Exam - JCQ - rules - not compiant

[Wobbles1976]

We have been told due to the students able to log off / shutdown and login with there normal accounts we are in breach of the JCQ requirments;

 

They have dedicated exam laptops and all the requirments have been inplace

14.25 A word processor:a) must be used as a typewriter, not as a database, although standard formattingsoftware is acceptable;b) must have been cleared of any previously stored data, as must any portablestorage medium used. An unauthorised memory stick must not be used by acandidate. When needed, the centre must provide a memory stick, which iscleared of any previously stored data, to the candidate;c) must be in good working order at the time of the examination;d) must be accommodated in such a way that other candidates are not disturbedand cannot read the screen. Where a candidate using a word processor isaccommodated in another room, a separate invigilator will be required;e) must either be connected to a printer so that a script can be printed off, or havethe facility to print from a portable storage medium. This must be done after theexamination is over. The candidate must be present to verify that the workprinted is his or her own. Word processed scripts must be attached to anyanswer booklet which contains some of the answers;f) must be used to produce scripts under secure conditions, otherwise they may berefused;g) must not be used to perform skills which are being assessed;h) must not give the candidate access to other applications such as a calculator(where prohibited in the examination), email, the Internet, social media sites,spreadsheets;33i) must not include graphic packages or computer aided design software unlesspermission has been given to use these;j) must not have any predictive text software or an automatic spelling and grammarcheck enabled unless the candidate has been permitted a scribe or is usingspeech recognition technology (a scribe cover sheet must be completed), or theawarding body’s specification permits the use of automatic spell checking;k) must not include computer reading (text to speech) software unless thecandidate has permission to use a computer reader;l) must not include speech recognition technology unless the candidate haspermission to use a scribe or relevant software;m) must not be used on the candidate’s behalf by a third party unless the candidatehas permission to use a scribe.

 

 

these are all met - But and a if candidate was able to log into his own school account and watch films, accessgames, then this would be candidate malpractice. The incident would haveto be reported to the relevant awarding body.

 

We are not trying to come up with a solution to this issue - thoughts please

[TechMonkey]

if candidate was able to log into his own school account and watch films, access games, then this would be candidate malpractice. The incident would have to be reported to the relevant awarding body.

I'd be interested to see where it says "able"? I bet it says does or something similar.

Much like if they took a phone out in the middle of an exam or were to be found hiding notes up their sleeves. The ability to do it isn't the malpractice (though there being no ability makes the concern less) it is the actual act that is the problem.

 

Technical fixes could be to add the pupil group as unable to login to those laptops, set the background to be a lurid colour so if the invigilators see anything else they know the pupils has changed logins and remove the logon ability of the exam users.

Edited October 19, 2022 by TechMonkey

[Andycat]

We log them in as a locked down exam user before they arrive, and that has a different background/layout and then keep it open on Impero to make sure no logon names change

[paulkerton]

We have been told due to the students able to log off / shutdown and login with there normal accounts we are in breach of the JCQ requirments;

 

They have dedicated exam laptops and all the requirments have been inplace

14.25 A word processor:a) must be used as a typewriter, not as a database, although standard formattingsoftware is acceptable;b) must have been cleared of any previously stored data, as must any portablestorage medium used. An unauthorised memory stick must not be used by acandidate. When needed, the centre must provide a memory stick, which iscleared of any previously stored data, to the candidate;c) must be in good working order at the time of the examination;d) must be accommodated in such a way that other candidates are not disturbedand cannot read the screen. Where a candidate using a word processor isaccommodated in another room, a separate invigilator will be required;e) must either be connected to a printer so that a script can be printed off, or havethe facility to print from a portable storage medium. This must be done after theexamination is over. The candidate must be present to verify that the workprinted is his or her own. Word processed scripts must be attached to anyanswer booklet which contains some of the answers;f) must be used to produce scripts under secure conditions, otherwise they may berefused;g) must not be used to perform skills which are being assessed;h) must not give the candidate access to other applications such as a calculator(where prohibited in the examination), email, the Internet, social media sites,spreadsheets;33i) must not include graphic packages or computer aided design software unlesspermission has been given to use these;j) must not have any predictive text software or an automatic spelling and grammarcheck enabled unless the candidate has been permitted a scribe or is usingspeech recognition technology (a scribe cover sheet must be completed), or theawarding body’s specification permits the use of automatic spell checking;k) must not include computer reading (text to speech) software unless thecandidate has permission to use a computer reader;l) must not include speech recognition technology unless the candidate haspermission to use a scribe or relevant software;m) must not be used on the candidate’s behalf by a third party unless the candidatehas permission to use a scribe.

 

 

these are all met - But and a if candidate was able to log into his own school account and watch films, accessgames, then this would be candidate malpractice. The incident would haveto be reported to the relevant awarding body.

 

We are not trying to come up with a solution to this issue - thoughts please

The answer is a dedicated exams platform like Trelson Assessment

 

Also JCQ will not at any point tell you that a solution isn't compliant, it is up to you to decide whether you're breaching that.

[Wobbles1976]

So do we - the issue is that they have the ability to log out and sign in - we are being asked to come up with a solution to remove that ability - "Much like if they took a phone out in the middle of an exam or were to be found hiding notes up their sleeves. The ability to do it isn't the malpractice (though there being no ability makes the concern less) it is the actual act that is the problem" tottally aggree but its the JCQ telling us that we are not complient

[TechMonkey]

its the JCQ telling us that we are not complient [/color]

 

Can they point out the clause that you are not compliant with? Nothing I could see in what you posted had anything about the ability to login as someone other than the exam user. Push back to them to show where you are not compliant.

[thimon]

We have two exam AD accounts, one with Internet access and one without. No OneDrive, SharePoint sharing etc. No spell check in Word and ExamWritePad installed. Have had no complaints.

[psydii]

The JQA ICE has evolved over the last few years. I think the guidance the OP was given is inflexibly strictly accurate against a prior version of the ICE.

 

However, I've just skimmed the current version https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ICE_22-23_FINAL.pdf and all of the impracticalities they imposed on the use of word processors have been removed by rewording of requirements. The spirit of the instructions remains unchanged, but the clauses that prohibit network connections or that could be interpreted as requiring *unreasonable* measures to lock down the machines have been removed. Before just now, I haven't checked for a few years so maybe this changed happened a while ago?

[Accura2k7]

If they are Windows devices on the domain, try the following:

 

Add the exam user accounts to a specific security group.

 

Add that group only to the laptops security allowed group for the device in AD.

 

Deny access to all other groups except admin groups.

 

They can still log off, but can only login with an exam user credential.

[DavR]

If they are Windows devices on the domain, try the following:

 

Add the exam user accounts to a specific security group.

 

Add that group only to the laptops security allowed group for the device in AD.

 

Deny access to all other groups except admin groups.

 

They can still log off, but can only login with an exam user credential.

 

 

I was about to say the same, but the other way round - can you block the students' regular user accounts group from logon using policy?

 

We do this with certain workstations to stop anyone in the Students AD group logging on.

[dmj]

You have to take some of the requirements with a pinch of salt and do what works best; the ICE document isn't a technical implementation and nobody follows it to the letter.

[mcolbourn]

Sorry to bring this thread back but we have just ben informed of this from JCQ

 

"If a candidate used a school laptop in the classroom, for homework, for internal school tests and mock examinations, then for the candidate’s first GCSE or A-level examination you would have to ensure that the laptop was consistent with paragraph 14.25 of the JCQ publication Instructions for conducting examinations. Your examinations officer will be able to show you the operating rules.

 

To prevent the laptop being taken home and then having to be potentially reconfigured each day to meet the operating rules, the school would hold the laptop throughout the examination window.

 

A chromebook would also have to be operated as per paragraph 14.25 of the JCQ publication Instructions for conducting examinations."

 

Does this therefore mean that in a 1:1 device setup as we are going to be doing that we need a secound set of laptops/chromebooks for them to take there exams on so that they can keep there 1:1 device for revision etc. seems really odd if you ask me.

[dmj]

To prevent the laptop being taken home and then having to be potentially reconfigured each day to meet the operating rules, the school would hold the laptop throughout the examination window.

Just reimage it every day. It takes 2min. CRTL-ALT-BACKSPACE IIRC. Make sure the student gets an 'exam' profile to use for logon and disable their regular login and it will meet that spec.

[TechMonkey]

Sorry to bring this thread back but we have just ben informed of this from JCQ

 

"If a candidate used a school laptop in the classroom, for homework, for internal school tests and mock examinations, then for the candidate’s first GCSE or A-level examination you would have to ensure that the laptop was consistent with paragraph 14.25 of the JCQ publication Instructions for conducting examinations. Your examinations officer will be able to show you the operating rules.

 

To prevent the laptop being taken home and then having to be potentially reconfigured each day to meet the operating rules, the school would hold the laptop throughout the examination window.

 

A chromebook would also have to be operated as per paragraph 14.25 of the JCQ publication Instructions for conducting examinations."

 

Does this therefore mean that in a 1:1 device setup as we are going to be doing that we need a secound set of laptops/chromebooks for them to take there exams on so that they can keep there 1:1 device for revision etc. seems really odd if you ask me.

 

That just seems to be a reminder that laptops need to meet requirements. I've not read 14.25, but ensuring the laptop is consistent just seems to be pointing to the rules. So if they have 1:1 then you need a second exam user on the device that will meet the requirements, and probably lock out off site, or as you say, extra laptops to use for exams.

[dmj]

That just seems to be a reminder that laptops need to meet requirements. I've not read 14.25, but ensuring the laptop is consistent just seems to be pointing to the rules. So if they have 1:1 then you need a second exam user on the device that will meet the requirements, and probably lock out off site, or as you say, extra laptops to use for exams.

 

14.25 is basically nonsence. Stuff like the computer can't have any data on it. Lets see that boot into a word processor.

[Chris_Cook]

Are you providing devices for every student, or just those with needs?

 

We only give CBs to some students, which are school owned devices. However we could deploy Trelson via the google admin console in the morning and run it in kiosk mode. If they have to submit work via Trelson, then it won't really help them to log out and back in even if they could.

[mcolbourn]

Are you providing devices for every student, or just those with needs?

 

We only give CBs to some students, which are school owned devices. However we could deploy Trelson via the google admin console in the morning and run it in kiosk mode. If they have to submit work via Trelson, then it won't really help them to log out and back in even if they could.

 

At the mo we are using Chromebooks with Trelson (which works like a dream on Chromebooks doesn't it) for pupils that ned them with SEN requirements. But as we are going down the full 1:1 device route (Looks like it will be windows as the Head would like this and not Chromebooks) then there is the chance that there will be more pupils needing devices in exams if they request it.

[Olliedawg]

We are using locked down Exam domain accounts on laptops for students with word processing needs. They have no internet access/network drive access & automatically open onto the ExamWritePad software, with an exams printer mapped.

 

Not had any issues with this setup so far