CoCalc feature
Secure Computational Scratchpads for In-Person Exams
Give every student a clean, temporary notebook environment on dedicated compute.
CoCalc exam scratchpad hosts provide ephemeral, network-isolated Jupyter projects for in-person university exams on instructor-controlled dedicated compute.
Run browser-based Jupyter and computational scratchpads with a frozen software environment, disabled outbound networking, configurable capacity, and automatic erasure.
A calculator, not another assessment platform
Students receive anonymous computational scratch space and copy answers into the institution's existing assessment workflow or onto paper. CoCalc does not require exam questions, student identities, submissions, grading, or proctoring.
Predictable software and capacity
- Freeze one RootFS image and digest for the whole exam
- Choose CPU, memory, disk, and maximum simultaneous projects
- Use Jupyter, files, kernels, and optionally terminals
- Run on an on-demand private host sized for the exam window
Ephemeral by design
- Disable outbound project networking and verify it before admission opens
- Disable backups and snapshots for exam projects
- Erase every project and its TimeTravel history at the deadline
- Automatically power off compute while retaining the reusable host and cached software