Over the last couple of months, Inspera have been making some updates to their Grade workspace. Graders may have noticed some name changes in the appearance or naming in the Grade area. Ahead of our Semester 1 assessment period, the Digital Exams Team wanted to share some information about the changes you will see.
To complete marking within Inspera, graders will use the different workspaces in the Grader workflow:
A question set is a group of questions created in Inspera. In Inspera you can make individual questions, or you can set up a question set and create a group of questions in there. Individual questions can also be imported into your question set.
All colleagues (and students) access Inspera via Canvas. Colleagues can either access a ‘test’ exam set up in their Canvas Sandbox area, or by going through an existing Inspera exam.
You should give question sets meaningful names, e.g. ‘MOD1234 Semester 1 Exam 202425’. This makes it easier to identify the question set for the current academic year. Question sets are created in the Author tab of Inspera.
There are a variety of question types you can create in Inspera. You can see the full list of automatically marked question types and manually marked question types for more information.
Remember to rename your individual questions too, so that you can easily find them in the question set. Each new question is automatically given the name ‘New Question’ so if you are creating question sets with multiple questions in, giving them a meaningful name will help you find specific ones later.
If you need to update a question, a meaningful name will make it easier and quicker to locate.
Adding labels to your individual questions can also help with locating and re-using your questions in other question sets.
If you’d like to know about adding labels and using filters to find questions, please see our dedicated label filtering blog post.
There are various features you can use within Inspera to enhance your question sets. These are optional features you can apply within your question set.
For example, you can randomise the order in which the questions appear for students when they sit they exam. You can also use the random pulling feature to pull a sub-set of questions from a larger bank of questions, so that each student receives a different combination of questions.
If you are using both manually marked essay questions, and a set of multiple choice questions, you are able to put these into what is known as sections. This means you could apply randomisation to the multiple-choice questions only. You could also use another feature on the essay questions known as candidate selected questions.
There is a dedicated Content Creation Features website on our Learning and Teaching Inspera site which lists the full details on these different features.
Once the Module Leader has completed their Digital Exam Form to confirm the details about their Inspera Digital Exam, the next step is to start creating their question sets.
Question sets are created by the module team and shared with the Digital Exams Team via email to Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk.
The question set deadlines for 2024/25 are detailed in the following table:
| Semester | Question Set Deadline |
| Semester 1 | 15th November |
| Semester 2 | 7th March |
| Semester 1 August Resit (Semester 3) | 17th April |
| Semester 2 August Resit (Semester 3) | 8th July |
The Digital Exams Team deliver a training webinar ‘Creating and managing exam questions in Inspera’ which colleagues can sign up to via the Elements training system. The training session covers an on-screen demos of setting up and adding questions to your question set.
The Digital Assessment Team in LTDS have various training webinars covering our Digital Assessment tools starting in the next few weeks.
You can check out the full list of sessions, dates/times and the links to book in our list of sessions.
Inspera for Professional Service colleagues
6 November 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Creating and managing exam questions in Inspera
2 October 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
7 November 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Marking an Inspera exam with auto marked questions
16 December 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
22 January 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Marking and moderating an Inspera exam with manually marked questions
17 December 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
23 January 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Creating and Managing Digital Assignments
2 October 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Online Marking & Feedback (Canvas)
4 December 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Online marking and feedback (Turnitin)
11 December 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Users can add labels to individual questions to help with general organising and for locating questions with specific content.
Inspera have created the option to filter on labels that have been added to questions. Until now, if filtering on more than one label, the result has been to show all content with any of these labels. We know there is a need to search for all content that has all the selected labels. It is now possible to be able to filter on more than one label simultaneously.
You can add labels to questions in your question set. For example, you may wish to label your questions with the topic (e.g. Topic X, Y OR Z) but you may also want to add another filter, such as the year the question is from. When searching the question bank of all your questions in Inspera, it is now be possible to filter so that you can find questions that are say from ‘2023/24’ and from ‘topic X’, rather than all questions coming up with either of those filters.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Digital Exams Team via Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk.
If you are marking an Inspera exam where students have been given an option to answer certain questions from a range of question options (i.e. students answer one out of three possible questions), this is known as Candidate Selected Questions (CSQs). When in use, the grading per student function (where markers would move to the next student awaiting grading using the downward direction arrow), meant that markers were shown the next student in the list, even if they had answered an alternate option.
Now, markers who move to the next student using the direction arrow next to the student information (as shown below), will find clicking the down arrow will take them to the next student who answered the same question option. This means that marking of a particular question can be achieved.
More information about the candidate selected questions feature can be found on the Inspera Help Centre.
It’s now possible to select more than one question and delete in bulk. Previously, the deletion was only possible per question. Deletions should only occur if you no longer wish to use the question, for example, if you found errors or will no longer use the question in future.
Deleting questions can be done via the Author Tab.
To delete multiple, select the tick boxes on the left hand side of the questions you wish to delete.
Multiple questions can be deleted simultaneously by using ‘move to trash’ – a pop up which will appear on the bottom panel.
The Digital Exams Team have created some new resources for colleagues. We have a brand-new website dedicated to the use of Grading Committees in Inspera. This website provides users information about what these committees are, how to use them and Frequently Asked Questions area.
We have also recently released information on our colleague facing Inspera webpages relating to Inspera Feedback Release, as well as an Inspera for Professional Services Colleagues area.
As we enter the assessment marking period, the Digital Exams Team want to share some marking ‘hints and tips’ for Inspera Digital Exams. Check out some of our hints and tips listed below.
The Digital Exams Team run two dedicated marking webinars which colleagues can book onto:
These training webinars cover a range of marking workflows, including how to amend auto-marked questions and adding annotations to manually marked questions such as essays.
There are a range of marking videos available on the Inspera L&T website which provide on-screen demonstrations of grading tasks.
If you would like to release feedback to your students on your auto or manually marked Inspera questions, check out our dedicated webpage on Inspera Feedback Release for further information.
If you have any questions about marking an Inspera exam, please contact the Digital Exams Team via Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk.
If you have any hints or tips that you think we could add to the above list, please do share them with the Digital Exams Team.
We’ve refreshed our Inspera support guidance materials on the Learning and Teaching site, where you will now find links to our new range of webinars and marking how-to videos. We will continue to expand our online guidance resources over the summer.
Inspera support on the Learning and Teaching @ Newcastle website
Inspera Assessment (the university system for centrally supported digital exams) is supported by the Learning and Teaching Development Service with a range of training options open to all staff. We now have a new training session aimed at Professional Service colleagues due to run on March 9 from 3-4pm. You can sign up via Elements.
This session will introduce the digital exam platform Inspera, and how to support an Inspera digital exam.
This webinar is suitable for any professional services colleague supporting an Inspera digital exam.
Inspera assessment is the University’s system for centrally supported digital exams. Inspera can be used for automatically marked exam questions, for manually marked question types including essays, or for exams with a combination of both.
New functionality has recently been launched that enables colleagues to do more with digital written exams.
Candidate selected questions is used to give students taking your exam a choice of which questions to answer from a list.
For example in an exam where students need to answer 2 essay questions from a list of 6 questions, you can set this up so that a student can choose a maximum of 2 questions to answer.
How does it work for a student?
If candidate selected questions is used in an Inspera exam the student sees information above each question that shows how many questions to select in total, and how many they have already selected. To choose a question to answer they change the ‘Answering this question?’ drop down box to yes.
If a student starts answering a question without changing the ‘Answering this question?’ drop down box, Inspera automatically changes it to ‘Yes’.
When they have selected the maximum number of questions, the student cannot start answering any more questions. However, if they change their mind about which question(s) they want to answer, they can simply change the ‘Answering this question?’ drop down to no, and select a different question instead.
How does it work for a marker?
A marker only sees answers to the questions that a student has chosen to answer.
As students can only submit answers for the maximum number of questions they are allowed to choose, this means you can say goodbye to the dilemma of trying to work out which questions to mark when a student has misread the instructions and answered too many questions!
How can I use it in my exam?
The Candidate selected questions function is available when you are authoring a question set for an Inspera digital exam. Find out more in the Inspera guide for Candidate selected questions.
You can now create a rubric to use for marking any manually marked question type in Inspera. Rubrics allow you to build the assessment criteria for an exam question into Inspera, and use them in your marking.
Choose whether you want to use a quantitative rubric to calculate the mark for a question, or a qualitative rubric as an evaluation and feedback tool, and then manually assign the mark.
How to introduce a rubric for your exam
Come along to a webinar to learn about creating exam questions or marking in Inspera.
Enroll onto the Inspera Guidance course in Canvas to learn about Inspera functionality at your own pace.
Find out about the process to prepare an Inspera digital exam, and how the Digital Assessment Service can help on the Inspera webpage.
Contact digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk if you have questions or would like to discuss how you could use Inspera for a digital exam on your module.
Inspera joined us via zoom for a presentation about the new Inspera Assessment software.
The presentation was delivered by Graeme Redshaw-Boxwell and Susan Barfield from the Learning and Teaching Development Service, who were joined by Suzanne Keys and Harvey Tayman from Inspera. Graeme and Susan discussed the journey Newcastle has taken with Digital Exams, why we are excited about the new software and what it will allow future digital exams to do. Suzanne and Harvey went on to demonstrate the assessment software, from a student and academics perspective.
This is the link to the recording from the session.
The following questions and answers were discussed during the sessions
I want to introduce a digital exam using Inspera, what can I do next?
Digital exams for semester 1 are only available for modules that have this listed in their 2021-22 MOFS. If you wish to run a digital exam for 2022-23, when you complete your 2022-23 MOF select “PC Examination” for the Assessment Component.
If you are interested in running a digital exam in future and would like to find out more, please see our Digital Exams webpages, or contact digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk .
We would like to pilot it on some modules, where do we start?
Please see the Digital Exams webpages for information on how to get started. I you have a semester 2 exam that you would like to turn into a digital exam, please email digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk to discuss.
What capacity is there for digital exams with large cohorts?
We have previously supported exams with over 400 students and it possible to manage large cohorts, although this may be over several venues.
Can external examiners access?
All Canvas users have access to Inspera. If your external examiner has been set up with a Canvas account, they can access Inspera.
Can you download a copy of the exam paper?
It is possible to download a PDF version of the exam.
Can I download feedback
It is possible to download students’ submissions, feedback annotations and marks as two separate PDFs.
Can you use Turnitin to check for similarity on typed essay questions?
Turnitin has been integrated into Inspera, so it possible to check a student’s submission for similarity. The Turnitin marking tools are not available, so it is not possible to use QuickMarks.
How do we ensure the academic integrity of digital exams?
It is possible to use a lock down browser on cluster room PCs and students’ own devices exam for digital exams. Ahead of the exam, the students will be asked to install the Safe Exam Browser software on their own laptop if it is bring your own device exam. To start the exam, they must run Safe Exam Browser, which will lock their PC from being able to access anything else. When they submit their exam and close lockdown browser, they can use laptop as normal.
It is not possible for a student to access an exam that requires use of Safe Exam Browser without using Safe Exam Browser. There are warnings in the monitor module if a student had tried to exit the lockdown browser.
The Inspera Assessment, Digital Exam Launch will continue with two more sessions taking place in person on the 9th and 10th November, click for further details and to book a place
