dhoward_westexetc Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Has anyone else found out just how shocking the test player software is to use? It crashes so easily! For example, try pressing crtl + alt + del and the test player dies in the middle of the exam. We also had problems with students inadvertently pressing the calculator button on the keyboards which immediately stopped the test player running as it wasn't the 'main focus'. Pearson's advice: un-program the 'special keys' on the keyboard... ummm... what! Yes, we had 3 crash during our exam! I have already fed back the keyboard shortcut issues to Pearson so hopefully they will release an update, until there is an update I am not installing this to any more suites.
booths Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Our last exam attempt was shockingly bad! The kids just think we are morons and the teachers just think there is a magic button we can press to make this ridiculous software work. I can only instruct the Exams Officer to complain to Edexcel.
dhoward_westexetc Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Our last exam attempt was shockingly bad! The kids just think we are morons and the teachers just think there is a magic button we can press to make this ridiculous software work. I can only instruct the Exams Officer to complain to Edexcel. Sounds about right....
jonnykewell1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 our first exam is this afternoon at 13:30pm will let you know how it goes.
Steve21 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Just so you know there is a shortcut to unlock the whole "lost focus" thing, we had that during testing so abused Pearson If you need to "unlock" it or whatever it's called. Steve
jonnykewell1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 is this what happens if someone tries to get out of the exam software or plugs something in?
Steve21 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 It's as soon as the screen isn't "focus" as in the one your mouse/keyboard would type to. So if you hit WinKey, Alttab, ctrl-alt-del etc etc. Steve
jonnykewell1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 ahh I see! so what's the shortcut to sort it?
Steve21 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 SHIFT-ALT-F12 brings up password box, after you put in password it gives options to either Terminate Test, or Unblock it. (If you don't know the pass I can do PM's but seems silly posting it here as not behind reddoor etc ) Steve 1
jonnykewell1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 well it all appears to have gone through without any problems! yay
Sput Posted February 14, 2014 Posted February 14, 2014 Morning all, I too have been given to lovely job of setting the POP up. Ive installed the Service to our exam server, the AD dash to the exam officers PC and the ID to the teacher PC in a class room, (thankfully starting with just 1 room 30 test players) and the test player to 30 PCs, this has gone ok. We did a demo test booked from Edexcel as part of the install as you cannot book the kids onto the exam till a demo has been ran. This worked ok. Kids were booked and came to sit the exam Wednesday, and they were unable to access the tests. Downloaded the package on the Amin Dash all ok, assigned to the room and invigilator all ok, kids went to use the software and were getting the error "could not retrieve package download address, make sure invigilator dashboard running and logged in" (which it was). Called our support person and went through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd line support with no one knowing whats wrong. Stopped and Started the service, deleted and recreated the database and still to no avail. Had been told by support that there is a 24 hour turn around on Wed for support calls, so called Thurs and got told they were still working on the error. Inset today, and H/T next week so will be picking this up again on the 24th (SAN+NAS install for us next week) but it seems that even if you get everything installed ok, and run a demo test it does not mean to say that its going to work on the day sadly. Hope everyone else has a little more luck then we are having at the moment. Sput
ozydave Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 What a pile of ...... Just setting this up. First hurdle was the sent me the wrong admin password on the email. Just took a guess at what it was. Got the server, admin and Invigilator all working. the came the Text platform Every time someone runs the test player it needs a manual configuration. Thanks to this forum now know why. Who in their right mind stores the config data in 'TdpClientData' Just trying to think of a way to script copying this from a central location when the test player is run. Maybe should not expect to much as Pearson do Successmaker!!
Steve21 Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Every time someone runs the test player it needs a manual configuration. Thanks to this forum now know why. Who in their right mind stores the config data in 'TdpClientData' If you open the firewall ports up it'll autodetect the invigilator part if that's what you're referring to? Steve
ozydave Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 If you open the firewall ports up it'll autodetect the invigilator part if that's what you're referring to? Steve Thanks I turned the firewall off completely on test station, teacher PC and admin PC and server. It is the tdpclient data folder in local app data folder causing the problems. Spoke to their support who confirmed it. Cheers
denzal2k4 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Does anyone know if any of these exams require headphones, I know there was a video in the test one we did but there wasn't sound.......
timbo343 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Depends what exam they are doing. The specs say that headphone or an audio device may be needed. 2
howartp Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Depends what exam they are doing. The specs say that headphone or an audio device may be needed. My exam officer posed this question - at the current time, none of the exams contain audio, but this may change in future exams. Peter
denzal2k4 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Our first real exam will be BTEC PE, as we are running it on Axel thin clients, will mean we need to sort out usb audio adaptors and headphones...
synaesthesia Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 We're prepping for that PE one too... started today. Fingers crossed! Mandatory profiles everywhere *with no exception* and *no exception going to be made*.
denzal2k4 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 WARNING!!!!! We ran another mock exam yesterday to check running an exam in multiple rooms with multiple invigilators, this worked Ok, but we discovered if the exam user presses windows key or alt + tab or alt+ esc, or in any way tries to get the start bar or IE up, then the exam locks itself and will just say "Loss of focus contact invigilator", there is no way of unlocking the exam when you get this without contacting Pearson, so make sure to warn the students, there are no warnings on the exam and no 2nd chances its an automatic lock out, and only Pearson can get it back on (according to Pearson). HTH
Steve21 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 WARNING!!!!! We ran another mock exam yesterday to check running an exam in multiple rooms with multiple invigilators, this worked Ok, but we discovered if the exam user presses windows key or alt + tab or alt+ esc, or in any way tries to get the start bar or IE up, then the exam locks itself and will just say "Loss of focus contact invigilator", there is no way of unlocking the exam when you get this without contacting Pearson, so make sure to warn the students, there are no warnings on the exam and no 2nd chances its an automatic lock out, and only Pearson can get it back on (according to Pearson). HTH They are lying to you http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/124240-pearson-onscreen-platform-installation-woes-9.html#post1128983 Steve
Chris_Jones Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 We noticed this when testing, one way of mitigating this issue is to use a special user that has the test player software set as the shell, instead of Explorer. They can still lock the test using ctrl-alt-del, but that should be it.
denzal2k4 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 They are lying to you http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/124240-pearson-onscreen-platform-installation-woes-9.html#post1128983 Steve Aha, teach me to read the entire thread before thinking im clever! Could you PM the pass please. Thanks
tekins Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 And the good news is - an update is coming in a couple of weeks!!
Steve21 Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 Aha, teach me to read the entire thread before thinking im clever! Could you PM the pass please. Thanks It's still stupid pearson, not even having the information in their admin book... Check PM Steve 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now