Wikier

Digital exam and teaching at NV

This page contains information about digital exams and online teaching at the Faculty of Natural Sciences (NV). This page includes links to resources that have been made available by other groups at NTNU, as well as resources created by NV employees themselves.

Related pages:

Contacts and support

Frontline support at NV

If you are an NV employee and have questions about digital teaching or testing (e.g. guidelines or the use of relevant tools and systems), you can first contact one of the following:

Other support at NTNU

You can also contact the following support services with questions related to digital exams:

  • SEED (via Reidar Lyng), for pedagogical questions
  • Learning Support Section (email) for questions about relevant technology and available courses
  • NTNU Hjelp, self-help portal and contact forms. The system will route your inquiry to the correct recipient, including the Exam Office (Eksamenskontoret) and Orakel Support Services.
  • Exam Office, for questions about the exam period, Inspera and relevant rules and guidelines
    Write to digitaleksamen@sa.ntnu.no or eksamen@adm.ntnu.no, or call 75 59 66 00 (open Mon.-Fri. 9:00-11:30)
  • Orakel Support Services, for technical support with IT systems, including Blackboard, Innsida and user accounts. Contact Orakel via the NTNU Hjelp portal or call 73 59 15 00 (open for employees Mon.-Fri. 8:00-14:30)

Digital exams and Inspera

Recommended starting places on Innsida

The following resources on Innsida give a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of all aspects of digital exams at NTNU.

  • Course planning - for course coordinators (click on "Examinations")
    • Comprehensive checklists for what needs to be done before, during, and after an exam, including how to make and submit exam questions, prepare the exam, and handle explanation/appeal of grades and re-sit exams.
  • Current exam information - for employees
    • Current information for spring semester 2021, including guidelines for extra time for uploading and submitting files, scanning hand drawings, and the use of third-party software and other external digital resources.
    • Also includes a good overview of information that should be distributed to students prior to an exam and which channels should be used to do so.
  • Frequently asked questions about exams - for employees (Norwegian only)
    • Answers to frequently asked questions about question sets, plagiarism control, test administration and changing the form of assessment.
  • Digital oral exams - for employees
    • Overview of what should be done before and during the exam, including directions for setting up a Zoom meeting and rules and guidelines for oral exams.

User guides for Inspera

The following links describe how to carry out basic functions in Inspera Assessment.

In fall 2020, NTNU initiated the introduction of a new grading tool in Inspera, "Vurdering/Marking 2.0". This tool has not yet been set as the standard grading tool as of March 2021, but it can easily be (de)activated by course coordinators who want to try it out.

Courses on Inspera

The following courses give a comprehensive overview of basic functions in Inspera.

Best practices for exam design: Courses, webinars and other resources

The following resources give tips (both general and specific) about the design of digital home exams. Special attention is paid to how to design tests to minimize the risk of cheating.

  • Online course: Exam NTNU 2021 (Norwegian only)
    Short self-paced online course that covers home exams in general, exams with multiple choice questions, online oral exams and online practical exams.
  • Five tips for instructors about home exams (English subtitles)
    Short and accessible video about exam design and best practices for home exams. Gives the following tips: Use a case study, require explanation, require meta reflection, be mindful of workload and support your students.

SEED offers frequent webinars on assessment and teaching. See their website for future and previous activities, including:

  • Advice about digital exams vår 2021 (slides | video, 1 h 10 min | Swedish)
  • The role of assessment and feedback in promoting learning (slides | video, 4 h 50 min | English)
  • SEED discusses assessment: Limits and possibilities (slides | video, 34 min | Swedish)
  • Some thoughts about assessment for mathematics (slides | video, 57 min | Norwegian)
  • Course assessment: Using digital exams (video, 54 min | English)

Other resources:

Oral exams

  • Digital oral exams - for employees (Innsida page)
    Overview of what should be done before and during the exam, including directions for setting up a Zoom meeting and rules and guidelines for oral exams.
  • Good practice for digital oral exams (PDF, Norwegian only)
    Presentation made by student representatives to the NV faculty based on student experiences with digital oral exams. It discusses what instructors might do before, during and after oral exams to ensure a better experience.

Q&A

Are you looking for frequently asked questions about exams?

You can find it here.

How to randomize and reorder questions in Inspera?

"Sections" in the Innsida page "Create question set in Inspera Assessment - for academic staff" explains this.

This video also explains how to do it.

Do you have to add an "do not know" alternative in multiple choice questions for students to be able to answer a question blank, if the student goes back to a previous answered question and want to remove the answer?

No. On an active exam, multiple-choice questions with one correct answer will have a "Reset" button available which removes the answer you have registered. It is therefore not necessary to add a separate "Do not know" alternative. The "Reset" button is a standard setting, so you do not have to do anything in the question or test settings.

I would like to be able to give a "pairing" question where more than one answer may be correct. Is this possible in Inspera?

"Drag and drop" can work, you can create several drag elements that can be dropped to the same drop element. But then you should write in the question description that you can do such a thing, see Drag and drop.

If you are going to make an exam in two languages, should you create two exam sets in Inspera for each language, or should you create one exam set that contains both languages?

You have to make one exam set. In the exam set, you can either create question where the question text is written in different languages one after the other, or you can choose to create different "language versions" that the students can change to in the exam set. This is described under Finalizing the question set → Language .

How to let students upload files during the home exam?

You must add a file upload question to the question set, as described under Upload assignment.

I have created a question in Inspera and want to import it into the same question set to create many versions of it. But why does the question not appear in the question bank?

After you have created / added a question to a question set, you can not add it again in the same question set - you can press the copy button under the question when editing the question set, or you can go to the question overview ("Questions" in Inspera) and copy the question you want to make more of.

While grading exams in Inspera, I was previously able to correct and cycle through the same question between candidates, and then move on to correct the next question in the exam. But now I can only grade the exam sumbissions student-by-student and not question-by-question. How can I correct exams question-by-question in Inspera?

I assume that you used Inspera Marking 2.0 previously, which can do what you're describing. Marking 2.0 been on a pilot test since spring 2020, but it is currently undecided whether the marking tool should be made default for all tests. It is the study supervisor that decides whether 1.0 or 2.0 should be the default for individual tests, but they should be able to change it. Therefore I suggest you to talk to the study supervisor / the person you shared your test to, and ask them to activate Marking 2.0.

Specific Inspera question types: Tutorial videos, examples and advice

Multiple choice and multiple response

Note that "multiple choice" refers in Inspera to multiple choice questions in which there is only one correct answer; "multiple response" is used to refer to questions in which one or more answers are correct.

Basics
How-to videos
Examples from NV

The following presentations are from two seminars held by NV in 2018 and 2019 on digital exams. The most relevant parts of each presentation have links, but the presentations can be viewed in their entirety at the same links.

  • Mari-Ann Einarsrud, video (from 01:42:15); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 01:36:15, ca. 16 min
  • Carl Henrik Gørbitz (Oslo), video (from 00:22:53)
    Full talk begins 00:17:10, ca. 60 min. Reward partial competance, guessing and bad distractors, calculation questions and individual calculation operations, test smartness
  • Kjersti Kleveland, video (from 00:40:46), slides (see 11, 12); Norwegian only.
    Full talk begins 00:32:35, ca. 30 min. Uses "multiple response" due to higher difficulty level, but then also gives minus points per wrong sub-answer. Discusses the pros and cons of "multiple choice" vs. "multiple response" questions.
  • Susanne L. Skjærvø, video (from 01:17:28), slides (see 7)
    Full talk begins 01:05:00, ca. 50 min

Drag and drop

Drag-and-drop questions involve visual and interactive components and can be a good way of testing terminology and processes. However, they are a little more time-consuming to design and set up.

Basics
How-to videos
Examples from NV
  • Nicole Aberle-Malzahn, video (from 00:28:45), slides (see 6); English only
    Full talk begins 00:19:55, ca. 12 min
  • Mari-Ann Einarsrud, video (from 01:43:17); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 01:36:15, ca. 16 min
  • Anita Kaltenborn, video (from 01:24:52); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 01:13:25, ca. 23 min
  • Kjersti Kleveland, video (from 00:43:55), slides (see 15); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 00:32:35, ca. 30 min
  • Susanne L. Skjærvø, video (from 01:19:12), slides (see 10)
    Full talk begins 01:05:00, ca. 50 min

Matching/pairing

Basics
Examples from NV
  • Carl Henrik Gørbitz (Oslo), video (from 00:28:47)
    Full talk begins 00:17:10, ca. 60 min. Explains a method to calculate points based on correct and incorrect answers
  • Mari-Ann Einarsrud, video (from 01:42:48); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 01:36:15, ca. 16 min
  • Kjersti Kleveland, video (from 00:42:40), slides (see 13, 14); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 00:32:35, ca. 30 min
  • Susanne L. Skjærvø, video (from 01:18:48), slides (see 9)
    Full talk begins 01:05:00, ca. 50 min

Inline choice

Basics
Examples from NV
  • Mari-Ann Einarsrud, video (from 01:43:41); Norwegian only
    Full talk begins 01:36:15, ca. 16 min
  • Susanne L. Skjærvø, video (from 01:18:20), slides (see 8, 12)
    Full talk begins 01:05:00, ca. 50 min

Digital teaching

Recommended starting places on Innsida

There are many good resources on Innsida that cover all aspects of digital teaching. The following links give several places to look first.

  • Online teaching - for employees
    All of the most information gathered in one place. Includes information about teaching in real time (hybrid teaching) with Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom, making videos with Collaborate and Panopto, tools for student active learning, advising and assessment, privacy, and tips on teaching from your own workspace.
  • Rooms equipped for online teaching (Norwegian only)
    Lists of rooms, sorted by campus and by technology.

Equipment to borrow from NV

NV has purchased a starter pack with the following equipment (one piece of each type) for use with digital teaching, particularly in classrooms that have not been especially adapted for online instruction.

  • Web camera (Logitech C925e)
  • Bluetooth headset (Jabra Evolve 65 UC Mono)
  • USB extension cable (Prokord USB cable, 5 m)
  • Stand (for phone or camera) (Joby GripTight ONE Magnetic Impulse)
  • Drawing tablet (Wacom One Medium Pen Tablet)
  • Document camera (Optoma DC556 Digital Document Camera)

This equipment is available for short-term loan (max. 5 business days) by NV employees; contact Sølvi Seljeflot for more information.

In addition, the Multimedia Center has 10 document cameras (Hovercam Solo 8+) that can be borrowed. Contact the Multimedia Center directly if you wish to loan one.

How to order your own equipment

If you find that you want to order your own equipment, you can do so at the following sites (last updated March 8, 2021).

  • NTNU Online Store
    • Web camera: Logitech C925e, Logitech BRIO 4K Ultra HD
    • Stand: Joby GripTight ONE Magnetic Impulse
    • Document camera: Hovercam Solo 8Plus
  • Dustin.no
    • Headset: Jabra Evolve 65 UC Mono, Plantronics Voyager Legend
    • USB extension cable: Prokord 5m 4-pin USB type A male (hann) 4-pin USB type A female (hunn)
    • Drawing tablet: Wacom One Medium Pen Tablet
    • Document camera: Optoma DC556, Lumens DC 125, Aver Avervision F17-8M

It is possible to order from Dustin through NTNU by using a form at NTNU Hjelp:

  1. Visit NTNU Hjelp
  2. Click on "IT and software"
  3. Click on "Computer equipment"
  4. Click on "Order other computer equipment and mobile phone"
  5. Fill out the form and send it in

How to share handwriting for digital teaching

You can share handwriting for digital teaching in two ways, either by writing on a "digital whiteboard" or on a physical board´ that is displayed digitally through a webcam.

Digital whiteboards

Digital whiteboards can be defined as applications that can be used to draw on, e.g. Zoom's built-in whiteboard, Windows Paint, Microsoft OneNote, Ipads "Notes" app, etc. In order to draw effectively on a digital whiteboard, it is necessary to use a device that can register handwriting accurately. Digital devices with an accompanying touch pen (i.e. Ipad, android tablets, laptop with touch screen) will work for this and are easy to use.

Alternatively, you can use drawing boards, which can be cheaper, but can also be more difficult to set up to use.  We have made a guide and video on how to set up and use drawing boards without a screen for digital teaching.

Physical whiteboards

Physical whiteboards can befined as ordinary lecture blackboards, whiteboards, or paper. The easiest way to share a physical board to e.g. Zoom, can be by using a document camera, which is a composite camera and tripod, and can be easily connected to a PC using USB. We have created a guide and video on how to set up and use a document camera for digital teaching. NB: One can also show handwriting on paper during classroom teaching, via for example a digital projector.

Alternatively, you can use a webcam + tripod to film a lecture board / whiteboard. Then you may want to use a larger chalk/black marker for the highest contrast, and a bluetooth headset if you're far from the PC-microphone.

Best practices for digital teaching: Webinars and other resources

Activities including:

  • Moving from face-to-face to online (PDF | video, ca. 25 min | English). (Arranged by the Learning Support Section)
  • What do we need in order to plan the spring semester? with Frank Kraemer (PDF | video, ca. 54 min | Norwegian). (Arranged by SEED)
  • Hybrid teaching issues, with Jonathan Wright (PDF | video, ca. 59 min | English) .(Srranged by SEED)
  • Utdanningsklinkken workshops. (Arranged by the Department of Biology
  • Psychosocial Learning Environment (PDF, Norwegian only) : This document was compiled by representatives to the faculty about measures that can be taken to improve students' psychosocial learning environment, including measures related to online teaching.

Sharing experiences from NV

In fall 2020 and spring 2021, NV made available funding (up to 30.000 NOK) to support projects related to teaching and exams, in particular projects that tried out new digital methods or tools. Final reports from these projects include the following. Note that all reports are in Norwegian.

Spring 2021
  • Student active learning in TFY4260 (Cell biology and cellular biophysics) and TFY4335 (Nano life science). Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Student assistants, Kahoot, Mentimeter, short assignments
  • Hiring a student assistant in TMT4145 (Inorganic chemistry). Mari-Ann Einarsrud. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, films, videos, VESTA software
  • Higher quality digital teaching in microbiology. Sunniva Hoel. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Tablet, digital board, physical teaching, handwriting
  • Research assistant for two foundational courses in MTKJ. Ida-Marie Høyvik. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Jupyter Notebooks, working document, programming
  • Student active exercises with emphasis on motivation and sustainable development. Christian Lauritsen. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Student active learning, Smart Notebook, group exercises, cooperation
  • Introducing more information and communication technology into problem solving in TFY4195 (Optics). Mikael Lindgren. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Student-developed assignments, information and communication tools, laboratory assignments
  • Hiring a student assistent to conduct evaluation in HBIOA1003. Ragnhild Nilsen. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Teams, Blackboard, low-threshold student participation, students as graders
  • Filming laboratory videos with first-person perspective for FY1003, TFY4163 and TFY4165. Rolf Jonas Persson. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: First-person perspective, Video for Kvalitet, laboratory course
  • Upgrade of digital education forms in course KJ2022 (Spectroscopic methods in organic chemistry). Nebojsa Simic. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Student assistants, videos, interactive work
Fall 2020
  • Using a student assistant to assist with carrying out exams. Bente Alm. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Constructive and comprehensive feedback on student work, preparation for digital home exams, student assistant
  • Teaching support for IMAK2002 Inorganic chemistry. Iselin Grav Aakre. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Teaching assistant, videos, Panopto, quiz
  • Support for Material properties and uses (IMAK2010). Roald Lilletvedt. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Student assistant, project reports, Flipped classroom, digital teaching, tutorials, peer assessment
  • Developing a lab course in TBT4102 Biochemistry 1: Increased learning outcomes, increased digitalization in biochemistry and increased independence in the laboratory. Kjetil Rasmussen (with Finn Achmann and Erland Årstøl). Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, independence, digitalization, flexibility for absences
  • Developing a new teaching method consisting of synchronous online teaching sessions. Trine Andersen. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Zoom, synchronous teaching, feedback from students, hybrid teaching, student active learning
  • Support for the laboratory component of HBIOT1011 Anatomy, physiology and histology. Wenche S. Prestvik. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, digitalization of tissue preparation, smaller groups of students
  • Filming laboratory videos with a first-person perspective for FY1003, TFY4163 and TFY4165. Rolf Jonas Persson. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, videos, films
  • Developing, carrying out and evaluating a digital group-based teaching activity with 175 first-year students in area course MH2001 Interdisciplinary collaboration. Kristin Solum Steinsbekk. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Interdisciplinary, group work, teaching assistants, feedback
  • Blood sampling in small groups: Skills training for first- and second-year students. Frode Vågen, Kristin Solum Steinsbekk. Fall 2020. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, teaching assistants
  • Hiring an extra student assistant i TMT4145 Inorganic chemistry. Mari-Ann Einarsrud. Spring 2021. Final report (PDF).
    • Key words: Laboratory course, films, videos, VESTA-software

Q&A

How to record on Zoom and what happens to the recording?

You can record on Zoom by pressing the "record" button, which should be next to the "share screen" button. Then you can decide whether you want to upload the recording via cloud or locally.

If you choose cloud storage, the recording will be sent directly to NTNU's Panopto servers, where you will receive a link to the recording via an email. To share Panopto videos with students, see here.

If you choose to save the recording locally, the video will automatically end up in a local folder on your PC after the meeting has ended. Zoom will open the folder for you when the recording is ready. The default address of the recordings ends up in "C: \ Users \ username \ Documents \ Zoom \" for Windows PCs.

For how long are the recordings uploaded to Panopto stored?

Recordings that end up in Panopto to show students will be available online for as long as the lecturer wishes. Default settings for uploaded videos are that they should "always" be available, which means that students can always watch the videos as long as they have access to the videos.

You can change the availability from "always" to a time period in Panopto, under "Settings -> Overview -> Availability" for a video. See How to find Settings.

I need to upload large files to Blackboard Collaborate for teaching, can I do that in advance?

If you create a Blackboard Collaborate session early, you can go into it right away to upload files. Then can end the session and then change the start time to when the lecture starts.

I have recorded a Blackboard Collaborate session. Where can I find the recording?

When you open the Collaborate section in Blackboard, you can press the hamburger menu to open the tab that shows all the recordings, see step 4 in the section How to record the session in Innsida

Does Blackboard Collaborate not work on Chrome?

Blackboard Collaborate is supposed to work on Chrome, and is actually the recommended browser. Do you have the latest version?

  • Tip 1: If you have your own administrator rights on PC. Click on the three dots at the top right of Chrome, click on "Help" - About Google Chrome - check here which version you have. If it says "Updates are disabled by your administrator", then you must do the following: If you use Chrome, make sure you have the latest version Chrome (this can be done in SoftwareCenter)
  • Tip 2: Delete browser data: Shift + Ctrl + Delete Time Rate should be set to "All time". After setting, restart browser and "bugs" may have disappeared.
When the recording you have made in Blackboard is saved in Collaborate, is it then that it is automatically deleted after the semester or a certain period?

As of today, the recordings will not be deleted at any specific time from the course. It is also not a requirement (from the user interface perspective) that these be deleted. We keep all items as of today. Nothing is deleted. There has been talk that a Master student should have access to everything he has been through and delivered throughout his course. Then we are talking about a minimum of 5 years before something is archived.

We have unlimited storage today, but we are not talking unlimited in the future. So at some point within 2-3 years, NTNU must now decide how long data will be available. As long as the admissions are in an area with limited access only to those who are teachers and students in the course, there is no requirement for admissions to be deleted after the semester. It also depends on the recording. If there is admission of students, the case will be something else. Then it is good to inform about how long the recording will be available.