Proctored Exams in the Online CS Program

A number of our courses have exams which are proctored virtually and scheduled through the Ecampus Exams & Proctoring Form. Proctorio is the standard online proctor used by this program and is free of charge for students. In some cases students may insist on an on-site proctor, which they may find using the Ecampus Guide.

Best Practices

There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up a proctored exam in Canvas.

Minimum Open Window

The Online CS Program has determined a bare minimum accessibility window of three days for exams, at least one of which should be on a weekend. This allows the greatest availability for our students, who otherwise may not be able to set aside enough time for a fair attempt.

Begin and End Exam when you will be Available

Issues happen with proctored exams. Proctors can receive incorrect information from eCampus, students can misunderstand directions, proctors might misinterpret a rule you’ve posted, etc.. Because of this, it is important to set the exam to open and close at a time when you will be available. This way, when a student gets disconnected from Canvas with 20 minutes left in their attempt due to a power outage, just prior to the close of the exam window, you can answer the email/Ed post/Teams chat/phone call and assist the student right away. Obviously this type of things might occur at any point in the window, but the majority of incidents will occur near the Begin and End times of the exam.

Setting Up a Proctored Exam

More details about Proctio and how to set it up for individual exams can be found at the Ecampus About Proctorio Site

Passwords

Proctorio automatically sets passwords for any Proctorio-enabled exams, but you need to ensure the “Secure Exam Proctor” is dragged into the active course modules in Canvas. Go to Settings->Navigation then ensure it is in the upper grouping. If students are receiving an “Access Code Required” error, the most likely issue is that their Proctorio browser extension (titled “Secure Exam Proctor”) is either uninstalled, out of date, or does not have access to the exam page. More troubleshooting tips can be found at this link. Feel free to link to that PDF from your exam instructions so the students can access it.

Canvas Exam Setup

Mostly this will be handled by your course designer, but there are a few things to keep in mind as you set up your exam in Canvas.

Hiding solutions

If you choose to reveal the exam solutions at a specified date, then when a course is forwarded to another term it should update the date automatically. However, if you have done this manually in the past, then the setting to “Let Students See Their Quiz Responses” and “Let Students See The Correct Answers” will still be set. Remember to un-check these boxes at the beginning of the term to avoid giving out answers while the exam is open.

Extensions or Early Access

By default, Canvas will assign the same timeframe to every student. If you want to offer an expanded window to some students, you can do this by editing the Quiz, scrolling down to the Assign tab and clicking “+Add”. Enter the student’s name and the new dates and click “Save”. That’s it!

Retakes, Extra Time on Attempts, and Unlocking a Quiz

If you wish to grant another attempt or additional time to a student, first select the Quiz, then click the “Moderate Quiz” button at the top-right. Find the student and click the Pencil icon to the far-right of the student’s name. Please note that you cannot add time to a concluded attempt or one in progress.

Ecampus Exams & Proctoring Form

Generally between terms you’ll received a reminder from Ecampus Exams & Proctoring to setup your Proctored Exams at the Exams & Proctoring Form site. After signing in and clicking “Add an Exam” you can configure the exam window, time duration, and options. Clearly these should match whatever you have setup in Canvas and advertised to students, but here are a few additional notes.

  • It is recommended to make a Note at the bottom of the form that state something like “If the student is insisting a resource is allowed and you’re not clear based on the exam instructions, err on the side of the student and notify the Instructor of the issue so I can make a determination after the fact.”
    It’s an occasional occurrence that a proctor misinterpret a rule (such as “Windows or other OS Calculator, or what a “Simple Text Editor” is). When this happens it can disadvantage a student. Rather than force the student to argue their case, we want the proctor to believe them, but send us a note so we can evaluate the situation ourselves.
  • This page defaults to No Options and settings do not persist from term to term.
  • The “End Date” on this form is the time by which students must submit their exam, not begin it.
    For example, a 60-minute exam with an End Date time set to 11:55pm will not allow proctors to start an instance of that exam after 10:55pm.
  • The “destroyed by proctor” option for Notes is unlikely to actually happen.

Prepare your Students for a Proctorio Exam

The following guide may be useful in preparing your students for their Proctorio experience: Proctorio FAQ.

Common Issues

Incident Reports

If something out of the ordinary occurs during a proctoring session you will recieve an Incident Report from eCampus. These are fairly general, but usually happen in the following circumstances.

Major Connectivity Loss

If a student’s connection drops for a significant amount of time, you may hear about it from the student, and it may show up in the Proctorio flags. Unfortunately, there is a massive grey area in what is considered significant and potentially malicious, and your students may have lost time for various reasons without you ever hearing about it. If you do hear about it, there are a number of ways to handle this, and whichever you pick is up to you.

  • Full or Partial Exam Retake
    To allow this, add an attempt in Canvas and ensure the student’s Assignment window includes enough time for them to reschedule the exam. You’ll also have to notify their proctor. In general you can message eCampus Testing (ecampustesting@oregonstate.edu) to notify them of the retake and extension, so they can communicate that information to the student’s proctor.
  • Alternate Exam
    This is essentially the same as the first option, but you’ll make a separate Canvas Quiz and notify eCampus (or the student’s proctor) of the Canvas Quiz name.

Suspected Academic Misconduct or Exam Rule Violation

When Proctorio suspects academic misconduct, it is flagged in the Proctorio report. If you do believe the student violated the rules of the exam, Submit a Academic Misconduct report. You can read more about the student code of conduct HERE or check the page on it HERE.

Life Emergency

Our students are people, just like we are… and just like we do, they sometimes have urgent concerns which override their academic pursuits. It is our believe as a Program that we should be as accommodating as possible of these unplanned and unexpected emergencies. Any life-changing circumstance which could not be planned for merits an expanded window of availability for an exam. If this concerns the Final Exam, consider offering the student an Incomplete and allowing them to finish the course at a later time. Please note, however, that Incomplete grades can only be offered if the student is passing the class at the time of the request. For more info, see the Incomplete Grades Guide.

The process for offering exam extensions can be simple, depending on the proctors.

  1. Email eCampus Testing (ecampustesting@oregonstate.edu) and provide them with the following…
    • Student Name
    • Course Number / Section
    • Exam Name
    • New Deadline
    • Any altered accommodations
  2. In Canvas, open the associated Quiz and select Edit.
  3. Under Assign.
  4. Under Assign to enter the name of the student being offered an extension and set the new timeframe for this student in Due, Available from, and Until.

Proctor Approval

OSU Ecampus’ Testing and Proctoring coordinators handle approval of proctors for all the online courses. If you wish to see which proctors your students are using, you may view this information on the Ecampus Proctoring Site.

  • Sign in at the above link
  • Select Exam Information
  • Directly under the section information for each course, select Student Proctor Information.

Ideas for things to add to this page

  • “What a Proctored Exam Looks Like for a Student” section