Essay question text box not available to a student

[GRE6]

A student of mine just took a test in which the essay-type questions didn't make a text box available. The multiple choice questions worked fine, but she couldn't enter anything for the questions that required written answers. No other students had this problem. She (and all of the other students) were using Honorlock. There were also some problems with this student's Honorlock session, but I don't see how that would be related.

The attached screenshot shows a question that should have had an essay text box.

The student was using Chrome on a PC. Thanks for any help.

[greydon · Accepted solution]

Hello @GRE6

It is likely their internet browser and we recommend clearing the cache and cookies or trying another browser.

In Chrome
On your computer, open Chrome.
At the top right, click the three dots
Click settings
On the left, choose Privacy and Security
Then, clear browsing data
At the top, choose a time range. To delete everything, select All time. I suggest at least 4 weeks
Next to "Cookies and other site data" and "Cached images and files," check the boxes.
Click Clear data.

[Ron_Bowman]

@GRE6 -

That is strange. Do you know if the student had a script blocker running that may have caused issues with it?

I guess the other question is what type of quiz did you give - New or Classic.

Ron

[GRE6]

@Ron_Bowman

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I'm using the classic quizzes.

Maybe she's running some script blocking extension that she forgot about, but wouldn't Honorlock have blocked the extension? And she hasn't had a problem with quizzes where she didn't have to use Honorlock (although I also don't know if she always uses the same browser). Honorlock is looking like the culprit now, but they're saying that she had network connectivity issues and they caused this problem. That sounds fishy to me, however. Everything else about the test seems to have displayed and worked correctly.

[Ron_Bowman]

@GRE6 -

I was just curious about the quiz. I don't think it would matter, but it limits what you have to think about or look at. I would tend to agree that it is possibly an internet connectivity issue. It is one of those things that I doubt an answer can be found because you are not able to look at it as it happens.

good luck with the problem.

Ron

[GRE6]

@Ron_Bowman, Right, ok, thanks.

[greydon · Accepted solution]

Hello @GRE6

It is likely their internet browser and we recommend clearing the cache and cookies or trying another browser.

In Chrome
On your computer, open Chrome.
At the top right, click the three dots
Click settings
On the left, choose Privacy and Security
Then, clear browsing data
At the top, choose a time range. To delete everything, select All time. I suggest at least 4 weeks
Next to "Cookies and other site data" and "Cached images and files," check the boxes.
Click Clear data.

[GRE6]

Hi @greydon

Ok, thanks. But the students have to use Chrome with Honorlock. What would have caused this that clearing the cache would fix?

[Ron_Bowman · Accepted solution]

@GRE6 -

I am not sure if anyone knows the answer to your question; however, it has been shown that for whatever reason doing what @greydon suggested makes abnormal occurrences go away.  I have never experienced something that would require the clearing of all the data, but that is because I clean all of that everytime I close a browser completely. 

[GRE6]

@Ron_Bowman& @greydon, gotcha. Ok, thanks.

[PaulFielding]

I am helping a teacher with a similar problem. A short quiz with 2 essay questions. The questions looked like a copy/paste job as there was surrounding html code around the instruction. 

Students had tried it and their response text box didn't appear.

I tried it in student view and the box didn't appear.

I removed the extra html and it still didn't work in student view.

I reset student view, then it worked correctly.

Actual students still couldn't access.

I am in the process of asking students to clear cache/cookies and try again. 

I'll update here when I get an answer, but fingers crossed.

*students are using random selection of laptop types and browsers.