Completing Multiple Assessments in One Sitting with LockDown Browser

Introduction

When students are required to complete multiple exams or quizzes in one session with Lockdown Browser (LDB), it can present challenges because students may be required to re-authenticate after completing each one. This can be especially problematic if students are barred from access to mobile devices, which are required for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), during the exam period. The following instructions describe a workflow which will allow the student avoid being required to re-authenticate.

Step 1: Access the First Assessment using a Regular Browser, not LDB

Start by accessing the Canvas course where the assessments are located using a regular browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc). Do NOT click on the Lockdown Browser icon on your desktop.

Navigate to the first assessment, when you click to open it, it will automatically prompt you open the quiz in Lockdown Browser. Click “Open in Lockdown Browser” to proceed. You may be prompted to auto-close other applications you have open.

Note: if you had not already downloaded LDB, clicking on the quiz will prompt you to download and install the software. After completing that step, you may need to navigate back to the Canvas course (again, in a regular browser), and start this process again.

Step 2: When you Are Done with the First Assessment

After you have completed the first assessment and clicked “Submit”, LDB will close and you will be automatically re-directed back to the regular browser tab from which you first clicked to launch the quiz. Unfortunately, you will not land back in the Canvas course, but on a “launch page” for the first assessment as shown below:

screenshot of "Assessment Loading" launch screen for Lockdown Browser in Canvas. The browser buttons for "Back" (1), "Close Tab" (2), "Open New Tab" (3) and "Reload" (4) are highlighted

In this browser window, you are most likely already authenticated into Canvas, so you may do one of the following actions to return to your Canvas course:

  • Click your browser’s “back” button (#1 in screenshot). This should return you to the Canvas course
  • Close the tab (2) and reopen a new tab (3). You will need to re-navigate back to Canvas in this new tab (Framingham.instructure.com).

Do NOT click your browser’s re-load button (#4 in screenshot). This will cause LDB to attempt to re-launch the quiz you just finished.

Once you are back in the Canvas course, repeat Step 1 and Step 2 for the next assessment and continue to repeat for all assessments until they are all completed.

Note

The preceding workflow was tested for a quiz created with Canvas New Quizzes (not Classic Quizzes), using the Windows operating system. No other configurations were tested.

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