Inspera

There are a few different types of Inspera Digital Exams that we run at Newcastle: 

In Person Locked Down – the most common exam type that we host. The Central Exams office will arrange invigilators to be present who help host these exams. 'Locked down' mean that students can only access the exam content.

Take Home Open Book – these are less common. Open book exams can be open for a set period, such as 24 hours, or you can set these as timed exams, for example 60 minutes, for students and complete to access within a 24 hour period. Students can access any resources and material. 

BYOD – Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) exams were used within and prior to the 22/23 academic year but were paused for 23/24 and remain paused for 24/25.

Module leaders who have a digital exam in their MOF for the current academic year will be contacted at the start of the relevant semester with guidance on preparing for the exam.    

Please see our key deadlines for semester 1 and 2 assessment periods in 2024/25:

To access an Inspera digital exam, students need to log into a campus computer or compatible device using their University credentials. It is highly recommended that students are reminded of this before their exam. If they have forgotten their password, they can reset it via it.servicedesk@newcastle.ac.uk.

Should a student not be able to log in to a device on the day of the exam, students may be allowed - where possible - to take a paper version of the exam. Paper back up exams are often created using the Inspera question set designed by module teams, and colleagues from the central Exams office organise printed versions to be made available in the exam venues.

However, if exam content cannot be replicated in paper format (due to allowed use of webpages, video and or audio content), Schools should consider if the student should take their assessment at the next usual occasion or submit PEC. Please also consider that a back-up paper may not always give students the same experience as an interactive digital exam (e.g. allow-listed use of PDF, word count limits).

If a module team wishes to include content that cannot be replicated in paper format, but wishes students to use a back-up paper, please discuss mitigations and alternative approaches further with the Digital Exams Team (contact via digital.exams@ncl.ac.uk). You can also read about how we are reducing reliance on paper-based back up papers on our dedicated webpage.

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.
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) 

Optionally you can set up a subject-specific practice test for your module using Inspera. 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. Within our Inspera Canvas course, you can find instructions on setting up an Inspera exam.

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 marks (If you wish to push the marks through into the Canvas Gradebook this step is required for every Inspera exam, even if your exam contains only automatically marked questions)
• releasing grades and feedback to students.   

To learn about these steps book onto an Inspera Digital Exam Marking webinar, refer to the Inspera Guidance Canvas course or view our helpful video guides.

You may also wish to check out our dedicated Marking Exams in Inspera webpage for more information around marking workflows.

In theory, Inspera can be used for take home exams, but note that take home exams cannot be 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). Inspera exams can be hosted as open book but take place in PC clusters as in person exams, which you could consider instead of a take home exam if you are looking to set up an Inspera exam yourself. If you would like to host a take home exam, you could consider a Canvas Assignment.

If your semester 1 or semester 2 assessment period digital exam used Inspera and there is a need for an August assessment period exam for students who are resitting or who deferred, you may wish to use Inspera. 

In person August assessment period exams

• For the 24/25 academic year, there is no minimum student number threshold for an in person August assessment period exam to be run using Inspera. Any Inspera exam from Semester 1 or 2 can run an Inspera resit in the August assessment period.
• If the August assessment period exam is run using Inspera, any student who needs to sit the exam overseas will need to do so on paper, it is not currently possible to support in person Inspera exam sittings at overseas venues.
• All in person, on campus August assessment period digital exams will be delivered in PC Clusters.

Take home August assessment period exams

• There is no minimum student number threshold for a take home August assessment period exam to be run using Inspera.
• If any student needs to sit the August assessment period take home exam overseas they will be able to do so using Inspera.

Please see below the deadlines for August 2025 assessment period exam preparation:

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 as part of the answer to a question, or to handwrite 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 scan 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 Inspera Scan sheet available, a Grid Scan Sheet and a Blank Scan Sheet. If Inspera Scan is required for your exam, when you complete the digital exam form you will be required to state how many of each type of scan sheet each student sitting the exam will require.

Note that Inspera Scan sheets are designed for content that students need to submit to be marked as part of their answers to questions in the exam. Scan sheets are not intended for rough work. As standard students are provided with a small amount of paper for rough work for all digital exams. If you require your students to be provided with more paper for rough work during your exam you can request this separately from the Exams Office when the backup paper is submitted via the Exam Paper Portal.

Some Inspera exams are delivered on students’ own laptops, 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.

Please note that all exams will be hosted in University PC clusters for the 2023/24 or 2024/25 academic year.

Module teams are welcome to host formative or mock exams on Inspera for their students. Please note that the Digital Exams Team only support the set-up of summative Inspera exams. 

Various guidance is available to support Module Teams to set up formative, non-locked down Inspera exams. This includes: 

• Self-enrol Inspera Guidance Course on Canvas - see the Module called: Setting up and Accessing Tests (Deliver) 

• Video demo of non-locked down in person Inspera exam set up

Professional Services colleagues may wish to check out our Professional Services dedicated webpage for more video demonstrations around processes. 

If you have any questions around the technical set up of your exam, you are welcome to contact Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk with any queries. Please note that we request a minimum of 1 weeks' notice prior to the exams taking place to give us sufficient time to check your queries.

Information about using Safe Exam Browser (SEB) during exams

The Digital Exams Team encourage that if Schools wish to host their own formative locked down exams, that they should liaise with the Central Exams Office to arrange for invigilators to manage the exam who are trained in Inspera troubleshooting. We do not recommend that Schools host their own locked down but there is information on the Exams Office Invigilators website containing the troubleshooting guidance. We strongly advise against Schools running their own Summative locked-down exams using SEB unless all the appropriate training has taken place, and appropriate invigilation is arranged.

You can also visit our dedicated Safe Exam Browser webpage, which has a variety of frequently asked questions.

Troubleshooting

Various teams across our University work together to ensure students are supported during centrally supported summative Inspera exams. The Digital Exams Team, Central Exams Office, NUIT and invigilators support the digital exams in various ways.

Invigilators receive annual training on digital exams and are present in the room to support students in a live exam. There is troubleshooting support from the Digital Exams Team during main assessment periods where colleagues work with IT, Exams Office and Invigilators to ensure students can access their Inspera exams online. Invigilators can telephone the Central Exams Office with queries, who either resolve the query or post a message on a Microsoft Teams site where the Inspera Digital Exams Team or NUIT will pick up the query and provide the appropriate support. This allows teams to quickly react and action appropriate responses.

Logging in and password resets

Students receive communications ahead of examination periods about the importance of knowing their login details. In liaison with NUIT, password resets can be carried out if students arrive 20 minutes before the exam starts.

Guidance for students

There is a dedicated page on the Academic Skills Kit which covers various support for students around their Inspera Digital Exams.

Demo/practice exams

Students have access to practice an Inspera Digital Exam, via Canvas ahead of taking their main exam. There are two types of exam available, both contain the same questions. One is an open book exam and one is set up to be completed in a cluster rooms, so the student can experience accessing the Safe Exam Browser software that locks down the exam. 

Please note that the above is applicable for Inspera Digital Exams and the work supported by the Inspera Digital Exams Team. There is similar equivalent support available for Numbas exams by the dedicated Numbas Team.