CU Boulder Faculty IT Committee presentation on the Respondus Lockdown Browser Pilot

1. Respondus LockDown Browser Pilot
Aisha Jackson
Faculty IT Advisory Committee
12/03/2014

2. Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB)
 Locks down the Quiz tool in Desire2Learn
 Students are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or
access other applications
 Once a Quiz has started, students cannot exit until the
Submit Quiz button is clicked

3. How it Works
1. Faculty enable RLDB in D2L quiz settings.
2. Students follow a provided link to download and install
RLDB.
3. To take the exam, student enable RLDB.
4. The RLDB browser launches and takes students to the
D2L log-in page.
5. Students locate and complete the quiz in D2L.
6. After submitting the quiz, students are able to exit RLDB.

4. Participants and Requirements
Leeds Faculty
 Sought alternative to
ExamSoft Product
 Exam security
 Limit word count
 Bulk printing of essay
responses
Suzanne Nelson, IPHY
 Exam security
 Reduce paper
consumption

5. OIT Goals
 Determine if RLDB should be licensed for the campus
 Results would help to:
 Inform us of what we need to inform the IT Service Center
 Identify, resolve or establish work arounds for technical issues
 Develop guidance for students and faculty

6. Scope
Initial
 Pilot participants
 Classroom (non-lab) use
 RLDB
 Access via laptops, not
mobile devices
Adjustments
 Campus wide
 Classroom and lab use for
Suzanne Nelson

7. RLDB Support
 Published website with guidance
 Instructions for set up
 Tips for success
 Practice quiz recommendation
 Sample syllabus statement
 Having a back up plan
 Meetings with faculty
 OIT staff attended exams

8. Pilots Results
Suzanne Nelson
 Saved 40,000 sheets of
paper
 RLDB addressed her exam
security concerns
 Didn’t feel she could
troubleshoot on her own
 Would like to use RLDB in
the future
Leeds Faculty
 BCOR 1015 and 3010 withdrew
from the pilot
 Size of courses and wireless
 Non RLDB needs weren’t met
 MGMT 4010
 6 students had technical
issues
 Felt support, though
unprepared
 Didn’t feel RLDB was “ready
for prime time”
 Willing to try again with
additional practice

9. Lessons Learned
 RLDB has some support
challenges
 Lack of consistency in
error messages
 Difficulty troubleshooting
issues after its been
disabled
 Difficulty troubleshooting
wireless
 Machines freezing and
needing to restart in
order to get out of RLDB
 Variability across student
machines
 Given the challenges, we
need to determine how we
can scale support
 Additional capacity is
needed to support RLDB
 Wireless
 Power
 There appears to be a need
for lock down functionality
outside of the LMS

10. Way Forward
 Discontinue RLDB license in the fall
 Survey Suzanne Nelson’s students
 Publishing online exam best practices to the OIT website
 Launching eExam Project to understand campus needs,
explore solutions, and determine feasibility

11. Discussion and Questions