Summary
This article explains how you can enable Respondus LockDown Browser with one of your exams.
Respondus LockDown is available in every Blackboard Course. It’s recommended that you contact the Help Desk and schedule a consultation before using it for the first time. Before you enable Respondus LockDown for one of your tests, you must first create and deploy the exam in your Blackboard course with the following settings:
Make the exam available to students.
The setting to make an exam available should always be set to Yes. Otherwise, students will not be able to access the test.
Enable force completion.
Since the test will be taken at home, you should enable force completion to prevent students from being able to leave the exam and return to it later.
Set the availability window.
Set the desired dates in the Display After and the Display Until fields. Set the desired times next to each one.
Do Not set a password.
Leave the password field empty, and the checkbox disabled. Respondus LockDown will apply a randomized string in this field (more on this later).
The following settings should NOT be modified in the test options page after enabling Respondus: The test name, the “open test in a new window” setting, and the password settings.
Instructions
Before you make any adjustments in this dashboard, be sure that you’ve already configured the Test Options according to the requirement above.
Under your Course Tools menu, click Respondus LockDown Browser.
On the Respondus Dashboard page, you will see a list of the exams deployed in the course. Click the carat next to the desired exam so configure Respondus LockDown settings.
Select “Require Respondus LockDown Browser”.
If the exam is un-proctored, do not set a password. There is no benefit to setting a password if the test can be taken at home.
Expand the Advanced Settings tab, and select “Lock students into the browser until the exam is completed”. Do not assign a password for closing and exiting the exam early.
You can allow students to access certain websites during the exam by enabling the “Allow access to specific external web domains” option and then listing comma-separated URLs in the text box. Remember to include links for students inside the exam itself. Students will not have an address bar when using Respondus.
To enable a built-in calculator for students, check the “Enable calculator on the toolbar” option.
Click Save + Close. The exam is ready for students to use with Respondus LockDown.
A note about Respondus and test passwords
After enabling Respondus LockDown for one of your tests, a randomized password will be assigned in the test options page. Do not change or remove this password. Respondus LockDown works by automatically populating this password for students who are using the browser.
If Respondus assigns a password to the exam anyway, why is there a separate password option in the Respondus Dashboard? The password setting in the Respondus Dashboard is intended for situations where the student must use Respondus LockDown, and the test must also be proctored. The password ensures that students who already have Respondus installed can’t access the exam without a proctor.
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