Photo of Honorlock’s homepage on a student’s computer. Credit: Lily Pace | Lantern Reporter
Ohio State may be saying goodbye to Proctorio, but it’s just getting acquainted with Honorlock.
Ohio State’s Office of Technology and Digital Innovation — or OTDI — announced April 10 that Proctorio’s contract would not be renewed and, effective summer 2024, all programs would switch their software to Honorlock — a modern AI tracking software for monitoring test takers.
Honorlock — which was created by two then-graduate students, Adam Roth and Elena Soboleva, in 2014 — is similar to the online proctoring software Proctorio. Honorlock uses a combination of AI software and live-test proctors to monitor exams and send alerts regarding potential problems, according to its website.
Students, educators and faculty were able to participate in a Request for Proposal — or RFP — committee sponsored by OTDI to test out different proctoring tools. After a representative from almost every college on campus tested out five different proctoring services, the group collectively decided on Honorlock, Travis Ritter, director of learning systems for OTDI, said in an email.
“The committee rated Honorlock highly for many reasons, including support and user guides from the vendor, useful reporting features and a Search and Destroy feature that scans the web and sends takedown requests to any website that contains questions from the assessment being administered,” Ritter said.
With this technology, students may feel anxious about the possibility of their privacy being violated, which has been argued in a 2022 lawsuit against Cleveland State University due to its use of Honorlock’s room-scan feature, according to previous Lantern reporting. Despite this worry, OTDI conducted a risk assessment of Honorlock involving privacy and security and no red flags were raised, Ritter said.
Honorlock features systems like live proctoring, through which an individual can monitor students taking exams, tracking key features like eye movement and scanning test takers’ rooms before their assignments begin. Ohio State has presently chosen to opt out of this program, Ritter said.
“Honorlock works similarly to Proctorio, in that the system uses AI to flag behaviors that could be seen as cheating,” Ritter said. “For example, noticing that the test taker is wearing headphones.”
Though this feature is similar to Proctorio, Honorlock cannot determine that a student has cheated, according to its website. Instead, Honorlock flags moments during exams to have the instructor review later and “[doesn’t] ‘boot out’ test takers if a challenge arises,” its website states.
Alexander Steenrod — who is an Ohio State alum and a participant in the RFP committee — said he voted in favor of the Honorlock program. Despite his involvement in the committee, Steenrod said he still considers in-person exams to be the ideal test-taking experience for students.
“No matter how unique and how adaptable a proctoring system may be, I think we forget the human element: being recorded often can make test takers very nervous,” Steenrod said.
Randi Honkonen, marketing communication lead for OTDI, said the committee also “recommended the university launch educational campaigns around academic integrity that help familiarize students and instructors with the tools.”
Ohio State follows a growing trend of other universities embracing the Honorlock program, from the University of Cincinnati to Georgia Tech, according to Honorlock’s website.
“We routinely reach out to peer institutions who are using the tools we are exploring, when applicable, to hear their feedback and learn how they use the tools at their institutions,” Ritter said.
For more information about the Honorlock program, visit OTDI’s website.
