ITGuyWestMidlands Posted April 1, 2015 Posted April 1, 2015 There is an issue with the previous release for some schools. After a student logs in when it switches to full screen it loses focus. This new release may fix that, they couldn't confirm...
DanTheLacky Posted April 1, 2015 Posted April 1, 2015 "New software upgrade available ________________________________________ We have released a new version of the software which has some minor improvements and bug fixes. Please note that this is not currently a mandatory upgrade but if you have been experiencing issues where the Test Player crashes upon launch or when a candidate logs into a test, then it is recommended to install this new version as it resolves this problem. If you would like to upgrade please follow the below links to the installation guides" "Please note that this is not currently a mandatory upgrade" is my favourite part, lately *touches huge piece of wood* these have worked with little problem so I aint touching it!!!! Last couple have not been mandatory, left them well alone!!!!
bald_pig Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 "New software upgrade available ________________________________________ We have released a new version of the software which has some minor improvements and bug fixes. Please note that this is not currently a mandatory upgrade but if you have been experiencing issues where the Test Player crashes upon launch or when a candidate logs into a test, then it is recommended to install this new version as it resolves this problem. If you would like to upgrade please follow the below links to the installation guides" "Please note that this is not currently a mandatory upgrade" is my favourite part, lately *touches huge piece of wood* these have worked with little problem so I aint touching it!!!! We've had crashes and we have an exam Thursday, why hasn't the exams officer mentioned this!
Zourous Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 Probably scared like I am of introducing more problems. Also the updates often require reinstalling every element which is quite off putting and a lot of work. We've got use to the quirks now so it's better the devil you know.
timbo343 Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 Had an email from Pearson about the newest update released. If anyone else has had this, who is going to be brave enough to install it .
Sylv3r Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 The last e-mail I had from them said the update was optional - I think I received this last week, so I haven't bothered, unless theres a compulsory update out since.
timbo343 Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 My bad, its the POP newsletter - looked at the email on my phone, just looked at it on the PC now.
Sam_Brown Posted May 3, 2015 Posted May 3, 2015 The last e-mail I had from them said the update was optional - I think I received this last week, so I haven't bothered, unless theres a compulsory update out since. Same. Not keen on going round manually updating all the workstations.
F3000 Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 We are just coming to the end of our first proper test using this and found that we had to start each Pupil off one at a time, anymore and they would keep failing. This was probally due to using wireless laptops (I know! the exam officer insisted). It continues to work fine after doing that.
Sam_Brown Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 Two exams today with 30 students in each. No major issues with the exams themselves. Only issues were due to new students being added to the exams. We had to delete the existing database to enable us to re-download the exams but by deleting the database we had to recreate our invigilators and rooms again. Not a massive issue but still a bit of a pain. The only other issue was that as we were using a different room to usual we had to point to the invigilator machine manually as students usually get confused if we leave it to them to do.
WikusVanDeMerwe Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 (edited) Well, 23 pages of people having similar issues to me is actually quite re-assuring... Being generally brave we have our Invigilator software running on a Laptop... The workstations (pc's and laptops) will find the Invigilator and commence their testing (assuming you manually input the hostname) alas though the last set of exams we ran (although claiming to be complete and nothing complained once) did not upload their results to the pearson servers so someone's going to have to manually upload the file extracted from the client via some other "Secure Gateway" which Pearson tout... I'm not exactly filled with confidence. Quite frankly the POP software has turned into a running joke around here and I'm busy collecting evidence to launch some devilishly worded email at the POP inbox as this 'online testing' software is anything but. This is not only a step backwards, it's an endurance marathon backwards and it makes me wonder if Pearson even have any tech's to test this junk out before releasing it. What annoys me more than anything else about the whole process is that our students will go away from our business with the impression that we can't run an exam (and when we can it doesn't work). Edit: Just had someone pop (see what I did there?) over and inform me we've got 8 users who all need to sit an exam on laptops, so that'll be 9 laptops all in running this stuff, what fun, I can't wait, deep joy (and so on). Edited May 12, 2015 by WikusVanDeMerwe update 1
speckytecky Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 We are a Special School for boys with Emotional and Behavioral difficulties. We have run one BTEC PE module successfully but it was a mare to do, several resets required which for our boys is one step beyond. Luckily all but one managed to get through without any great upheaval; the one lad I ended up having to move to a different PC and bless him he completed it in the end but I think in his circumstances I'd have kicked off myself!
jim_potter Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 I'm using a central server for administrator, an invigilator in the exam room (so on the same VLAN, you need to point invigilator to the admin server) and the client machines pick up the invigilator automatically. Well, thats how I did it. I don't think you can automate it. Do it by hand. Its only once a year. I haven't had it go wrong yet... Jim
Marc_EduTech Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Totally with @jim_potter on this. Exact same setup and found zero faults. I download and setup the admin side of things, and pass everything else onto the Exams Officer. Works a dream! Marc
LazyFanatic Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 We have run this for the first time this year and have had very few problems. The odd 'loss of focus' which is sorted by the invigilators. One computer problem that we just moved the student to another computer (we always have a spare in the room). The Administrator is run on a classroom teacher's computer and the teacher downloads the candidates and sets up the exam. Myself and the teachers set up the computers to the login screen before the exam and it works very well. I would not have contemplated running this from laptops though tbh.
Sam_Brown Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 Ugh. Finally having so issues. Almost convinced they are end user issues but try explaining that to the powers that be... 1) Usual "loss of focus" but the usual keyboard combination to unlock didn't work. Turned out the POP Player had just completely crashed. Luckily could get them logged in on another computer and could "recover" but disrupted the exam a bit. 2) Student started the exam and apparently it just went straight to the "exam completed". Anyone else had either of these? We've been running the exams for about a year and outside the first exam where we had issues not had anything go wrong since.
bossman Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 I know this sounds daft but is this the "Promissor" software which was used for ICT years ago or a different software altogether? Excuse my ignorance but I have just been informed that our PE department want to use it as their online exams base, I suppose I will have to install all over again to get the latest release hehe! From reading this thread it looks like it's still as bad as ever then?
Boredguy Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 Thankfully Promissor and this software is different.... To be honest we found it so much easier than Promissor to get installed and running. Even the updates went on smoothly but we appear to be in the minority. However the PE department have decided they are not going to bother doing the BTec exams in the future so I can uninstall it from the server and workstations
timbo343 Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 I know this sounds daft but is this the "Promissor" software which was used for ICT years ago or a different software altogether? Excuse my ignorance but I have just been informed that our PE department want to use it as their online exams base, I suppose I will have to install all over again to get the latest release hehe! From reading this thread it looks like it's still as bad as ever then? I vaguely remember Promissor, we have had so many online exam software packages i forget which one is which but the Pearson on is the easiest i have worked with yet - for us, it just works though had to read the manual a few times and have a few demo tests and even created my own How To guide for myself and the Exams officer.
bossman Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Admin server software installed and communicating with Pearson the administrator dashboard installed on the Exam officers workstation picking up the admin server, invigilator software installed on the teacher workstations of those rooms designated all working. All that is left is the clients, how has everyone else dealt with the client side as the software requires the invigilator workstation details when installed? I have been given 2 weeks notice of exams pending so really need to get moving with this any help would be appreciated
timbo343 Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 What we do is install the client software on the clients and make sure the invigilator software is running too so that each machine can discover the invigilator machine. We use impero to send keyboard commands to the client machines. Alternatively we have about 20 mins to setup a room to get it ready and in that time we run round the machines (max 20) and make sure everything is ok. To be honest it doesn't take long. It's a pity their software doesn't have something hardcoded or a variable that we can set during install to point to a specific machine and then when the client loads it automatically picks the invigilator machine up.
Steve21 Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 We didn't bother putting in the details during install, if you've opened the firewall ports internally it should auto detect the invigilator machines when it opens and give you a list. (Guess that depends on your VLANs etc) Steve
timbo343 Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Yeah it does but its still a pain to click detect on each system. I know im been picky but i was thinking of ways to improve the software.
bossman Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Does the software create any reg keys with Invigilator workstation details that we could put out to the different machines in each individual room if you get my drift?
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