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The first pilot exams<\/h1>\n
Online exam software called WISEflow was used for 3 pilot exams in semester 2 2017\/18.\u00a0 All the students who took a pilot exam were given a briefing about how their exam would work, and had the opportunity to take a practice test so that they could try out the software before their exam.<\/p>\n
Typed written\/essay exams<\/h1>\n
Two online exams that included a typed essay part took place successfully in semester 2 assessment period.\u00a0 The exams were taken by Stage 1 Biology and Stage 2 Psychology students, and all took place in university computer clusters.<\/p>\n The exam software has word processing functionality that allows the student to<\/p>\n The academic setting the exam can also choose whether to allow their students to use spellcheck during the exam.<\/p>\n When they had finished their pilot exam all students were invited to complete an evaluation survey.\u00a0 This chart shows how students rated their experience of typing an essay exam:<\/p>\n The first Bring Your Own Device pilot was a formative multiple choice test for Stage 1 Biomedical Sciences students, which took place during the semester.\u00a0 Students had the opportunity to opt in to taking the exam on their own laptops at an invigilated venue, instead of in a computer cluster.<\/p>\n Before the day of the exam students who opted to take it on their laptop downloaded and installed the FLOWlock Browser that they would use to take the exam.\u00a0 The software locks down a student’s laptop in the same way that university computers are locked down for an OLAF exam, and means that they can’t access anything else on their machine or online during the exam.\u00a0 The students took a practice test on their laptops, so that they could confirm ahead of the exam that everything was working correctly.<\/p>\n Everyone using their own laptop was asked to bring it to the exam fully charged, and power sockets were available in case anyone needed them.\u00a0 The exam was 45 minutes long, and no one needed to make use of the power sockets.\u00a0 A bank of University laptops were also available in case anyone had problems with their laptop, and 2 students made use of these.<\/p>\n This chart shows the evaluation survey responses from students who opted to take the exam on their own laptops.<\/p>\n The Heads of eLearning Forum (HeLF) recently published the key findings from its 2018 survey on Electronic Management of Assessment (EMA) Digital Exams in UK Higher Education (HE).<\/p>\n The survey found that in the majority of universities (61%) digital exams are replacing traditional exams in only 1 or 2 modules.\u00a0 Here at Newcastle the Online Assessment and Feedback (OLAF)<\/a> Service supported 162 online exams in 2017\/18 academic year.\u00a0 Alongside this Numbas<\/a> and Optical Mark Reader (OMR) systems are used to deliver specialist digital exams in certain subject areas, and the diversification of online exam provision is set to see\u00a0the number and range of online exams we deliver increase further in the coming years.<\/p>\n The HeLF survey findings about barriers to online exam adoption make interesting reading, with 44% of respondents citing space as the biggest barrier, a factor that we need to consider here.\u00a0 45% of those introducing online exams are using or considering using laptops, but only 13% are focusing solely on Bring Your Own Device.\u00a0 A larger proportion, 28%, are focusing equally on delivering online exams using university-provided hardware and students own laptops.<\/p>\n Did you know that the OLAF Service launched as an initial pilot in 2007\/08, and transitioned to a centrally supported service in 2010\/11?\u00a0 This\u00a0 means that 2018\/19 will be OLAF’s 12th academic year.\u00a0 The HeLF survey found that only 14% of UK HEIs that responded have been undertaking online exams for 10 or more years, so that’s definitely something to celebrate!<\/p>\n Following the success of the initial pilot exams, the project expanding and diversifying online exam provision will continue for a further 4 years, with more pilot exams using WISEflow planned for 2018\/19.\u00a0 The next phase of pilots will aim to include:<\/p>\n If you are interested in participating in the pilot please get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2017\/18 academic year the University launched a project that aims to make online summative assessment possible for a wide range of assessment types and in non-cluster environments, which is one of the objectives in the TEL Roadmap. The project focuses on two key areas: Expanding the types of online exams that we can deliver … <\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/files\/2018\/08\/FLOWlock-exam-type-functionality.png\")
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<\/a><\/p>\nBring Your Own Device<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNational context<\/h1>\n
What next for online exams at Newcastle University?<\/h1>\n
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