Brittany Newell typically has 350 students, mostly freshmen, in her fall ENGT 182, Gateway to Engineering Technology, class and another 150 in the spring – and that means, when it comes to exam time, they’re going to find themselves taking the test in a large auditorium.
But not in the spring semester of 2023. A pilot project by Purdue Teaching and Learning Technologies and Purdue University Online will enable Newell’s students to take their exam pretty much anywhere they have an internet connection, even from home. The project integrates Respondus LockDown Browser into Variate to create a secure testing environment students can access online.
Variate allows instructors to create math-based assessments with a friendly user interface and – since it is homegrown by Purdue – without requiring students to pay for access to a third-party platform. The multipart test problems can include randomized variables so that each student sees a unique version of every problem on the test.
Meanwhile, Respondus LockDown Browser takes over the entire screen and locks students into the online testing environment for the duration of the exam, until it’s submitted for grading. The browser prevents students, for example, from opening another tab or window, or another application, to search for answers and it disables functions such as screen capturing and copying and pasting. It also blocks several other potential methods of digital cheating, such as remote desktops, screen sharing and instant messaging.
Together the two provide significant academic integrity assurance, albeit without the same level of oversight as in-person proctoring or digital proctoring via webcam (nor the same feeling of intrusiveness in the case of the latter). LockDown Browser in Variate does not include Monitor, the Respondus digital proctoring solution.
“I'm really excited to use it and hope that this works out as a good solution for myself and others in the future,” said Newell, an associate professor in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute's School of Engineering Technology.
Purdue Teaching and Learning Technologies is looking for additional faculty members who would like to try Variate with Respondus LockDown Browser. For more information, contact tlt@purdue.edu.
Newell began using Variate for homework assignments in ENGT 182 during the fall semester of 2022 to positive reviews from her students, who liked the ease of linking to the assignments from Brightspace and Variate’s ability to provide them rapid feedback on their answers. She’s familiar with Respondus LockDown Browser as well, having used it for remote testing during the pandemic.
Variate helps Newell by automating her grading, no small matter with 500 students. But the biggest advantage of integrating Respondus LockDown Browser in Variate may be alleviating the need for large-venue exams, where the ambient noise and nonclassroom seating, generally requiring a lapboard, are hardly an optimal test-taking environment.
Large-venue exams are likewise a logistical challenge for instructors. The tests must be preplanned and scheduled early. They take more than one faculty or staff member to administer and monitor. They use reams of paper to print hundreds, or thousands, of test copies, which then have to be strictly accounted for before and after.
Being digital, Variate also facilitates building what is becoming over time a huge database of well-tested problems for exams, quizzes, homework, and practice – something difficult to do with paper.
Variate already has proven itself in large-class testing at Purdue. More than 3,000 Chem 11500 students used it in the fall semester of 2021. In that case, students took their exams during their regular lab sections on secured iPads in iPad-equipped lab rooms at the new Chaney-Hale Hall of Science. The system was used again in fall 2022.
Not every campus unit has access to an array of iPads, however. The integration of Respondus LockDown Browser in Variate eliminates the need and creates a test-anywhere environment. Purdue University Online provided an innovation grant to help fund the project, which includes employing experienced student workers to assist faculty by inputting instructor-developed problems in Variate.
The Variate and Respondus LockDown browser combination isn’t only for large-lecture classes. April Cheung, assistant professor of practice in the School of Engineering Technology, plans to use it in her ECE 27700, AC Power and Electronics, course that’s capped at 30 students.
Cheung will have her students take their exams, two during the semester and a final, in an ITaP computer lab using Variate with Respondus, after a demo to familiarize them with the system. She was an early adopter of Variate and uses it for homework and quizzes already. Her exams were in Brightspace with webcam monitoring during the pandemic. Then, she switched to paper exams for the fall semester 2022.
“Getting students in one platform, in Variate, and just doing everything in Variate will be beneficial,” Cheung said. “They're used to going on a computer answering the homework and quiz questions in Variate, so switching them into a different form may be a disadvantage for some of them.”
Another advantage: “The grading will be a lot easier for me compared to the paper exams,” Cheung said.
In addition to chemistry and engineering, Purdue faculty in diverse areas such as genetics, economics, and Hospitality and Tourism Management are using Variate.
For more information on Variate, Respondus or other TLT-supported instructional technology, contact tlt@purdue.edu.
Writer: Greg Kline, Purdue Online, 765-426-8545, gkline@purdue.edu