Updating Respondus Settings to Fix Known Issue with Facial Recognition and Masks

Covers a known Respondus Monitor issue triggered by students wearing masks and provides two workaround options to prevent quiz disruptions.

Overview

This article explains a known issue with **Respondus Monitor** when students are wearing masks while taking quizzes in D2L Brightspace.

There is a known issue with Respondus Monitor while taking Quizzes in D2L Brightspace.

Issue

Students wearing masks for protection from COVID-19 can result in the Respondus Monitor software to:

• Prevent students from starting a quiz,
• Unnecessarily flag submissions for review, and/or
• Pause the quiz to 'fix' the facial recognition errors and cause delays in completing the quiz.

Potential Workarounds

There are two possible workarounds to help resolve this issue.

Option 1: Remove the facial recognition requirements from Respondus Monitor settings:

1. Navigate to Quizzes
2. Click the LockDown Browser tab
3. Click Continue to LockDown Browser button
4. Click the arrow next to the title of your Quiz
5. Click Settings
6. Scroll down to Proctoring options
7. Under Facial Detection options: Uncheck the box next to Prevent students from starting the exam if face cannot be detected during Startup Sequence 
8. Uncheck the box next to Notify students during the exam if face cannot be detected (prompt for a fix)
9. Click the Save and Close button

Option 2: Allow the students to take the quiz from a location where they can safely remove masks while taking the quiz.

Outcome

• Learn more about Online Proctoring Considerations related to accessibility, equity, and ethics.

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