Relationships and Transparency:
How South Plains College, Blackboard, and Honorlock Combined to Revolutionize Assessment 

Creating Equitable Assessment Practices in a Community College 

For two-year institutions, creating fair assessment processes is more than just an appeal to academic integrity—it is an opportunity to provide verifiable proof of students’ readiness to take the next step in their learning journey, whether that be via transfer to a four-year institution or into the workforce. As well as looking to reduce plagiarism, this involves:

• Providing equitable access to assessments, including for remote students and those who aren’t familiar with higher education processes
• Delivering a supportive environment where stress doesn’t impede performance
• Aligning assessment tasks with real-world tasks that demonstrate career readiness for the learner

The SPC team recognized the importance of technology in achieving their goals and sought an online proctoring partner to integrate with the Blackboard® learning management system (LMS). Previous proctoring solutions were poorly integrated and difficult for both students and instructors to use, leading to limited adoption.

Relationships and Transparency to Drive Student Confidence

As Instructional Designer Heather Medley articulates, SPC bases its approach on two essential pillars: relationships and transparency. They put in a lot of effort upfront to ensure students know “how to college”, developing tailored resources which clearly outline processes, responsibilities, and expectations. This, in turn, reduces learner stress when exams and other assessments arrive, as they are clear on what is required. “I feel like a lot of students cheat because they don't understand what is being asked or aren’t confident in their ability to deliver. So, it starts with that relationship first of all, and then we build in transparency into those processes so that students know what the objectives are from the very beginning,” Medley explained. 

South Plains College selected Honorlock’s Live Pop-InTM proctoring solution, which combines AI monitoring and live proctors, aligning with their principles of relationship, transparency, and equity. They immediately rolled out comprehensive training to faculty to build confidence in the platform and remove barriers to adoption. “They have come, and they have hosted trainings. They've come with support. It's been really nice to have that level of support where four or five people will fly out here to train our faculty,” Medley noted.

With a diverse student body that includes adult learners balancing multiple responsibilities, dual credit students, traditional students, and rural learners, Honorlock’s 24/7/365 support and flexible scheduling were essential for creating an exceptional student experience. The ability for students to gain familiarity with Honorlock through practice exams and HonorPrepTM has resulted in smoother test starts and reduced test anxiety.

Most importantly, Honorlock is helping SPC build a culture of integrity. According to Medley, “The integrity signals in Honorlock are more accurate, allowing faculty to know what to review and when. We now have a better balance between support and oversight with our current solution.” Since Fall 2024, exam administrators have steadily increased their review of recommended sessions, which provides faculty with the context and evidence they need to engage in meaningful conversations with students and reinforce the importance of integrity.

Finally, the relationship between Honorlock and Blackboard has also been crucial to SPC’s success. The two technologies integrate seamlessly, creating an end-to-end assessment solution that promotes engagement, accessibility, and fairness. Faculty at SPC have utilized Blackboard’s AI Design Assistant to create extensive banks of test questions and grading rubrics, providing learners with equity and transparency while saving instructors time. The addition of the AI Conversation tool has allowed practical, real-world tasks to be included as part of the assessment mix, spanning courses in welding, health sciences, social sciences, and more. These initiatives ensure that students acquire essential skills for the future workplace, while Honorlock-proctored quizzes enable secure assessments through features such as cell phone detection, BrowserGuardTM, and AI blocking.

Connecting Learning with Workforce Opportunities 

Empowering instructors is fundamental to engaging and equitable assessment practices. When faculty feel supported and have sufficient time to develop their assessments, they can design tasks that measure valuable skills and allow future opportunities for students.

The result has been widespread adoption of the platform. In the first full year of using Honorlock, SPC administered 47,669 proctored exams across 410 active courses. This significantly exceeds the usage that SPC saw with previous proctoring solutions.

When combined with Blackboard, this has made a meaningful difference to the outcomes for SPC’s 15,000+ students. The college has experienced impressive growth in both transfer rates and employability, delivering against its mission to provide upward social mobility in Hockley County and its surrounding areas. To cite just one recent example, the welding department had no less than seven of its students secure jobs with SpaceX before graduation.

Our partnerships with Honorlock and Blackboard have been essential to the work we’re doing. They allow us to design assessments that are transparent, accessible, and engaging—while also meeting the real-world expectations our students will face beyond the classroom.

Heather Medley, Instructional Designer, South Plains College 

Learn more about what Blackboard can do for your institution, and discover more about our partnership with Honorlock.