This message to all faculty and staff has been approved by Dr. Sally McRorie, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Welcome back to teaching during COVID-19. As you adjust to this new way of remote instruction, the Office of Distance Learning is here to help, and that includes extending online proctored testing services for distance learning students to all FSU students, local and remote. Due to nationwide travel restrictions and social distancing protocols, most testing centers are closed or no longer accepting appointments. Providing an online proctoring option as an alternative to instructors during this remote teaching period has been one of our top priorities. Last week, the university entered into an agreement with Honorlock, an online proctoring service that enables our FSU faculty and instructors to ensure academic integrity in online exams at no cost to our students.
We have been using online proctoring for years in our distance learning classes, and we want to address some of the questions you and your traditional, face-to-face students may have:
- Honorlock is not mandatory for instructors. In fact, we strongly encourage the use of alternative assessment strategies whenever possible (see Online Alternatives to In-person Proctored Exams). When the nature of your instruction makes online proctoring a necessity, Honorlock is available for you to use.
- Honorlock verifies your students’ identity, records their web activity via a webcam, and provides built-in features like search and destroy, secondary device detection, and a browser guard to detect cheating.
- Instructors may review exam recordings and check for activity flags that may indicate academic misconduct.
Please keep in mind that some students may not have access to webcams or sufficient internet access to use this service or may have circumstances preventing them from using recorded video capture. Be prepared to offer an alternate means of assessment, if possible.
- Student privacy and information security was of utmost importance when selecting Honorlock over other online proctoring solutions. Honorlock’s information security practices, policies, procedures, and operations meet SOC 2 standards for security, availability, and confidentiality. It has successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit, US Privacy Shield compliance, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) readiness. In addition, FSU’s agreement with Honorlock was reviewed by the FSU Information Security and Privacy Office (ISPO) and includes the necessary provisions for FERPA, student privacy, and information security.
The ISPO has provided information on FSU’s agreement with Honorlock and associated data sharing, access restrictions, and encryption measures. You can find that information at https://distance.fsu.edu/honorlock-security-and-privacy-faq.
ODL’s support services to the FSU community are fully operational during this time. Visit odl.fsu.edu/proctored-testing for more information or contact us at 850-644-4635. For additional support, see our Emergency Online Instruction page or register for training at odl.fsu.edu/training.
Do you have a student who doesn’t have access to a computer, webcam, or internet? Case Management Services may be able to help students in need. Students can reach them at 850-644-9555. Students who need help getting internet can check out the ITS Free and Discounted Wi-Fi Options page.
COVID-19 LINKS: Emergency Online Instruction | Working Remotely | Coronavirus Updates | FSU Alerts