Scheduling your exams is an integral part of the DLC process. It’s important to reserve your dates on the DLC website when there is still availability. Instructors can begin reserving examination dates 45 days prior to the start of the upcoming semester. Exam reservations are approved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Steps to scheduling an exam

The following is a video example on how to Submit an exam reservation for 'Classic' and 'Other' Quiz type:

Here are the guided steps to create an exam reservation:

Log into the DLC-Reserve website, https://dlc-reserve.unl.edu

Image of DLC Exam Commons Reservations loign homepage.

Navigate either via the ribbon under Exam Scheduling or click on Schedule Exam.

Website navigation drop-down menu selecting "Schedule New Exam" option under the Exam Scheduling menu. The Exam Scheduling dashboard, showcasing where to find the "Schedule Exam" on the right hand side of the dashboard.

Click the courses field to show a drop-down list of your courses. Select the course(s) to include on the exam reservation.

Image showcasing the drop down menu in the Course(s) section of the dlc-reserve Exam details page

Type in the Exam title.

In the Exam Description section, list your planned path in Canvas (ex. Canvas > Quizzes > Exam 1). Include any additional notes that the Exam Commons staff may need to know.

Image of the Exam Description input box

In the Approved Materials section, click the field to add pre-entered materials. Type in any additional items that are not on the list and hit enter. Scratch paper is always provided to students by default. If you do not have any items, you can leave the section blank.
- You may allow students to bring in a set amount of hand-written notes.
- Reservations with Open Book/Open Note will be rejected because all note sheets must be collected and recycled when a student checks out and to help keep the academic integrity of your exams
- If you plan to link PDF documents within your exam, make sure it is on the Approved materials list.

image showing the drop down menu for approved materials, this box also allows text input for materials not on the list.

Select Exam Length. To ensure efficiency of the Exam Commons and help eliminate empty seats, choose the exam length that’s best reflects the amount of time your students will need to test. Exams CANNOT be scheduled for more than 120 minutes.

Image showing the drop down menu when selecting exam length. It shows a minimum of 30 minutes and a max of 120 minutes

Allow Reschedule if No-Show allows students ONE additional opportunity to register for their exam if they missed/no-showed for their first time. Students can always edit and change their timeslots if they have an impending conflict. If a student no-shows for an exam, the system will mark it as missed—they will be able to reschedule one more time ONLY if this is selected. Otherwise, students who missed their exams, the instructor must submit a “Makeup Exam” on their behalf. *Please note that if your exam has multiple attempts, students will only be allowed ONE additional opportunity to re-register with this checked.

Select the total number of attempts.
- Number of attempts per day is limited to one per day for Fall and Spring Semesters. During Summer Session only, instructors have the option to change the number of attempts per day to two.
- Multiple attempt exams are not allowed to be scheduled during Finals Week and will be rejected once submitted.

Printing Allowed, select this if you’d like your students to be able to print their exam answers and take them with them.

Taking of Scratch Paper Allowed, select this if you want to allow your students to take their scratch paper when checking out of the DLC. WARNING: Know that if selected, the DLC has no control over what students might write on their scratch paper. They could write test questions or answers. Select at your on risk.

Select your Quiz Type:
- Classic Quizzes – Canvas Quizzes original assessment tool
- New Quizzes – Canvas Quizzes upgrade of the original assessment tool. *Note: any exam with 'New' as quiz type will be asked to map and sync an existing quiz prior to submission.
- Other – Exams that utilize something else besides Canvas Quizzes (ex. Mobius Assessment, WeBWorK)

Images show the drop-down menu of the 3-different quiz types available, Classic, New, and Other.

In the Exam Dates section, you’ll be given the minimum number of days to accommodate all students. Dates toggle on/off with each click. Click the dates you want for your examination period.
- For Class-Wide testing, you will only be able to reserve times that are two weeks out from the current date.
- Reservations asking for one day or one block of time cannot be accommodated.
- Regarding colors indicated on the Calendar:
  - Green = Less than 50% full
  - Yellow = Between 50%-75% full
  - Red = More than 75% full
  - Gray = 100% Full or DLC is Closed

Shows the calendar when reserving examination dates. Including what the Green, Yellow, Red, Gray colors look like.

In the Contact List section, it will automatically populate the contact name and email of the person submitting the exam. Please provide the best phone number if DLC staff needs to contact you about any issues. Add any additional individuals to the contact list if need be.

Click Submit for Approval.

When approved you will receive an email notification to the email provided in the contact list.

'NEW' quiz type important information

'New' quiz type requires additional steps before the exam reservation can be submitted for approval.

For the instructors planning to use the updated New Quizzes format in Canvas, you will need to authenticate your Canvas account to utilize the New Quizzes integration on the DLC-Reserve Website. Follow these steps to do so:

Log into the DLC-Reserve Website, https://dlc-reserve.unl.edu

Click on the the blue ribbon stating "Canvas Authentication Required!". This will take the instructor to their Canvas to sign in and finish authenticating. Once finished, the New Quizzes integration will available when submitting a reservation with quiz type 'New' on the DLC-Reserve website.

Blue banner with white text: "Canvas Authentication Required! You are required to authenticate on Canvas. Click here to authenticate before creating or editing an exam."

The following is a video example of how a reservation for a New Quizzes quiz type is done in the DLC:

Here are the guided steps with a 'New' quiz type reservation:

New Quizzes requires the instructor to map and sync a Canvas New Quiz to the exam reservation. Instead of clicking submit after inputting the exam details on the DLC-Reserve reservation, click 'Next.'

The Quiz Mapping page will open. Only active New Quizzes from Canvas will populate as options. Select an existing quiz or create a quiz shell (choosing the latter, the instructor will finish building the exam at a later time).
- Note: If choosing to not map a quiz, the exam reservation will go into Draft Status.

Sync your exam settings with the DLC Reservation.
- After successfully mapping a quiz, the DLC-Reserve page will need to sync the Canvas Quiz settings so they match. The page will show what the settings are and what changes will be made (if any).

Screenshot of Canvas Quiz Sync interface showing quiz settings and synchronization options, with a "Perform Sync" description ribbon at the top.

Click 'Complete' to submit your DLC Reservation.

Draft Status Exams

Notification box titled "Exams in Draft" explaining steps to complete and submit exam requests from draft status in an online course system.

- Exams become draft status when they are not mapped to an active New Quiz.
- New Quizzes reservations in draft status will remain on your dashboard for 3 weeks then will be automatically deleted if not deleted prior, or taken out of draft status.
- Instructors will receive daily reminders that they have reservations in draft status.
- Reservations in draft status cannot be seen by DLC Admin staff and cannot be approved until a quiz has been successfully mapped to the reservation.

Creating a Make Up Exam Reservation

You may need to submit a MakeUp Exam reservation due to a number of possible situations but here are a few:

The student needs to take an exam outside of the regular examination window.
The student has already taken the exam but needs another attempt due to technical reasons.
The student missed their time slot and need another opportunity to sign up.

Steps to scheduling a MakeUp Exam:

Log into the DLC-Reserve website, https://dlc-reserve.unl.edu

Navigate either via the ribbon under Exam Scheduling and click on Schedule Makeup Exam or on Exam scheduling dashboard and click on Schedule Makeup Exam located above your listed courses.

Digital Learning Center exam scheduling interface with "Schedule Make-up Exam" option highlighted by a blue arrow under the 'Exam Scheduling' field. where to find the schedule makeup exam on the dlc reserve dashboard

Assign the Makeup Exam to the student(s) that need it.

the assign to input box found on the exam description page

Fill out the remaining fields, refer to the previous guide on how to do it. *Please note that quiz type “New” will be asked to sync an existing Canvas New Quiz after submission (for more information about quiz type, see How to Submit an exam request)

Exam Dates Section, please note there is no lead time for these requests—you may submit a Makeup Exam on the current day. It also may not be necessary to select more than one day.

In the Contact List section, will automatically fill out the contact name and email. Please provide the best phone number if DLC staff needs to contact you about any issues. Add any additional persons to the contact list if need be.

Click Submit for Approval
- - When approved you will receive an email notification to the email provided in the contact list.

How to Schedule a reservation for a Student NOT currently in a course

If a student needs to take online exam in the Exam Commons and need to make up an exam from a previous semester, there is a way to accommodate that in the DLC system. The DLC manager has the ability to internally add students to a roster for one of your current courses in our system (this does not affect their Canvas or Registrar course enrollment)

Once a student is added, the instructor is able to create makeup exam reservations for the student (AND the student will also be automatically included in the roster for the class-wide exam reservations).

Use the following steps to make a request:

Email the student’s name or NUID to examcommons@unl.edu or to the DLC Manager and state the student needs to test for a past course.
The DLC Manager will add the student to one of your current courses (for that semester) and then confirm with you when it’s completed.
Once completed, the student will be in the DLC-Reserve course roster for the remainder of the semester. As the instructor, you will be able to create regular exam and makeup exam reservations that include the student.