Exam Scheduling, Syllabus Plus, and the use of Questionmark PerceptionJohn Ross, Head of Exams Team

John Dermo, e-Assessment Adviser

SRO Conference, April 7th and 8th 2009

ITS4SEA Project

2007-2009

Integrating

Thin Clients and

Smart cards

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Secure

E-

Assessment

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/institutionalinnovation/its4sea.aspx

Institutional Innovation Programme

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Key Project areas

new 100 seat thin client facility

integrating institutional processes

secure e-assessments

with QMP

the technology: Sun Rays, VDIs, smartcards etc

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The Room: 100 seat Sun Ray cluster

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Secure e-assessment: QMP and Appsense

• Allows buttons and menu options to be greyed out in Word, Excel– remove print, open and

save options, research, Help and anything that will allow access to the internet

• Also used to copy ‘gold’ image to virtual desktops

• Secure e-assessment solution used for all summative assessment at UoB

• Dedicated high-stakes summative server

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First used Jan 091. Life Sciences (190 students): converted from OMR to QMP QMP MCQs: randomised Qs and As2. Management (320 students) Previously on PCs Excel file and QMP MCQ / short answer

“I’ve already told the DVC that we will need another cluster like this within 2 years”

Associate Dean Life Sciences and lecturer in immunology

“This is just what I always wanted but we couldn’t do on the PCs!”

Lecturer in School of Management

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Integrating Institutional Processes

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The Technology

Smartcards: link each exam to a different card

VMware and Sun Ray servers

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From an administrative perspective• A known venue (large & extra)

• Rapid turn around time between examinations (less stress!)

• Newer computers (more likely to work)

• Very easy to invigilate

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From an examinee perspective

• More conducive surrounding

(light and air!)

• Much easier to find

• Marks with schools on the day of the examination

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Syll +

• Incorporation of LSP (learner support profile) students into Syll+ scheduling.

• Suitabilities to distinguish students examination need

• Codification of locations to match suitabilities

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Student personalised timetable

• Extraction of data from Syll+

• Mail merged extracted data with standard letter ( x 8000+)

• Pearl script to enable send out – servers deem them spam!

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Questions?