Respondus Monitor is a fully automated online proctoring service from Respondus, Inc. Students record themselves by webcam during an online exam and flagged events and proctoring results are made available to the instructor afterwards.[2] Respondus describes it as a cloud-based service plus software, and calls it a “companion product” for LockDown Browser.[5][1] Its licensing is the most varied of the Respondus products: it is the only one that is metered, and the only one that can be paid for by students rather than the institution.[1]
Editions
Respondus Monitor has one feature set. What differs is how the licence is bought. The overview says the first year of a licence costs USD 4950 regardless of the size of the institution, and that after the first year there are three options: Tiered, Unlimited or Student Purchase.[2]
| Option | Fee basis | Price (USD, North America) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included seats | 200 seats with each annual LockDown Browser licence | Included | Pilots are free for two months[4] |
| Flat rate (initial term) | Institution-wide, any size | 4,950, prorated by start date | Restricted to some buyers[1] |
| Tiered | Seats in blocks of 1000 | 5,950 for the base 1000 seats; 1,950 per extra 1000 | Extra tiers can be added mid-term[1] |
| Unlimited | Institution-wide, no seat count | Quoted by type and size of institution | Usable with LMSs and publisher systems[1] |
| Student Purchase | Per student | 15 for 12 months | Paid by the student[1] |
See the catalog SKUs flat-rate initial licence, tiered licence, unlimited licence and student purchase.
Metrics
The Respondus Monitor seat
A seat is “one student per course where Respondus Monitor is used”. The pricing page gives two worked cases: if a course has four exams that use Respondus Monitor, only one seat is counted per student; if a student uses Respondus Monitor in two courses, it is counted as two seats.[1] The page states there is no limit to the number of exams in a course, nor to exam length.[1] The LockDown Browser agreement, describing the 200 included seats, words the unit as “1 seat = 1 student per course, per term”, so a student in the same course in two terms may count twice under that agreement; the pricing page does not mention term.[4] Institutions should confirm the intended counting with their account representative. See Respondus Monitor seat.
The student subscription
Under Student Purchase, students buy their own subscription, valid for 12 months for all courses and exams that use Respondus Monitor at their institution, for USD 15. Payment is made the first time an exam requires Respondus Monitor, by credit card, debit card or PayPal. The subscription is valid for 365 days in any course in the same learning system at the institution, provided the username and the learning system are the same across courses.[1] The student terms say a student pays the required licence fees “if required by your Institution or Respondus”, and that a demonstration use is not charged.[6] See Respondus Monitor student subscription.
Counting / floors
For tiered licences the floor is the base tier of 1000 seats. Respondus watches usage and warns the institution as it nears the limit, and the administrator area shows usage. If the limit is reached “the system will keep allocating new seats, providing extra time to arrange for the purchase of additional seats”.[1] Contractually this is a soft cap: use continues, and the exposure is a later purchase of additional 1000-seat tiers at USD 1,950 each.
The flat-rate first term has no seat count but carries limits. The page says Flat Rate pricing is unavailable to resellers, for-profit entities, certain countries outside North America, multi-year contracts and RFPs, and “may be subject to a usage cap”.[1] Institutions that buy through a reseller, tender or multi-year contract should therefore expect to be quoted outside this schedule.
A usable Monitor entitlement presupposes a campus-wide LockDown Browser licence. Respondus says Monitor cannot be used without LockDown Browser, and that the licence administrator must also enable the Monitor feature before instructors can see its settings in the LockDown Browser Dashboard.[1][3] The LockDown Browser fee, from USD 3,295 a year, is therefore part of the total cost; see LockDown Browser licensing.[9]
Virtualization & partitioning
No metric depends on hardware, cores or virtualization. The Institution terms prohibit reverse engineering and restrict use that conflicts with law, the terms themselves or the LMS provider’s terms.[5] The institution is responsible for the conduct of its agents, such as instructors.[5] The student terms apply to any device used with Respondus Monitor, including when multiple devices are used in the same exam session.[6]
Cloud / BYOL
Respondus Monitor is delivered as a service, so there is no BYOL model. Respondus processes information as a data processor on behalf of the institution, and the Administrator is responsible for the institution’s licence, the integration with other systems and institution-wide settings.[8] The privacy supplement notes that an Administrator can disable the facial-template feature, one example of a setting the institution controls.[8] The Institution terms fix default retention at five years for media files and personally identifiable information, with institutions able to shorten media retention to a minimum of 30 days and PII retention to 18 months.[5]
Learning-system coverage depends on the option. The Unlimited licence is described for LMSs such as Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace and Schoology and for publisher systems including Pearson MyLab and Mastering, McGraw Hill ALEKS, Cengage WebAssign and MindTap, and Hawkes Learning; Respondus asks buyers to contact their account manager for the complete list.[1] The ordering form of the LockDown Browser agreement notes that Respondus Monitor is not available for Sakai.[4] For Pearson-integrated use, the instructor terms say the licence fees are borne by the student users.[7]
Programs
Free pilot and included seats
A free two-month pilot gives unlimited use of Respondus Monitor with no obligation, and a college that licenses LockDown Browser receives a free 200-seat licence of Respondus Monitor each year.[1] The Institution terms add that no fees are charged for pilot or beta access, but Respondus may end any non-paid grant at any time.[5] The LockDown Browser agreement binds the licensee to the minimum term if it keeps using Respondus Monitor beyond two months.[4]
Flat-rate initial term
The flat rate is a roll-out price. The page says the initial term “enables universities to roll out Respondus Monitor and gauge interest across campus”.[1] After the term, the institution selects Tiered, Unlimited or Student Purchase, so the first renewal moves the institution onto a different pricing basis than the flat rate. See flat-rate initial term.
Institution terms of use
The Institution License and Terms of Use grant a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable licence to the software and service for the licence term, subject to fees set out in a separate licence fee agreement. The institution may not modify, distribute, sell or sublicense Monitor, and Monitor is licensed, not sold.[5] The licence grant for Monitor is separate from that of LockDown Browser, and support and maintenance are in the separate fee agreement.[5]
Respondus may change the terms but must give written notice of material changes within 15 days after a change, and the institution may object on reasonable grounds within 30 days; an objected change does not take effect in the current licensing term unless required by law. Respondus indemnifies the institution for costs and damages assessed by a judgment that Monitor infringes third-party intellectual property, and may terminate for breach only after allowing 15 days to cure.[5] For comparison across documents, see Respondus licence agreements and terms of use.
Out of scope
This article does not assess the accuracy, fairness, privacy or legality of proctoring, nor biometric-data rules. Respondus describes those topics in its privacy supplement and the student terms, which also contain an arbitration and class-action waiver between students and Respondus.[6][8] It does not cover reseller pricing or non-North American pricing.[1]