How do I set up Respondus LockDown Browser to work with my Classic Quiz?

You will learn how to enable Respondus LockDown Browser in a Classic Quiz in your Canvas course.

The LockDown Browser has some incompatibles with Kurzweil, JAWS, and Magic - commonly used assistive technologies.

If you have a student in your course who uses Kurzweil or another assistive technology, such as JAWS or Magic, then you will need to create two instances of a Quiz before any students take the quiz - one requiring the LockDown Browser and one assigned to any students needing to use assistive technology which does not require the LockDown Browser.

Note that you should only copy a Classic Quiz one time within the same course or it will overwrite the copy.

Follow these steps after you have created your Classic Quiz in your course.

1. Enter your course.

course main page

2. Scroll down the course menu and click on LockDown Browser.

LockDown Browser selected

3. Click on Authorize.

Authorize button

4. The LockDown Browser Dashboard will display.

Note that there are two quizzes in this course. Both show that the LockDown Browser is not required to take those quizzes.

Tip: Use the tabs on the Dashboard for videos and guides on using the LockDown Browser.

LockDown Browser Dashboard
Wait. I got an error message!

Did you receive this error? If so, then you might need to change the title of one or more of your quizzes. The LockDown Browser Dashboard cannot handle Emojis and other types of unicode, such as "😎 Final Exam (and then summer break!) 😎".

error message in LockDown Browser

Do one of the following to correct this error:

  • Delete ALL special characters from the quiz name/title
  • If the quiz is imported or copied from another Canvas course and it has Unicode characters in the title/name, delete ALL the characters.

As a note, Unicode characters that are in the body of a quiz are not problematic. They don't have to be deleted.

5. Use the dropdown menu to select Settings.

Settings selected

6. Tick the radio button to Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam.

Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam radio

7. Type in a password if you desire to use one.

Remember, you can use the password and the due dates in the Canvas Quiz to limit access to this quiz. Setting a password here will override the Canvas Assignment Access code. If you edit the Access code in the Quiz settings, it will cause a conflict with the LockDown Browser, so only set the password in one location.

Password field

8. Click on Advanced settings.

Advanced settings button

9. Tick the desired settings.

Note that the first option to require the LockDown Browser to view the quiz feedback is the only one ticked by default.

These Advanced settings are for a Classic Quiz. The settings for a New Quizzes quiz are slightly different.

By default, students cannot use use an iPad to take the quiz. iPhones and Android phones will not work with the LockDown Browser.

Advanced settings options

10. Click on Save + Close.

Save + Close button

11. The Dashboard now indicates that we have one quiz which requires the LockDown Browser.

Dashboard

12. Returning to your Assignments, you can see that this quiz title has changed.

The quiz is now ready for the LockDown browser. If a student doesn't have the browser installed, clicking on the quiz will prompt them with the link to install it.

Quiz name has changed

Tip: You can still Preview the quiz and also Edit the quiz as normal. However, only type a Password (if you chose to use one) in only one place - either while editing the quiz or in the Respondus settings, but not both.

Faculty do not need to install the LockDown Browser. Only students will need to install it.

It is recommended that you provide students with a practice quiz which requires the LockDown Browser, so that they have a chance to try it. This will help reduce test-day anxiety. If you do not want to make your own practice quiz, this practice quiz is available via self-enroll.

13. After copying your course or importing a quiz into a new course, return to the LockDown Browser Dashboard to enable your quizzes.

This process must be repeated every time you copy your course or import a quiz into a different course. Simply visiting the LockDown Dashboard will re-enable the quizzes for which the LockDown Browser has been set as a requirement. If you don't do this, then students can take the quiz using their regular web browser.

LockDown Dashboard with message

Article Summary

You have now learned how to set up your quiz, so that the Respondus LockDown Browser will be required by your students.