Instructor Use Policies

Instructor use policies must be reviewed prior to submitting an exam request. Requests submitted that do not adhere to these policies will not be approved by Testing Center staff. With over 120,000 exams completed each year, our policies reflect a balance between efficient use of appointment timing and staffing with that of instructor’s needs for testing. We appreciate you considering using our service for your course exams. Please note items bolded and in red are proposed policy changes for the upcoming semester. These policy changes are generally reviewed by our faculty advisory board prior to being official policy changes.

Only medium to high-stakes assessments should be registered. Please do not register reading quizzes or other low-stakes assessments. Removal of these restrictions (Summer 2025)
We do not proctor paper-based assessments in our testing center locations. We do not proctor open book or open note exams unless the book is an e-book and is linked in the exam.
Assessments must be delivered through Canvas. 3rd party exam providers are allowed as long as they are linked through Canvas and are verified by the instructor.

Exams are approved on a 1st come, 1st served basis (this includes final exam requests).
- Some exams may not be approved due to center capacity issues and/or non-conformity to the instructor use policies.
- Instructors may be asked to move a requested time period to better align with testing center capacity.
- The end date of an exam request is weighed heavily in determining capacity issues.
Assessment length should be no longer than class length, unless otherwise arranged.
Assessment length should be appropriate for the exam with no added time built in.
Assessments must be uploaded or published and ready at least 2 business days before the assessment opens to allow Testing Center staff to complete a settings audit.
Instructors will not have access to change information (except for student restrictions on pre-release and make-up exams) after an exam has been approved. Any changes must be sent to testcenterhelp@iastate.edu and can be administratively adjusted.

Notes

Open note exams are not proctored by the Testing Center
A maximum of 2 pages (front and back) of notes are allowed. If instructors want to allow notes, they must specify how many pages and what type (handwritten, typed, or both), but cannot exceed the maximum set by the Testing Center.
If you allow multiple attempt exams with notes, please know that the Testing Center does not allow any notes to leave the facility. Students will need a second set of notes for their second attempt.
Notes are not allowed to be stapled, taped, or glued together.

Exam Window

Assessments must be open anywhere from 2-5 business days.
Assessments must be open for the full business day (during testing center operating hours).

LockDown Browser (LDB) Use

If you wish to limit student’s ability to access items in Canvas (notes, presentations, previous assignments, etc.) during an assessment, we recommend using Respondus LockDown Browser. (Summer 2025)
Instructors must enable LDB link visibility on the Canvas navigation page if using LDB for an exam.
If you are allowing simple or scientific calculators, you must also enable this function in LDB settings.
It is highly recommended that instructors verify their exam works correctly before an exam opens, especially if using images, links to external content, or other media. Please let us know at testcenterhelp@iastate.edu if you would like to verify an exam works appropriately.

Multiple Attempt Assessments

Multiple-attempt exams are capped at two attempts and students must have two separate appointments.
Student notes are not allowed to leave the testing center. Please make sure students know to have two sets of notes prepared for both of their attempts.
It is recommended that multiple attempt assessments use New Quizzes and have a one day waiting period enabled between attempts. (Summer 2025)

Accommodations

Accommodations outside of extended time or low-distraction should be referred to the Exam Accommodation Center housed in Student Accessibility Services. The testing center is able to accommodate students with extended time or low-distraction accommodations. The Testing Center does not manage the EAC.

Finals Week

The Testing Center has special extended hours, additional locations, and moves to a mostly walk-in only model with some limited appointments during Finals Week. Please see our Finals Week webpage for additional information.
Instructors are highly encouraged to have their exam available the Saturday and Sunday before finals week.
Finals week exam requests are processed on a first-come/first-served basis. Exam requests may not be approved or Testing Center staff may request you to move your the end date of your exam to balance capacity.
Final exam requests must be submitted by the end of week 10. Exam requests submitted after week 10 will not be approved except for extenuating circumstances. If capacity has been reached prior to week 10, exam requests may be denied.

For assessments being taken in a Testing Center location, the use of IP filtering is required. This limits assessment access to a testing center terminal.
For assessments being proctored outside of a Testing Center location, the use of a password is required. This password will be provided to a student’s approved proctor.

Instructors can approve online students for off-campus proctors in courses registered with the testing center if a student:

Resides outside of Ames (or lives in Ames but an exception is made by the instructor) OR has paper-based assessments

Students who are in Ames should use a testing center location for their assessment, unless their assessment is a written assessment, or they are unable to complete an assessment due to center hours of operation. Instructors are responsible for arranging a time and location to proctor Ames-based online students if using a written exam.

Substantive changes are coming to this process with a pilot occurring during Summer 2025. Please email us at testcenterhelp@iastate.edu for any questions.

Terms & Conditions for Faculty

By submitting your assessment request to the Testing Center (TC), you agree to allow TC administrative staff limited access to change specific online Canvas assessment settings to facilitate the resolution of problems students may have in accessing assessments.

Settings** TC admins may alter (as needed) are:

Timer (must match RegisterBlast submission)
Display after/Display until dates and times (Canvas exam dates must be the same as your RegisterBlast submission)
IP filtering (to be used for all assessments taken in a Testing Center location)
Password (to be used only for external proctors. This must be the same as the password information in your RegisterBlast submission)
Due Date (to be certain it does not conflict with the Display after/Display until options)
Lockdown Browser settings including enabling calculator use
Publishing exams that are unpublished

** – for Classic Quizzes; there may be slight differences in New Quizzes

Any changes that need to be made will normally be in response to a technical issue report that has been submitted to both the instructor for the course and the TC administration. Soon after any change has been made, the instructor of the course may be notified by email as to the resolution of the technical issue. Testing Center staff may change settings during a settings audit to align with Testing Center policy and or previously submitted information via RegisterBlast.