Schedule a LockDown Browser Restricted Assignment

To help prevent cheating, you can restrict your students' computer activities while they are working on a quiz or test by requiring that the assignment be opened in the free WebAssign LockDown Browser®. While an assignment is open in LockDown Browser, your students cannot use instant messaging, search the Internet, print, copy text, or use other applications on their computer.

Prerequisites: Schedule an Assignment Based on Class Schedule; Schedule an Assignment Based on the Day of the Week

LockDown Browser restricted assignments are indicated with a padlock icon webassign lockdown browser required icon .

Best Practice Use LockDown Browser in a proctored environment.

Installation Requirement

Important For your students to open a LockDown Browser restricted assignment, the free LockDown Browser application must be installed. LockDown Browser can be installed only on macOS™/OS X® or Windows®.

For this reason, your students can open a LockDown Browser restricted assignment only from WebAssign supported browsers on Windows or macOS/OS X. They cannot open LockDown Browser assignments from an iPad® or a Linux®/UNIX computer.

Before scheduling a quiz or test in a computer lab, contact the lab administrator well in advance to ensure that they have time to download and install LockDown Browser on each of the lab computers. You might want to create a test assignment that the lab administrator can use to verify the installation before your students arrive.

When Not To Use LockDown Browser

Do not require LockDown Browser if any of the following circumstances exist:

If LockDown Browser cannot be installed on the computers your students will use to complete the assignment — for example, in a restricted or Linux/UNIX lab environment.
If the Windows group policy allows students to access the Task Manager or switch users. This access allows students to open other applications and circumvent LockDown Browser.

Schedule the assignment, if you have not already done so.
Open the Schedule page and navigate to the assignment.

From My Classes, click Class Schedule under Class Tools.

Tip Click a scheduled assignment in the Assignments list to view the week for which it is scheduled.
Beside the assignment, click > Edit Restrictions.
On the Edit Restrictions page, select LockDown Browser Required.
Optional: Select Drop Security and Time Restrictions after and select a date and time after which your students can access the assignment.

Timed assignments are viewable after the due date passes until the View Until Date. By default, this is the last day of your WebAssign class.

Security restrictions (password, IP address, and LockDown Browser) are not automatically lifted from assignments after the due date. Usually, these restrictions mean that your students can't see their scores and feedback for individual assignment questions.

To allow this, either drop the assignment restrictions manually from the Schedule page or select Drop Security and Time Restrictions after and set the date and time to drop the restrictions automatically.

Tip If you are using the same assignment for multiple sections, you might not want to drop security restrictions for any section until after the last due date for all your sections has passed.
Click Save.