Set Up a Brightspace Exam: Quiz Settings, LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor

Set Up a Brightspace Exam: Quiz Settings, LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor

Learn how to review Brightspace exam settings, enable Respondus LockDown Browser, and configure Respondus Monitor recording when required.

Important: Set up an ungraded practice quiz one week before the exam. Give students a short, ungraded quiz that does not affect their course grade. Use the same LockDown Browser requirement and, if applicable, Respondus Monitor recording mode and startup checks as the exam. Ask students to complete it on their exam device so they can practise the process and resolve technical issues before exam day.

  • Review exam timing, attempts, and feedback settings.
  • Enable LockDown Browser and optional Respondus Monitor recording.
  • Make the quiz available and prepare students with a practice quiz.

Before you begin

Create your quiz and add its questions before following these steps. This tutorial covers the quiz settings to review and how to enable Respondus.

  • LockDown Browser restricts access to other applications and websites while students take a quiz, subject to the options you allow.
  • Respondus Monitor adds recording for an online exam. It is used with LockDown Browser and must be enabled separately when required.

Step 1: Open your quiz

  1. Sign in to Okanagan College Brightspace and open your course.
  2. Select Assessments → Quizzes. You can also access Quizzes through Course Admin.
  3. Select the name of the quiz you want to configure.
Brightspace course navigation showing Assessments and Quizzes.

Course navigation: Assessments → Quizzes.

Step 2: Check the dates and availability

  1. Review the quiz Due Date.
  2. Expand Availability Dates & Conditions.
  3. Review the Start Date and End Date. Make sure the dates match the exam instructions you give students.
  4. Allow enough time for students to launch LockDown Browser, complete any Monitor startup checks, and take the quiz. Review Special Access for students who need different dates or extra time.

Example: A 90-minute exam could use a two-hour availability window to allow a buffer around the planned exam time. Adjust the window for your exam and any individual arrangements.

Note: Availability dates and the quiz time limit serve different purposes. Configure the timer separately in the next step; do not rely on the end date as the quiz timer.

Brightspace quiz editor with the due date and Availability Dates & Conditions settings.

Quiz due date and availability dates.

Step 3: Set the time limit

  1. Expand Timing & Display on the Edit quiz page.
  2. Set or confirm the quiz time limit.
  3. Select Timer Settings.
  4. Choose the timer behaviour that matches your exam. For an exam that should submit when time expires, select the option to automatically submit the quiz attempt.
  5. Confirm when the timer begins: when each student starts their attempt, or at the scheduled start time for everyone.
  6. Save the timer settings.

Ungraded practice quiz: Use a short time limit for the practice quiz, with the same timer behaviour as the exam, so students can experience starting and submitting an attempt.

Timing & Display settings and the quiz timer options.

Quiz time limit and timer settings.

Step 4: Check the number of attempts

  1. Expand Attempts & Completion.
  2. Select Manage Attempts.
  3. Set the number of attempts students are allowed. For example, use one attempt for an exam or multiple attempts for a practice quiz.
  4. Save the attempt settings.
Manage Attempts settings for a Brightspace quiz.

Number of permitted quiz attempts.

Step 5: Choose when students can see results

  1. Expand Evaluation & Feedback.
  2. Review Auto-publish attempt results immediately upon completion.
    • Leave it selected if students should receive their results as soon as they finish.
    • Clear it if you want to review attempts and publish results later.
  3. Under When published, display to learners, choose whether students will see their attempt grade and which questions or answers they can review.
  4. If needed, use Customize Quiz Results Displays to configure the feedback view or a later dated view.
  5. Select Save and Close to save your quiz settings.

Important: If auto-publishing is enabled and the results display includes correct answers, students may see those answers while other students are still writing. Review both settings before the exam.

Evaluation & Feedback settings for publishing quiz results and displaying questions.

Result publishing and feedback settings.

Step 6: Enable LockDown Browser

  1. Return to Assessments → Quizzes.
  2. Select the LockDown Browser tab.
  3. Find your quiz in the Respondus dashboard.
  4. Select the arrow beside the quiz name, then select Settings.
  5. Select Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam.

Ungraded practice quiz: Enable LockDown Browser for both the practice quiz and the exam. The practice quiz should let students test the same browser requirement before the assessed exam.

Respondus LockDown Browser dashboard with the quiz Settings menu.

Open the quiz settings in the LockDown Browser dashboard.

Respondus quiz settings with the LockDown Browser requirement option.

Require Respondus LockDown Browser for the exam.

Step 7: Review optional LockDown Browser settings

  1. If the exam needs an access password, enter it in the Respondus Password Settings area.
  2. Expand Advanced Settings.
  3. Enable only the options your exam needs, such as:
    • A calculator on the toolbar.
    • Access to specific external web domains.
    • Requiring students to remain in LockDown Browser until the exam is completed.
  4. Use the explain link beside an option to review how it works before enabling it.
Respondus Advanced Settings for calculator and external website access.

Optional LockDown Browser settings.

Step 8: Add Respondus Monitor, if required

Skip this step if your exam only requires LockDown Browser.

  1. In the same settings panel, locate the Respondus Monitor or proctoring section.
  2. Select the option to require Respondus Monitor for the exam.
  3. Choose the recording mode offered for your exam: Webcam Only, Webcam + Screen, or Screen Only, where available.
  4. Review the Startup Sequence.
  5. Edit Additional Instructions to explain what students need to prepare and what materials they may use.
  6. Configure Show ID if identification is required for your exam.

Note: Screen-only recording does not support iPads. Use the practice quiz to confirm that students' devices work with your selected recording mode.

Ungraded practice quiz: If the exam uses Monitor, apply the same recording mode, startup sequence, and relevant advanced settings to the practice quiz. Ask students to test any webcam, microphone, or screen-recording permissions required by that setup.

Respondus Monitor settings with recording mode options.

Respondus Monitor recording options & startup sequence.

Step 9: Save and confirm the requirement

  1. Select Save + Close in the Respondus settings panel.
  2. Check the dashboard to confirm that LockDown Browser is Required for your quiz, and that Monitor is required if you enabled it.
  3. If the dashboard displays Error with a Fix It button, use it to correct the configuration and check the status again.

Step 10: Make the quiz available in Content

If students will access the quiz from a course module:

  1. Open Content and select the module where the quiz should appear.
  2. Select Add Existing.
  3. Locate and select your quiz from the available activities.
  4. Confirm that the module and quiz link are visible to students and that the quiz itself is not hidden.

Adding a quiz to Content provides a link to the existing quiz. Its availability dates and conditions still apply.

Ungraded practice quiz: Add the practice quiz to Content before exam day and clearly label it as ungraded. Tell students to complete it on the device they plan to use for the exam and report any problems in advance.

Brightspace Content with the Add Existing quiz selection.

Add the existing quiz to Content.

A Brightspace quiz linked from a course Content module.
Quiz link in the course module.An ungraded practice quiz in a Brightspace Content module.

Step 11: Give students an ungraded practice quiz

  1. Create a short, ungraded practice quiz that does not affect the course grade. Clearly identify it as an ungraded practice activity.
  2. Apply the same LockDown Browser requirement, Monitor recording mode, startup checks, and relevant advanced settings as the exam.
  3. Make the practice quiz available before exam day.
  4. Ask students to complete it on the device they plan to use for the exam. Direct them to OC's institution-specific LockDown Browser installation instructions if they need to install it.
  5. Ask students to report problems before the exam so there is time to resolve them.

Final check

  • Dates, time limit, timer behaviour, attempts, and any Special Access are correct.
  • Results and correct answers will be released at the intended time.
  • The Respondus dashboard shows the required settings.
  • Students can find the exam and have completed the ungraded practice quiz on their exam device.

Need Help?

For support with quiz settings, LockDown Browser, or Respondus Monitor, contact the Educational Technology team.

edtech@okanagancollege.ca

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