Respondus Lockdown Browser for Instructors

You can require students to take your Carmen quizzes with the Respondus LockDown Browser to create a more secure testing environment. The LockDown Browser is not intended to replace other browsers for regular Carmen use.

The LockDown Browser can be used in a lab or classroom equipped with computers or by students using their own laptops. The LockDown Browser is available in many university labs. Windows, Mac and iPad versions of the LockDown Browser are available for downloading. We do not recommend that students be asked to use LockDown Browser when they are taking online quizzes outside of a proctored situation.  

When students take your Carmen quizzes and exams with the LockDown Browser, they will be unable to:

Print or copy

Take screenshots of questions

Type in another URL (web address)

Access other applications (such as chat tools or another browser)

Although LockDown Browser provides enhanced security for quizzes and tests, this is true mainly when the quiz is taken in a computer lab or classroom. LockDown Browser will not catch students using multiple computers. Additionally, when used on an unstable wireless connection, LockDown may cause the students' computers to freeze when internet is lost.

Please consider carefully whether the benefits of using LockDown are worth the burden for both students and instructors. Instructors will need to re-set quiz attempts after students lose connectivity or experience other unexpected problems and must abandon their quiz.

If students attempt to take a locked quiz on a computer without LockDown installed, the link to download LockDown will show after they click the link to start the quiz but before they enter the quiz.

We recommend informing students ahead of time that the LockDown Browser will be required and that installing this browser won't modify their current version browsers in any way.

For individual installations, download the LockDown browser version for Ohio State here. Other links will only work for other institutions.

If you are a Computer Lab Manager and need to install the lab version of LockDown Browser on multiple computers, please contact carmen@osu.edu.

Considerations before using Respondus Lockdown Browser

Quizzes are displayed in full screen and cannot be minimized.

Copying and pasting anything to and from a quiz is prohibited.

Right-click menu options are disabled. Browser menu and toolbar options are disabled, except for Back, Forward, Refresh and Stop. Function keys are disabled.

The source code for the HTML page cannot be viewed.

More than 250 screen capture, messaging, screen-sharing, and network monitoring applications are blocked from running.

External sites may be included in your quiz without compromising the "locked" testing environment.

There is a button within the Browser that allows the insertion of special characters. These characters will be of most use to foreign language courses, though there are a few mathematical characters.

Read more about the Respondus LockDown Browser.

Enabling LockDown Browser

Create and preview your quiz as you normally would. Before publishing the quiz, enable the LockDown Browser requirement.

To use Respondus LockDown Browser, instructors first need to activate the tool in their Canvas course. You will then use the LockDown Browser Dashboard from the Canvas course navigation to enable security settings for each quiz.

If you copy a LockDown Browser (LDB) enabled quiz from a previous course OR the quiz is in a course that uses Blueprints, you must open the LockDown Browser dashboard for each new course. Until the LDB dashboard is opened for the copied/Blueprint course, the course is not recognized by the LDB servers and all the LDB specific settings will not be in effect. Students trying to access the quiz will get an error message. 

Add LockDown Browser to course navigation

 If you do not see the LockDown Browser on your Navigation bar, your first step is to add it. Follow the directions to Enable Navigation Links. The widget is titled LockDown Browser.

The LockDown Browser will not appear in the student navigation bar. However, it must be added to the course navigation in order for you to enable and control settings.

Enable the LockDown Browser for a quiz

Select LockDown Browser from the navigation bar. An About Lockdown Browser page will appear.

If you don't wish to see this page again, check the box next to Don't show this page again then click Continue to LockDown Browser. You should see a list of your existing quizzes, both published and unpublished.

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To the left of the quiz title for which you wish to enable LockDown Browser, select the down arrow then click Settings. 

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Select Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam. You may also require that LockDown Browser be used to view quiz feedback and results.  

You can opt to apply an access code that will need to be entered before a quiz can be launched. If you require an access code, you will need to share the password with students or your proctors ahead of time or they will not be able to access the quiz.
Click [+] to view Advanced Settings.  Expand the next section of this article for a description of the advanced settings options. Make any desired selections, then click Save and Close. 

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Advanced Settings

Once you have enabled Respondus LockDown Browser for your course and required the use of LockDown Browser on a specific quiz, you have a number of settings to choose from which are discussed below. 

All exams using LockDown Browser are now automatically iPad compatible. As a result, the previous option to allow students to take this exam with an iPad found under advanced settings is no longer available. There is not an option to disallow iPad use.

Lockdown Browser Instructor Advanced Settings

Require LockDownBrowser to view post-exam feedback and results

Select this option if you want students to be in LockDown Browser to review the results after the exam has been completed. If the exam in Carmen is not set to release results, then students will not be able to see results even if this option is selected. If results are released but this option is not selected, students would be able to access the feedback in any browser or app.

Lock students into the browser until exam is completed

Select this option to prevent students from exiting LockDown Browser before an exam is submitted for grading. A password can be entered to enable a proctor to close the browser during an exam.

We do not recommend using this option outside of a proctored environment.

If this option is left deselected, and if a student attempts to exit the browser during an exam, they will encounter the following prompt: Do NOT close the browser until the exam is complete. Your instructor will be notified if you exit the exam early.  

If the student selects Close the Browser, the student is required to enter a reason for exiting the exam early.

The date and time the student exited the exam, as well as the reason provided by the student, is reported to the instructor from the LockDown Browser Dashboard.

To view the Early Exits:

From the drop-down menu next to the quiz title, select Review Early Exits.

From drop-down menu select "Review Early Exits"

Instructors can then view the Early Exit information including student name, date and time, and the student's reason for their Early Exit.

The Lock students into the browser until exam is completed setting doesn't apply to the LockDown Browser iPad app. Due to the design of Apple's Guided Access, a student cannot be prevented from exiting the exam by triple-clicking the HOME button and exiting Guided Access. If an instructor checks the setting, iPad users can still leave the exam by exiting Guided Access. However, this exit will be shown in the LockDown Browser Dashboard with the following: "Student exited guided access during exam (iPad)".

Allow access to specific external web domains

This setting allows a student to access any page or link within the specified domain. This is useful to provide access to an e-book during an exam.

Enable Calculator on the toolbar

By enabling this option, instructors can enable a standard or scientific calculator on the Lockdown Browser toolbar.

Enable Printing from the toolbar

This selection enables a print button on the LockDown Browser toolbar which allows the exam screen to be printed.

The Student Perspective

If you have enabled the LockDown Browser for a quiz, students will see Requires Respondus LockDown Browser next to the quiz title and will have instructions for how to download LockDown Browser.

For more details on the student perspective please see Respondus Lockdown Browser (Students).