{"id":7332,"date":"2023-07-13T10:22:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T09:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/?p=7332"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:51:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T09:51:30","slug":"the-role-of-digital-exam-support-assistants-desa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/2023\/07\/13\/the-role-of-digital-exam-support-assistants-desa\/","title":{"rendered":"The role of Digital Exam Support Assistants (DESA)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-image-fill\" style=\"grid-template-columns:35% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/files\/2023\/07\/Hands-on-a-laptop-keyboard.png);background-position:17% 35%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/files\/2023\/07\/Hands-on-a-laptop-keyboard.png\" alt=\"A photo of hands typing on a laptop keyboard.\" class=\"wp-image-7333 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/files\/2023\/07\/Hands-on-a-laptop-keyboard.png 750w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/files\/2023\/07\/Hands-on-a-laptop-keyboard-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"line-height:1.5\">Digital Exam Support Assistants (DESAs) are PGR students who support invigilators in digital exam venues to help students troubleshoot any technical issues using the safe exam browser software. Safe Exam Browser is software which works alongside Inspera offering a secure \u2018locked down\u2019 digital exam. Inspera Assessment is the University\u2019s Digital Exam system used for present-in-person, secure online assessments. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do DESAs support exam invigilators in digital exams?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>DESAs are on-hand to support students and invigilators to troubleshoot issues faced when accessing Inspera for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/academic-skills-kit\/assessment\/inspera-digital-exams\/\">Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)<\/a> exams. Exam invigilators have reported that the presence of DESAs makes them feel more confident in digital exam venues. Feedback has stated that DESAs have been a \u2018<em>confidence booster<\/em>\u2019 and that invigilators \u2018<em>couldn\u2019t do it without them\u2019<\/em>. Invigilators reported that the DESAs were responding to queries quickly which has also been stated by students who had DESA support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do students find the DESA support?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>39 students<\/strong> submitted their feedback on their Semester 1 22\/23 BYOD exam. When asked how satisfied they were with the technical support available in their exam, two thirds of students (67%) reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students reported that \u2018<em>those who requested support were dealt with quickly and there was little hassle.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did the DESAs find their experience?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We asked some of our DESAs how they found their experience in the role this year. Check out some of the quotes below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">&#8220;<em>I had a wonderful experience with the team. Enough training was given to staff. Would like to work with the team again. Thanks for giving me the opportunity.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-black-background-color has-black-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">\u201cRegarding my experience in the DESA role this academic year, it provided me with a valuable opportunity to contribute to the Digital Assessment Office and engage with fellow students. The role not only enhanced my understanding of digital assessment practices but also allowed me to develop essential skills in communication and collaboration. I am grateful for the experience and the chance to be a part of improving the assessment process at Newcastle University.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s next? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We are pleased to report that the DESA role will be returning in the 2023\/24 academic year. This support provision has been crucial in supporting our students with any troubleshooting during their BYOD digital exams. For more information you can email the <a href=\"mailto:digital.exams@ncl.ac.uk\">Digital Assessment Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find out more about Inspera in our other <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/category\/tech\/inspera\/\">blog posts on Inspera<\/a> and on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/academic-skills-kit\/assessment\/inspera-digital-exams\/\">Inspera Digital Exams<\/a> webpage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Digital Exam Support Assistants (DESAs) are PGR students who support invigilators in digital exam venues to help students troubleshoot any technical issues using the safe exam browser software. Safe Exam Browser is software which works alongside Inspera offering a secure \u2018locked down\u2019 digital exam. Inspera Assessment is the University\u2019s Digital Exam system used for present-in-person, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/2023\/07\/13\/the-role-of-digital-exam-support-assistants-desa\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The role of Digital Exam Support Assistants (DESA)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11053,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,12,655,708,1,453],"tags":[738,737,710,739,291,288],"class_list":["post-7332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assessment-feedback","category-des","category-tech","category-inspera","category-other","category-student-support","tag-byod","tag-desa","tag-digital-exams","tag-exam-invigilation","tag-feedback","tag-student-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11053"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7332"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7359,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332\/revisions\/7359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ltdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}