REDMOND, Wash. — The Utah Education Network (UEN) has selected Respondus LockDown Browser to reduce common methods of cheating and copying during online assessments. The UEN consortium, which includes the 10 public universities from the Utah System of Higher Education, uses the Blackboard Vista course management system to deliver its online assessments. Respondus LockDown Browser (www.respondus.com) integrates with Blackboard Vista to prevent students from printing, copying, visiting other URLs, or accessing other applications during an online assessment. Students are essentially locked into the assessment until they submit it for grading.
“Making online tests delivered in Blackboard more secure is a challenge with all the information readily available through a simple Internet search,” says Scott Allen, Learning Systems Administrator at Utah Education Network (UEN). “Respondus LockDown Browser helps control the online testing environment so students can’t access anything but the assessment itself. Several UEN institutions were already licensing Respondus LockDown Browser on their own, so we worked with Respondus to make it available to our entire Utah higher education system.”
The 3-year license enables all higher education institutions within UEN to install Respondus LockDown Browser within testing labs or on students’ own computers. It also allows institutions to use Respondus LockDown Browser with other course management systems. For example, Respondus LockDown Browser is compatible with Moodle, which is currently being trialed at some institutions within the UEN consortium.
“For instructors to fully embrace online testing, they need tools that will discourage common forms of cheating by students and the copying of exam questions,” says David Smetters, president of Respondus. “Respondus LockDown Browser can’t prevent all types of cheating, but it fully locks down a student’s computer during an online test, which is the greatest source of this problem.
Respondus LockDown Browser integrates with ANGEL, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle, and WebCT. Over 300 universities and K-12 districts license it on an enterprise-wide basis.
About the Utah Education Network
The Utah Education Network (UEN) is a group of public education partners that includes the Utah System of Higher Education, its ten universities and colleges and Utah Electronic College; the Utah State Office of Education, local school districts and the Utah Electronic High School; and the state’s Library system. UEN services benefit more 750,000 students and educators throughout the state of Utah. For more information about the Utah Education Network, please visit www.uen.org.
About Respondus
Respondus, Inc., develops assessment applications for the e-Learning market. Thousands of instructors at over 2,000 colleges and universities in over 50 countries use Respondus software to enhance the capabilities of their course management systems. Respondus, Inc. also licenses its “next generation” test bank delivery system to publishing companies and offers supporting services. For more information, please visit www.respondus.com.
