Lockdown Browser for Windows: How to Download and Use It

LockDown Browser is a test-taking solution created by Respondus for schools.

After licensing LockDown Browser from Respondus, schools are provided a custom link to distribute to students. Clicking the link lets students download the version compatible with their operating system, such as LockDown Browser for Windows.

Upon downloading and installing LockDown Browser, students will take an exam without the ability to use other computer features, such as apps, functions, or the web. This lockdown protects academic integrity.

1How to Download and Use Lockdown Browser for Windows

LockDown Browser is the market leader in this category. According to Respondus, the software is used by over 2000 institutions and is used for 200 million exams per year. LockDown Browser is also conveniently integrated with popular learning management systems (LMS), such as Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle.

Downloading and using LockDown Browser is easy.

As evident in this workflow, using LockDown Browser for instructors and students is straightforward. After the installation and initial exam, the process of using LockDown Browser will become second nature. Students will understand they need to take their LMS exam through LockDown Browser and cannot access other resources while doing so.

2What Are the Purposes of Lockdown Browser

At the most immediate level, LockDown Browser prevents students from cheating in three ways.

Through the LockDown Browser, schools remove the temptation to cheat on any exam administered through their LMS.

Purpose

There are two main objectives of LockDown Browser for Windows.

Accurate assessment

Schools that adopt LockDown Browser ensure a consistent application of standards by preventing cheating. Without the software, they are left in a guessing game. Did this student get a great score because they studied the material well or because they used unauthorized resources on their desktop?

With this uncertainty, the school is not measuring accurately and consistently. One student's well-earned and deserved "B" will be the same "B" as a student submitting LLM-generated answers. Through the LockDown Browser, schools gain confidence that they can accurately assess each student using the same standards.

Whether the exam results in a letter grade or a numerical score, teachers know that the results are a fair assessment of where each student truly stands in a subject.

Correct pathing

LockDown Browser is also in the best interests of the students. Students often end up in worse situations if they have free reign to cheat. For example, a student who cheats on a placement exam for math may be assigned to a far more advanced course than he can handle, preventing him from ever learning the material from a suitable starting point.

Similarly, a student who cheats on a final exam will progress to the next course in a sequence where they will not have the prerequisite knowledge to succeed. Pathing can also apply within a single course. If a student cheats on a midterm, the teacher may not realize that interventions are needed. The student may then progress toward the nationally administered exam, such as an Advanced Placement (AP) test, and predictably do poorly without the ability to cheat in a proctored setting.

From this view, LockDown Browser is ultimately more than preventing cheating—it's about putting the student in the best position to succeed.

3Use Cases

Remote learning

Although the pandemic is over, many schools include remote learning in their academic calendar. For example, they may place the institution back on a temporary remote learning setup in bad weather like a storm. While convenient for students, it does create a major difficulty: testing.

Unlike in a classroom, where students can be easily monitored during tests or exams, students generally have privacy at home. They may have their camera off and can access other resources, such as other websites or applications on their device. As a result, some students may be tempted to cheat if entrusted to take a remote test without any guardrails.

LockDown Browser for Windows enables institutions to administer remote exams through their LMS without fear that students will use the remote learning environment as an opportunity to cheat.

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• Limit students to approved apps and websites while blocking harmful content
• Secure applications and data remotely
• Enforce policies to ensure device compliance
• Remotely troubleshoot devices to minimize downtime

On-site exams

LockDown Browser is also surprisingly useful for on-site exams. Imagine a lab environment where students each have a desktop for a computer science test built around coding challenges. Even with an instructor at the front of the classroom, there is no way to check what all students are doing on their computers.

Some may look up outside resources on another tab or even ask a generative artificial intelligence (AI) program like Microsoft Copilot for assistance in generating the answer. If the instructor approaches, the student could simply click out of the tab, and the instructor would be none the wiser.

From this view, the LockDown Browser is essential. It prevents cheating in on-site lab environments where monitoring what students do on the school desktops is difficult.

Make-up exams

Students who are absent for an exam are an operational nightmare for administrators. Usually, teachers have to schedule a make-up exam during inconvenient times, such as during their lunch hour or after school. Proctoring these make-up exams, often on a 1-to-1 basis, is a significant opportunity cost for instructors.

LockDown Browser provides two superior alternatives for make-up exams. The first option is for students to take their make-up exam through LockDown Browser at the time and place of their choice, such as at home on the weekend.

The second option is that students check in on-site, such as a school library, to take an exam through LockDown Browser. This configuration would allow a proctor, such as a librarian, to monitor students taking make-up exams from different subjects and teachers. While the proctor adds an additional layer of complexity, the person can also assist in other matters, such as granting permission for the student to use the restroom.

4Creating a safe office environment

Schools need to use LockDown Browser to prevent cheating. The office environment is no different. When people should be working, there are many temptations on company-issued devices.

Device misuse

Although there are no exams in office environments, there remain many ways for employees to misuse them. These include:

Dangers of device misuse

The stakes are arguably higher for device misuse at organizations. These consequences generally fall into two categories. The first is lost productivity. Every minute an employee spends on non-work activities through their company-issued device represents a decrease in productivity for the company. While a few minutes of web surfing won't make a significant impact, consistent, non-work use quickly adds up.

The second is in risk management. Devise misuse represents a major risk for the company. An employee downloading pirated films could attract a lawsuit from the movie studio targeted toward the company. An employee surfing the web could download a virus, such as ransomware, that moves laterally across the organization's network and causes extensive damage.

How to prevent device misuse at your company

LockDown Browser single-handedly prevents cheating in schools. An MDM is also a one-stop solution for enterprises for device misuse. One of the most popular in this category is AirDroid Business, which offers the ability to lock down the browsing environment.

Companies can create a whitelist. In contrast to a blacklist, which is based around prohibited sites, a whitelist is even stricter: It denotes only the websites a person can visit or the apps that they can use.

In addition to these content restrictions, IT teams can set device-level configurations, such as settings prohibiting using an external drive or joining insecure outside networks, such as the WiFi at a coffee shop.

Companies can go further by locking a device down to one app. This level of control is best suited for a single-purpose device, such as a tablet used to sign-in guests at a clinic or track deliveries.

With AirDroid Business, companies can enjoy the same level of protection as schools with LockDown Browser in the modern office environment.

5Conclusion

With the ubiquity of computers, students take exams through their LMS more often than ever. While this option presents incredible convenience, it also presents significant temptations regarding test-taking: Students may try to access external apps, software, or resources to cheat.

The best way to prevent computer-enabled cheating is through LockDown Browser. Created by Respondus, LockDown Browser is trusted by more than 2000 schools. These schools procure the software through an annual license. Their students can then download the browser for their corresponding operations system, such as LockDown Browser for Windows.

LockDown Browser also integrates with every major LMS. The student must launch LockDown Browser, sign into their LMS, and initiate the exam. Upon doing so, the screen will be maximized, and they will be unable to search the internet, open other apps, or use other functions, thus preventing them from cheating, allowing accurate assessment of their abilities, and facilitating correct pathing for the course and their overall academic journey.

Organizations face a similar problem in the workplace: device misuse. To combat this problem, enterprises can use an MDM like AirDroid Business to lock down through a browser whitelist, custom configurations such as blocking external storage devices, or even single app mode.

Technologies like LockDown Browser and AirDroid Business serve as crucial guardrails. In an online world with ever-present distractions, they keep us focused on what matters the most: the task at hand.