Chegg Launches HONOR SHIELD: A New Tool to Support the Integrity of Online Exams

With online and remote testing increasing, Chegg launches HONOR SHIELD, a new tool to limit access to Chegg solutions during designated exam periods

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chegg Inc. (NYSE: CHGG), the online education platform which provides study tools, textbook rentals, math and writing support, and skills training to millions of students in over 190 countries, today announced a new tool available to faculty in response to the dramatic shift to online home assessments and examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Honor Shield allows professors to confidentially, and without charge, pre-submit exam or test questions, preventing them from being answered on the Chegg platform during a time-specified exam period. After a successful trial, Chegg is now offering the service to faculty across the United States, and eventually globally.

“The overwhelming majority of students use our platform to get the support they need to learn and master their subjects. The sudden impact of the Covid-19 pandemic forced many schools to go online, almost overnight, creating understandable confusion, stress, and the loss of many on-campus support services. As a result, a small number of students have misused our platform in ways it wasn’t designed for, which we believe is not in the spirit of the majority of hard-working students,” said Nathan Schultz, President of Learning Services at Chegg.

“We are working with faculty, administrators, and students, to do our part in protecting the integrity of the online evaluation process. The extra layer of protection provided by Honor Shield will further support the learning process and serve the continued move to online learning. By working in partnership with educators, institutions, and students, we believe we are building systems to support student learning in the most effective ways,” Schultz added.

At the height of the pandemic in spring 2020, 1388 out of 1442 colleges surveyed (96%) had moved online according to the Davidson College Crisis Initiative dashboard. Of 2958 US colleges surveyed in the fall of 2020, around two thirds (65%) were still delivering at least part of their programs virtually.

“This is a complex problem, and we are determined to play our part in identifying and implementing practical solutions. As education becomes more accessible and available online, we believe that technology companies and education providers must work together and evolve to protect academic integrity,” said Schultz.

Honor Shield adds to a range of measures already in place to prevent abuse of Chegg’s platform. These include constant technology and human monitoring, training of all Chegg experts, prompts for users, banning of abusers from the Chegg platform, strict adherence to DMCA removal protocols, and rigorous enforcement of Chegg’s honor code, including cooperating with official university honor code investigations.

ABOUT CHEGG

Chegg: A Smarter Way to Student®. We strive to improve educational outcomes by putting the student first. We support students on their journey from high school to college and into their careers with tools designed to help them learn their course materials, succeed in their classes, and save money on required materials. Our services are available online, anytime and anywhere. Chegg is a publicly held company based in Santa Clara, California and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information, visit www.chegg.com.

Learn more about Honor Shield at www.chegg.com/honor-shield