Countdown to Exams: Are we ready?

A laptop with a piece of paper in front of it saying online assessment

Since the pandemic, I've observed numerous assessments being set up in QMplus in different ways. I have learnt that assessments in QMplus require not just a reliable and stable platform, but also what I shall call, the 3 C's: Careful planning, Clear communication and, most importantly, Contingency preparedness - ready for inevitable technical glitches.

1. Careful Planning

Test the test!

Once you have decided what type of online assessment you will have (e.g. an online quiz; a coursework submission; group work), it is important to not only create the assessment with the correct settings, but to also test the assessment from a student point of view. 

QMplus allows you to switch your role to student and view the assignment or quiz as a student would. Better, if possible enrol yourself or a colleague as a student, and log in with this account to test the assessment (we can help with this if needed).

TELT Recommends: I would recommend that you set up a test assessment for students to attempt before the real assessment. Issues can be sorted before they have to do the real one, and students will have a better understanding of what to expect. 

Limit participants and assessments

Consider the number of students taking the assessment. It is tempting to enrol all students from one school or programme onto one QMplus course exam area for ease of administration, and while possible, this leads to module load issues. We recommend that exams are set up in their respective module areas as opposed to trying to create one QMplus area with multiple exams in it. While this may not suit administrative requirements, you risk your students not being able to access their online exams if you include too many assessment type activities and students onto one module area.  

Limit restrictions 

While it is possible (and desirable) to set up various restrictions on QMplus activities, having too many restrictions within a module page will mean that QMplus may have loading issues trying to release the right information to the right students who are accessing the page simultaneously.  

TELT Recommends: We recommend that you limit the number of restrictions to avoid page load issues, as well as limiting the number of students enrolled on one module area. 

2. Clear Communication

Communication is vital.  

Communicate with the TEL Team

While QMplus is being heavily used to conduct online exams, it was not initially designed as an online exam platform, with numerous activities taking place simultaneously. It is really helpful if you let us know in advance if you are expecting high traffic to a particular module area. This way we can check the module beforehand, and spot potential issues. Although we ‘scale up’ QMplus during the exam season, knowing which areas on QMplus might have potential high traffic can help us quickly identify any issues.

Communicate with students

Let students know everything that they can expect. The time the assessment will become available, the duration once started, whether Turnitin will or will not be used, when grades will be available etc. Allow the students to see this information before the exam.   

Ensure submission links are easy to locate and identify, and that students know where to locate their assessment. Name them clearly and double check they are visible (not hidden). Students will already be nervous on the day of their exam, so knowing this information before or making it easy for students to locate the exam will be extremely helpful. 

Academic integrity communication

QMplus does not have any proctoring features and while it is challenging to ensure academic integrity, there should at least be clear guidelines in the instructions indicating what is acceptable to use and what is not. Students should understand how to properly reference their work and that they should be submitting their own work.

TELT Recommends: We recommend that you switch on features within the QMplus assessment that ask students to confirm that the work they are submitting in their own. You can also direct students to the Academic Integrity course to learn more about this topic. 

3. Contingency preparedness

What if the technology fails? This may happen to one student, or a cohort, so there should be a back up in place if anyone is unable to complete their assessment in QMplus. Should they email the work? Will there be another version available?

TELT Recommends: At the very least, give students extra time to submit after the deadline due date, in case something goes wrong. This is done via the 'cut off date' in the assignment settings or via the grace period in quizzes. Students submitting after the due date will be flagged as late - you can decide what to do with late submissions. If there is no grace period, students will not be able to submit after the due date. Allowing late submissions gives the added flexibility - you will still see the time stamp of the submission and points can be deducted.