Extended Time Testing Accommodations in CC

For Instructors

In your course you may have a student that needs extended time on a quiz/exam as part of a DSS-documented testing accommodation. If so, you will be notified of the approved accommodations by DSS. For online quizzes/exams extra time can easily be set in Cougar Courses (Canvas); however, it is important that extra time and the correct availability dates are set BEFORE the student begins the quiz/exam in Cougar Courses. There is only a small set of circumstances where you can extend time after the student has started, otherwise you will need to give them another attempt. This guide will help you through the process of allowing extra time, or what to do if you did not. If you are using Respondus LockDown Browser, please see the additional section below.

Be aware that students with accommodations do not have any way to tell if their accommodation has been set in Canvas. They only see the time limit and availability dates that apply to them, they have no way of knowing the time limit and availability for the general class, so they cannot see if extra time has been given. To make it easier for them, we recommend writing the general time limit and availability in the description of the quiz/exam. This way students with accommodations see what the general time limit and availability is and can then compare it to their applied time limit and availability. This will hopefully allow any issues of extra time and availability to be spotted and addressed before the student begins their quiz/exam. 

Has the student already started the quiz/exam? 

If No: 

Is the quiz/exam available for more than the time limit?  

For example, the quiz/exam is open for a week and students can choose when to take it during that week, but once they start, they have a time limit of 2 hours. If so, you only need to provide extra time.  

• Giving Extra Time in Classic Quizzes (must be published first)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on "Moderate this Quiz" under Related Items. This should be on the right hand side or, if your browser is narrow, near the bottom.
  3. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time. Click the pencil icon for that student.
  4. For the setting "Extra time on every attempt" enter in the extra time (not total time) the student should receive. For example, if an exam is 2 hours and the student gets time and a half, enter in 60 minutes. The student will then have 3 hours for their attempt (time and a half).
  5. Save.
• Giving Extra Time in New Quizzes

  An upside to using New Quizzes is that when you set an accommodation for a student, it automatically applies it for that student for all New Quizzes in the course.

  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on the Build button at the bottom.
  3. Click on the Moderate tab at the top.
  4. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time and click the pencil icon.
  5. For the Time Adjustments dropdown, select "Time limit multiplier"
  6. Set the multiplier. For example, if DSS says the student gets time and a half, enter 1.5.
  7. Save.

Or, is the quiz/exam available only for the time limit? 

For example, the quiz/exam is only open for 2 hours during the set class time and students have only those 2 hours to complete it. If so, you need to provide extra time AND adjust the availability dates. So, in our example (2-hour exam), if a student needs 1.5 time, you must not only enable the extra 60 minutes, but also adjust the availability dates so the exam is open for 3 hours. If you only enable the extra time but do not adjust the availability dates, the student will only have the two hours the quiz/exam is available and would be kicked out of the exam once the quiz is closed even though there is still time left on their timer. 

In Canvas, the extra time and the availability dates are set in two separate places.  

• Set availability dates for a specific student (same for both classic and new quizzes)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz. For Classic Quizzes, then click Edit.
  2. Go to the Assign To section and click the +Add at the bottom.
  3. Begin typing the students name and select the student from the dropdown.
  4. Set the Due, Available From, and Available Until dates that apply to this student.
  5. Save.
• Give Extra Time in Classic Quizzes (must be published first)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on "Moderate this Quiz" under Related Items. This should be on the right hand side or, if your browser is narrow, near the bottom.
  3. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time. Click the pencil icon for that student.
  4. For the setting "Extra time on every attempt" enter in the extra time (not total time) the student should receive. For example, if an exam is 2 hours and the student gets time and a half, enter in 60 minutes. The student will then have 3 hours for their attempt (time and a half).
  5. Save.
• Give Extra Time in New Quizzes

  An upside to using New Quizzes is that when you set an accommodation for a student, it automatically applies it for that student for all New Quizzes in the course.

  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on the Build button at the bottom.
  3. Click on the Moderate tab at the top.
  4. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time and click the pencil icon.
  5. For the Time Adjustments dropdown, select "Time limit multiplier"
  6. Set the multiplier. For example, if DSS says the student gets time and a half, enter 1.5.
  7. Save.

If Yes, the student has already started: 

If the quiz/exam is using Classic Quizzes, then you can extend the time while the attempt is in progress. Please be aware that this process is different than the process for giving extra time before the student began the quiz/exam (the instructions above). If you make changes using the instructions above, those changes will not be applied to the in-progress attempt.

• Extend time for an in-progress attempt (only available for Classic Quizzes)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on "Moderate this Quiz" under Related Items. This should be on the right hand side or, if your browser window is narrow, near the bottom.
  3. Scroll down to the student. In the Time column, click the clock icon for that student. DO NOT click the pencil icon.
  4. In the pop-up window it will tell you when the student started the attempt and when it is scheduled to close. You can either choose to extend the attempt from now or from the current end time. It is easier to extend from the current end time. So from the dropdown, choose "Current end time" and in the blank space enter in the number of minutes to extend the attempt past the current end time. For example, if the rest of the class gets 2 hours and this student should get time and a half, enter 60 to extend the exam 60 minutes past the current end time (giving the student a total of 3 hours).
  5. Click the "Extend time" button.
  6. The clock for the student will reset to the correct time.

If the quiz/exam is using New Quizzes or the attempt has already been submitted, unfortunately there is no way to extend the first attempt. However, you can give them another attempt with the correct accommodation. If you are using Classic Quizzes, this additional attempt will have to be from scratch. If you are using New Quizzes, there is a setting that allows additional attempts to build on the previous attempts. This means that for each new attempt a student will only be answering those questions they got wrong on the previous attempt. This is a general quiz setting, meaning it cannot be turned on for just one student. So if you are allowing all students multiple attempts on a quiz/exam, you can enable this setting and it will apply to everyone. If you only want to allowing building on the last attempt for this one student who needs an additional attempt, that can only be done if the quiz/exam is closed for everyone else (otherwise it will allow everyone multiple attempts).

• Give an extra attempt in Classic Quizzes
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on "Moderate this Quiz" under Related Items. This should be on the right hand side or, if your browser is narrow, near the bottom.
  3. Scroll down to the student that needs an extra attempt. Click the pencil icon for that student.
  4. For the setting "Extra attempt" enter in the number of extra attempts (not total attempts) the student should receive.
  5. Save.
• Give an extra attempt in New Quizzes
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on the Build button at the bottom.
  3. Click on the Moderate tab at the top.
  4. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time and click the Moderate button.
  5. For Additional Attempts, enter in the number of extra attempts (not total attempts) the student should receive.
  6. There is no save button, just click the X at the top to close the sidebar.
• Have second attempt build on the first in New Quizzes
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on the Build button at the bottom.
  3. Click on the Settings tab at the top.
  4. Select the option for "Allow multiple attempts"
  5. Set your preferred option for "Score to keep," set "Allowed attempts" to 2, and check the box for "Build on last attempt."
  6. The settings will automatically save and you can Return to your course.
• Set availability dates for a specific student (same for both classic and new quizzes)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz. For Classic Quizzes, then click Edit.
  2. Go to the Assign To section and click the +Add at the bottom.
  3. Begin typing the students name and select the student from the dropdown.
  4. Set the Due, Available From, and Available Until dates that apply to this student.
  5. Save.
• Give Extra Time in a Classic Quiz (must be published first)
  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on "Moderate this Quiz" under Related Items. This should be on the right hand side or, if your browser is narrow, near the bottom.
  3. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time. Click the pencil icon for that student.
  4. For the setting "Extra time on every attempt" enter in the extra time (not total time) the student should receive. For example, if an exam is 2 hours and the student gets time and a half, enter in 60 minutes. The student will then have 3 hours for their attempt (time and a half).
  5. Save.
• Give Extra Time in a New Quiz

  An upside to using New Quizzes is that when you set an accommodation for a student, it automatically applies it for that student for all New Quizzes in the course.

  1. In your course, go to the Quiz.
  2. Click on the Build button at the bottom.
  3. Click on the Moderate tab at the top.
  4. Scroll down to the student that needs extra time and click the pencil icon.
  5. For the Time Adjustments dropdown, select "Time limit multiplier"
  6. Set the multiplier. For example, if DSS says the student gets time and a half, enter 1.5.
  7. Save.

If you want to try to reduce the burden on the student and not them start from scratch, there are a few options:  

1. 1. 1. Let the student know what question number they left off on in the first attempt, and have the student continue from that point in the second attempt. You will see both attempts in Speedgrader and will manually need to adjust the score in the gradebook to combine the scores of the two attempts. This option is not possible if you have a randomized quiz/exam. Please see this note on time limit* 
      2. Enable the setting that allows students to see their responses, and let the student know they can view this in one tab, while taking the second attempt in the other, effectively allowing them to manually transfer their responses from the first attempt to the second. Unfortunately, this setting does mean other students can see their own responses as well, it is not limited it to just that student. Please see this note on time limit* 

*It is important to note that there is not an easy way to set a reduced time limit for a second attempt. For example, if a student who should have had 3 hours only got 2 hours, and you are doing one of the two options above, there isn’t a straightforward way to set a 1 hour time limit for that student for their second attempt. If the quiz/exam is closed for the rest of the class, you can change the overall time limit in the quiz/exam settings. If the quiz/exam is still open, the student would either get the time limit set for the rest of the class or additional time beyond that if you enable extra time. The work around would be to set a shortened availability time frame for that specific student. Meaning if you only have the quiz/exam open for that student for 1 hour, then they would only have 1 hour to complete their second attempt, no matter the set time limit. However, this requires knowing exactly when the student will be taking the second attempt, which may not be feasible.   

Considering the complicated nature of the situation, we recommend reaching out to IDS to discuss all the options and pursue the best course of action for your course and the student. Please see our Cougar Courses (Canvas) Support page on how to get in touch with us (see the section for Tier 2 Support).  

Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor

Some assistive technologies do not work with LockDown Browser and Monitor. If you plan on using LockDown Browser (with or without Monitor) with your quiz/exam, please either check with the student or DSS to ensure this will not be an issue. If the student does not require assistive technology or the assistive technology they use is compatible with LockDown Browser and Monitor, then you can ignore this section.

However, if you do plan on using LockDown Browser and Monitor and the student does require assistive technology that is not compatible with LockDown Browser, you will need to develop an alternative plan. Unfortunately there is no way to exclude an individual student from the LockDown Browser and Monitor requirement. If the student needs to take the quiz/exam without LockDown Browser and Monitor, then there are two options:

1. The easiest option would be to schedule a time for the student to take the quiz/exam either before the rest of the class or after. If before, simply do not enable LockDown Browser and Monitor until after the student has finished the quiz/exam. If after, once the rest of the class is finished, disable LockDown Browser and Monitor, have the student take the quiz/exam, and then re-enable once they have finished.The quiz/exam can be proctored either in person or over Zoom with staff in DSS.
   
2. Create a copy/duplicate of the quiz/exam, assign it to only that individual student, and disable LockDown Browser and Monitor for that quiz/exam. As with the first option, the quiz/exam can be either in person or over Zoom with staff in DSS.
   

For DSS

Extra time and the correct availability dates should be set BEFORE the student begins the quiz/exam in Cougar Courses. There is only a small set of circumstances where we can extend time after the student has started. Therefore, it is important for students to check that they have been given their proper time before beginning the quiz/exam.

How can a student tell they have been given extra time? 

Unfortunately, a student can only see the time limit and availability that applies to them, there is no way to see if that is the same time limit as everyone else in the course or if extra time has been added. However, we recommend the instructor write in the description of the quiz/exam the time limit that will apply to the whole class. If they do, and if the time limit shown for the student matches, then it is likely extra time has not been added. The student should check with the instructor to ensure that extra time has been added before beginning.

A student can tell if their allotted time does or does not fit into the availability window for the quiz/exam. When they go to the quiz/exam, they will see when it is due, when it is available, and the time limit. If the time limit exceeds the availability, it means the instructor did not adjust the availability dates for the student. They should check with the instructor to ensure the availability dates have been adjusted before beginning.  

Has the student already begun the quiz/exam? 

If No: 

If the quiz/exam is open and extra time and/or correct availability has not been set, and the instructor is not responsive, please contact cchelp@csusm.edu with the relevant information and we can enable. Relevant information includes student name, course name and CRN, name of quiz/exam, and accommodation needed. Please CC the instructor on this request.

If the quiz/exam is not yet open, then the instructor must either be the one to open it for that student or give IDS permission to do so. 

If the quiz/exam still requires LockDown Browser (with or without Monitor) and the student uses assistive technology that is not compatible with LockDown Browser, then the instructor must either be the one to disable it or give IDS permission to do so. Their options are in the section above.

If Yes:  

If the attempt is still in progress and the instructor is not responsive, please contact cchelp@csusm.edu with the relevant information and we can try to enable. Relevant information includes student name, course name and CRN, name of quiz/exam, and accommodation needed. Mark the email as Urgent. Please CC the instructor on this request. We will only be able to extend time if the attempt is still in progress or it is a Classic Quiz.

If the attempt has already submitted or it is using New Quizzes, any changes to extra time or dates after the student begins the quiz/exam will not be applied to the first attempt, and the first attempt cannot be reopened. As such, correcting the problem requires giving additional attempts and/or adjusting other settings. Therefore, the instructor must be the one to decide how to proceed. Their options are above.  

If the quiz/exam requires LockDown Browser (with or without Monitor) and the student's assistive technology is not compatible with LockDown Browser, then the instructor must either be the one to disable it or give IDS permission to do so. Their options are in the section above.

Need help?

Need help setting up the quiz/exam, or making sure you got it right? Please see our Cougar Courses (Canvas) Support page on how to get in touch with us (see the section for Tier 2 Support).