Give the students the knowledge they need to have a successful exam experience.
Get ready for online exams
Exams completed at a test center or at home with a virtual proctor can be an intimidating experience. It is important to supply your students with the knowledge they need to be successful. We recommend communicating with your student or students where exam details can be found, how to schedule, and what to do in the event of a problem. Review the suggestions below and consider adding the information to your ICON site to familiarize your students with proctored exams.
Proctored Exams Portal
If students are experiencing a problem using the Proctored Exams Portal, we recommend that they visit the student website Learning Online. That website includes valuable information about exam proctoring. In addition, the page How to schedule UI exams includes troubleshooting tips for the portal. If the student is still struggling to schedule an exam after reviewing the online resources, they can contact you and/or DOE Exam Services for a resolution. Please note that contacting ITS will result in being redirected to DOE Exam Services.
Honorlock
If your student is experiencing a problem using Honorlock to complete their online proctored exam, we also recommend that they visit the student website, Learning Online. The website includes general information about using Honorlock.
Students are encouraged to first contact Honorlock through their live chat in the event of a problem. In addition, the following page, Honorlock, includes details about technical requirements and troubleshooting tips. If the student is still struggling to complete an exam after contacting live chat and reviewing the online resources, they should contact DOE Exam Services for a resolution. Please note that contacting ITS will result in being redirected to DOE Exam Services.
Now that you have requested proctored exam support, we encourage you to review your syllabus carefully for any outdated exam information.
Be sure to share with your students:
- how exams are completed in your section,
- how to schedule,
- what technology is needed, and
- how academic misconduct will be handled.
Below you will find sample syllabus text describing how exams will be completed. Each text is slightly different and is based on the exam delivery method chosen for the course.
Click to view the sample syllabus text for courses for the exam delivery method:
Whether you want to block AI tools or allow them in your online course, visit the Honorlock website for guidelines on creating an AI policy statement in your syllabus. This website will also provide sample blocks of text that you can copy and paste into your syllabus:
Honorlock's AI policy statement
Visit this page for more details on AI tools: https://teach.its.uiowa.edu/artificial-intelligence-tools-and-teaching
Use Announcements in your ICON site and email to reach out with exam reminders to your students. It is important for students taking a proctored online exam to schedule their exam early. We also recommend reminding students of the following:
- Remind students what to prepare for. Study guides can be helpful. Lists of the chapters and/or topics covered in the exam help students to focus their studying.
- Encourage students to arrive early and take a moment to relax. Students may encounter technical problems with an online exam. Remind students who they should contact with an issue.
- Remind students to read the instructions carefully. Because the instructor is not available to answer questions, it is important that directions are clear and concise for students.
- Encourage students to plan how they will use the allotted time. Students should take a moment to scroll through all the questions on the online exam (unless the exam is set to display one question at a time). Some students may find it more effective to work on certain sections of the exam before others.
- Remind students to take time to review their work before pressing submit. ICON will tell the students if they left a question unanswered.
Sample text can be found at this link:
Below you will find a sample message you can use when communicating with students about taking a proctored online exam during Finals Week. Modify the message as needed to meet the policies and processes outlined by your section, Academic Department, and/or College.
Please feel free to copy, paste, and edit the sample message below. Not all the details below will apply to your section; so take only what you need.
Sample text can be found at this link:
DOE Exams
For questions about the portal,
call 319-384-4800 or email doe-exams@uiowa.edu.