Provide secure environment for online assessment with Moodle – POC. Steve Massicotte, University of Montréal

University of Montreal Montréal, Québec, Canada 45 000 students 5 000 teachers 16 faculties and schools 2 associated universities Moodle at UdeM 6 developers 3 support technicians (help line)

Plan Why making a POC (Proof of concept) ? BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Types of exam Our plugin Next steps

Why making a POC ? Provide a secure environment for students who use their own laptops for exams. Challenges : Usable on Mac/Windows Use in BYOD (Bring your own device) Provide software they need (Office 365, WordQ, Balabolka, Antidote … and many others) Securing environments to prevent cheating Deploying a simple solution for all

Computer laboratory vs BYOD All universities have classroom problems Cost money to maintain Are not flexible BYOD – Bring Your Own Device A lot of classrooms can be used for exam No extra money to maintain classrooms Flexible

BYOD - Responsabilities BYOD – Student responsabilities Install software and make first test at home Bring laptop with enough battery and his charger BYOD – University responsabilities Provide classrooms with enough power outlet Provide strong Wifi or network Provide spare laptops for students who encounter problems during exam Make some emergency plan Help teachers with the transition

What kind of exam we provide ? Currently in our proof of concept we can provide : Quiz with no additional software Quiz with specific software

Quiz with no additional software - What technologies This solution is based on two main technologies Safe Exam Browser – Web browser that you can control and run in kiosk mode Moodle – Quiz activity - Provide a rich software to create and manage questions and a lot of configuration for the quiz itself

Quiz with no specific software - Student 1- Safe Exam Browser 2 – Access to Moodle Click on the SEB file Lock host computer Redirect to Moodle Access to Moodle Quiz

Quiz with no additional software - Teacher The teacher use SEB Config Tool to create a .seb file Moodle quiz URL

Quiz with no specific software - Safe Exam Browser You have the control, and you can deploy .seb file to configure a client or an exam. Open source project based on Firefox Start exam in kiosk mode – no possibilities to switch to another application or use Windows/Mac Control URLs and internet browsing Give access to additional software Encrypt your file and secure by password Provide exam key to Moodle for security Configure user client one time, and provide for each exam one exam configuration SEB file

Quiz with no specific software - Moodle Provide some Quiz with many options. Use your Moodle or dedicated instance for exam Teachers already have skills with this tool Multiple formats to import questions in Quiz Password protection Provide feedbacks Integration with the grade book Use plugin Safe Exam Browser quiz access rule to control exam key No additional cost for university

Quiz with no specific software - Student 1- Safe Exam Browser 2 – Access to Moodle Click on the SEB file Lock host computer Redirect to Moodle Access to Moodle Quiz

Student computer No tab, No address bar Quit button

Student computer Moodle Secure template

Quiz with specific software - What technologies Our solution is based on tree main technologies Safe Exam Browser Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – Provide a machine that WE control Moodle – Quiz activity

Quiz with specific software - VMware Horizon Virtual Desktop Infrastructure provide a new environment for the student, if you need to provide another application (like MathLab or Word). Use your local infrastructure or CLOUD solution Run another Safe Exam Browser in virtual machine Features : - VM pool (resources, size, duration, etc…) - Authorization with Windows groups Alternative we are checking Windows Virtual Desktop from Microsoft

Quiz with specific software 1- Safe Exam Browser 1 2 – VDI – Access to VM Click on the SEB file Lock host computer Redirect to VDI Authentication Select the VM 3 – VM Launch and access to Moodle Windows authentication Setup of the VM (automatic) Lock the VM (Automatic - Safe Exam Browser 2) Access to Moodle Quiz

Student computer Safe Exam Browser 1 – Launch the connection to the VM No tab, No address bar Safe Exam Browser 2 – In the VM Quit button Permitted applications

Student computer Safe Exam Browser 1 Safe Exam Browser 2 Moodle Secure template

Quiz with specific software – SEB Config Tool The .seb file will include configuration on the specific software

Moodle plugin – My exam page Is a simple web page that lists the exams that the student should take in the next few hours (usually one or two at most). Key features : Very light plugin Use secured template to mask Moodle information and menus Accessible only with Safe Exam Brower (use settings) Next development adding SEB config file into Quiz

Plugin – My exam page

Plugin – My exam page

Plugin – My exam page

Next steps Doing test in real situation - Formative - Summative Install Safe Exam Browser quiz access rule plugin Capture feedback Find the right way to create and distribute the .seb files Think about using or not using a dedicated quiz instance of Moodle

Questions ?