Honorlock Update: Enhancing Integrity with New Side-Angle Feature
Why the Change?
While standard front-facing webcams are essential for identity verification, they have limitations regarding visibility of the immediate workspace. High-stakes testing environments often require greater assurance that the desk area, hands, and keyboard are free of unauthorized resources.
How It Works
The Side-Angle Camera feature allows you to require a secondary camera angle (typically using the student’s smartphone or tablet) paired with their main webcam. This provides a clearer view of the test taker’s workspace.
This feature is ideal for high-stakes exams, instances where test takers must show their work, or when instructors permit test takers to utilize specific external resources.
Key Benefits
- Enhanced visibility: Captures the hands, keyboard, and notes, addressing the blind spots of traditional webcams.
- Reduced violations: Early testing data indicates that test takers using the Side-Angle Camera are 50% less likely to receive a violation. This suggests the presence of the camera effectively deters misconduct before it occurs.
- Simplicity: For instructors, this requires no complex setup; it’s simply a new toggle available in your Honorlock settings.
Related Requirements for Spring 2026
All syllabi must include a note about your Honorlock proctoring preferences and requirements. You are not required to use the camera features. However, if you enable them, inform students whether you will require a one-camera or two-camera setup. An institutional policy will be added to spring syllabi to help students understand how to prepare for this technology.
Managing Student Pushback: Tips for Faculty
We anticipate some resistance from students related to privacy, technical complexity, and test anxiety. Below are suggested talking points and strategies faculty can use to ease this transition.
Frame it as Protection, not Surveillance
- The Issue: Students feel they are being treated as guilty until proven innocent.
- The Strategy: Explain the Side-Angle camera protects honest students.
- Talking Point: “This angle actually helps you. Front-facing cameras often flag innocent movements (like looking down to do scratch work) as suspicious. The side angle lets us see that you are simply working on your math problem, preventing unnecessary flags or exam pauses.”
Address Fairness
- The Issue: Students feel the requirements are excessive.
- The Strategy: Remind them of the value of their degree.
- Talking Point: “In professional certification exams and competitive fields, ensuring the integrity of the test is what gives your grade value. This mirrors the rigorous standards you will face in professional licensing exams (NCLEX, CPA, Bar Exam, etc.).”
Practical Setup Advice (Reduce the Frustration)
- The Issue: “I don't have a tripod.”
- The Strategy: Be practical and empathetic about their environment.
- Advice: “Tell students explicitly; they don't need to buy equipment. Suggest propping their phone against a coffee mug, a stack of books, or a heavy water bottle. Normalizing DIY setups reduces the barrier to entry.
The Low-Stakes Dry Run
- The Issue: Students are afraid of technical failure during a high-stakes final.
- The Strategy: Do not make the midterm or final the first time they use this feature.
- Recommendation: Create a syllabus quiz or a practice tech-check quiz worth 1-2 extra credit points at the start of the semester. Require the Side-Angle setup for this quiz, so they can figure out where to prop up their phone without the pressure of a graded exam.
Support for Student Implementation
We understand that introducing new technology requires student preparation. While the faculty setup is seamless in the form of an on/off toggle, students will need guidance on positioning their devices.
Please review and with your students if you plan to utilize this feature.
If you have questions about best practices for implementing this in your course, please reach out to CITL@lamar.edu or Blackboard@lamar.edu.
More from Honorlock to Power You Through Finals
To save you time and effort, Honorlock recently shared some tools to simplify exam review and help students end the semester more confidently.
Pre-Exam Resources
Post-Exam Resources
Other Honorlock Goodies
Meet the Author
Casey L. Ford, M.F.A., is the Assistant Director for Faculty Success, where she oversees strategic initiatives to promote teaching excellence and course quality. Coming to her current role from full-time teaching, her interdisciplinary expertise spans composition, creative writing, writing center studies, vocal performance, and opera studies. In addition to her administrative and teaching roles, she is also an accomplished poet. Woodhall Press will release her first book, Shoreline Devotional, in Spring 2026.
Do you have a topic you want to write about in a blog post? Pending review, the CITL may host it here!
Email us your topic to start the process!