Working in academia, it can feel like our time moves in these all too swift cycles. We say “We can’t believe it’s that time already” so often, but it is so often true. And, it’s hard to believe it’s almost finals time already.
If you missed it, take a look at our post about Student Support Resources to Get Through Finals. We can help our students proactively plan to manage the stress and responsibilities of this critical time in the semester by starting the conversation now.
We often get questions about how to maintain the integrity of final exams through the use of Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. An instructor must consider many factors before deciding to use this integration and have sufficient time before finals to set up Respondus, given the technological requirements and in-class troubleshooting that are required to ensure successful use. We encourage faculty to review the Student Terms of Use for Respondus when considering the tool.
If you determine that Respondus is appropriate for your course, it is essential to do a test run with a practice quiz with your students before the required exam to make sure there are no technical difficulties the day of the exam. Students need to be familiar with the settings of their personal devices and comfortable troubleshooting issues, like when Respondus will not let them begin because certain unauthorized programs are running. By conducting an in-class Respondus test run, you can ensure students have all the proper settings, their devices work well, and are comfortable with the process.
For more guidance and considerations, see our guide on getting started with Respondus. Respondus must be requested for your course site using the Brightspace Pilots and Integrations request form.
For this and other educational tools and pedagogical conversations, contact your liaison or reach out to us at asteaching@nyu.edu.