56
A locked-down Windows profile available on lab machines. No student download, no separate software — the student just switches to a different account on the lab computer.
Where it's available
| Lab | |
|---|---|
| Martha Miller | Available |
| Schaap | Available |
| VanZoeren | Available |
| VanderWerf | Available |
If you're testing outside these rooms, contact CIT before your exam date.
How students get into it
- Student sits at a lab machine (normally logged in as Classroom).
- Switch user → choose Test Account.
- Confirm the bright orange desktop background.
The orange background is your at-a-glance proctoring check. Walk the room. Any machine without an orange background is not locked down — that student is still on the Classroom account and has full internet and app access.
What's allowed
Websites
- hope.edu and all Hope subdomains
- Moodle
- Canvas
- Google sign-in / Drive (required for the above to work)
Applications
- Microsoft Office — Word, PowerPoint, Excel
- Calculator
- Notepad
What's blocked
- Every other website — including AI tools, search, email, messaging, and personal cloud storage
- Every other application on the machine
Blocked sites don't show a warning page — they simply fail to load. Tell students this in advance so they don't burn exam time thinking the machine is broken.
Before exam day
- Test it yourself. Sit at a machine in your room, switch to Test Account, and walk through your exam exactly as a student would. This is the only way to catch a blocked resource before it costs you class time.
- Need something added? If your exam requires a site or application outside the list above, request it from CIT ahead of time. Allowlist changes require a machine reboot to take effect, so don't request the morning of.
- Confirm your room is one of the four listed.
During the exam
- Scan for orange backgrounds. That's the check.
- A student who can't launch something they need is almost certainly hitting the allowlist, not a broken computer. Note it and move on — don't try to fix it mid-exam.
After the exam
- Have students sign out of Test Account when finished.
- Test Account is shared and not private storage. Anything saved locally to the desktop or Documents may be visible to the next student or wiped. If students produce a file (Word doc, spreadsheet), have them submit it through Moodle or Canvas before signing out.
Announcement to students
This exam uses the Test Account on the lab computers. When you sit down, switch users to Test Account — you'll know it worked because the desktop turns bright orange. In that account you'll have Moodle, Canvas, Hope sites, Word, PowerPoint, and Calculator. Everything else — other websites, other apps — is blocked, and blocked sites will just fail to load rather than show an error. Submit your work through Moodle/Canvas before you sign out; don't leave files on the desktop.
Open items — confirm with CIT before publishing
- Does Test Account require a password, and who gives it to students?
- Turnaround time for allowlist requests, and who faculty email
- Printing — is it available from Test Account?
- Does the machine need a reboot between students, or is sign-out sufficient?
- Nightly 5am reboot — does it affect anything scheduled early morning?
- Is the lab monitor dashboard (live view of which stations are on Test Account) available in these four rooms, or CAD only? If available, link it here — it's a better proctoring tool than walking the room.
