Quick Navigation

Northern Illinois University

Teaching with Blackboard

Tips for Preventing Cheating

Find More Information FAQ

View answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff.

When developing online assessments in Blackboard, it is important to consider the security of the exam and to make every effort to remove opportunities for students to cheat. The current version of Blackboard does not inherently prevent students from printing the questions of an exam or copying and pasting the questions to word processing application for printing. However, INSTRUCTORS can prevent students from saving or printing exams by following the steps for either of the following:

Disallow Printing of the Test

<style type="text/css">@media print {BODY {display:none}!important}</style>

This code, pasted into the HTML screen of the instructions area in Blackboard, disallows printing of the assessment. When users submit a print request, the resulting printout is blank. It has been tested on Windows XP and the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 8.0, Firefox 1.5, and Opera 8.51. The script may work differently in other browsers and on other operating systems.

To insert code:

  • In the Control Panel click Test Manager, then click Modify (for the selected test).
  • This takes you to the test "canvas." Click Modify for the assessment instructions.
  • In order to copy the code into the proper location, click on the small down arrow to reveal the additional text options.

Reveal more options

  • Click on the<html>option

Finding the HTML view

  • Copy and paste the code into the HTML View, either before or after your test instructions.

HTML view

  • Submit
  • The code will not be visible to students.

Disallow Printing and the Copying/Pasting of the Test

<SCRIPT language=Javascript src="http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/javascript/noprintcopy.js"></script>
<STYLE type=text/css>@media print {BODY {display:none}}</STYLE>

The above code can be copied into test instructions to disable the right click and copy feature; it will also prevent students from printing the test. It has been tested on Windows XP and the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 8.0, Firefox 1.5, and Opera 8.51. The script may work differently in other browsers and on other operating systems. While users can still use the print function of the browser, a blank page is printed. Users are also prevented from copying and pasting test content.

To prevent printing and copying Blackboard tests, follow the instructions for copying the no-print code into the HTML screen. Substitute the longer script listed above:

No copy or print code

Blackboard Frequently Asked Questions FAQ


Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to Blackboard assessment tools? Review the answers to frequently asked questions regarding online assessment tools in Blackboard. Also, consider attending one of the upcoming Blackboard workshops.

Last Updated: 09/05/2007