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West Virginia University University Testing Center
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Faculty and Instructors

Welcome to the University Testing Center, a secure place for your students to take online exams on new, hardwired computers to help reduce the likelihood of hardware or connection failures during testing.

A Quiet Room is also available for more focused testing. However, it is not a fully accessible testing space, so please work with your students if they need special accommodations authorized by the Office of Student Accommodations. The OSA Testing Center is open and available.

Please Note

Please note: Due to the Center's high demand, please make sure to schedule with the Center first before sending students our way. Some dates may be blocked off and unavailable for additional testing. Thank you!

Benefits of using the University Testing Center

  • Use the Testing Center to provide a window of availability for exam scheduling, which can free up the class period for additional learning activities.

  • Choose to book the entire class exams during your pre-assigned course or test schedule, or open a window of availability to allow students to schedule seats at their own convenience.

  • Design (and repurpose) exams through Blackboard.

    • Blackboard-based exams are housed directly in the eCampus course shell where they are easily accessible to students.

    • Easily enable enhanced security features, including randomized questions, randomized answers and IP restrictions that limit the availability of the exam to specific locations, such as the University Testing Center.

    • Once designed, Blackboard exams may be stored in your course content for future use or revision.

    • Easily accumulate large banks of test questions per course, creating exam scenarios that are unique to each section or term, and randomized across many students.

    • Automatic grading is available for certain question types, which expedites the assessment process and means students see results sooner.

Best practices to design your exam for the Testing Center

See eCampus 101 for help with Original or eCampus Ultra 101 for help with Ultra. All instructions below apply to eCampus Ultra. For optimum function and security in the Testing Center, we recommend the following:

In the Assessment Settings panel, scroll down to LockDown Browser Dashboard. Click the link and the dashboard for all exams in the course will load.  Click the dropdown arrow to the left and activate Lockdown Browser for each relevant exam; do not activate the Monitor for exams in the Testing Center lab. Lockdown Browser is optional – but it prevents access to the classroom materials and additional apps such as Excel and the built-in calculator. If you need access to Excel for your exam, we should test this in the lab to determine the best process for the intended results.

Ultra sometimes turns on the Access Code feature by default (typically if the exam was imported). This is located above the link for the Lockdown Browser Dashboard in Assessment Settings. Please turn this option off. You may also see a link to the Access Code in the Assessment Summary box to the right of your exam. You can click this link to navigate directly to the controls. If the Access Code is on, students will not be able to commence the exam until typing the code in the exam prompt.

(Ultra) IP Restriction:

  • Click the Assessment Settings to the right of the exam. A panel opens.
  • Scroll down almost to the bottom. Find a dropdown tool labeled Location Restriction .
  • Choose University Testing Centers from the menu.
  • This setting limits exams to both the University Testing Center and the OSA Testing Center with one selection. Save.
  • Please note that the Location Restriction may need to be configured separately for students listed in the Exceptions panel. 

Force Completion is not recommended as it forces the exam to submit if the window is closed, which may occur during a technical issue.  Leave this off and students should be able to reenter the exam.

Outside links . If your exam uses outside links (web pages, sound bites, video, etc.) or tools other than eCampus, be sure to notify staff so we can “test the test” before implementation. Any included media should be uploaded into eCampus rather than hyperlinked to the source material. Lockdown Browser must be turned on. Our network filters will block media not hosted by Lockdown Browser. Be sure the uploaded images are sufficiently large; Lockdown Browser disables the keyboard shortcuts for zoom. Faculty are welcome to use a lab computer to check media functionality in their exam at any time.

Test taking materials. Instructors may choose to allow scratch paper, calculators, or other materials during the exam. Please notify Testing Center staff in advance if such materials will be allowed; otherwise, staff will not permit the use of any materials during the test period.

Accommodations. Be sure to allow for exam accommodations by exempting timers, etc. for specific students. Double-check that the Location Restriction is properly set for exempted students. The Testing Center in Hodges Hall offers a Quiet Room for more focused testing, but it is not a fully accessible testing space. We do not offer accessibility devices such as screen readers, timers, etc. Students with other accommodations should consider taking their exam at the OAS Testing Center

Ask questions and stop in for a visit any time. Faculty are free to use a lab computer to assess exam functionality or make adjustments if needed.

Contact: beth.bosley@mail.wvu.edu or wvutestingcenter@mail.wvu.edu