College kids have been cheating on exams since the beginning of time.
But remote learning has created a new challenge for educators: How do you keep a student from cheating when they’re taking the test from their bedroom?
Luckily for academic institutions, this challenge has led to a burgeoning new industry — remote exam proctoring software, per The Markup.
… is Honorlock, which grew revenue 1k% YoY between 2020 and 2021, leading to a $25m fundraise last year.
At the time of the raise, Honorlock counted 300+ institutions as customers and 1m+ students using its software.
As you can imagine, it’s not as simple as asking your class to clear the formulas in their TI-83.
Honorlock’s software uses AI to:
In other words, it’s all about student surveillance — and the last bullet has landed Honorlock in hot water.
These fake websites, which the company calls “honeypots,” exist solely to catch students cheating. Critics say it’s a classic case of entrapment and argue that the software creates an environment that assumes students cheat — which could backfire by normalizing cheating.
One possible solution is switching to different testing methods.
Sarah Eaton, an associate professor at University of Calgary who studies academic integrity, suggests oral and open book tests that require answers you can’t find on Google.
Until then, we encourage any test-takers out there to study up, lest you end up caught in a honeypot.