Honorlocked and online exams is a new topic for me. Today my science professor gave us 24 hours to complete a quiz that was online and he said it was honorlocked. My understanding of what this meant is that my webcam would record video and audio of me, it would want to see the room I’m in, it locks me in full screen so I can’t switch tabs, and it tracks my eyes and would alert the professor if I move my eyes too much.
I go home and press the button to start the quiz, and it does not do any of the tracking things I just mentioned. I could’ve switched tabs and put my phone right to the webcam if I wanted. I didn’t tho, I did the quiz fair and square and got 100%. That’s not the point of this story tho. The point of this story is to ask why? And bring up some other questions. My Professor is doing the same thing for an upcoming exam and I’m trying to predict if the exam will be the same thing as the quiz. So why did he say the quiz was honorlocked and it looked like it most certainly WAS NOT honorlocked?
Theory A is that he’s not really smart with technology and he thought it was honorlocked but in reality it’s not and every student in the class shares a brain on “don’t tell him he’s doing it wrong cuz this is a golden ticket”. He has enough knowledge to make sure the announcement of the quiz says which chapters to study and “no notes” so clearly he has to be under the impression that it’s protected from cheaters right? Idk. Theory B makes me confused about the whole matter.
Theory B is I want to ask someone reading this the following. “Did you have to take honorlocked exams, and did it make it abundantly clear that you were being audio and video recorded?” Cuz I want to know if it’s obvious that it’s recording you. Since I’m new to this, what if it secretly recorded by not telling you or not asking for permission or not making it crystal clear before you begin the exam. Do you get what I’m asking? I feel like it should be wrong that a camera is recording me and didn’t tell me, but what if that’s exactly how it’s designed? Idk and I want someone else’s feedback.
I try my best to be fair and square, BUT! If I had something at my disposal (such as the Professor thinks people are incapable of cheating but he’s wrong and I can look my paper notes until the cows come home) I probably wouldn’t hesitate to capitalize off that. College ain’t easy and you’re paying to just not remember information cuz not every piece of information in the lecture is on the exam so WTH are you supposed to remember? And you remember useless crap while the info that’s important blurs into the background and it’s just a ginormous nobody wins dilemma.
That’s not really the mega point tho. I just overall want to know if honorlock is recording me by audio and video despite it not saying anything or giving any warnings or making it abundantly clear at any point in the test