Desmos, the popular online graphing calculator, has a Test Mode that locks the device into just the graphing calculator (Link: https://www.desmos.com/test-mode) . The challenge is that it’s only for Chromebooks & iPads. And I use a Windows10 device. So here’s a parallel solution : Windows TakeATest mode. TakeATest locks windows to one webpage — at my school it’s most commonly used for Microsoft Forms quizzes that means you can do automatically marked tests in a secure environment. I wrote about it a couple of years ago here: https://www.onenoteschool.com/2018/11/this-is-a-test-this-is-only-a-test/ So I’m using TakeATest to lock the students’ devices so when they’re working on an assessment, on paper or on whiteboard, they can still use Desmos, since it’s what they use in class every day. But — they don’t have access to the Internet in general or their notes in OneNote specifically.
To start, create the Desmos graph you want the students to start with. That is, just open up Desmos — if you want to start with some functions depending on your assessment you can put them in, but I just want a blank calculator. Click on the SHARE button in the upper right corner and copy the URL.
Now we’re going to wrap TakeATest around the URL we just copied before we give it to the students. Paste the link into your OneNote or email or LMS or whatever (except Teams… it doesn’t work in a Teams Chat/Channel conversation yet!) and then edit the link (right click and choose EDIT LINK).
We’re going to add ms-edu-secureassessment: before the URL and then #enforceLockdown after the URL. So what you should now see is
The students, when they click on the link will get a few pop-ups, which, of course, they’ll need to accept. And, I will say, students usually have to do the pop-ups twice before TakeATest kicks in… for some reason, the first time you use it it seems to prepare itself, and then after that, it works well.
When they’re done, they press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and they return to normal!
You can find more information, and a few more options on setting up TakeATest at Microsoft’s documentation site here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/education/windows/take-a-test-single-pc#create-a-shortcut-for-the-test-link
