EPC Frequently Asked Questions (for Faculty)

The EPC is located on UVM’s Athletic Campus in Living/Learning A Building.  Our main office is located in Living/Learning A170, and our testing rooms are in the lobby. 

The easiest way to find us is to enter Living/Learning A Building from the door across the sidewalk from the Skinny Pancake entrance. Turn right down the hallway to the right of the two restroom doors and our main office door (A170) is straight ahead. 

During the academic year, the EPC is open: 

• Monday through Thursday:  8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
  Friday: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

EPC professional staff follow the UVM Administrative Calendar and the EPC is open all days of the year that the University is open.  During the summer and other academic recesses, the EPC is open Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. 

The EPC is closed on weekends and any days that the University is closed. 

If your students with exam accommodations need to test at the EPC, we ask that you provide them permission to test within EPC testing hours.  If you cannot allow students to test at the EPC at a different time within EPC testing hours, we ask that you provide a suitable environment that meets student accommodation needs and proctor the exam on your own, independent of the EPC. 

EPC professional staff are most easily reached by email at epc@uvm.edu.  Our office phone number is (802) 656-5767, but please note that this phone line is typically answered by student employees.  EPC professional staff are happy to talk with you over the phone when we are available. 

Students who are approved to test at the EPC are registered with Student Accessibility Services, determined eligible for exam accommodations, and have sent letters of accommodation to faculty.  Before students can schedule exams at the EPC, they are required to send an electronic accommodation letter via Accommodate to faculty for any course they wish to schedule for.  

To view your students’ accommodation letters that have been sent to you, navigate to your Accommodate profile and choose “Accommodation letters.” 

For midterm quizzes/tests/exams, students are required to schedule at the EPC at least one week in advance of the test date.  For Final Exams, the EPC sets a Final Exam scheduling deadline each semester (typically about one month in advance of Finals Week). 

The EPC does not permit late scheduling.  Students who do not book on time at the EPC should work with you (the professor) to either test in the classroom with their accommodations OR request your approval for a later date to test at the EPC. 

Students schedule their exams online via Accommodate.  When students schedule exams at the EPC, faculty are automatically sent a test booking confirmation email.  If you have questions or concerns about a student’s EPC exam booking, we ask that you contact the student directly to clarify. 

Faculty can review a list of students who have scheduled exams in Accommodate, as well as inform the EPC whether or not they approve of a student’s booking(s). 

The EPC contains two dedicated reduced distraction testing rooms with 27 seats each, one dedicated reduced distraction testing room with 21 seats, and two dedicated private testing rooms for a total of 77 seats.  The EPC utilizes other contiguous spaces near the main EPC office (typically vacated professional staff offices) as private testing rooms as needed.  During Finals Week, the EPC utilizes spaces all over campus to provide reduced distraction testing environments. 

No.  Students with exam accommodations are welcome to work with faculty to identify an alternative testing location independent of the EPC if students and/or faculty do not wish to use the EPC to fulfill testing accommodations.  If faculty are unable to fulfill student exam accommodations independent of the EPC, faculty may request that students test at the EPC for accommodation provision.  Students with exam accommodations may also choose to test in class without accommodations if preferred. 

Yes!  If students with exam accommodations need to take make-up exams, they can schedule them at the EPC online via Accommodate as a new testing appointment. 
 

The EPC offers completed exam return by courier to department office, scanned PDF exam return via Accommodate, or will hold exams at the EPC for pickup.  For Brightspace and other online exams, the EPC will return scrap paper and any allowed formula sheets/notes via Accommodate only upon request. 

If you select “EPC Courier - Return to Department Office (specify below)” in your Accommodate proctoring conditions, please also tell us the department office you would like your exams delivered to in the Exam Return Locations box below.  If your preferred return location is not listed, please tell us what building and room number we should send our couriers to.  The EPC typically sends couriers out to return exams across campus at least twice per day (once in the morning, usually around 9:00 AM, and again in the afternoon, usually around 2:00 PM).  Signatures are required to release completed exams and EPC couriers will not leave exams in mailboxes or slide exams under office doors. 

If you select “PDF exam return via Accommodate,” EPC professional staff will scan your students’ completed exams (or scrap paper and/or allowed formula sheets/notes) and upload a PDF copy to Accommodate.  Scanned PDF return is typically the fastest exam return method offered by the EPC.  EPC staff will make every effort to return completed exams to you within a business day of exam completion if you select this method. 

If you select “Hold for pickup,” completed exams will be available at the EPC main office (Living/Learning A170) within an hour of completion. 

If you select “Online Exam: No Return Necessary,” EPC staff will collect all used scrap paper and copies of allowed formula sheets/notes from students, but will NOT return these exam materials to faculty.  The EPC keeps all student exam materials on file until the end of the following semester. 

We ask instructors to enter Test Day Contact Info as part of their Accommodate exam proctoring conditions submission.  If you or another course representative (an additional instructor, a TA, etc.) will be available for student questions during the exam, we ask that you list your (or their) information here.  We ask for the name of the person available, contact info for them (call/text, email, Teams, etc.), and any notes about contacting them (i.e., text only, don’t call).  If no faculty member will be reachable, please check the box to indicate so.  

If students have questions during the exam, they are instructed to exit the testing space and speak with EPC front desk staff.  EPC staff will instruct the student to write out their question on a piece of scrap paper.  We remind the student that we cannot guarantee that we will receive a response from the faculty member and send the student back in to continue testing until if or when we receive a response.  EPC staff will then check the submitted proctoring conditions for the exam and attempt to contact the faculty member.  Email is the EPC’s preferred contact method for faculty, but we can call, text, or send Teams messages upon request. 

If we receive a response while the student is still testing at the EPC, we will produce a written copy of the response and deliver it to the student at their seat.  If the student finishes their exam before a response is received, but the student still has time remaining in their exam booking, we allow the student to choose if they will turn in their exam without hearing from faculty or if they would like to return to their seat and wait out the remaining time in hopes of getting a response (the student is NOT allowed access to personal belongings or other materials while waiting for a response).  If faculty indicate that they will be unreachable during the exam, we will still send an email with the student’s question on behalf of the student to ensure that their question is on record. 

In the case that you discover an error on the test document or have any other clarifying information to communicate to students during the exam, please email EPC professional staff with your clarifying information.  It’s best if you leave student names off the email, as our typical procedure in these cases is to print off a copy of the email and deliver it to all students testing for the course in question. 

Additionally, if you are answering a question sent from the EPC from one individual student and you feel it would be beneficial for all students to see the response, please let us know and we are happy to provide that information to all of your students. 

Please keep in mind that we cannot guarantee that we’ll spot a correction before a given student finishes testing, and that we are unable to reprint an entire exam after the submission deadline passes. 

Maintaining academic integrity is essential to the mission of the Exam Proctoring Center and the University of Vermont.  All students are required to adhere to all University of Vermont student codes and policies, including the Code of Academic Integrity, while testing at the EPC.  All observed and suspected incidents of academic dishonesty and/or violations of the University of Vermont’s Code of Academic Integrity and/or the Exam Proctoring Center Rules and Conditions while testing at the EPC will be reported by EPC Staff directly to the instructor and the Center for Student Conduct. Students’ assigned SAS Accessibility Specialist will additionally be notified of the report.  With the report, EPC staff will send an email containing a narrative description of the incident to the instructor to notify them.  EPC staff will also provide video footage from our surveillance cameras to faculty and the Center for Student Conduct whenever possible. 

If an incident of academic dishonesty is observed or suspected by EPC staff, EPC staff will make every effort to speak with the student as it occurs and interrupt the behavior when possible.  EPC staff will speak with the student in a private setting away from other students and will inform the student of their observations, request that the student discontinue the observed behavior, remind the student of their duty to report their observations to the instructor and the Center for Student Conduct, and allow the student to continue testing. 

Some incidents are observed by staff reviewing past recorded surveillance footage after the student is finished testing and leaves the EPC.  In these instances, students will not be notified by EPC staff of their observations, but EPC staff will maintain their duty to report the observations to the instructor and the Center for Student Conduct. 

EPC staff are objective observers of incidents of academic dishonesty.  The role of EPC staff is to monitor students during testing and report all good faith observations or suspicions of academic dishonesty.  After incidents that take place at the EPC are reported to instructors and the Center for Student Conduct, EPC (and SAS) staff do not have a role in the next steps.  Students will typically receive a notification of the alleged violation(s) from the Center for Student Conduct and should be in touch with the Center for Student Conduct directly with any questions or concerns.  More information about next steps for alleged academic integrity violations are available at the Center for Student Conduct. 

At check in, EPC staff check all items and materials the student wishes to bring with them to the exam to ensure compliance with their instructor’s submitted proctoring conditions.  If students have extra or different materials with them that are not established in the instructor’s proctoring conditions, we ask the student if they have explicit written permission (i.e., an email or Brightspace post) from the instructor to use the material.  If the student can show us written permission, we will allow the material to be used for the exam.  If the student cannot show permission, the student is instructed to store the unapproved material(s) and EPC staff will attempt to contact faculty for permission.  If we are able to reach the faculty and the item is approved, we will notify the student and allow them to retrieve the material.  Otherwise, without written instructor permission, the EPC will not allow any extraneous materials to be used during exams. 

No.  Unfortunately, the EPC is only equipped to proctor exams for students who are registered with Student Accessibility Services and are eligible for exam accommodations. 

If the conflict is due to athletic commitments, please contact Student-Athlete Services. All other conflicts or situations requiring flexibility should be directed to Student Services for the student’s college. 

No.  Unfortunately, the EPC can only keep enough proctors on staff to run our testing spaces.  If you need support with proctoring exams independent of the EPC, we encourage you to contact your college’s student services office. 

No.  The EPC will always provide lined paper for use in lieu of Green/Blue Books.  In the case that we are unable to return a physical copy of the exam to faculty for any reason, lined paper is much easier to scan to email to faculty than Green/Blue Books.  

If the exam takes place online via Brightspace or another online platform and students are required to come into the classroom to take the exam, students with exam accommodations can schedule these exams at the EPC.  However, if the exam is a take-home exam and other students will NOT be required to come into the classroom to test, students with exam accommodations should NOT schedule these exams at the EPC. 

For all Brightspace and other online exams, please add the appropriate amount of extended time to individual student exams per accommodations. 

For Brightspace and other online exams at the EPC, students are required to bring their own device to test. We do not have the ability to issue laptops to students for any reason other than to meet specific accommodations that require the use of one of our internet-disabled laptops.