google chrome extension of Honorlock that will enable it to gain some level of access to the browser functionalities.

As per the working of the software during the online exam, the instructor does not need to watch the student for the entire examination. The software will monitor the exam session and if any suspicious activities are found an alert will be detected. Be alert, the instructor or the human proctor will handle the situation by entering the online exam session by way of chat to let the student know and guide them. If the exams are on google meet, many students will look for different hacks and thus it is very important to proctor the exams.

How does Honorlock detect cheating?

The main reason for developing this software was to prevent cheating on exams online by the students. The following are ways how Honorlock can detect cheating.

• During online exam sessions, the student’s video will be recorded, which will make the instructor view the student’s activities while taking the exam so that there are no suspicious activities and will maintain the integrity of the exam. It is important when the exam is on google meet as there are many google hacks that students may have.
• This software also contains AI (artificial intelligence) that analyzes student behaviour. And if any suspicious activity is recorded by this software an alert is given to the human proctor.  Before the exam, the student has to upload the student ID and a photo. Through the ai, facial recognition features this remote proctoring service software like Proctorio, ProctorU, etc will detect if the face on the photo differs from the original face. The eye-tracking is also done by AI if the user tries to peep the work from other work or any suspicious movement of the eye can be detected.

• This software can also detect the phone used by the student during the exam. The only difference is you will be stoped by software and not teachers. It can record your screen during the exam so that the human proctor has the record in case of cheating in case of another search on the website in your software.
• The software records all noise or audio around the user environment. If there is any audio that is related to the content of the paper the automated proctoring device will detect it.
• During the exam, the Honorlock has access to some level of the device which locks some activities of the browser that students can use to cheat during the exam.

Disadvantages of the Honorlock:

• The noise detection features of the Honorlock may lack when the sound around the student is or we can say that the student is not giving the exam in a private area.
• That is why students have been instructed to give the online exam in a room or area where there is nobody with them.
• The student can also face anxiety during the exam as the user knows that he/she has been recording through the monitor proctor or the webcam and the voice can also be heard.

Does Honorlock determine who is cheating?

The feature of Honorlock is to record the video and the audio during the exam if anything suspicious the student has done the alert will be detected to the instructor. Then the instructor will be asked to explain it before reporting anything. If the instructor is satisfied with the explanation then the student is instructed to avoid such movement. So, Honorlock cannot determine who is cheating.

How can you cheat Honorlock?

• A student can cheat Honorlock by using a virtual machine(VM) which is an image of a computer file that will run on a window as a separate computer.
• As the Honorlock lock, the other tab of the browser during the exam student cannot google the content asked in a paper but it can be possible through the host operating system. The ads on the proctor will not be able to detect it as the student will test different operating systems.
• Adjust the webcam in such a way that only the face is being monitored and you can take the help of a separate device.
• Set up another monitor and a silent keyboard and mouse. By this, you can google it on the other monitor and give the answer asked in the exam.

Conclusion:

Using Honorlock helps the instructor to create a responsible and fair test-giving environment that maintains the integrity of the exam. It is available 24/7 on the browser.