AIWG Proctoring Pilot Guidelines

AY 2025-2026

Updated August 22nd, 2025

The Academic Integrity Working Group (AIWG) has developed these guidelines to ensure transparent, consistent, and equitable proctoring practices for courses participating in the proctoring pilot. These guidelines provide an environment conducive to academic integrity and enable instructors and proctors to easily follow up on any Honor Code concerns, should they occur. Additional rationale and tips can be found in our Proctoring Best Practices document

Participating Course Policies

Transparency to Students

Instructors in the pilot must inform students that they are part of the pilot by including the following statement in their syllabus at the start of the quarter:

“This course is participating in the proctoring pilot overseen by the Academic Integrity Working Group (AIWG). The purpose of this pilot is to determine the efficacy of proctoring and develop effective practices for proctoring in-person exams at Stanford.  To find more details on the pilot or the working group, please visit the AIWG’s webpage.”

 and posting the AIWG Student Information Guide for all students to review.

Proctor Training and Designation

Before an exam, instructors should ensure that they have a sufficient number of trained proctors that they have designated for overseeing exams for all students in the course. Generally these will be the instructor themselves or other TAs/CAs involved in the course.  

Other examples of eligible proctors include:

• Office of Accessible Education’s CTC staff for OAE students with exam accommodations
• Athletic Department staff/coaches may proctor exams for traveling athletes.
• Department or school academic staff who may substitute for course staff
• A CGOE approved proctor for degree-seeking CGOE students.

Proctors outside of course staff must have written instructor approval and affirm their commitment to proctoring responsibilities. All proctors must go through the AIWG Proctor Training Course on Canvas. 

Remote Proctoring

Per the AIWG Charge, “remote proctoring, whether by software or  humans through a computer, is not under consideration”. Therefore all forms of remote proctoring are not permissible.

Exam Setup

To support effective proctoring, AIWG requires:

• Honor Code on Exam Cover Pages: Exams should include a statement about the Proctoring Pilot, course-specific Honor Code guidelines, an exam break sign-out form, and require student affirmation of their adherence to the honor code policies. You may modify our example cover sheet.
• Assigned Seating: Follow provided seating chart guides or place exams on assigned seats. For small classes, course staff may note seating locations after the exam begins.

Instructors may choose to ask students to place belongings away from them during the exam and may choose to require students to show their ID before or after the Exam. See our Best Practices document for more details on this and tips for implementing assigned seating.

Proctor Procedures During Exams

To standardize the student experience during an exam, please keep the following consistent:

• Proctor Presence: Rooms with over 50 students need at least two proctors, and may need more for consistent sightlines.
• Vigilance: Proctors should remain aware of the room and student student actions. They should avoid distractions (e.g. using phones) for purposes other than administering the exam.
• Movement: Proctors should minimize distractions from moving through the room while still being observant. Proctors should limit walkthroughs to every 30 minutes, unless following up on a concern.
• Student breaks/exits: When students leave the room in the middle of an exam, they must take their exam to a proctor and complete the exam break log at the bottom of their exam cover sheet.  The proctor should initial the exam break log when the student returns. Proctors may also keep a separate running list of all student exam breaks on a separate sheet, for reference.

Handling Suspected Violations:

• Proctors must NOT confront students directly. Instead, they should record observations and notify the instructor post-exam.
• Proctors may make general reminders (to the entire exam room) to discourage unpermitted actions (e.g., “Remember that phone use is prohibited”).
• Proctors may ask another proctor to observe a student to corroborate observations.

Honor Code Concerns

Proctors must approach observations without bias. Normal behaviors (stretching, fidgeting, clothing adjustments) should not alone raise suspicion. Proctoring must adhere to Stanford’s Non-Discrimination policies and the Student Conduct Charter of 2023.

Proctor observations should be communicated to the course instructor as soon as possible. If a formal Honor Code concern arises, the course instructor should submit the concern form to OCS, noting the proctoring pilot participation and relevant proctor observations. Academic penalties based on suspected dishonesty are prohibited until responsibility is officially accepted or determined by OCS.