Myself and many other college students dread using Honorlock. From the constant technical difficulties, to the straight up invasion privacy when a room scan is required, is Honorlock really providing enough benefits to outweigh these negative aspects?
Personally, I would much prefer to take proctored exams in person, where my professor can monitor, rather than being watched by a random online employee. My home, or in this case my dorm room, is my safe space: a place where I expect a reasonable amount of privacy. In situations where I've had to take exams using Honorlock requiring a room scan, I never staying in my dorm room. I went to the library or another public place on campus to avoid giving the online proctor any kind of insight into my life.
Aaron Ogletree recently spoke out on the matter, filing a lawsuit against Cleveland State University, stating that "digital surveillance of students while taking tests violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizures". While taking a remote chemistry test, Olgetree was asked to scan his room, and quickly realized he had important tax documents laying out that he wanted to keep private. So he put forward the lawsuit.
The court pointed out that Ogletree is the first person to have objected to these room scans that became so routine during the COVID-19 lockdown. They also noted that just because these scans have become routine doesn't necessarily mean they're ethical. The courts final decision stated "Though the intrusion in this case was not physical, the same principles protecting the sanctity of the home apply to a visual intrusion conducted through remote technology... Mr. Ogletree’s privacy interest in his home outweighs Cleveland State’s interests in scanning his room."
Cases like this spark the conversation on ways to ensure academic integrity. While Honorlock might have been essential when we were all stuck at home, classes have more or less returned to in person learning, and therefore could easily return to in person test taking. While in person might not always be ideal, the idea of a professor walking around the room and observing as students fill out an exam with a pen and paper, or even having a professor stand at the back of the room so they could see student's computer screens is much less of a privacy violation than having students record a room in their home. While I don't necessarily think we should completely do-away with programs like Honorlock, I do think education institutions need to seriously look into the programs they're using, and the privacy protections policies they have in place.
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