Deliver an online exam with Canvas Quiz and Respondus Lockdown Browser

Online exams can run smoothly when both instructors and students are well-prepared.

This guide walks you through the key steps to set up and deliver an exam using Canvas Quizzes with Respondus LockDown Browser.

1. Use the Syllabus template

Start early by setting clear expectations. Insert language into your syllabus page reminding your students to:

• Prepare for Canvas exams by updating their devices and testing the LockDown Browser.
• Review the Canvas exam instructions before exam day.
• Contact support in advance if they anticipate technical challenges.

Embedding this information in your syllabus helps ensure students are ready and reduces stress during the exam.

2. Set up the exam

Once the contents of the exam is ready in Canvas Quizzes:

• Select the setting to Require Respondus LockDown Browser in the quiz settings.
• Double-check availability dates, time limits, and submission rules.
• Use Canvas’ preview feature to confirm everything looks correct from a student’s perspective.

For a step-by-step overview on setting up your exam, a guide is available to you below.

3. Send the Exam Practice Run to students

The experience of an online exam can be optimized by giving your students a chance to try out LockDown Browser and confirm ahead of the exam that there are no issues using it on their device.

Encourage your students to enroll in the Arts ISIT Exam Practice Run. This practice environment allows students to install and run LockDown Browser on their computer. To access this course, students can self-enrol on Canvas using the above link. We would also recommend referring to the user guides on our LockDown Browser tool page.

We recommend sending the Exam Practice Run to your students at least a week before the exam takes place.

Additionally, setting up a practice quiz that has similar settings to your exam will ensure students can troubleshoot potential issues beforehand, reducing the possibility of any unforeseen technical issues on the day of the exam.

4. Request an Exam Settings Review

Arts ISIT offers an Exam Settings Review where we go over your exam settings and ensure everything is properly set up.

This technical review of your online exam catches avoidable issues that may affect your online exam delivery. If there are any issues with your exam, our team works with you to make the required adjustments to ensure a smooth delivery.

5. Staggering start times (130+ students)

For courses that have 130+ students, it is recommended to stagger the start times of the exam by at least five minutes apart per group of students. This will help with performance and reduce load issues of the exam in Canvas. Please contact us for assistance on how to bulk assign your students for your upcoming exam.

6. Prepare to deliver your exam

In preparation for exam day, instructors can prepare for exam delivery through the following actions:

• Review our troubleshooting guide: We share helpful advice on how to troubleshoot the most likely technical difficulties and how to get help if you cannot resolve the issues on your own. We recommend that you bookmark or keep this page handy before beginning the exam in case any issues arise.
  
  Troubleshooting an online exam

  arrow_right_alt
• Review best practices: Revisit our tips for online exam delivery.
  
  Best practices for delivering an online exam

  arrow_right_alt
• Bring paper copies of the exam: It’s important to have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong with the online exam. We recommend keeping a few paper copies of the exam. Arts ISIT can generate a PDF version of your Canvas Quiz.
• Know who to contact: If you come across any technical difficulty during your exam, support is available.
  • During business hours, reach out to Arts ISIT.
  • During final exams outside of business hours, you’ll need to contact UBC’s Learning Technology Hub (LT Hub) through their web form.
    
    Contact Arts ISIT

    arrow_right_alt

    Contact the LT Hub

    launch

When it comes to high-stakes assessments being written in person, many instructors are weighing whether to stick with traditional paper exams or move assessments online using tools like Canvas and Respondus LockDown Browser.

Each approach brings its own technical considerations, challenges, and benefits—here’s a closer look.

📝 Paper exams: A traditional method of assessing student work, students complete a paper exam in a classroom or exam hall and directly submit it to the teaching team.

💻 Canvas exams: You can also use Canvas, UBC’s Learning Management System (LMS), to administer an exam. Students use their own device to complete a digital exam in a secure environment. This method requires the student to install Lockdown Browser on their device.

Benefits and challenges of paper vs. Canvas exams

Assessment tools and features

Paper exam

✅ Flexible for complex work: Subjects that require diagrams, equations, or free form drawing often work better on paper.

⚠️ Scalability issues: Question randomization and auto-grading aren’t possible on paper. There is a reliance of multiple versions of the same exam to ensure academic integrity for large classes.

Canvas exam

✅ Built-in tools for scalability: Canvas offers automated grading for multiple-choice, true/false, and other question types. Instructors can also setup question banks, allowing randomization of exam questions.

✅ Managing accommodations: Extended times or varied start/end times can be easily setup on Canvas.

Academic integrity

Paper exam

✅ Simple invigilation: The teaching team and students are familiar with how these assessments are administered.

✅ Authenticated student work: Rest easy knowing ghost writers or AI tools will not affect the academic integrity of your exam.

Canvas exam

✅ Locked down test environment: LockDown Browser restricts students’ ability to navigate away from the test, open new tabs, or use any sort of AI assistant on the device being used.

Technical dependence

Paper exam

✅ No tech required: Paper exams don’t rely on internet connections, software, or devices. If the lights stay on and the room is quiet, the exam runs as planned!

Canvas exam

⚠️ Technical dependence: Students need a reliable device and internet connection. A dropped Wi-Fi signal can cause major stress over lost time — or worse, lost answers.

⚠️ Software compatibility: LockDown Browser can cause issues for students using older devices, tablets, or certain operating systems.

⚠️ Learning curve: More technical support is needed before the exam to ensure students are set up and familiar with the use of LockDown Browser.

Logistics and operations

Paper exam

⚠️ Manual workload: Printing, collecting, transporting, and grading physical papers takes coordination, time, and space.

⚠️ Archival issues: Lost or misplaced papers can be a serious problem. Exams have to be securely stored for at least a year in case of grade disputes.

⚠️ Difficulty reading responses: Some exams may get messy as students rush through their responses or rewrite sections.

Canvas exam

✅ Centralized access: Once the exam is completed, the entire teaching team has access to all submissions.

✅ Online archival: Student submissions are stored indefinitely on Canvas.

Other tools for marking paper exams

Scantron

Scantron is a multiple-choice test tool that is available to faculty and staff in the Faculty of Arts. It uses proprietary forms which are filled in by students during their exam and then fed through a specialized Scantron scanning machine to automatically score, analyze, and print data.

Scantron forms are supplied through individual departments and come in various formats.

FormScanner

Open-sourced and free to use, FormScanner is a fast and updated alternative to Scantron grading products. Rather than using pre-made forms that require prior ordering and delivery time, users can create custom forms with the built-in test tools and print out their own forms.

Gradescope

Gradescope has the ability to create and edit shared rubrics, deploy artificial intelligence-assisted grading features, automate digital assessment and assignment return to students, and view grading analytics.

There is a cost for using Gradescope at UBC. The cost is charged per student per course. Funding for Gradescope will need to be discussed with your department.

Using LockDown Browser and Zoom on two separate devices is a good way to invigilate remote online exams.

Instructor Set-up Guide   Live Exam Support FAQ

How does it work?

Zoom, a video conferencing application, can be used to monitor students while they take their online Canvas exams via LockDown Browser, a specialized web browser that prevents students from copying external content, accessing applications and visiting other websites for the duration of the exam.

Note: You may use Zoom to monitor students and discourage them from cheating, but please note that the tool does not prevent cheating. 

Creating an exam with LockDown Browser and Zoom using TWO devices

• Requires instructor to have a UBC licensed Zoom account to host the session.
• Students use two devices, one for writing the Canvas exam with Lockdown browser and a secondary device for Zoom that shows the student workspace (i.e., students write the Canvas Quiz on a computer and have Zoom open on their phone).

Things to Consider

Exam practice run: To ensure students get familiar with LockDown Browser and resolve issues in advance, have your students enroll in the Arts ISIT Exam Practice Run course on Canvas. The course includes practice quizzes for students to identify and resolve potential issues. This site also includes  a comprehensive student guide, troubleshooting tips and support information. Instructors are also encouraged to self-enroll to review the contents.

Breakout rooms: Breakout rooms will need to be created for courses with 25+ students, as Gallery View only displays up to 25 video feeds (or 49 depending on screen resolution) per page. Note that there is a maximum of 100 breakout rooms that can be created per session.

Note: For large classes of 300+ students, contact av.helpdesk@ubc.ca and request to activate “Large Meeting Add-On” for your Zoom account. 

Chat functions differently in breakout rooms. If private chat is disabled, students can still send a chat message that is visible to everyone in the breakout room – including the invigilator.

Invigilator setup: Each breakout room should have one invigilator. The invigilators can be TAs or instructors and they should be given host/co-host access.

Invigilator communication: Hosts and co-hosts are recommended to use an external communication application such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom chat through the desktop client app, etc to interact amongst themselves.

Staggering start times: For courses that have a large number of students, it is recommended to stagger the start times of the exam by at least five minutes apart per group of students. This will help with performance and reduce load issues of the exam in Canvas. Please contact us for assistance on how to bulk assign your students for your upcoming exam.

Checklist for running the exam in Zoom

1. Adjust the Canvas Quiz availability and duration to accommodate the time students need, to join the Zoom session and complete their set-up.
   Tip: Give yourself sufficient time to set up the session, allow participants in, and address any technical questions your students may have.
2. Assign the invigilators as co-hosts (or alternative hosts if they have a registered UBC Zoom account).  This will serve as a backup plan in case the host has issues with internet connectivity and will allow them to help with breakout rooms.
   1. Click on Manage Participants in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window
   2. Hover over the name of the participant who is going to be a co-host, and choose More
   3. Click Make Co-Host
3. Disable chatting class-wide.
   1. Click the Chat icon at the bottom of the Zoom desktop application
   2. Click the three dots > Host only
4. Allow participants from the waiting room to join the session.
5. Lock the meeting once all participants have joined through the Security icon.
6. Create and assign participants to breakout rooms (if preferred).
7. Select “Gallery View” by clicking the View button on top right corner of your Zoom window.

FAQs

Online Resources

• Exam resources 
• Software for Securing & Proctoring Exams
• Zoom documentation
• CTLT’s Principles for Remote Invigilation