At written examination (skoleeksamen) the routine is to quality check the questions/question sets twice and the examination once.
The author delivers the questions/question sets to the executive officer, who will run a quality check and then produce the examination. The Exam office check the examination and language before the examination is published.
In 2020/21 the routine will be the same when examination without supervision/take home exam substitute an examination that originally was a written examination.
For exams that originally are take home exams, we recommend that the Departments run quality check both on the questions/question set and the examination.
The Faculty can be at assistance on the quality checks on request. In need for assistance on the quality check the departments must contact digital-eksamen@hf.uio.
For both kinds of examinations we strongly recommend using templates when setting up the examination.
From the “Regulations for Teaching, curriculum and assessment on subjects”:
“A two- to six-hour home examination in Inspera. If all aids are permitted, this kind of examination may be preferable to a written examination (skoleeksamen). In order to limit the possibility of the candidate collaborating with others, the most suitable type of examination will be written work such as an essay. The question(s) should be designed to minimize the chances of plagiarism and help from others; they may for example be based on a topical theme in a video or audio case. If it is desirable to give several short questions, such as multiple choice, the number of questions should fill the time available to make it difficult for the candidate to collaborate with others. In addition, the questions can be created in sections, with random pull of questions from each section or presentation of the questions in random order.”
Audio playback
It is possible to conduct a dictation or test oral comprehention where the audio files are uploaded to the question set “essay”. Inspera supports playback of .mp3 audio files. This is the only audio format that can be played in Inspera. It is technical possible to upload other audio formats by changing the files’ name. However, this will result in serious errors during the examination. To read a guide to examine the format, please click here (page in Norwegian). We strongly recommend that dictations with a limited number of times it can be played, have a test file before the dictation to check if the sound is working on the computer.
Video playback
It is possible to conduct a dictation or test oral comprehention where the video file is uploaded to Inspera, or where it is linked to the video in the question set. Both options are available in the question option “essay” in Inspera. Inspera supports the video format .mp4. This is not for larger video files. For large video files, we recommend you upload the video to a separate internet page, without linking to it on the index-page. If you would like further guidance regarding this, please contact the exam office. We strongly recommend that video files with a limited of times it can be played, have a test file before the video to check if the sound is working on the computer.
Sketches/hand drawing
For written examinations in Inspera the system used for hand drawings is “Scranton”. To use “Scranton” it is required that it is handed out sheets to the students with unique number sequences, and that the sheets are scanned with a scanner that matches the question codes with the correct number sequences. This solution cannot be used for a take home examination. Of the different solutions that we have been presented, it is only one that can be considered for HF: Handwriting with pen and paper, where the student take a picture of the sheet and upload it. We recommend using Microsoft Office Lens. The program exist for both Android and iOS. Office Lens will save the picture as a PDF. It is also possible to upload the picture from other digital cameras. This will require that the question set uses the question type “upload assignment” and chooses “allow all file types”.
In these cases it will be added 15 minutes extra time, so that the students can take the picture, optionally transfer the file, and upload it to Inspera. It will be necessary that the students gets the option to send the picture, along with the candidate number, to the executive officer responsible for the subject in exceptional cases (where the students experience technical difficulties).
Subjects with a larger amount of candidates should consider if it is necessary to use hand drawings this semester, since the solution could lead to difficulties for some of the students.
Regardless, it should not be more than two tasks in the questions set where the student have to digitize their hand drawings themselves.
Text assignments: “Essay” or “Upload Assignment”?
It is possible to both use “essay” and “upload assignment” for examination where the students are asked to produce texts, essays or short answers.
In “essay” the students will write their answer in the text editor in Inspera, and the text will automatically be submitted when the time is up. It is therefore recommended to use “essay” for examinations where the students will be writing a text, and where it does not require any special formatting options that is available only in Word and not in Inspera.
In “upload assignment” the students will write their text in a word processor (Word), and before the time is up, the students have to convert the file to a PDF file and then upload it to Inspera. It is only automatic submission if the student have uploaded an assignment, and only if the box “enable auto submission” is checked (page in Norwegian). We discourage to use “upload assignment” if the examinations consist of several (more than two) questions that have to be answered with different documents.
For short questions with short answered (one paragraph – only text), “text area” can be employed. In most cases, it would still be a better alternative to use “essay”.
If students contact you, and they are not able to upload their file before the deadline, and it is decided that the administrator will be uploading the file, you have check if it possible for the administration to upload the student’s file.
You must keep in mind that it is only possible for the administrator to upload one file.
Filopplasting
The most common question type for a three-day home examination is “upload assignment”. This question type is therefor already familiar to most of you. Students will usually get the examination text in Inspera, and then upload their assignment before deadline. Inspera’s examiner toolbox (sensurverkt?y) supports PDF uploads, however, it is possible to use other file formats.
- We strongly recommend that you only use PDF. Inspera do accept file formats that are not textual. This may lead to serious errors if you choose this.
- With the question type “upload assignment”, pdf-attachments on the left side alone are not ideal. We recommend to also add the PDF as a file in the question (user guidance). Or to use PDF as an “external resource” (page in Norwegian), Have a look at “attachments” below.
Attachments
Some of you are used to textual attachments being printed out and then handed out in the exam location. This will not be possible this spring semester. Most students will not have access to a printer at home, and we therefore recommend you to choose an attachment that will work on a computer screen.
- If it is an attachment that follows the whole question set, we recommend you to choose “external resource” (page in Norwegian), and leave a notification for the students either in the questions or in the information document.
- If it is an attachment that follows a sequence of questions, we recommend you create a separate section for these questions and then use a section document.
- If the attachment is only meant for one particular question, we recommend placing the attachment as a file, AND as pdf-attachment on the left side (optionally, you can use a section document). This also applies if there are several attachments that belong to different questions in the question set.
Points: auto corrected questions
If there are questions that will be corrected automatically, they must have points. For these questions you have to add a threshold value (terskelverdi/ poenggrense) for the grades. The examiner and course leader (“author”) have to be aware of that the threshold value should be adjusted, and that the threshold values that Inspera inserts automatic, is from mathematical distributions. We recommend keeping the Insprea’s default values in the question set. Usually the examiner will adjust the threshold values when they start grading the candidates.
NB: if points are to be used when grading, the question set must include threshold values. The grading guidelines have to contain the adjusted threshold values.
Challenges regarding keyboards and language subjects in Inspera
Inspera support Unicode signs. In other words, Inspera will support changes in keyboard language, if the student have to change the language they will be writing in. Inspera also support some signs which does not exist on the keyboards, for instance runes.
Windows and MacOS accept defined keyboard-languages, this means that the students easily can change language on their own computer, and thereafter use Inspera. This is crucial important for the language subjects with keys that differs with more than two to three signs from the Norwegian keyboard.
This applies for the following subjects at HF:
Arabic*
Persian*
Japanese*
Chinese*
Turkish*
Hindi*
BKS
Polish
Czech
Ancient Greek
Russian
The subjects marked with * have not had not exams in Inspera assesment previously.
Of the languages listed above, Japanese and Chinese stands out since they use a simplified transcript input-method. It is unfortunate if the students are not familiar with this input-method, and that the first time they use it is during the exam. As far as we know, Japanese have had lectures addressing this for subjects where the exam have been in Inspera.
Arabic: Both Inspera and Windows support Arabic letters from keyboards. The immediate challenge is that the students are not used with the letter’s placement on the keyboard since it is not identical to our QWERTY. A possible solution is to send a keyboard map or encourage the students to buy alphabet stickers. It is a relatively small investment. NOTE: Even though Inspera does support right alignment of the text in the essay question, there is no full support in Inspera for right to left script.
Persian: Somewhat similar with Arabic, however, it has additionally four letters.
Turkish: Similarities to the central European languages regarding keyboard since it uses Latin letters with some additionally letters.
Hindi: Both Inspera and Windows supports Hindi. Hindi has the same challenges and solutions as Arabic and Persian, however, Hindi has its own charset.
For the four languages mentioned above, as of today, it does not exist machine support for handwriting input in Inspera.
For other subjects we have previously used a combination of external keyboards with correct language setups, and keyboard maps that have been handed out before the exam.
For home examinations, we may contribute to the distributions of keyboard maps, both to the subject’s semester pages, and by e-mail with links to relevant resources. It will still be a benefit for all to be familiar with the subject’s keyboard input.
Randomize draw of questions
It is possible to use sections to make a randomized draw of questions. The different questions will be given in a random order. For instance you make five questions in each sections (they must have the same score).Form each section a smaller number is drawn, such as 2 out 5.
Please click on the link below for more information:
https://support.inspera.com/hc/no/articles/360024380991
Delayed access to submission
If there are concerns regarding the possibility for cooperating candidates, it is possible to delay the candidates’ access to their own submission until the test completion for all candidates. In other words: do not checj the “instant post delivery access”. Please see illustration.