Ready for Midterms? A Brightspace Exam Checklist for Fall
Getting ready for midterms? A little preparation in Brightspace can help exam day go more smoothly for you and your students. The Educational Technology team at Teaching & Learning Innovations has put together a few practical reminders to help you check your quiz, spot any issues and give students a chance to practise. For a walkthrough with screenshots, see Set Up a Brightspace Exam: Quiz Settings, LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor.
1. Start with an ungraded practice quiz
Give students a chance to get comfortable with the process by making a short, ungraded practice quiz available one week before the exam. If the exam requires Respondus LockDown Browser or Respondus Monitor, use the same browser requirement, recording mode and startup checks in the practice quiz.
Set it up with unlimited attempts so students can try it in class or work through any technical issues in their own time. Encourage them to use their exam device and let you know about any problems they cannot resolve before exam day. They can check installation, permissions and how to submit, without worrying about their course grade.
2. Check dates, timing and individual arrangements
Take a moment to check your dates and timing against the instructions you have shared with students:
- Dates: Check the start date, end date and due date.
- Timer: Confirm the time limit, when it starts and what happens when time runs out.
- Attempts: Check how many attempts students have.
- Startup time: Build in time to launch LockDown Browser and complete any Monitor checks.
- Individual arrangements: Review Special Access and accommodations.
Remember: the availability window controls when students can access the quiz, while the timer controls their writing time.
3. Preview every question — check the Crosswalk
Before students write, take a look through every question in the quiz preview. Give questions brought across from Moodle or copied from another course a little extra attention. Is the wording complete? Are all the answer options, correct answers and marks in place?
Not sure what to look out for after migration? The Brightspace Quiz Building Crosswalk can help you spot question types and settings that need review or rebuilding before your exam.
Questions with images
If a question includes an image or diagram, check that it appears clearly in the quiz preview. Make sure students can see everything they need to answer the question, and try any other embedded media and links too.
An image or link can look fine in the editor but behave differently in the preview. If something is missing, get in touch with EdTech early. Share the course link and question name so we can help you track it down.
4. Review question order and randomization
Take a look at how your quiz selects and orders questions, especially if it came across from Moodle:
- Check that shuffling and random selections work as you intend.
- Review every question in each pool; repeated previews may still leave some questions unseen.
- Keep questions in a sensible order when they share a diagram, scenario or sequence.
- Confirm the number of questions and total marks.
If you do not have time to review every question in a randomized pool, avoid using that pool for this exam. A fixed set of questions you have checked is a practical option.
5. Confirm exam security and results release
Choose the security settings that fit your assessment. LockDown Browser restricts access to other applications and websites, subject to the options you allow. Respondus Monitor adds recording and must be enabled separately when required.
Where to find LockDown Browser settings
In your Brightspace course, go to Assessments > Quizzes > LockDown Browser. This opens the Respondus dashboard, where you can manage LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor settings for your quizzes.
Once you have saved your settings, check the Respondus dashboard to make sure the requirements are in place. Then take a look at when students will see their results, questions and correct answers. Keep answers hidden until everyone has finished writing.
6. Check permitted resources for locked or open-book exams
Students can use permitted resources during a locked or open-book exam, provided those resources work with your setup:
- Clearly identify which print or digital materials students may use.
- Link or embed PDFs, videos and other supported resources in the quiz.
- For publisher websites, use Allow access to specific external web domains in the LockDown Browser advanced settings. Include the required domains and a link in the quiz.
- Test the full login and navigation process; a resource may use several domains.
- Ebooks that need a separate offline application cannot be opened within LockDown Browser.
Check resources in your practice exam
Include the same permitted resources and access settings in your ungraded practice exam. Ask students to check that they can open and use each resource on their exam device, including any publisher login or website navigation. This gives you time to resolve access issues before the assessed exam.
One last check before exam day
- Dates and instructions match; the timer and attempts are correct.
- Individual accommodations and Special Access have been reviewed.
- Questions, images and media display correctly.
- Question order, randomization and total marks are as intended; every question in any randomized pool has been reviewed.
- LockDown Browser and Monitor requirements are confirmed, where used.
- Results and answers will be released at the intended time.
- Permitted resources work in the practice exam on students’ exam devices.
- Students can find the exam and have tried the ungraded practice quiz.