Respondus LockDown Browser & Accessibility - Faculty Guide

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Preparing Your Exams

For every Respondus-enabled exam, you must have the following ready before exam day:

  1. A non-Respondus backup in Canvas. Make a copy of each Respondus assignment with Respondus disabled. Keep it unpublished - you can publish it for individual students if needed (LDI can help you set this up).
  2. Print copies of the exam as an additional fallback. The “New Quizzes” tool in Canvas supports printing.
  3. A no-stakes practice quiz administered early in the term so students can work through installation and setup issues well before any graded exam or quiz.
  4. Do not set a custom exit password. The default password ("escape") will allow  SAS staff to exit a student from a locked exam if needed.

Students with SAS Accommodations

Students with accommodations will probably take their assessments in the Testing Center.

  1. Contact SAS as early as possible if your course includes students with testing accommodations, and you are planning on using Respondus quizzes. 
  2. Send a PDF of the quiz to the Testing Center, so the staff there has access to a backup option (LDI can show you how to create a PDF from a Canvas quiz).
  3. Extra time only (no assistive technology): Students can use Respondus on their own laptop in the Testing Center. You will need to make sure that you have enabled extra-time for these students in the Respondus-enabled Canvas quiz settings (LDI can help with this).
  4. Assistive technology (AT) required: SAS staff will contact you if you have a student who does require assistive technologies for test taking. Respondus has known AT compatibility issues. Staff in the Testing Center will direct students whose AT is incompatible with Respondus to the non-Respondus Canvas backup quiz. LTI can assist you with making sure that this version of the test is configured correctly to give just those students access to it.

If a Problem Occurs in the Testing Center

SAS does not troubleshoot Respondus issues. If a student encounters a problem during an exam:

  1. SAS staff will exit the exam using the default password.
  2. SAS staff will email you and LDI to report the issue.
  3. You will coordinate next steps - typically administering the non-Respondus backup or rescheduling with the Testing Center. LDI is available to assist professors to set it up.

Note that resolution may not be possible during the original testing window. Having your backups ready is the best way to minimize disruption.

Questions?

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