Exam Diet Update 26/04/2020

Dear Colleagues

Our first 100% online exam diet starts tomorrow with over 250 registered exams being delivered through My Dundee in the coming weeks. This is no small task for the academics, administrative staff, support services and – most importantly – students involved, so I wanted to update you all on what’s going on. As an institution, I know we’re dedicated to providing our students with the best assesment experience we can in these circumstances.

As always I hope this message finds you and your loved ones well.

The General Process

Exams are being delivered through one of the following ways:

  • Turnitin – Essay and document based submissions with various release windows from 3 hours to multiple days.
  • Questionmark – MCQ and other advanced question types through the online service.
  • Mobius – Specialist STEM assessment tool.
  • Other – A small number of programmes have opted to use their own approaches.

For most of these, CTIL has deployed specific Exam Modules, enrolling the relevant students and staff, allowing module leads to check and customise them as required. This approach aims to give students as consistent and structured an experience as possible, including an ability to practice their exam process where possible.  

We have completed making modules for Week One and will continue to make and release modules on a weekly basis i.e Week 2 modules created between the 27th and 29th, week 3 modules between the 4th and 6th, and so on.

You can access a recording of a recent live presentation/Q&A I delivered earlier in the week from the staff elearning support organisation.

Supporting the exams

Supporting these exams is challenge for us all.

Technical and eLearning Support

Running up to and during exams CTIL and UoD IT will be responding to support calls during the following hours:

  • CTIL: Mon – Fri 09:00 – 17:00 BST (CTIL will also be available on Saturday mornings where the exam timetable requires it)
  • UoD IT (End-user Services): Mon – Fri, 09:00 – 20:00 and Sat – Sun, 12:00 – 20:00 BST

Both of these service can be contacted through Help4u where your call will be routed to the appropriate people. Unfortunately we won’t be able to support exams beginning or ending out-with these times.  

Schools

Schools are developing their own support mechanisms for students with many creating a single email address for students to contact if they have question or issues in the run up and during the exams. We advise you add these details to your own exam modules and communicate them widly to your students.

CTIL and UoD IT will also be able to refer students to these communication routes so make sure you communicate these details to us.

Eesysoft

We have pressed a new tool into service called Eesysoft, which provides contextual overlay support and guidance from inside My Dundee. You and your students can expect to start seeing pop-up messages, guidance and support options within the exam modules starting this week.

This service will include a live chat tool based on the Library’s live chat service. This will allow us to provide immediate support and signposting to students and staff from within My Dundee. Look out for this within the next week.

FAQs

How are exam papers for Turnitin-based exams being added to these modules?

This task can either be undertaken by the schools themselves, attaching the exam papers in the marked section within the exam modules or you can contact ctil@dundee.ac.uk for support with this.

I have a Turnitin based exam module but want to use a different exam approach, what do I do?

You can use the basic layout of the template module and customise it to suit what you require, being careful with the advanced release rules that have been used in the structure. Contact CTIL if you need help with this, but be aware that there is only so much we can do to support specific needs while trying to cater for over 200 exams.

How will my students know where to go to find their exam module?

When CTIL is handling your module releases, we are contacting your students for you once we have created them and checked the information. In some cases, notably SSEN, it is down to the module leaders to contact their students once they have customised their exam modules to their particular needs.

Who is ultimately responsible for my exam delivery?

CTIL will continue to do create exam modules, enrol students and check exam modules all the way up to the time and date of their release. However, it needs to be the schools that are ultimately responsible for their own exams – double-checking  the information is correct, that the correct exam papers are in place  and that the release dates are accurate.

Stay in touch

This is a big challenge for all involved and i know we’re all dedicated to supporting each other and our students. We’re not going to get everything right but we will certainly fix things as we go and learn from the experience ready for the future. If you have any questions, problems or suggestions, please get in touch with us at ctil@dundee.ac.uk.

Best wishes.

Hamish Loveday

Digital Education Services Manager

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