Passwords: Power Play!
Here’s a short script for you to read:
scene 1: The teacher sets a proctor password for an exam.
scene 2: The teacher shares the exam password with enrolled students.
(offstage) : A student is transferred into the course.
scene 3: The transfer student gets to the same exam.
scene 4: The teacher issues a new proctor password. [teacher moaning and groaning heard offstage]
(offstage): A new student is now enrolled into the course.
scene 5: The new student gets to that same exam.
scene 6: The teacher needs to issue yet another new password. [recurring moaning and groaning offstage]
Does this sound familiar?
Beginning tomorrow this script will be rewritten.
The Educator team has programmed a new Global Exam Password feature.
This means that teachers will now be empowered to add an exam password that WILL STICK for all existing students, including those who enter the course AFTER you have set the exam password! That’s right! The same password can be retained without change.
This should save you time and help you manage your classrooms more efficiently. What do you think?
Of course, there are some rules and procedures that should be understood and followed …
You must manually enter the Global Exam Password for each exam.
To get to the Global Exam Password setting you first navigate to the exams in your Educator course.
NOTE:
It is surely a best practice to setup a unique password for EACH individual exam. While you could certainly set the same password for every exam, it would really defeat the purpose of having a password, right? To simplify … if there are 10 exams in your course, you should create 10 unique passwords.
Back to procedures …
Having entered your exams listing, navigate to the exam for which you want to set your new password. Select the MODIFY link in that row: 
As you scroll through the exam options on the MODIFY EXAM page, you will notice the Global Exam Password field in your list of selections:
Enter your choice of a unique password for this particular exam. There is one more thing of GREAT importance that you will need to do to set this password. You will need to save that new password by clicking the Format Exam button as highlighted here: 
Easy enough?
If all went well, you will get the make-you-smile thank you message.
The Global Exam Password that you set takes precedence over any other passwords. Once you have successfully entered your password, it will go into effect immediately. Any students who have an “old” password that was sent previously will need to get this new one. Remember … this new password is what ALL students will need in order to gain entrance to the exam from this point forward.
PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL NOTE:
This GLOBAL PASSWORD will take precedence over ALL other passwords, specifically any proctor password.
As a best practice, it would be a good idea to give yourself a reminder.
You might want to do this once or twice a year. Do what? Change those passwords! You probably wouldn’t want a student from last year (or “semester”) sharing passwords with all current students. Just remember that whenever you do change that password, you also need to inform current students.
This choice is entirely optional for you.
MUST you set a Global Exam Password? No.
CAN you keep changing proctor passwords like before? Yes.
So, what will YOU do?
Thanks Peter for being attentive to teacher needs. Your work (and the work of your Ucompass team) REALLY helps our students! Thanks!
AWESOME!!! Thank you!
Wow this is HUGE!! I just did a backflip. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
This is awesome! It was so time consuming to go in and set a password for every exam every week. THANK YOU!
Very, very impressed with this new system- one change at a time is making our lives much easier! Very wise change!!!
You read my mind on the global password option! So I tried it today for one of my 7 courses and it didn’t seem to ‘stick’. I did click the all important ‘format exam’ button, but when I go to notify proctors page some are still red. Example, Algebra 1, test 1, Emma White, ‘No Proctor/Password Assigned!’ What am I doing wrong?
Beverly-
The new global password system is completely separate from the proctor system. Setting a global password will not affect proctor passwords and the passwords will not show up in the proctor system dialog. If you want to test the new global password system I recommend that after setting the global password you click on the “View as Learner” icon at the bottom of the page. From there you can enter the exam as a student and see the password dialog for yourself.
One other item here – as you know the global password overrides any proctor passwords you may have set up for an exam. That being said if you were to remove the global password (delete the text and click “format exam”) any previously set proctor passwords would once again be active.
I hope this helps clear things up a bit – thanks for the dialog!
-Dan
Dan, Thank you for the clarification! I understand now the difference between setting a global password vs. the proctored exam. I did not realize the global overrides the proctored
Thank you again for your help. ~ Beverly
Global passwords to be set for future students is AMAZING! Thank you
However, I agree with Beverly… I followed the instructions precisely, and I still have students that have not been assigned a password. Please help.
I trust that all is well with you now.
If not, please let us know.
Just remember … the SAME Global password will apply to all students.
It will override any proctor passwords.
Now we can spend more of our time helping students instead of administrative tasks. Thanks!
Thank you! This is a simple thing, but it will make a BIG difference.
You r-o-c-k s-t-a-r-s!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It IS truly the little things that make a world of difference
In the words of the great basketball coach, John Wooden …
“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
We try. You’re welcome. Stay tuned!
THANK YOU!!!