New Guidance for Running Formative and Mock Digital Exams in Inspera

For colleagues who are considering using Inspera Assessment to deliver formative or mock digital exams, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new support resource: Using Inspera for Formative or Mock Digital Exams.

This new website has been created to help colleagues confidently plan, set up, and deliver their own formative or mock assessments using Inspera.

Formative and mock exams can play an important role in supporting student success. They provide students with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the digital exam environment, practise assessment formats, and build confidence ahead of summative assessments. They can also help identify and resolve any technical or procedural issues before a high-stakes exam takes place.

What you’ll find on the website

The guide brings together practical information and advice, including:

  • Inspera features that support formative and mock exams
  • The benefits of running formative and mock assessments
  • Step-by-step guidance on setting up formative or mock exams in Inspera
  • Key considerations and responsibilities when hosting your own Inspera assessment
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you’re planning a simple practice test or an opportunity for students to experience the digital exam environment before a summative exam, the website provides the information and guidance you need to get started.

We encourage colleagues who are interested in using Inspera for formative or mock assessments to explore the new resource and consider how these activities can support assessment preparation and enhance the student experience.

Inspera Customer Story

In this post we will share a recent customer story that Inspera created alongside our Inspera Digital Exam Co-Leads, Maddie and Kimberly.

Customer Story

At the 2026 International e-Assessment Awards in London, Newcastle University was the winner of the Best University Digital Assessment Programme.

The recognition marked a major milestone in a journey that began in the 2021/22 academic year. What started as a rapid response to pandemic-era take-home testing has evolved into a fully invigilated, campus-wide digital exam operation that rivals traditional paper-based testing.

You can read the full customer story on the Inspera website.

Inspera and Newcastle University Logos

Inspera On Campus 2026: Innovate & Engage event – afternoon of Wednesday September 16th

Inspera users (and those interested in the system) are invited to the Inspera On Campus 2026: Innovate & Engage event on Wednesday 16th September, 13:00-16:30. This event will take place in person in the Henry Daysh Building.

This year’s event has two key focusses:

  1. Sharing applicable updates to the system with our users that will be available from the new academic year.
  2. Opportunity for users to take part in Inspera-led discussion sessions with other Inspera users across our University.

If you’d like to join us, please sign up to attend the event using the Elements booking form. This will enable you to keep up to date with communications about the event and assist with our planning. The full agenda will be released in later this month with details of the new features we are adopting.

If there is anything that you’d like to find out about at the event, please email digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk.

Inspera New Digital Drawing Tool

We are excited to share a new Digital Drawing Tool is available in Inspera, which has increased functionality compared to the existing legacy tool. From 2026-27 academic year, the existing tool will be removed in place of the new drawing tool only.

How is the tool different from the existing tool? 

Previously, our team would enable the existing drawing tool across your entire test (if you selected this on your Digital Exam Form), where it would be available for students to use in any/all essay questions in your question set. The new tool allows you to enable the drawing tool at a question level, rather than at a test level. Colleagues can choose what questions they wish to enable the drawing tool on for their students to use in their Inspera digital exam. 

Continue reading “Inspera New Digital Drawing Tool”

Inspera: Sharing Best Practice Event 2025

Introduction

Colleagues in the Inspera Digital Exams Team of the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) invited colleagues from Inspera Assessment to visit Newcastle University for the third year in a row to host an on campus event with our users.

Fiona Orel and Ishan Kolhatkar visited Newcastle on Wednesday 5th November for this year’s ‘Inspera: Sharing Best Practice’ Event.

Our Inspera users were invited to come along to find out updates about using Inspera at Newcastle and upcoming features on the Inspera roadmap. The event is a great opportunity for colleagues to learn about how they can enhance their use of Inspera and ensure best practice. The Inspera Digital Exams Team arranged for some demonstrations on features and functionality listed in the agenda below.

The agenda included:

  • Welcome and Introduction – An update from the Inspera Digital Exams Team and update from Inspera Assessment around their Roadmap
  • Inspera demonstration – Rubrics Functionality, Manually Marked Multiple Attempts Assessments and Feedback Release Features
  • Questions and Discussion – Colleagues submitted their questions for Inspera to answer.
Continue reading “Inspera: Sharing Best Practice Event 2025”