Welcome to the Open Resource Centre for Assessments (ORCA)!

ORCA (Open Resource Centre For Assessments). In the background of the image: multiple side-by-side workstations with partitions in between them. The two in-focus workstations are labelled '02' and '01'. The '01' workstation has a computer monitor on display that shows the ORCA logo, a heading that reads 'Welcome!', and two text boxes labelled 'Login' and 'Password' (respectively).

The Open Resource Centre for Assessments (ORCA) aims to solve a key problem in teaching and learning: helping instructors run digital assessments at scale securely and equitably. ORCA is best described as a distributed centre (multiple rooms scattered across campus) of network-filtered computer labs dedicated to running digital assessments in 50-minute increments throughout the day, staffed by trained invigilators.

The ORCA provides students with a consistent, reliable, and comfortable space to write their exams. Through identify verification, network filtering, and trained invigilators, we aim to make the testing experience smooth and reduce stress as much as possible!

The ORCA is a centralized service provided by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic and sits under LTIC (Learning Technology Innovation Centre). More details about the partial charge-back funding model can be found here.

Below is a rendering of what an ORCA room may look like – in each ORCA room, students are writing assessments from a number of different courses.

Navigate our website to find out more about the ORCA, and why we need an ORCA!

Getting Started

If you’re interested in learning more about the ORCA, visit our support page for next steps, including weekly drop-in tours, and virtual office hours.

Request to use the ORCA

Note: Course requests for 2026W1 are now closed, we are full! See you next semester (2026W2)!

For returning courses, instructors and course coordinators can request to use the ORCA here:

Submit your course to ORCA

NEW! We are soliciting courses that would benefit from using the ORCA as pilots in the fall or spring semesters. Get in touch with us by email orca.support@ubc.ca!

ORCA rooms at UBC

There are currently four rooms on campus that are part of the ORCA (in two different buildings).
More information about the location of the rooms can be found here.