Exam Integrity and Virtual Proctoring Solutions at NOVA

We are happy to share that NOVA will be expanding its live virtual proctoring pilot this spring.

Exam integrity has been an ongoing challenge at higher education institutions across the country. Over the past few years, the Office of Academic Affairs has been actively collaborating with the Instructional and Student Services Council (ISSC) to address this issue.

In 2021, the ISSC was tasked by the Vice President of Academic Affairs/Chief Academic Officer (VPAA/CAO) and Vice President for Information & Engineering Technologies and College Computing to investigate faculty concerns related to exam integrity and virtual proctoring services (Respondus). The subcommittee reached out to other stakeholders across the college to consider these issues.

During the initial evaluation, Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor appeared to be effective in maintaining exam security and reducing academic integrity issues. However, this is no longer believed to be the case. While Maxient data showed no statistically significant rise in academic integrity violations, the presence of exam questions on sites like Chegg and Course Hero clearly indicates that our current proctoring solution may not be the best tool for our needs.

As a result, the ISSC Academic Integrity Subcommittee (2021-present) evaluated five proctoring solutions pre-vetted by the VCCS’s eLearning and Educational Technology Committee (ELET) and endorsed by the Virginia Community College System as the only approved vendors. These included: Respondus, Examity, ProctorU, Proctortrack and Honorlock.

Under the leadership of the VPAA/CAO, the ISSC has conducted pilot programs with three vendors—Proctortrack, ProctorU and Honorlock—in select disciplines to assess their suitability for NOVA. The overview of the effectiveness of each pilot is reflected on NOVAnet under ISSC Notes as well as College Senate Notes.

Based on surveys of faculty, students and staff (who answer help tickets), NOVA will be expanding the pilot program with Honorlock in spring 2025. The tool we are procuring is Honorlock Ai + Live, which protects exam integrity with a combination of live proctors as well as tools that prevent the use of generative AI, screen sharing and cell phones.

Using the Virtual Proctoring Needs Survey completed by pathway deans in 2022, NOVA Online will be partnering with pathway deans and discipline groups to integrate Honorlock into all mathematics, selected sciences (chemistry, biology, geology), health sciences and liberal arts courses.

Upon completion of the 2025 pilot, a recommendation will be made to expand this solution (Honorlock) to additional courses or to review the last of the five vendors, Examity.

Submitted by:
Dr. Eun-Woo Chang, VP of Academic Affairs/CAO, EChang@nvcc.edu