Honorlock: Proctor In-person or Remote Exams Given in Canvas
Honorlock is an exam proctoring tool to be used with high value exams administered through Canvas. Honorlock is available as a desktop application and a Chrome browser extension. Both options offer many settings that can be used for different exam use cases. Carefully follow the steps in this guide to ensure proctor settings are configured to meet your proctoring needs and that students are properly prepared before the proctored exam.
Set Up Honorlock to Proctor an Exam
Understand Proctoring Options and Enable Honorlock
Honorlock has two different tools that instructors can use to proctor exams: a desktop application (app) or a Chrome browser extension. A course can have some exams use the extension while other exams use the desktop app. Instructors will need to choose one or the other tool for any exam they want proctored with Honorlock. Review the chart below to understand the different tool options to decide which exams should use each tool.
| Feature | Chrome Browser Extension | Honorlock Desktop App |
|---|---|---|
| Tool Type | Web extension (runs strictly within the Chrome browser) | Application that is downloaded on the computer that works in conjunction with the Chrome browser extension |
| Supported Devices | Windows, MacOS, and Chromebooks (Chrome OS) | Windows and MacOS only (While Chromebooks can't install native desktop apps, students can still use Chromebooks to take tests using the standard browser extension) |
| Scope of Lockdown | Browser-level (in-browser lockdown, tab navigation, screen recording, web traffic logging) | *Monitors the computer desktop to block any unauthorized external applications; if Browser Guard is also enabled, the browser will be locked down |
| Software Detection Capability | Detects and blocks unauthorized browser tabs, extensions, and web-based tools | Detects and blocks locally installed desktop applications (e.g., local AI tools, background software) in addition to unauthorized browser tabs, extensions, and web-based tools |
| Permissions Required | Chrome browser permissions (webcam, microphone, screen share, tab access) | Computer administrator access (Admin Access) required to download the application |
| Access Requirements | One-click installation from the Chrome Web Store | Downloaded and installed as an executable file onto the computer |
| Set-up & Storage Requirements | Lower system resource usage; lives entirely within the browser | **Requires a local file download and space on the computer to install the desktop application |
| Post-Exam Cleanup | Easily removed directly via Chrome's extension manager | Uninstalled via standard computer software/program settings |
*The Honorlock desktop app enhances exam security by gaining more controls over the computer while it is being used to take an exam.
**The desktop app requires that students have administrative access to the computer to be able to download the app. Chromebooks are exempt from this requirement since they are not able to download apps. When an exam requires the app to proctor it, Honorlock can see that a student is using a Chromebook and will automatically override the proctor settings for just that student to use the extension with the Chromebook.
Other important considerations
- If a student cannot download the desktop app on their computer and the exam requires the desktop app for proctoring, they will not be able to access the exam.
- A duplicate of the exam can be made, set up to use the extension, and assigned to only students unable to download the application. See Prepare Students to Use Honorlock for how to best find out who may need this option.
- For exams where students may need to use another desktop application to complete the exam (MATLab, Excel, etc.), you will need to require the students to use the Honorlock desktop app. Then, you will use the Manage Allowed Applications area to designate which application students can use during the exam.
Honorlock is an online exam proctoring tool that integrates with Canvas quizzes. There are settings that can be used in Honorlock to provide various levels of exam security. Honorlock is disabled by default in Canvas courses, so you will need to enable it per course. Important: Honorlock only works in a Chrome browser. Be sure you are accessing Canvas via a Chrome browser with the Honorlock extension installed.
Enabling Honorlock in Canvas
- Go to the Canvas course site that has the exam that you want to use with Honorlock.
- Select Settings from the left menu.
- Select the Navigation tab.
- Find Honorlock in the list of options.
- Note: You may have to scroll to find Honorlock.
- Select the three-dot icon to the right of the tool name and choose Enable.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save.
- Select Honorlock 1.3 in the course navigation menu.
- If prompted, authorize yourself as a user. The Honorlock page will load and list all Canvas Quizzes that are in the course site.
- Review the difference between the Honorlock Desktop App and the Browser Extension before enabling Honorlock on any exam.
- Select the Enable button to the right of any Canvas Quiz that you want to have Honorlock proctor. The Honorlock proctor settings page will open:
- By default, the quiz will automatically be set up to require students to use the browser extension.
- To use the Honorlock App on an exam, scroll down the page to the Enhanced Desktop Security section and select the radio button ON to require students to use the Honorlock App when they take the exam.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Enable to save all settings.
Important Notes
- After completing the steps above, Honorlock automatically creates an Access Code that appears in the setting of each Canvas Quiz enabled with Honorlock. Do not change or delete the Access Code in the Quiz settings. Doing so will break the connection between the exam and Honorlock. You do not need to give this access code to students.
- Complete the steps to prepare your students to use Honorlock a few weeks before the proctored exam is scheduled.
Additional Resources
Use these student-specific resources to help test takers use the tool:
If using either the Honorlock desktop application or the Chrome browser extension to proctor an exam, instructors must review and select the proctoring options and communicate to students what is expected to happen during an exam. These proctoring options are organized in 3 sections in the Honorlock settings area:
- Proctoring Settings
- Test Taker Guidelines
- Additional Instructions
Once you decide on the settings in these three sections for a certain type of exam (e.g. a midterm or final exam),create an exam profile to save those settings and quickly apply them to future exams that fit that profile.
Honorlock’s standard exam guidelines cover a number of situations by default. To allow any of the listed behaviors, instructors must indicate them as permitted in Test Taker Guidelines or in Additional Instructions:
- Laying down in bed or elsewhere when taking the exam is not allowed.
- Expected to be sitting at a desk with face and desktop area in view
- Student desk must be totally clear.
- Unless Open Book Allowed, Notes Allowed, and/or Scratch Paper Allowed is/are selected in Guidelines.
- No visible writing on the desk or walls is permitted (important if you plan to require a room scan).
- The AI that completes the room scan looks for things like other faces (which it will sometimes detect with art), writing on the wall, cellphones, and speech detection. If the AI sees anything that seems suspicious, the AI won’t stop the exam; it will flag it and have a live proctor check out the video of the room scan. The live proctor reviews the video to examine why the AI flagged it. The live proctor can weed out flags due to seeing a face in a portrait or writing on the wall that has nothing to do with the exam. If the live proctor sees something suspicious, they will pause the exam, pop in via chat and ask that the student remove the item from the wall and rescan the room.
- All third-party programs and windows must be closed before logging into the proctored test environment.
- Loud music, television, or other distractions playing in the background are prohibited.
- Unless Background Noise Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- All communication between the Test Taker and other people or parties aside from the Test Taker is not permitted near the testing environment
- Unless Public Area Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- A test taker must not leave the room during the exam
- Unless Restroom Breaks Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- No breaks will be permitted during an exam.
- Unless Restroom Breaks Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- Test Takers cannot wear hats or have hoodies up over their heads
- Unless Hats Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- Religious headwear is always acceptable and does not require an instructor to make an exception.
- Headsets or earbuds are prohibited.
- Unless Headphones Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- Cell phone use is prohibited.
- Unless Mobile Phone Use Allowed is selected in Guidelines
- Face must remain within view of the camera
- Religious face coverings will always be allowed
- If Open Book Allowed, Notes Allowed or Scratch Paper Allowed, then the face sensor is automatically desensitized to prevent flags for looking down.
Understand how BrowserGuard works
BrowserGuard™ is an Honorlock feature that provides enhanced exam security. It can be turned on with a click of a toggle in the Proctoring Settings area. When enabled, BrowserGuard™ will prevent test takers from accessing websites or browser tabs, using other desktop applications, or resizing the test page window to less than 90% of the screen.
It is important to understand that BrowserGuard™ does not completely lock down a student’s machine. It detects when the student tries to access content outside of the testing window and flags that behavior. It works better on a Mac device than a Windows machine because of a known Windows Chromium bug. Even though BrowserGuard™ may not stop a student from doing something, it will flag any suspicious behavior outside of the testing environment for you to review the video footage later.
You can set up an exam to only allow certain URLs, such as online textbooks. If the online textbook is set up through VitalSource (the University bookstore’s textbook vendor), put the following URLs in the Allowed URLs field:
- .vitalbook.com
- .vitalsource.com
- .cloudfront.net
- .googleapis.com
- .storage.googleapis.com/
When/if you add allowed URLs in the Honorlock settings, students will see these URLs during the authentication process called Your Assessment Guidelines. To ensure that students have access to those resources during the quiz, instruct them to open all allowed URLs specified in the Guidelines box before starting the exam. They may have issues if they try to open the same URLs during the quiz.
If a student accidentally closes an allowed resource during the quiz, they will be able to go back to the resource. Contact Honorlock chat support during an exam if a student is having difficulty accessing the allowed materials.
When an instructor enables an exam to use the Honorlock desktop app or Chrome browser extension in Canvas, Honorlock automatically creates a Bypass PIN, also referred to as an Accessibility Code. Any student who uses this PIN will be able to bypass all proctoring settings for the exam. Do not give the Bypass PIN to a student. Instead, an instructor, teaching assistant (TA), or in-person exam proctor should enter the PIN for the student upon the student opening the exam.
Getting a Bypass PIN from Honorlock
- Go to the Canvas course site that has the exam you need the Bypass PIN for.
- Go to Honorlock 1.3 in the course navigation.
- Click on the Honorlock Chat Support button on the bottom, right-hand corner of the page.
- Once an Honorlock support agent has begun the chat, request a Bypass PIN for the exam.
- The Honorlock support agent will confirm your identity as one of the instructors for the course site by your internet ID that will automatically be communicated to the agent through the chat that you started within the course site.
- You will need to provide the exact name of the exam that you need the Bypass PIN as it appears in the Honorlock 1.3 course navigation area.
- Once the student is ready to take the exam, have them begin the assessment in Canvas.
- When the Honorlock authorization window appears, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Enter Accessibility Code.
- A window will appear below the page with a box labeled Accessibility Code. Type the PIN in that box and press Enter. (Reminder: do not give the code to the student; have an exam proctor or an instructor put in the code).
- The assessment will resume without any Honorlock authentication steps or proctoring.
- See Bypass PIN Best Practices for more information.
Confirming who used the Bypass PIN
After an exam that you received a Bypass PIN has been completed, check that no one else was able to access the exam using that Bypass PIN.
- Go to the Canvas course site that has the exam you used with the Bypass PIN for.
- Go to Honorlock 1.3 in the course navigation.
- Select the Results button next to the exam that has a Bypass PIN.
- Select Show Filters. A filter menu will appear on the left side of the page.
- Scroll to the bottom of the filters menu and select the Proctoring Bypassed check box.
- Review that only authorized students are listed in the results. The student's attempt will have no results to view, and display a gray flag that says Proctoring Bypassed.
While Honorlock works with most adaptive technologies, there are other accommodations that students might have other than technological ones (i.e. some may need a bathroom break; someone might have a medical device that makes a sound, and you don’t want the exam to be paused for this). See the Accommodations with Honorlock support article for more information. Important: Instructors must get a Bypass PIN for Disability Resource Center (DRC) staff to enter for students taking exams in DRC testing centers.
Set up Honorlock for a Remotely-Proctored Exam
Example settings for exams taken online with no in-person supervision from an instructor:
Proctoring Settings to turn on
- Record Webcam
- Record Screen
- Record Web Traffic
- Test Taker Photo
- Test Take ID
- Room Scan
- Disable Copy/Paste
- Disable Printing
- Browser Guard
Carefully review the Test Taker Guidelines and select those that are applicable to the exam you are giving. For the highest exam security, none of the Test Taker Guidelines should be selected. However, the context of your exam may require some of the Test Taker Guidelines to be selected. Review standard exam settings and guidelines above to help determine what Test Taker Guidelines may be applicable for your exam.
Honorlock strongly encourages you to clarify in the Additional Instructions section and expand upon any of the Test Taker Guidelines you chose to enable. These guidelines and additional instructions will be visible to Test Takers when starting their assessment and will be used by live proctors to determine what is and isn’t allowed during the assessment.
Select Show Additional Instructions below the Test Taker Guidelines to open up the Additional Instructions area:
Set up Honorlock for an In-Class Exam
Example settings for exams taken online in a classroom setting where an instructor and/or TAs are monitoring the exam session:
Proctoring Settings to turn on for In-class exams
- Record Screen
- Record Web Traffic
- Disable Copy/Paste
- Disable Printing
- Browser Guard
- Important Note: any setting that uses the student’s camera (Record test take photo/ID, Room Scan, Record Webcam) will increase the WiFi load.
Carefully review the Test Taker Guidelines and select any that are applicable to the exam you are giving. See standard exam settings and guidelines above to help determine what Test Taker Guidelines may be applicable for your exam. If you enable the Record Webcam feature in the Proctoring Settings for in-class exams, be sure to consider the following Test Taker Guidelines:
- Hats Allowed
- Public Area Allowed
To minimize stress for yourself and your students, communicate to students that because of the sheer volume of people taking the exam at the same time, there may be some WiFi issues as everyone begins the exam. Follow these guidelines for to optimize the experience:
- Once students are in their seats, have students turn off their WiFi and then turn it back on so that their computer connects to the closest WiFi access point in the room.
- Have students disconnect all other unnecessary devices (tablets) from WiFi except for the computer they are using for the quiz to cut down on extra “noise.”
- Do not have everyone start the exam at the same time. Stagger student start times by 5-10 minutes in batches of 50.
Honorlock strongly encourages you to clarify in the Additional Instructions section and expand upon any of the Test Taker Guidelines you chose to enable. These guidelines and additional instructions will be visible to Test Takers when starting their assessment and will be used by live proctors to determine what is and isn’t allowed during the assessment.
Prepare Students to Take a Proctored Exam
Honorlock is a remote proctoring solution to enhance academic integrity for high-stakes online courses and Canvas assessments. If you choose to use Honorlock in your course, it is strongly recommended that instructors include a statement in the syllabus to provide students with a basic understanding of Honorlock and how it will be used in your course.
Before you choose a syllabus statement to use, be sure to decide whether you will require students to use only the Honorlock App, only the extension, or both the app and the extension. This decision will determine which phasing you will copy for the middle portion of the suggested statement below.
Note: To best facilitate students’ use of Honorlock, have your students use it on a no-point practice exam provided by Honorlock before using Honorlock on a high-stakes exam.
Suggested Syllabus Statement
This class will be using Honorlock to proctor exams this semester. Honorlock is an online proctoring service allowing you to take your exam from a remote location. You do not need to create an account or schedule an appointment to complete an exam with Honorlock. Honorlock is available 24/7, and all that is required is a computer (desktop, laptop, or Chromebook), a working webcam/microphone, your UMN Internet ID, and a stable Internet connection.
Important: Choose which bullet points you need in your syllabus statement based on the requirement you intend to use with students. If you plan to use both tools, include both sets of instructions:
Chrome Browser Extension Only Instructions
- You will need to add the Honorlock Chrome Extension in Google Chrome before the exam begins.
- If you use a lot of browser extensions, make a new Chrome profile to use for exams and install the Honorlock extension on that profile.
- You can install/uninstall the extension only when needed for tests.
- Review the Honorlock Browser Extension support article for more information
Honorlock Desktop Application Only Instructions
- You will need to download the Honorlock Desktop Application (desktop app) for either MacOS or Windows
- The Honorlock desktop app works on Windows and Mac.
- Although the Honorlock desktop app cannot be installed on Chromebooks, exam takers using Chromebooks can still access Honorlock-enabled exams without issue.
- You must have administrator access to your computer to download this application. Communicate with the instructor right away if you are unable to download the app.
- Review the Honorlock Application Test Taker Experience for more information.
- You can remove the app after use by following these instructions, but you will have to reinstall it if another exam requires it. The desktop app will update automatically.
Include the rest of the syllabus statement below
Honorlock records your exam session through your webcam, microphone, and a recording of your screen. Honorlock also has an algorithm that can detect search-engine use, so do not attempt to search for answers, even if it's on a secondary device.
If Honorlock detects potential behavior that the instructor has identified as prohibited, it will flag that point in the recorded exam session for your instructor to review after your test session. If that behavior repeats or is significant (for example, a new face appears in the background, other voices are detected, or it detects other internet browsers being used), a live exam proctor may pause your exam and begin a chat conversation in a window over the exam to ask you about the noted behavior.
Honorlock support is available 24/7/365. If you encounter any issues, contact them through live chat on the support page or within the exam itself. Use these additional resources for test-taking support:
Instructors may require the Honorlock browser extension for exam proctoring in Canvas courses. Honorlock works as an extension in a Chrome browser. Several types of Chrome extensions can interfere with Honorlock, such as Grammerly, uBlock Origin, etc. Create a new Chrome profile exclusively for use with the Honorlock Chrome extension to avoid technical issues when taking exams proctored with Honorlock.
Note: If your instructor requires the Honorlock desktop application, a new Chrome profile is not needed. Instead, you will need to download the Honorlock Desktop Application on either your Mac or Windows device.
Creating a Chrome Profile to use exclusively with Honorlock
Use Google Chrome to create a profile for Honorlock-proctored exams to avoid technical issues.
- Open your Chrome Settings by clicking on your profile picture (top-right corner of a Chrome browser). A dropdown menu will appear.
- Select Add New Profile from the dropdown menu. A window will appear directing you to Set up your new Chrome profile.
- Select the option to Continue without an account.
- In the Add name or label field, type "Honorlock Exam Profile."
- Important: If prompted to sync accounts at any time, select to NOT sync accounts.
- Install the Honorlock Chrome Extension by copy/pasting this URL (https://static.honorlock.com/install/extension) into a new browser window in the profile you created.
- Do not add any other extensions to this Chrome profile.
- If asked to sync accounts at any time, select to NOT sync accounts.
- Log in to Canvas LMS using the browser of this new profile.
- Access your Honorlock-proctored exam. The exam set up will confirm that you have installed Honorlock in this profile.
- After taking an Honorlock-proctored exam, go back to using your default Chrome profile by selecting the Profiles menu in Chrome and selecting the other profile you normally use.
Important Notes:
- Use the Honorlock profile only for exams requiring Honorlock.
- Avoid installing any additional extensions in this profile to ensure compatibility.
- Do not sync this profile with any other Google account that you have.
If the requirement for students to complete a Workspace Scan Photo is turned on, it is important that students are aware of this step before taking the exam.
Give students the following instructions for taking a workspace scan photo:
- Prepare your workspace where you will be taking the exam by removing clutter and ensuring only access to approved materials or devices.
- Scan the QR code on the testing screen using your mobile device and follow the directions in the link opened by the QR code.
- If you are unable to use a mobile device to complete the workspace scan, there is a link below the QR code that you can select to complete the room scan using your device’s webcam.
- Rotate your device to landscape and keep the QR code clearly visible in your image.
- Take the screenshot.
- Within visibility of your desktop camera, turn off your phone and hold it in front of the camera to show that your mobile device is turned off.
- Remove your phone from the testing area by either putting in a drawer or moving it behind you so that you cannot see it during the exam.
It is very important to have every student try using Honorlock with a practice exam a couple of weeks before the real exam is scheduled. This allows students to experience what it is like to walk through the exam authentication process. A practice exam will also elevate any issues students may have with their computers BEFORE the actual exam takes place.
Important: If you plan to proctor an in-person exam and have more than 100 students, it is highly recommended that you give the practice exam during a class session to elevate any possible WiFi issues that may arise with everyone accessing the network with Honorlock at the same time.
Be sure to use the exact same settings you will use for the real exam. To get some use out of this practice exam, write three to five review questions on your material that students may encounter. See Create a Practice Exam in Canvas for more details.