Frequently asked questions

The questions below were asked during professional learning sessions on better end of session exams. In some cases, responses provided during the session have been enhanced after further consultation.

Keyboard vs handwriting

We encourage you to provide students with enough time to answer each question and do not make the time limit for short, long and essay question too tight to disadvantage students who are unable to type quickly. It is preferable not to use tight time limits for academic integrity purposes – consider writing authentic questions.

Test banks/pools

To enhance academic integrity without impacting equity. With multiple test banks each student will be sitting a slightly different exam, so it reduces the chance of collusion. Many subjects set up a pool of 'easy' questions, 'moderate' questions and 'complex' questions. Make sure you refer to the exam script prepared by DLT to ensure you optimise the settings of your test bank.

Brightspace

In Brightspace, you can utilise the Preview feature to experience the quiz as a student from the Manage Quizzes main screen. See Create and manage quizzes for more information.

Interact2

One way to easily review a pool of questions in Interact2 is to deploy a test with all the questions from the pool. Set it up to display the questions ‘all at one’. You can also create a Word version of the questions if that is of value. You ‘take the test’ you have created by clicking the test link and then print this view and "save as pdf". You can then convert the PDF to a Word file for editing and re-uploading as a pool in Interact2.

Exam build process

Heads of School will be notified once exams are complete.

Yes, but you should still complete the exam script so DLT staff can QA your exam to make sure everything is ready for your students.

Yes this feature is available in the exam request portal. There are specific steps you need to follow to request multiple exams so make sure you check the user guide for lodging exam requests.

File upload

Yes DLT can link it as a hyperlink when building the exam, just make that clear in your exam request and to your students in the lead up to the exam. If you decide to add an attachment to your exam, it is advised that you also add an attachment to a practice exam, as not all students have the software on their computer to download all file types, for example there were some issues last session in downloading Word documents if students did not have Word. It is also important that the file size is not too large.

Brightspace

The assignment tool in Brightspace invites students to submit work as part of an assessed task or activity. Submissions can be documents like essays, reports, or image files. See Create assignments for more information.

This can be a good option for part of you

Interact2

This can be a good option for part of your exam, however if you were considering an upload for your entire exam, consider using EASTS as a submission method instead. If you are expecting your students to record their responses in Word then ensure they can access a version of it beforehand. Avoid students uploading images with large file sizes by asking them to create .docx or .pdf file. Once again it is advised that this sort of question is included in a practice exam to provide students with an opportunity to ‘practice’ the technology.

Turnitin

Overall it is a similar situation to exam in an exam hall, it is all about the requirements/expectations you set to students in the exam in the use of those resources. It could raise the likelihood of misuse, due to approved availability of those resources. If they are required to perform basic referencing such as quotation marks, then those results are easily visible in the Turnitin Report. If there is a requirement for paraphrasing of content then that may also be readily visible.

Many publishers contribute their proprietary texts to Turnitin for their own matches so there could be more matches shown but overall the matches shown should be to the same amount but possibly just from more diverse sources.

Time zones

If the exam is time limited, time zones are a challenge. We can either offer students an option of sitting the exam in their time zone or increase the window of time students can access their exam (such as access the exam in any 2 hour window in a 24 hour period). For take home exams if it is designed in a way that we can give students days rather than hours it is less of an issue. Once the exam timetable has been set, the Exams Teams will be contacting the affected staff to check and see if they are happy for the exam to be adjusted for students sitting in time zones outside of AEDT. An exam time will only be adjusted if the start time for the student is outside the allowable window in policy.

Cut and paste

Time limits

If the questions are essentially the same then yes but it would be wise to check this as part of the QA process. We also have the option of a technology allowance (indicate on the exam request form) to allow for issues with drop outs etc.

Yes

Zoom invigilation

No but as we have 2 invigilators per Zoom room of 20 students, the more students the more Zoom rooms and invigilators we will require.

They should buy one but if that is a challenge Student Welfare and Finance Advisers can help your students access financial support to buy a webcam or microphone for an invigilated exam. If their camera fails on the day, students can log into Zoom on their mobile phone for the exam.

Student communications

That communication has been sent so you are free to talk to your students about their exam being online. Ensure that you wait until changes to the subject outline tool before you vary your outline and that information in there is consistent with the exams request.

Grades

To set up the "My Grades" feature in Brightspace, instructors need to configure grade items, associate them with assessments, and organize them in the grade book. This involves selecting a grading system, setting grade display options, and customizing grade categories. The setup allows students to view their grades and feedback through the platform. Detailed instructions are available on Set up My Grades.

No unfortunately not. At this stage, you will need to log a request to have grade centre unlocked to view student responses (e.g. for review of grade or to provide student feedback). DIT are looking into a long-term solution.

Exam support

Phone support is available via Student Central and the DIT service desk for real time online student support.

Yes but some of the items within that area will be hidden until work commences on your exam build.

Absolutely, DLT would be very happy to assist. Just log an job