Respondus

Don’t use the lock down browser! I don’t understand why it demands access to my Downloads folder at my first runtime after giving it all kinds of admin-level privileges. And, If you deny access, it asks you to quit the browser . That’s not “security.” That’s coercion through bad design. There are many other substitute appliance does not require this kind of exhaustion, I will uninstall this app the minute I finish my exam.

Glitchy, horrible. Keyboard input stops working often, requiring resetting software during exams. Accidentally touching track makes software report cheating.

I notice that a lot of the low evaluation comments on Respondus refer to the lock down browser capabilities of this software. I cannot comment on that function because I have no direct knowledge of how well or poorly the software works in that capacity. Given the number of low ratings in this regard, my take away is to avoid using Respondus as a lock down browser. My experience with Respondus is as a tool for converting documents made in standard office software (such as Word) into assessments that can be read by an LMS, like Canvas, with important graphics. Respondus is excellent at this conversion function. If you teach a class where students need to refer to a graphic (such as a graph, or a molecule, etc.) to answer a question on an online exam, you no doubt know just how limited the text editor in Canvas is. To put it mildly, the text editor in Canvas is horrible! It is much easier to create the assessment with graphics in Word, but then the issue becomes bringing it into Canvas. This is what Respondus excels at, this is what I have used Respondus for, and this is what I recommend it for.

Yeah, so, this software is awful. If you have the time and energy to petition your school to stop using this egregious program in favor of literally anything else, then I ask you for the sake of yourself and everyone around you, please do so. It’s invasive to a point I haven’t even seen the viruses downloaded to my grandmas laptop reach, and it’s so poorly made that even the most malicious of malware can only dream of causing the same amount of damage.

Preparing for my exam, and I luckily saw all these reviews and made an image of my laptop's boot drive with Macrium Reflect Free so I can just turn back time and get rid of this garbage software once my exams are done. I shouldn't have to do this in the middle of exam revision though, that sucks.