Preventing Students from Printing and Copying Blackboard Tests
EKU Online Learning, 2007

LAST REVISED MARCH 2007

These steps tell you how to add a string of HTML code to a Blackboard test so that 
students cannot use their browser’s print or copy-and-paste functions to get a hard 
copy of the test. You will place the special code in the Instructions for the test, 
so that the printing-prevention takes effect as soon as the test is opened. 

The directions apply for all browsers and operating systems.

1. The NORMAL Blackboard editing window WILL NOT ACCEPT the special code you must 
insert. You have to change your personal options within Blackboard to accomplish 
this task. The steps that follow WILL NOT WORK OR WILL CAUSE DISPLAY PROBLEMS FOR 
YOU if you try to use the Visual Text Box Editor to make the changes. You MUST turn 
the VTBE "off" to add the code correctly. This is how you turn the VTBE off:

====> Go to the Tools menu, inside a course or on the Welcome page, and open the 
Personal Information menu. Click the link to Set Visual Text Box Editor Options. 
On the resulting window, set the VTBE to be UNAVAILABLE, and then click Submit. 
(You will be resetting this to "normal" later.) <====

2. Inside your course, open the Control Panel--Test Manager, and click to Modify 
the test. If the test is already being taken by students you will get a warning 
which you can safely ignore (this time).

3. Near the top of the Test Canvas, in the gray block for the Name, Description 
and Instructions, click the Modify button (at the bottom right corner of the gray 
block). This opens the Test Information window.

4. Look at the bottom of the Instructions block and click the radio button that says 
HTML. If you do not see any radio buttons, you are still using the Visual Text Box 
Editor, and you must go back to step 1 to turn it off. (The VTBE's "HTML Source" 
window does NOT allow you to add this special code correctly!)

5. The special line of code that you need is shown just below this paragraph. 
Highlight everything from the opening ampersand through the final angle bracket on 
that line, and then use copy-and-paste to place it in the Blackboard window. If you 
have existing text in the Instructions, it doesn't matter whether you paste this 
line before or after your text. It does not affect the display of anything else in 
the Instructions block.

&nbsp;<script lang=Javascript src=http://www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/np.js></script>

6. Click Submit on the Test Information window. This completes the change. 

7. Restore normal behavior for your editing views, by turning the VTBE "on":

====> Go to the Tools menu, inside a course or on the Welcome page, and open the 
Personal Information menu. Click the link to Set Visual Text Box Editor Options. 
On the resulting window, set the VTBE to be AVAILABLE, and then click Submit. <====

8. This completes adding the special code. After you deploy the test, be sure to 
check that you are getting the behavior you expect, by logging in to Blackboard 
as a "pretend-student" and then opening the test.

9. VERY IMPORTANT: If you need to make any changes to the Instructions or the 
Description for the test, be sure to disable the VTBE as in step 1. If you do not 
disable the Visual Text Box Editor, changing anything in the Description or the 
Instructions for the test will make the special code ineffective and can cause 
unpredictable test display problems.

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Note: When you are viewing the Instructions block with the Visual Text Box Editor 
"on," you will not see the code, and if you are using Windows Internet Explorer, 
you may see odd effects. If you need to make changes to the Instructions or the 
Directions, you must turn the VTBE "off" first.

Note that if you (as the instructor) want to print the test yourself, you must 
edit the Instructions to remove the special code, because it really does work 
as advertised. 

This method effectively subverts all attempts to print the test display from the 
browser and to copy the test contents into other programs, e.g., a word processor 
document or an email message. It is not easily defeated! But you must also remember 
that anything displayed on a computer monitor can be captured "somehow"; for 
example, a camera in a PDA or cell phone can take a picture of any computer 
display. If you are deeply concerned about the prospects for dishonest camera use, 
consider displaying the test questions one at a time, to make the image capturing 
process very cumbersome.