Virtual Exams at home

[timbo343]

So i have been asked - how can we make our mocks which are scheduled for March work in a virtual environment.

 

Our SLT said that some schools are already doing this so i said i would find out.

 

My issues are there is sooo much that can go wrong not to mention kids cheating!

 

I'd appreciate your comments and ideas on this one.

[paulkerton]

What platform do you use? Do you have a 1:1 rollout?

Can you control what the devices the students have in front of them can access, from home?

[Linfit]

We have looked into this and concluded that for a medium/large secondary with many students doing an exam at once it is not practical with the technology we have to do properly invigilated exams.

You really have no control over the environment/equipment at the user end unless you issue students with pre-configured kit to do the exams.

I know there are specialist tools for remote exams and have seen cases where students must be in view of the camera at all times, must have their hands in view, cannot leave the computer etc, but is this really practical with school age students ?

How do you distinguish genuine technical problems from spurious issues designed to avoid doing the exam ?

You would also need a much larger number of invigilators (with the relevant kit) as one person will only be able to properly monitor a small number of candidates.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Linfit

[psydii]

We just use Teams. One Team per exam. Meeting organiser is one of the exams team. Invigilators watch everyone.

 

Doesn't necessarily cut it for Public Exams, but deemed (by our SLT) "good enough" for everything else.

[timbo343]

What platform do you use? Do you have a 1:1 rollout?

Can you control what the devices the students have in front of them can access, from home?

 

We don't have a full 1:1 rollout no. We have about 200 students covered across the whole school - around 850 in the school, this is including a sixth form. We use Google for our online platform.

 

We have looked into this and concluded that for a medium/large secondary with many students doing an exam at once it is not practical with the technology we have to do properly invigilated exams.

You really have no control over the environment/equipment at the user end unless you issue students with pre-configured kit to do the exams.

I know there are specialist tools for remote exams and have seen cases where students must be in view of the camera at all times, must have their hands in view, cannot leave the computer etc, but is this really practical with school age students ?

How do you distinguish genuine technical problems from spurious issues designed to avoid doing the exam ?

You would also need a much larger number of invigilators (with the relevant kit) as one person will only be able to properly monitor a small number of candidates.

 

This is what went though my mind too. I know a family member in Holland is doing her masters from home and there's alsorts of hoops she has to jump through.

 

We just use Teams. One Team per exam. Meeting organiser is one of the exams team. Invigilators watch everyone.

 

Doesn't necessarily cut it for Public Exams, but deemed (by our SLT) "good enough" for everything else.

 

Thanks, i wonder if a Google meet could be used and would require all students to have a webcam and be visible on screen.

 

Our head heard about a platform on a Pixl meet that they attended. They have asked me to look into something called iExam or iExams? From what i see, it looks like this is hosted in India.

[BKGarry]

There is also a platform called exam.net which looks promising for what you may need but in order to lock them out to the exam, they have to install something.

[timbo343]

I was talking to a friend last night and they said "why not use Moodle?" Maybe this is another avenue to explore.

 

Looks like exam.net is built on Moodle.

Edited February 4, 2021 by timbo343