Chromebook - setting up exam style

[maxpitkin26]

First time post, please go easy.

 

Having an issue setting up managed Chromebook devices and using kiosk mode for Google Docs.

Receiving 'getting things ready' constantly once opening the app in kiosk mode.

Have checked permissions from Google admin regarding the user and device. Recent Google update is a bit buggy under our organisation so could be this.

 

Just wondering if anyone has had any success setting up chromebooks using Google Docs in kiosk mode. Word provided by Microsoft is a no go due to licences and any third party app involved would be a big no no from hierachy's due to GDPR scare.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Ditto]

I did setup up a Google Form in Kiosk mode for exams (mocks) a while ago, but have not seen this error. I almost always found the Google support to be excellent - have you tried them yet?

[maxpitkin26]

Would most likely need to be Google docs as students would need to write essays and the whole set up of Google forms would be seen as un-professional in the eyes of exams.

[Ditto]

Would most likely need to be Google docs as students would need to write essays and the whole set up of Google forms would be seen as un-professional in the eyes of exams.

Agreed. Also, because Docs save all the time(with version history), it's safer. Are you setting up the document link for each pupil to your exam and having a unique link for each exam Chromebook?

[Danp]

I'm looking into this now, how have people set up Chromebooks for exams?

[fiza]

If you are using Google Docs in Kiosk mode does it stop students using "Tools/Explore" to get info from the web?

[DavidYoung]

We're using this: https://chromex.io/ and it is working really well. We are running Mock exams now with it and it is much more straight-forward than the way we did it on Windows.

 

We do also have a trial running for DigiExam but it seemed more complicated. ChromEx has the great advantage that everyone logs in with Google (teachers and students) but the students are obviously in a locked down environment.

[Ditto]

We're using this: https://chromex.io/ and it is working really well. We are running Mock exams now with it and it is much more straight-forward than the way we did it on Windows.

 

We do also have a trial running for DigiExam but it seemed more complicated. ChromEx has the great advantage that everyone logs in with Google (teachers and students) but the students are obviously in a locked down environment.

I'm pleased to see this is working for someone. I discovered this a couple of years back and pinged the company but never heard back. After a good deal of searching, it seemed a good option and not too much in the way of competition. When I left the school, I had Kiosk mode running with just a form to collect what was typed in answer to an exam. I pointed out the data loss risk (power off/not hitting submit), but as it was mocks, they took the risk. To my horror, I heard they stuck with the same for the GCSEs!

I have heard Google are addressing the Forms so that it saves as you go like sheets and docs, but I don't think it is out yet.

[Ditto]

If you are using Google Docs in Kiosk mode does it stop students using "Tools/Explore" to get info from the web?

I set up for a single Google Form in Kiosk mode, but if each student/Kiosk mode chromebook is setup with a unique Google doc, the URL for that doc can be the only valid address on that Chromebook, so it should block everything else - it certainly worked for the form I set up. However, the chromex.io might be a better solution.

[fiza]

I set up for a single Google Form in Kiosk mode, but if each student/Kiosk mode chromebook is setup with a unique Google doc, the URL for that doc can be the only valid address on that Chromebook, so it should block everything else - it certainly worked for the form I set up. However, the chromex.io might be a better solution.

 

Explore opens up a side panel in the Doc itself so not sure if the URL changes. You can then do searches on the web, search for images and search your drive.

[David44]

How are people blocking spell check on Chromebooks?

[Danp]

How are people blocking spell check on Chromebooks?

 

I've just setup a trial of chromex.io/ and that blocks spell check

[NotSoFast]

We are going to try Shiny Shiny for the mocks. Looks good so far.

[kingoranks]

Does anyone have a guide for this? I tried using managed steps below but keep getting doc.google.com is blocked.

 

Scenario 3: School sets up managed guest sessions with student devices

This requires the school to have Chrome devices enrolled in their domain.

 

In the Admin console, put the students taking the assessment into their own organizational unit (OU).

Configure a student’s device for managed guest sessions by placing it into the OU for managed guest sessions (see step 1 in Managed guest session devices help article).

Under Device management > Chrome management > Managed guest session settings, set the following:

Under Chrome management and then User & browser settings, for the organizational unit for the student’s regular account, put the assessment URL in the URL Blacklist.

Have students sign in under the managed guest session to take the test.

When the student is finished with the exam and exits the managed guest session, the session is wiped from the device.

[dmj]

I'd recommend Digiexam if you are seriously looking at CB's for exams: https://www.digiexam.com/

[NotSoFast]

We tried Shiny Shiny in kiosk mode. It worked, but the formatting was a problem, memory sticks were a pain and kids couldn't type accented characters, which was the deal-breaker. However, I then found Chromex.io , which is excellent. It's €0.5 per active student per month, so negligible cost, support so far has been excellent and it works really well. Set exams up centrally, adding students from groups or classes. Create the header on each page automatically. Kids use the chromex app in kiosk mode with their G-Suite login. Clean interface with all the formatting they need. Saves automatically to the Chromebook and the teacher's Drive every 10 seconds. Print all submissions via Papercut from the chromex teacher console.

 

Top tip is to prevent any user from logging on to the Chromebook in the G-Suite admin console as kids could sign out of the chromex app (even in kiosk mode) and hit ctrl alt s to get into Chrome OS before we did that. We'd set a pin to resume the exam anyway (another nice feature) so we knew they'd been out of the app. We will use it in January for Cambridge Nationals, then for mocks again in March but expect to be using it for the GCSEs in summer.

[junz]

We have recently taken exams and have used Chromex Io - https://chromex.io to run the exams We found it fantastic;Very easy to use and features are as follows:

 

 

• Auto saves to the device and to the cloud
  
• Can use in kiosk mode (No access to the internet) or via a web browser (Would need to blacklist all sites except for https://student.chromex.io/)
  
• Option to disable spellcheck
  
• Option to allow speech to text
  
• Option to add extra time for individual students
  
• Option to force submit work when allocated time for exam runs out
  
• Option to Add custom Head with fields such as Candidate number,name which can be set as an input field which students enter when they start the exam
  
• Once work is submitted it is saved in a Google drive folder (One folder for each Exam name).
  
• Option to very easily print exams once submitted
  
• Works on multiple platforms (Windows,Chromebooks, Mac OSX and iOS)
  
• Very affordable - Free for ten students and then 0.50 for each student
  
• Company is very open to feedback and responsive- List of features can be found here - https://onlinepartner.customercase.com/forums/chromex
  

 

I would highly suggest having a look at the platform as it is free for ten students and I personally think it is one of the best platforms for exam taken based on the options I have seen.

 

Videos on how this App/platform works can be found here -

[Fredrik_OnlinePartner]

Hi,

I am the product owner of ChromEx.

Great to hear some of you are using our app ChromEx.

ChromEx is a 100 % integrated Google EDU application and integrates both with Google Classroom and Drive.

 

If you have any questions regarding ChromEx I am happy to answer them as well as suggestions for future development.

 

If you would like to share your pain points setting up and executing exams in your context I would happily listen to them and take them into considerment to future dev.

 

Take care.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Fredrik_OnlinePartner

[Ditto]

Hi Fredrik, it's probably worth you posting here, but Welcome .

[Fredrik_OnlinePartner]

Done, thanks for the hint!

[gh5000]

https://twitter.com/fraserspeirs/status/1204470761207013377?s=19

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cFLz-_zlEUEKxA6KmXJ093HlalaMHTtCF5X2LY3OF-c/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

Haven't tried this guy's extension but is worth a look

[DavidYoung]

We've used ChromEx now for 3 sets of internal exams (mocks) and it has worked very well. I discovered exam templates which will make the process of running external exams better as we can include things like candidate number on each page.

 

I posted a bunch of feature requests on the link that @junz gave: https://onlinepartner.customercase.com/forums/chromex and @Fredrik_OnlinePartner has already responded to one saying it's coming this month.

[DavidYoung]

@Fredrik_OnlinePartner We've had an issue recently where a student has needed to present information in a table in their exam. They had to revert to hand writing this part. Is it possible to add tables in ChromEx? If not, could this be considered for a feature?

Thanks

[fiza]

We have recently taken exams and have used Chromex Io - https://chromex.io to run the exams We found it fantastic;Very easy to use and features are as follows:

 

 

• Auto saves to the device and to the cloud
  
• Can use in kiosk mode (No access to the internet) or via a web browser (Would need to blacklist all sites except for https://student.chromex.io/)
  
• Option to disable spellcheck
  
• Option to allow speech to text
  
• Option to add extra time for individual students
  
• Option to force submit work when allocated time for exam runs out
  
• Option to Add custom Head with fields such as Candidate number,name which can be set as an input field which students enter when they start the exam
  
• Once work is submitted it is saved in a Google drive folder (One folder for each Exam name).
  
• Option to very easily print exams once submitted
  
• Works on multiple platforms (Windows,Chromebooks, Mac OSX and iOS)
  
• Very affordable - Free for ten students and then 0.50 for each student
  
• Company is very open to feedback and responsive- List of features can be found here - https://onlinepartner.customercase.com/forums/chromex
  

 

I would highly suggest having a look at the platform as it is free for ten students and I personally think it is one of the best platforms for exam taken based on the options I have seen.

 

Videos on how this App/platform works can be found here -

 

Just looking at Chromex and wanted to know where this setting is that you mentioned

"Option to Add custom Head with fields such as Candidate number,name which can be set as an input field which students enter when they start the exam"I cant find it.

 

edit : Found it . Need to create a template

Edited February 27, 2020 by fiza

[fiza]

Does anyone know how printing works with Chromex? I get the option to print completed submissions but the only options I get are Save to PDF to Google Drive. Is there a way to print submissions directly from Chromex or do you have to save to Google drive first and then print?