IT Support for exams

[Danny11515]

Hi Everyone,

 

We are a new school dealing with GCSE exams for the first time which can be exciting but also a pain. The problem is that this is my first time ever setting everything up for exams and supporting for the Mock exams but I seem to have run into an issue.

 

To be honest I think people have now taken advantage of the IT teams kindness to helpfulness in dealing with IT support for staff and students to the point that we are now being pulled away from our day to day office and for one of us to be taken away and sit in a temporary office to mainly deal with IT support for the exams which of course can cause many problems for the IT team because we would now be one less in the office in terms for support and dealing with jobs and we are currently a two man team dealing with 1000+ users on the network.

 

Also I have non stop come into the office every single day and all I have had is the exams manager chew my ear off about exams that are happening in the summer term and that everything needs to be setup and ready to go and basically stressing the IT team out and we have had the SEN team also cause us multiple problems with setup and having to create new things which makes us spend hours of our time changing, testing and confirming things work even though we have had loads of time to prepare in advance but of course they want things sorted 2 weeks in advance even though we have already confirmed the software and config now works just for us to change it again. When I tried pushing back I was then asked "well what is the issue" and of course I had to reply with that the amount of time we have to pour in with changing things or setting things up and testing to ensure that it all works was so easily dismissed with them saying "that shouldn't take so long"

 

Without rambling on too much all I want to know is if anyone currently works in a school that has gone through exams and how do you deal with demanding staff alongside with people trying to make the IT teams life more difficult with silly proposals and finally how do you in terms with support the exams running smoothly.

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated because I am hoping to build a case study on this one so that I can battle this in a meeting with the exams manager and every other department and of course my line manager (head teacher)

[MartinT]

All I can say is that I pushed back on the Exams Officer some years ago and it was my mistake. They have a very difficult job to do and only ask for what is strictly necessary and compliant with JCQ. I have since befriended our EO and do what I can to ease the exams process using IT. Of course, it increases each year with more laptops specified in Access Arrangements, but I make sure we have enough of them (plus spares) plus the setups of reader software/headphones and whatever else is required. Of course the SEN team are involved, but it's the EO I work with as they will know exactly what is specified and allowed for each student.

 

Things have worked much more smoothly since I changed my approach.

[mavhc]

Options: 1. You don't have enough people, tell the boss and they hire more people

2. You don't do everything requested on time/at all

3. You automate things that take lots of time

4. You buy more reliable stuff, if unreliable stuff takes time

5. You educate people to require your time less

6. Charge internal departments for the work you do for them

 

Also don't let people stress you out, and if they're acting badly, report them

 

If they say it shouldn't take that long, ask them how they would do it faster

[Danny11515]

I get that of course that they have a difficult job to do. However it feels that the IT team are being aske dot stand on their head rather than what is neccessary for running the exams.

 

We have recently had everything setup for exams purposes for the Feb mocks that happened and had to make some last minute changes and updates to the software we use from the exam officer and this then broke the software for the students to use. Of course I got the blame for this from the exam officer even though I have tried to plead my case. This has now been requested again even though everything is perfect and fixed ready to be used and now we have to make changes and test to see if this breaks again.

 

Also we have locked down everything in the settings through group policy but now they are potentially hinting on making changes to this to make the IT team allow USB's or allow different software to be used on the computers just for a singular student which will of course affect everyone else taking their exams.

 

Finally they have recently asked us to split the IT team to work in different areas of the building and of course we are only a team of two which starts to make other jobs that ensure our department runs smoothly more difficult.

[Rob_D]

I second what Martin says about trying to work with your Exams Officer.

I'd just add, lean into it. Make sure you've got all the exams stuff set up way in advance. Once you've got your locked down account template and EWP installed on a couple of dozen laptops, it's all pretty easy to keep on top of.

And clear email chains/ support tickets should allow your EO to see what's been done and what's outstanding. In fact a good ticketing system and clearly defined SLA will help with demanding staff and managing the IT team's time.

 

Remember you are there to support teaching & learning (and exams).

[simpsonj]

I would imagine there are a lot of nerves if this is the first time your school are running GCSE exams, and everyone is going to need to be reassured, then reassured again. By all means you can question the decisions they are making, but it's likely they believe the changes are needed to meet the exacting standards JCQ expect, or to meet some new circumstance they hadn't considered before; it sounds like there is a learning curve for all involved.

 

I think @MartinT has the right idea, and working with your EO is a lot more fruitful than trying to work against them. You both have the same ultimate goal: making sure exams run as smoothly as possible for all students. I've witnessed an exam going wrong from an IT standpoint, and it's highly stressful for all parties, and the fallout can have longer reaching consequences that you might think.

 

I suppose my advice would be to prioritise exams above and beyond everything else. I would imagine that the rest of the school are prioritising exams, so it stands to reason that IT should too. Yes, it can be a pain, and it can be a lot of work for seemingly little reward, but if you can get it absolutely nailed this time around, then your Exam's Officer will have a lot more confidence next year, so it should be an easier ride.

 

From a technical standpoint, there's a thread, Exams Process and Laptops that might be useful.

[Linfit]

I would very much agree with what has been said above. Exams are very difficult and your Exams Officer will be under a great deal of pressure and will have a lot of people piling in and changing things at the last minute that your are not aware of - I know as I used to be an exams officer. They are not being awkward for the sake of it, but they have JCQ rules that must be followed and the consequences for them can be severe if there are issues.

 

With my IT manager hat on, during exam time exams come at the top of the list. There was always one person in the team just assigned to the exam rooms for the whole 5 weeks and it took priority over everything else - it has to.

Its important that the Exams Officer and the IT Manager have a good working relationship, and if there is antagonism there will be problems. I think both sides need to sit down and spend some time discussing why things are the way they are and what can be done to improve and streamline things, and maybe get a better understanding of how each operates and what is possible.

[jthompson]

I agree with both @Rob_D and @simpsonj that exam stuff needs good solid prep well ahead of time, and that exams are a priority for IT support (and seen/felt to be so). IME you can never do enough testing and prep for exams IT, and you will often need to work with the EO quite closely to make sure that you're exacting in the details. Stuff like making sure laptop users in exams will be seated near enough to power sockets, computers have longer sleep timeouts applied, etc. Those are the sorts of details that it pays off to be on top of before exam day arrives, to avoid stress and running about.

[River]

I find that having the exam timetable, and knowing how many students have IT requirements for each exam ahead of time helps as you can see when the likely stress points will be. The English exams almost always will need support as someone can't login or print out their exam answers. Being available for the start and end of exams with a large IT requirement is a must. And tell staff who phone/pop-in with non exam problems that you are prioritising external exam support so they need to send an email with details of the problem.

Document time spent and any issues so that you know for future exams, and keep in regular contact with the EO so they are always kept in the loop.

[synaesthesia]

Fully agree with the above. As horrible as it sounds, even to schools that do not consider themselves "exam factories", the exams are what we are all working towards ultimately. My suggestion is merely spend as much time as you can with the EO up front - understand what they need, empathise with them and let it be known you're there to help. I've known a few EO's over the years and they've all shared a huge amount of stress, and take everything they do to heart. Any problems will often end up in tears because they feel they've let a young person down.

Once you can understand what is needed, you will be able to become more hands-off. Once you've gotten most things under your belt the first year, every other year will become a little easier, of course understanding that exams software is usually the worst software in the world. Especially if it's got Pearson anywhere near it!

Look at things like ExamWritePad - there's no exagguration when I say I introduced this to our EO at my new school and she ended up in tears of joy at how much time, effort and hassle it saved.

Get all firewall/filtering requirements sorted out urgently for online exams, software like A2C if you use that to pull in results for results days.

Be available for the day before results day.

Have a bank of devices specifically set up for exams and if they must be shared, make it known exams have absolute priority.

Let it be known that if they want to come and sit with you to rant, cry, shout and let off some steam, they can. Trust me, this little thing can go a LONG way.

[simpsonj]

I find that having the exam timetable, and knowing how many students have IT requirements for each exam ahead of time helps as you can see when the likely stress points will be.

 

Yes, this is critical, as you should be able to highlight any potential issues (lack of network points for a printer, power for laptops etc) and work with your EO to resolve them.

 

IME the exams that tend to require the most amount of IT support are ones involving media in some way; Media Studies, MFL listening exams and Music all require a level of IT participation from people who may not be confident IT users. I try to make sure they are simplified as much as possible, like making it so that invigilators only have to hit the play button. They don't want to have to adjust volume levels, or find the files required, all too stressful!

[Julian]

We have been having pupils use computers for exam for some years. Here are some of my experiences.

 

Exams take priority over almost everything.

 

It is the job of the exam officer to organise the exam, we are to assist.

 

We use special exam accounts, the students do not know the password (control over the account), the exam officer decides which accounts will be used for which exam, so where necessary the correct paper or .MP3 file can be put into the account, the exam officer informs us of the seating plan, and which accounts will use the reader software.

 

IT login to the account, connect headphones when needed, do a sound check, Word processing students use "ExamWritepad” , which will be opened.

 

IT checks that there is paper in the printer.

 

We check that the invigilator is happy that the room is ready, and then leave. We remain available to respond to any issues.

 

Student just come in, and use the computers.

 

I can recommend “Claroread” reader software, it works, and install using .msi is easy!

[mavhc]

 

I can recommend “Claroread” reader software, it works, and install using .msi is easy!

 

How much?

[psydii]

Exams take priority over almost everything.

 

This. Absolutely this. And if it takes 200% effort to make them work you give 200% and talk about it later.

 

If you/your team have KPIs and SLAs that are impacted by work supporting exams, then there should be categories/tags in your service desk to record your exam support related activities. - this will help the 'talking about it later' phase.

 

Pretty much all of the advice in this thread is good. Exams have to work. Don't burn bridges, but do advocate for a manageable set of working practices that survive the absence of one or two key individuals.

 

My team is the size it is because when they tried to thin us out, and one person got covid and the other got knocked of their bike things fell apart. (despite the exams team being experienced with managing the technology used - they couldn't cover the support of the dozen invigilators without at least one person from IT being available). These days we even have a person outside of the IT Services team who has the power (and specific training) to reboot the print server (because spooler only crashes at the most inconvenient moment) and manage the exam accounts. The print process is the exam team (which during exam season expands to included LSAs) collect completed scripts on USB and print them out, getting the student to counter-sign the output. The exams team and LSAs pick up and return a set of laptops that is used EXCLUSIVELY for exams. They manage the exam scripts. For exams where we need to distribute digital media we use a Team per exam/room with resources delivered through the assessments module scheduled for the start of the exam and dedicated user accounts (based on candidate number). Accounts are only enabled shortly before the start of the exam. The exams office handle the distribution of the exam account details. The exams team (and the person who also has the print server management account) have management permissions on the OU that contains the exam accounts so they *can* enable/disable them should IT be unavailable. It is better if IT do this though.

[Danny11515]

Thank you to everyone that has responded to this thread. This has been an extremely helpful insight on how you guys see it as well as I do. I just want to exclaim that I 100% agree with the exams needing to be setup to run smoothly and give it a 100% on this. With all the things being said of course with other people/ departments having responsibility I would like to make you guys aware that at this moment in the current workplace they all view this as an IT's responsibility and that we should be pretty much be doing everything.

 

I have obviously tried working with the EO on many occasions have tried expressing concerns that the IT team would be quite stretched and could collapse as we are only a 2 man team meaning if someone fell ill then the only technician would have to pick up the whole slack in the day to make it work. I'll give you a little insight to my team at the moment as it is only me as the Senior IT technician that is handling all of the responsibility of carrying out duties and responsibility on day to day operations alongside my line manager and then we have an apprentice. so theoretically it is only myself really that can take it all on at the moment and of course expressing these issues and concerns before hand I don't think this was taken into consideration.

 

of course I will be having another meeting soon with the EO and other people on what I am doing to support but of course we are doing 110% everyday but will have a complaint fly our way if god forbid if anything was to go wrong. Of course our school is a 1:1 chromebook school so of course our resources on a regular are used up normally through students and staff support with the high demand of technical issues are on a day to day and with our school being very technically advanced there is always something new that someone really wants to try rather than considering how much time this would take IT to really have it to be perfect and ready if that makes sense so normally I prepare myself everyday expecting an earful or someone complaining that something is not working to standard and I should wave my magic wand to fix it.

[Olliedawg]

Thank you to everyone that has responded to this thread. This has been an extremely helpful insight on how you guys see it as well as I do. I just want to exclaim that I 100% agree with the exams needing to be setup to run smoothly and give it a 100% on this. With all the things being said of course with other people/ departments having responsibility I would like to make you guys aware that at this moment in the current workplace they all view this as an IT's responsibility and that we should be pretty much be doing everything.

 

I have obviously tried working with the EO on many occasions have tried expressing concerns that the IT team would be quite stretched and could collapse as we are only a 2 man team meaning if someone fell ill then the only technician would have to pick up the whole slack in the day to make it work. I'll give you a little insight to my team at the moment as it is only me as the Senior IT technician that is handling all of the responsibility of carrying out duties and responsibility on day to day operations alongside my line manager and then we have an apprentice. so theoretically it is only myself really that can take it all on at the moment and of course expressing these issues and concerns before hand I don't think this was taken into consideration.

 

of course I will be having another meeting soon with the EO and other people on what I am doing to support but of course we are doing 110% everyday but will have a complaint fly our way if god forbid if anything was to go wrong. Of course our school is a 1:1 chromebook school so of course our resources on a regular are used up normally through students and staff support with the high demand of technical issues are on a day to day and with our school being very technically advanced there is always something new that someone really wants to try rather than considering how much time this would take IT to really have it to be perfect and ready if that makes sense so normally I prepare myself everyday expecting an earful or someone complaining that something is not working to standard and I should wave my magic wand to fix it.

 

We're not a 1:1 school & I can truly understand that this takes a big toll on your small team. Lots of devices to support. I would stress that during exam time, your primary focus is to support exams & other things (unless absolutely urgent) can take a back seat.

 

This is a very rough explanation of how it works at my school, albeit very different to yours in size & not 1:1

 

I am the only IT staff member for a small-ish secondary of around 540 students. I have a good relationship with the EO. I find it helps to have in advance details of which students require IT for exams, which room they are in, and what their requirements are.. (WordProcessing, Reader etc..). I request for all of this to either be emailed to me, or printed and handed to me in advance of the exams.

 

Heres what I do during exam periods

 

 

• I set up all of the exam rooms in advance, Invigilators get given a special "Invigilator" user account, with barebones network access to show the time + exam details on the IWB. If MP3 files (spanish listening exam for example) or anything specific is required, this is sorted beforehand & placed on the desktop of the relevant PC.
  

 

• Students are each allocated their own "Exam" account, which is heavily restricted & has no internet access. Depending on the needs o the student, they may get access to Word Processing, a Reader, or both. Students do not get given the password, only myself and the EO have this. I log the students in prior to the exam starting using my remote software. I log them out once finished
  

 

• I am "available" at the beginning of each exam, and at the end for any issues with getting started, or printing work off. Also available via walkie-talkie during exams.
  

 

I would stress that making changes to configs etc within a short term from the exam is a bad idea.

[Brax]

A lot of people in this thread have already said most of what I was going to say.

1. Exams take priority over anything else.

2. Befriend your EO and get them to send you a seating plan/timetable in advance to know the IT requirements each day.

3. Look into automating and making things as easy as possible especially from a word processing/printing standpoint. (Again as others have mentioned examwritepad is good for this)

 

Maybe too soon to look at this but I really suggest to look into exam reader pens with the SEND/exam access arrangement person. This gives you less IT stuff to focus on as they just require headphones and getting them charged which is easy enough. Whilst we’ve used Claro reader in the past the pens are much easier for all involved and take away the total number of laptops needed for each exam. The exam reader pens are JCQ approved https://www.scanningpens.co.uk/ExamReaderUK//?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=152471026285&utm_term=exam%20pen&utm_content=b&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4on5-7eShQMV9JNQBh2PLwWCEAAYAiAAEgLQDfD_BwE

Edited March 26, 2024 by Brax

[Chris_Cook]

I'd also recommend Trelson if you have chromebooks. With some training we've been able to mostly hand the setup over to our EOs. They tell us how many Chromebooks they need and on what days, we just then make sure there are more than that setup in kiosk mode to load Trelson up. Its up to the EO to setup the sessions and add the students.

 

Its worth both you and your EO each producing a list of what you need from each other, then meet up and produce a shared document you can both work from.

 

Planning is everything for this, and making sure you have the resources you need way ahead of time.

[thimon]

I can imagine the high stress if this is the first time you’re implementing a high level of IT for exams, but it’s all doable. We’re a similar team, myself and a senior IT technician for a nursery - sixth form school, fully BYOD, etc. The recent mocks went without a hitch and very little input required from us. Get in good terms with the EO, this may take time if you’re not there yet. Like others we make full use of ExamWritePad, combined with PaperCut follow me printing and finally ditching USB sticks to save work onto, we’re not called out much at all during exam seasons. We’ve got an agreement with two departments that we use their set of laptops and charging trolleys during exams, which solves the device requirements issue. We use two A4 copiers taken from around the school site, for exam printing, students print to the follow me print queue and exam invigilators release the jobs. You may not get it 100% right this year, but you’ll find after each exam period you’ll get better and streamline your process. Have a meeting with the EO after the exams to figure out how to improve next time.