Best Practices for Online Exams

Recommendations for faculty and students. The gist is be patient with yourself and with the students.

Faculty administering exams online, consider the following:

• Offer exams during business hours. Both EITS and Terry OIT are available from 8am-5pm in case your need support.

• Provide a large enough testing window to allow time for the student to reconnect in case internet access is lost.

• Inform students about exam dates (availability, time limits, attempts allowed, grace period, recommendations, etc) before starting the test.

• Use an assignment submission format. For example, have students submit a word or excel doc with the response to a complex problem and how they have solved it.

• Create a dummy exam. Offer opportunities for students to practice taking an exam. Create a quiz using the same settings you would for your final exam and ask students to take it.

• Review technical issues reported by students and request help from the EITS or Terry OIT if you need support to make a decision.

• Check if students have the equipment and internet access they need. Many internet service providers are offering free internet packages to households with K-12 or college students for 60 days. If you are considering one of these options with the provider in your area be sure to ask if there is a cancellation penalty if you would like to cancel the subscription when the free period ends.

  • Comcast: https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19

  • Spectrum: https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/covid-19-internet-offer-students/

  • Verizon is providing an additional 15GB of data to unlimited and shared data plans: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-helps-eliminate-worry

  • Sprint/T-Mobile is providing unlimited data to all customers: https://www.sprint.com/en/landings/covid-19.html

  • A fairly comprehensive list of what many providers are offering click the following link: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3532817/which-internet-providers-are-lifting-data-caps-during-the-coronavirus-and-which-arent.html

• Have a backup plan ready. Prepare for complications: power could go out, wireless/internet connectivity can crawl or go out, laptop may crash, student may fall ill or may have to care for a loved one who has fallen ill. In most instances, students can log back in to the exam after a connection issue but having a backup plan is recommended because you may find yourself in a situation where there are many failure points. Consider offering an alternate (or extension) test time and format for those situations.

Students taking an exam online:

• Don't wait to take the exam. If you have technical problems, you may not be able to resolve them in time to complete your exam before the test window expires.

• Prior to taking a test, reboot your computer, and clear any applications in the way. This will free memory resources and provide the best possible connection to eLC.

• Close all unnecessary applications running on your machine.

• Maximize the exam browser window. Don’t have multiple tabs open – one browser and one tab only!

• Read your faculty instructions carefully and follow the steps required.

• E-mail the instructor immediately if have a problem with an exam. In the e-mail, explain what you were doing when the problem occurred, what browser you were using, if using PC or Mac, Internet service provider. Include the time, date, error messages, screenshot if possible, and any other relevant information.