Body
Description
Instructors can set exam availability and due dates in Canvas, but system differences between Canvas and Proctortrack may impact student access. Specifically, Proctortrack does not always recognize extended exam availability for individual students and enforces stricter access rules regarding due dates. This article outlines these behaviors and provides a solution for instructors.
Environment
PC and Mac web browsers
Solution
Extended Exam Availability in Canvas and Proctortrack
Instructors can extend exam availability and due dates for individual students in Canvas. However, due to system limitations, these extensions may not always sync correctly with Proctortrack.
- Canvas allows instructors to provide accommodations for individual students, such as extended time, multiple attempts, and extended availability dates for assignments and quizzes.
- A known issue prevents Proctortrack from recognizing extended start and/or end dates for individual students. As a result, affected students cannot launch their exams in Proctortrack, even if the exam remains available in Canvas.
- This unexpected behavior is currently under investigation by the Proctortrack vendor.
Exam Due Dates in Canvas and Proctortrack
Canvas allows instructors to set Due Dates and Until Dates to control when students can submit their exams. However, due to system differences, Proctortrack enforces stricter access rules:
- In Canvas, instructors can set a Due Date without an Until Date. If no Until Date is set, students can still submit the exam after the Due Date, but it will be marked late.
- In Proctortrack, students cannot access an exam after the Due Date, regardless of whether an Until Date is set in Canvas.
- This expected behavior is a feature restriction that assists instructors in limiting access to their exams after the due date has passed.
Workarounds for Instructors
For extended exam availability (bug):
Until a permanent fix is implemented for extended availability dates not syncing, instructors can use the following workaround to allow a single student or a sub-set of students take an exam outside of the standard availability and due dates:
- Use the Assign To feature to provide extended availability and/or due dates in Canvas.
- Use the Extend Date feature on the Proctortrack Dashboard to repeat the extended availability and/or due dates that were set in Canvas:
- On the Proctortrack Dashboard, locate the quiz in the test list and select the three dots icon (or 'kebab') to the right of the View Sessions link.
- Select Extend Date from the menu.
- On the Exceptions page, select the name of a student for whom you are extending the exam dates from the Student to Extend field.
- Note that you may select multiple student names as long as they will all have the same extension. If students require different dates, you can repeat these steps for each exception window.
- Select dates and times for the Open At and Open Until fields using the date pickers provided.
- Select Submit.
- All exceptions will be listed on this page. You can delete an exception at any time by selecting Remove next to the exception.
Outcome: By understanding these system limitations and using the recommended solution, instructors can ensure students have appropriate access to their exams in both Canvas and Proctortrack.
Get help
OIT provides assistance for issues related to university system settings, Canvas integration, or institutional policies. For all Proctortrack-related technical issues, please contact Proctortrack support first.
Additional resources