Instructor Use Policies

• Only medium to high-stakes assessments should be registered.
• Please do not register reading quizzes or other low-stakes assessments.
• Assessments must be delivered through Canvas. 3rd party exam providers are allowed as long as they are linked through Canvas and are tested by the instructor.
• We do not currently proctor paper-based assessments in our test center locations.
• Multiple-attempt exams are capped at two attempts and students must have two separate appointments. Student notes are not allowed to leave the test center.  Please make sure students know to have two sets of notes prepared for both of their attempts.

• 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 test 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 Test 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.

Exam Window (previously Time Blocks)

• Assessments can be open anywhere from 2-5 days.

LockDown Browser (LDB) Use

• 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.

Accommodations

• All accommodations should be referred to the Exam Accommodation Center housed in Student Accessibility Services.

Finals Week

•  The Test 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 Test 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.
  

• For assessments being taken in a Test Center location, the use of IP filtering is required. This limits assessment access to a test center terminal.
• For assessments being proctored outside of a Test 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 test center if a student:

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

Students who are in Ames should use a test 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.