Inspera
Learning & Teaching Podcast - Episode 23 is Now Available: The Return of In-Person Exams Special
Digital Exams with Inspera Assessment
The Digital Assessment Service is the University's centrally supported service for secure present in person digital exams.
In 2021/22 we are launching new software for digital exams, called Inspera Assessment. By adopting a specialist digital exam system, instead of continuing to use the virtual learning environment for digital exams, we have access to more advanced digital assessment functionality. This will enable the expansion of our digital exam provision to support more modules and larger student cohorts in future.
Exam types that are possible with Inspera include:
- Automatically marked questions, for example Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank and Hot Spot question types. See the full list of Inspera question types for more information.
- Digital written exams that allow students to type their answers to written questions online.
For assessments that require specialist maths functionality, the Numbas open source maths e-assessment tool remains available for colleagues to use.
Inspera scan
A basic digital drawing tool can be made available for students to use when answering essay questions in Inspera. If your students need to create more sophisticated drawings, or hand write content such as equations on paper, there is the option to use Inspera Scan.
Inspera Scan enables students to hand draw part of an answer to a question in their Inspera exam. After the exam the completed sketch sheets will be returned to the School for scanning. The scans are uploaded to Inspera and can be marked online as part of a student's answer to the relevant question.
There are 2 different types of sketch sheet available, a Grid Sketch Sheet and a Blank Sketch Sheet. If Inspera Scan is required for your exam, when you complete the digital exam form you will be required to how many of each type of sketch sheet each student sitting the exam will require.
In 2021/22 Inspera will be the standard tool for centrally supported digital exams, and will be used for all modules that have a present-in-person digital exam in MOFS (with the exception of any specialist digital exams that require Numbas). The Digital Assessment Service team will contact module leaders about how to begin preparing for their Inspera digital exam at the start of the relevant semester.
Inspera will be available for additional new digital exams from 2022/23 onwards. There will be opportunities during the academic year to see demonstrations of the software and learn more about the new types of assessment it makes possible.
To discuss a potential new Inspera digital exam please contact digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk.
Some Inspera exams will be delivered on students’ own laptops. In 2021/22 this will be the recommended delivery method for Inspera exams that include written questions. If this applies to your exam the Digital Assessment Service team will contact you to let you know, and provide information about how to prepare your students.
Taking a digital written exam on their own laptops is preferred by students, as it allows them to produce written work using a machine they are familiar with from producing coursework assignments.
Students taking a BYOD exam need to install and test the Safe Exam Browser software on their laptops ahead of the exam. Any student who does not have a suitable laptop they can use to take the exam can complete a form to request to use a university computer for the exam.
There are resources available with all of the information that students need to prepare for a BYOD exam, see Preparing your students for their Inspera digital exam below.
Module leaders who have a digital exam in their 2021/22 MOF will be contacted at the start of the relevant semester with guidance on preparing for the exam. The steps to prepare an Inspera exam are:
- The module team is required to complete a digital exam form to provide the Digital Assessment Service with details of the exam. The deadlines to complete the form are:
Assessment Period | Deadline |
---|---|
For an exam during teaching weeks: |
as soon as possible, and a minimum of 4 working weeks before the date of the exam |
For semester 1 assessment period exams: |
29 October 2021 |
For semester 2 assessment period exams: |
28 February 2022 |
- The module team are responsible for preparing the exam questions in Inspera. The module team will inform students that they will be taking a digital exam in Inspera, and provide them with links to the student resources (see Preparing your students for their Inspera digital exam below)
- To create new questions in Inspera training and guidance is available for all colleagues (see Training and resources below)
- If you have existing quiz questions in Canvas that you would like to reuse for an Inspera exam the Digital Assessment Service team will provide support to transfer the questions from Canvas to Inspera. To request this please provide the required details when you complete the digital exam form. Once the questions have been transferred the module team will be required to check them in Inspera.
- The exam questions must be finalised in Inspera by the following deadlines:
Assessment Period | Deadline |
---|---|
For an exam during teaching weeks: |
as soon as possible, and a minimum of 2 working weeks before the date of the exam |
For semester 1 assessment period exams: |
Monday 29 November 2021 |
For semester 2 assessment period exams: |
Monday 4 April 2022 |
- During the first year of Inspera implementation in 2021/22 the Digital Assessment Service team will create the exam in Inspera with the required settings. In future years these steps will be the responsibility of the module team, and training and support will be available from the Digital Assessment Service team.
Module teams should inform students as early as possible that they will be taking a digital exam using Inspera.
To ensure that your students are fully prepared for their Inspera exam you should:
1. Share and draw their attention to the student resources on the Academic Skills Kit webpage. Information on this page includes How to access demo exams to try out the Inspera software. This is recommended for all students, to familiarise themselves with Inspera before their exam. Note that the demo exams use example general knowledge questions, and are not subject-specific.
2. Add the Inspera student information module from Canvas Commons into your Canvas course. To do this:
- Search for 'Inspera Digital Exam' in Canvas commons (link to instructions in Canvas Orientation)
- Follow the steps to import content from Commons into your Canvas course (link to instructions in Canvas Orientation)
3. Optionally you can set up a subject-specific practice test for your module using Inspera. To learn how to do this see Training and resources below. If you choose to set up a practice test you can decide whether to book a specific time and venue on campus, or whether to allow students to take the practice test in their own time.
Once the exam has taken place, the module team are responsible for:
- checking the results of automatically marked questions (for example multiple choice questions)
- marking manually marked questions (for example short written answer or essay questions)
- confirming the final grades. This is required for every Inspera exam, even if your exam contains only automatically marked questions, in order to push the grades into the Canvas Gradebook.
- releasing grades and feedback to students.
To learn about these steps book onto an Inspera Digital Exam Marking webinar or workshop, or refer to the Inspera Guidance Canvas course.
If it is necessary to change planned in person exams to take home exams this can be easily accommodated in Inspera. Inspera has been used successfully to deliver take home exams in semster 1 2021/22 assessment period.
It is possible to use any Inspera question set for an open book exam that is not locked down. Students can take open book Inspera exams through a standard browser via a link in Canvas, and are not required to download or install any special software.
Turnitin similarity checking is available for written questions in Inspera if required. Marking will be done using the Inspera marking tools, it is not possible to use Turnitin Feedback Studio to mark an Inspera exam.
Synchronous training is available for Inspera Digital Exams, see Workshops and training (Learning and Teaching webpage) for more information and to book a session. Training sessions cover:
- Creating an Inspera digital exam
- Inspera digital exam marking
You can choose whether to attend a 60 minute online webinar, or a 90 minute in person workshop. Workshops include time to practice using the software with the workshop leader available to answer questions.
There is also an Inspera Guidance Canvas course available for colleagues, simply click the link to self-enrol. The course covers all steps in the process of creating, delivering and marking an Inspera digital exam. You can access the course at any time, and return to it for reference when you need to.
Further Help
Online guides for all Inspera functionality are available in the Inspera Help Centre.
If you have questions or would like to discuss a current or potential new digital exam with the Digital Assessment Service team, please email digital.exams@newcastle.ac.uk.