In addition to the guidance for staff, there:

Key information for exams

  • Examinations will be delivered either on campus, or online via Blackboard.
  • All on campus exams will be paper based, unless exceptionally agreed.
  • Examinations will be timebound, based on the validated duration.
  • All examinations will have extra time added as default for students as an inclusive and proactive measure (15 minutes per hour).
  • Students who require additional reasonable adjustments (e.g. recommendations for rest breaks, more than 15 minutes per hour extra time, exam scribe support) must have an approved Learning Contract in place.
  • Exams will be scheduled in the morning with a standard start time of 09:30 (UK time), or in the afternoon with a standard start time of 14:00 (UK time). Please check the start time of your exam carefully.
  • Typically, an exam submitted after the deadline is marked as a fail. However, computer-based and online examinations will be allocated an additional 15 minutes submission time. This is not working time and has been introduced to allow for slow submission uploads or IT issues. Where submission time has been allocated, only exams submitted up to and including this time will be marked.
  • There will no longer be restrictions about what type or brand of calculator a student can bring into an on campus examination. The Examination Conduct Policy (points 15 & 18) will be amended to reflect this change.

General principles for online exams

Some considerations when using scheduled exam papers as online exams:

  • Review your questions. Questions may need to be reviewed to move away from recall-based tasks to questions that require students to use information rather than reiterate what they have learned. It will be important, therefore, to provide guidance for students in the change in orientation of the task.
  • Set word limits for each question. Establish a reasonable word count range (e.g. “500-750 words”) to be applied. A maximum word limit for the entire exam can be derived from the university assessment tariff.
  • Set time limits for each question or section. Provide an approximate amount of time you recommend a student typically aims to spend on a question/section (as an addition or alternative to word limit). This should add up to the total amount of time you have already communicated to your students and be no longer than the original exam length.
  • Maintaining academic integrity. The online nature of the exam means that students will have access to a wide range of information sources and academic support services while sitting the paper. Students can be advised of any particular sources or services that they might find useful, but that they must also treat this as a formal exam. Please be mindful of any access issues by recommending a wide range of resources as students will be required to complete the exam within the expected duration. You may also ask students to upload their completed answer paper to Turnitin for text matching.
  • Encouraging students to prepare. This might be a student’s first experience of an online exam. The conditions may give a false confidence, students may spend less time preparing in advance and so spend more time looking for information during the exam. Students should be advised that there may be high demand for resources during the two week exam period and that it is critical that course and module teams stress the importance of the need for students to revise as they would for an invigilated exam.

Signposting students

  • The exam must be created in the Assessment area of your Blackboard module site.
  • Make sure it is the first item in the Assessment area and appropriately titled so that students know that it is the exam for the module.
  • Create an announcement with a link to the exam that is released to students at the same time as the exam to help students quickly locate the exam.
  • Ensure that any other items in your site that a student might confuse with the exam are hidden before the exam becomes available.
  • Make sure that any information about previous exams posted in your site are removed, hidden or updated to the latest guidance.
  • Exam cover sheet templates are available from the Examinations team

Selecting the tool for submission

Exams are normally created and submitted using Blackboard Assignment submission points. It is recommended that the exam paper is provided in an editable format (normally Word) and attached to the Assignment submission point for students to download, complete offline and submit back to the submission point. Optionally, you might provide an additional copy of the exam paper in PDF format for consistent layout where questions contain, for example, mathematical equations or chemical formulae so students are not disadvantaged by using different versions of software. Read detailed guidance about setting up and using Blackboard Assignments for an Online Exam.

If your exam consists of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) or other close-ended questions (not file upload, short answer, essay, or other fill-in-the-blank type questions), it is recommended to make your exam available as a Blackboard Test. The main benefit is that the exam will be automatically marked, however it will require some upfront support and investment of effort in terms of creating the questions in Blackboard, but these questions can easily be reused in subsequent assessments. Read detailed guidance about setting up and using Blackboard Tests for an Online Exam.

No grade columns have been automatically set up in the Grade Centre for recording exam marks.

Exam duration, scheduling and availability

The duration of the exam will be based on the validated duration of the exam. The original duration will have

  • 15 minutes reading time added, plus
  • 15 minutes per hour added to allow for any reasonable adjustments, plus
  • 15 minutes submission time added, during which students must complete the submission of their exams and allows for any submission or IT issues.

The table below provides examples of exam durations:

Validated exam duration + Reading time* + 15 minutes per hour** Giving a total working time of + Submission time***
3 hours 15 minutes 45 minutes 4 hours
(for an exam starting at 09:30 set the due time on the exam in Blackboard as 13:30;
for an exam starting at 14:00 set the due time in Blackboard as 18:00)		 15 minutes
(for an exam starting at 09:30 only submissions up to and including 13:45:59 will be marked;
for an exam starting at 14:00 only submissions up to and including 18:15:59 will be marked) 
2 hours 15 minutes 30 minutes 2 hours 45 minutes
(for an exam starting at 09:30 set the due time on the exam in Blackboard as 12:15;
for an exam starting at 14:00 set the due time in Blackboard as 16:45) 		 15 minutes
(for an exam starting at 09:30 only submissions up to and including 12:30:59 will be marked;
for an exam starting at 14:00 only submissions up to and including 17:00:59 will be marked) 
1 hour 15 minutes 15 minutes 1 hour 30 minutes
(for an exam starting at 09:30 set the due time on the exam in Blackboard as 11:00;
for an exam starting at 14:00 set the due time in Blackboard as 15:30) 		 15 minutes
(for an exam starting at 09:30 only submissions up to and including 11:15:59 will be marked;
for an exam starting at 14:00 only submissions up to and including 15:45:59 will be marked)

Notes:

* To be clarified as reading time (previously this was positioned as time for IT issues or reading time). 

** Inclusivity for Learning Contracts adjustments. This approach will retain the inclusivity from having a standard working time for all students taking the exam. Most learning contract adjustments for students allow for an additional 15 minutes per hour. The exam working time has been updated in SITS so that it reflects accurately in a student’s exam timetable, however in terms of the academic content of the exam paper it should be appropriate for the validated duration (i.e. 1, 2, or 3 hours). For the very small minority of students who require more complex adjustments, a single learning contract adjustment will be applied. For students with complex adjustments, their working time ends as per their learning contract recommendation, and submissions up to and including 15 minute and 59 seconds after their working time will be marked. At the start of the exam period, the Exams Team will create a Sharepoint document that module leaders can check to see which students taking an online exam for their module need additional time due to their learning contract recommendations. The Exams Team will include a link to the document in their communications with module leaders about exams. If a student has a recommendation that entitles them to additional time in exams added after the start of the exam period, the Disabled Student Support team will contact the module leader directly to let them know.

*** Allocated time to submit. This is not working time and has been introduced to allow additional time for students to prepare work for submission (e.g. inserting scanned images) and overcome any issues with slow connections, if they have not submitted already. Students must complete the submission of their exam by the end of this time. Only submissions received up to 15 minutes and 59 seconds after the exam working time will be marked. After this time, it becomes a late submission and should not be marked. Find out how to view the times that students submitted their exams in Blackboard.

Exams will be scheduled in the morning with a standard start time of 09:30 (UK time), or in the afternoon with a standard start time of 14:00 (UK time).

The Exams Team will schedule all exams and module leaders will prepare the exam papers and set them up on Blackboard according to the exam schedule:

  • Use the item availability date and time options available in Blackboard to control the release and availability of the exam. All exams must be set to be released at the scheduled start time of the exam. Do not set exams to be released earlier.
  • You must set the due date and time on the exam in Blackboard based on the working time specified in the table above (not the end of the submission time or the availability of the exam), so students know when they must start submitting their exam if they have not done so already.
  • To accommodate students with a range of complex learning contract adjustments, we recommend that all exams remain available until 18:30. Disabled Student Support have contacted module leaders to let them know about students on their modules who require additional reasonable adjustments for their online exams.
  • Make sure that the item availability is set to ‘yes’ otherwise it may cause student anxiety if there is a delay due to manually releasing the exam.
  • Exams set up as Blackboard tests should not use the timer. Students who start the exam late may be misled by the timer that they have the full duration of the working time for the exam. Students starting the exam late are not entitled to the full duration of the exam and must stop working on the exam at the end of the working time, and make sure that the submission of their exam is complete by the end of the submission time.
  • Ensure the exam is set up to accept unlimited attempts. This is not intended to allow students to repeatedly make revisions and resubmit work while the exam is available, but enables students to re-attempt the submission if they experience problems during the submission process or they make an error.
  • If students submit multiple times, including a late attempt, the latest valid, on-time submission is the attempt that is marked.

Student support

Where students are experiencing digital poverty/difficulties, we expect them to be able to utilise designated quiet study places on campus and Hallam laptops or PCs for them to take their exams.

In advance of the exam:

  • Share the online exam video guidance with students. Add (or embed) the link in the Assessment area of the module Blackboard site and post an announcement encouraging students to watch it.
  • Offer students a practice exam (or test question) that includes all relevant features and settings of the actual exam, all question types to be used, and a sample of questions similar in content, style and difficulty so that they can get a feel for being examined online and familiarise themselves with your submission tool of choice. This is a great opportunity to provide students with revision material and to test the device they will be using during the exam.
  • It is imperative that a practice exam is provided where students are required to scan handwritten or hand-drawn answers as part of the submission process so that they can familiarise themselves with any tools or apps that will be used, and the time it will take, for scanning and submitting their work during the actual exam.

At the start of the exam:

  • Academic staff will be expected to be available online (e.g. via Collaborate or Zoom) at the time that the exam paper is released, and remain available for 15 minutes (i.e. during the reading time), to answer questions about the exam or respond to problems that students might be experiencing. Ensure that you inform students that you will be available for the first 15 minutes of the exam and how to contact you (i.e. provide the link to the Collaborate or Zoom room).
  • A summary of any questions and answers raised during the reading time at the start of the exam should be posted on Blackboard for the benefit of all students.
  • Ensure that you clearly articulate to students the end of the working time of the exam and the time by which students must ensure that the submission of the exam is complete, along with the consequence of submitting late.
  • Remind students to set an alarm to warn them of the end of the exam working time, and to begin submitting their work if they have not done so already.

Special cases

Exams consisting of multiple parts

If an exam consists of multiple parts (e.g. part A is entirely MCQs, part B requires written answers), this can be provided using separate tools. Collectively the exam should be available for the expected duration of the exam.

Students with learning contracts

By adopting an approach based on the expected duration of the exam, with an additional 15 minutes added to cover reading time, and a further 15 minutes per hour added to allow for any  reasonable adjustments, will retain the inclusivity from having a standard duration for all students taking the exam. Most learning contract adjustments for students allow for an additional 15 minutes per hour. For the very small minority of students who require more complex adjustments, a single learning contract adjustment will be applied. At the start of the exam period, the Exams Team will create a Sharepoint document that module leaders can check to see which students taking an online exam for their module need additional time due to their learning contract recommendations. The Exams Team will include a link to the document in their communications with module leaders about exams. If a student has a recommendation that entitles them to additional time in exams added after the start of the exam period, the Disabled Student Support team will contact the module leader directly to let them know.

Providing word counts and estimated time that should be spent on the exam will also help students who would have a prompter. Disabled Student Support will be in contact with those module leaders who have students who require a reader or scribe during their exam to discuss if any further adjustments need to be made for those students. For further guidance please email ! Disability Support Team.

Support