Lockdown Browsers

A lockdown browser prevents other applications, blocks copying, and may disable screenshots and virtual machines. It is control rather than observation. For implementation teams, the official product page offers a useful parallel: device rules need a visible purpose, a support owner and a tested exception path.

What it does

Full-screen exam with other windows blocked.

Clipboard and screenshot disabled.

Detection of virtual machines and remote access tools.

Sometimes: process inspection to find running software.

And termination if the student switches away.

The intrusion nobody notices

It runs with elevated privileges on a machine the student owns.

It can enumerate running processes, which is a list of what else somebody has installed.

Some versions require kernel-level access, which is a substantial ask on a personal device.

Students are rarely told this in terms they would recognise, and it is a more significant request than a camera in many respects.

What it is good at

Preventing the casual second window, which is the commonest form of opportunistic assistance.

Removing the ambiguity of "was that tab the exam or not".

And it works without watching anybody, which for many assessments makes it the proportionate choice.

What it cannot do

Stop a second device. A phone beside the laptop is invisible to it, which is the obvious and unsolved gap.

Stop a person in the room.

Stop printed material.

Which means lockdown alone addresses one channel and leaves the others, and that should be stated rather than implied.

The device problem

Not every student has a machine it runs on. Chromebooks, older systems, Linux, borrowed devices, locked-down work laptops.

A requirement to install it is a requirement to own a particular kind of computer, which is an equity issue disguised as a technical one.

Provide loan devices or an alternative, and budget for it rather than discovering it on the day.

The support load

Lockdown software generates more support calls than any other part of a proctoring programme: installation failures, antivirus conflicts, updates on exam day.

Which lands in the fifteen minutes before an exam, at scale.

Staff the support line for the peak and let students test their setup days in advance with a practice exam that exercises the real software.

Combining with observation

Lockdown plus recording covers more channels than either alone.

It also doubles the intrusion, and the proportionality argument has to carry both.

For most assessments one or the other is enough, and choosing which depends on whether the risk is the second window or the second person.

What to check

What privileges does the software request on a student's own machine?

Are students told, in plain terms, what it can see?

What is the plan for students whose device will not run it?

And has anybody tested it against the actual mix of devices in your cohort?

The point

Lockdown software runs with elevated privileges on a machine the student owns and can enumerate what else is installed.

That is a larger request than a camera in several respects and students are rarely told in terms they would recognise.

Worth stating

Lockdown software generates more support calls than any other part of a proctoring programme, and they arrive in the fifteen minutes before an exam, at scale.

Staff the line for the peak and let students test their setup days in advance.

Also worth knowing

Lockdown addresses one channel and leaves the others: it cannot see a second device, a person in the room or printed material.

That should be stated rather than implied when describing what the arrangement secures.

And finally

Let students test their setup days in advance with a practice exam that exercises the real software.

Installation failures, antivirus conflicts and updates otherwise all land in the fifteen minutes before the exam, at scale.

Summary

It closes the second-window channel and nothing else. A phone beside the laptop is invisible to it, and that should be stated rather than implied.

In summary

Lockdown is control rather than observation, which for many assessments makes it the proportionate choice.

It also asks for privileges on a machine the student owns, and students are rarely told that in terms they would recognise. For wider institutional context, consult the OECD.