As classes are (for the most part) online for universities and other educational institutions, so are our exams. It's weird to realize that you're taking all of your final exams from the comfort of your own computers at home and not in classrooms. The first thing you might realize is, "Wow, it must be so easy to cheat then.". While that's also right, it might not be so easy anymore.
As finals are approaching very soon (yikes), it's time for all of us to start stressing, cramming and crying (maybe). This is probably the time of the semester where we all consume much more caffeine than we normally would and when we also study even more than we normally would (definitely me). It seems like final exams are the golden ticket for passing a class. Obviously, there are many different factors that will determine your grade for a class, but at the end of the day, we want to do well on these exams.
While it might've been kind of easy to get away cheating in high school, colleges will not tolerate that whatsoever (at least mine won't). Referred to as "academic dishonesty", it is not a joke. Getting caught cheating will result in you getting brought up to your school's higher-ups and often lead to failing that class. In order for universities to keep cheating at a minimum for online classes, they would resort to "lockdown browsers", such as Respondus, or programs that will essentially lock your computer to whatever window you're on to take an exam. This is implemented for obvious reasons, and it makes sense why they're in there. However, there's been a new program that's being brought into the light on my campus called "HonorLock". HonorLock is essentially another lockdown browser (like Respondus) which doesn't seem like that big of a deal. However, a Reddit post about 7 months ago made by a student attending Florida State University mentions why he/she does not want HonorLock to be implemented. I won't get too much into the details, but it is apparently very invasive. Invasive as in it will apparently track down things like your browsing history and obtain a lot of personal information from you that is not protected unless you fill out a certain form. We live in a digital age and especially after that whole situation with Facebook and taking other people's information, we are much more sensitive about privacy now than ever. Not to mention, HonorLock makes you take a picture of yourself, asks for photo identification, and then makes you scan your whole setup or room to make sure no other person is nearby. I've heard Respondus is similar in that case, but that still scares me personally.
What do you all think about HonorLock? Have you heard any good things about it? Are your professors using HonorLock for any of your exams? Maybe some of you couldn't care less about this and will just do whatever you're told to do, but I don't really want some random people knowing where I live. I hope everyone's privacy can be protected in some way and I sincerely wish all students the best of luck on their upcoming exams!
