This site contains guidance on how to prepair a question set for digital school exam by using Inspera Assessment. 

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We reccomend using Google Chrome or Firefox when working in Inspera.

Create a question set

The deadline for completion of the question set is 7 working days prior to the exam (note that some departments have shorter deadlines for question sets). If you work on the question set after this deadline we can not guarantee that the changes will be included in the set.

To create a new question set, click on the “Author” tab. Formerly made question sets you have made, or has been shared with you by other authors, will appear in a list. If this is your first time logging into Inspera, this list is empty. If the list contains several question sets you may sort the list by using the alternatives "Created by me", "Edited today" or "Shared with me". You may even search your library of question sets using the search field. 

To make a new question set, click “Create new”:

Name the question set in a way that makes it easy to find it again, both for you and those you share your question set with. 

For simplicity use COURSE CODE+TERM+YEAR, e.g. KJ1000_V_18, and press Enter. The question set is now created, and you can start adding questions. 

Sections

Inspera gives you the oppurtunity to devide your question set into different chapters, or sections. If you want to structure your question set with sections,

start by naming the first section by clicking on the pencil below the  headline "Section 1": 

You can change the layout on each section by clicking on the open-book-button in the meny below the section name:

The different choices of layouts will appear:

Inspera has chosen "Basic layout" as default. In this layout every new question appear on a new page. By choosing "Vertical layout", the questions are all on one page, appearing by scrolling down. 

On the right side of the box you are given the option to add a document to the section. This document will follow every question in the section. You may choose how the document is shown, either it will appear on the left side of the question, or on top of the questions. You may choose if you want one questen for every page or if you want all questions to appear on one page.

Click "Done" when layout is chosen.

By clickin on the arrows crossing each other, a new window will appear:

By clicking on the second alternative, Inspera lets you randomize the order of questions within the section, so that the question appear in different order for the students. By clicking the third option, Inspera pulls out a given number of the questions from the section for each student, that is the students will not necessarily get the same questions. Note the importance of iqual level of difficulty, and equal weighted questions. 

You may choose to add several sections by clicking “Add section”. The different sections may have different layouts independent of each other. 

Questions

To add questions to the question set, click "Create New":

The questions you make will be saved in a question bank. If you have created questions earlier, and want to re-use them or use them as templates for new questions, click on "Add from Question Bank". You will now gain acces to all the questions you have made before. Choose the question you want to use, and click "save". 

When clicking on "Create New", the variety of question types offered by Inspera appears: 

Clicking on the question type you want to use lead you directly to the question page. In the top left corner, you should name the question:

Make sure to give the question a name that makes it easy to find in your question bank later. When you have finished constructing a question you may either click “save and close” in the top right corner, and you will get back to the question set overview, or click the “+” icon at the bottom of the page. If you want to make another question of the same type as before, tick the box that says “Add same type” before clicking the “+”.

NOTE!
On digital school exams candidates bring their own laptops. To avoid candidates from getting access to files on their device or  to the internet, we use a lockdown browser: SafeExamBrowser (SEB).

It is important to know that there are two features in the formatting tools of all question types that may cause the candidate to exit SEB and potentially go online:

By adding attachements to the questions through these buttons, the attachements will require opening of a 3.part tool (e.g. Word/PDF-reader) which will forsce the candidate out of SEB, and thereby loosing access to their exam. If you need to attach illustrations or documents use the menu on the right side of the question (see below). 

This possibility to add an attachment or to add a link is therefore ONLY used at home exams, and never for an exam which use SEB.

Some settings are common all question types, and they appear in the right hand side of the questions:

• Marks: as an author you can define the highest possible number of marks a grader may give to a candidate answer in the grading tool.  Default maximum value is 10. In automatically graded question every right answer is given 1 mark/point.
• Mark scheme: by chosing "Mark scheme" you can add criterias and guidelines for the grading the answers. A blank page, similar to an essay question, is to be filled out. You may use text, table tools, add picture and so on. For more info, please see Inspera knowledge base.
• Main illustration: you may include an image, or a short video in your question. If you add an embed code, remember to turn off the automatic showing of suggested videos when "your" video is finished.
• PDF panel: you may upload a pdf inline file, which will show on the side of the question. The candidates may enlarge (or shrink) the pdf file under the exam
• Labels: let you label each question by e.g. the course code or subject giving you an easier way of searching your questions in the question bank. 

Document – No assessment

The document has no interaction elements and is typically used to give the candidates relevant (for instance, formal) information. "Document" should be used for cover page, templates for these are found here. 

Guidance on how to use the question types and appendices

The guides below provides information about how to technically set up the different question types in Inspera Assessment. We are currently working on tips for making good exam question using the different questions types. 

• Guide on how to use manually graded question types
• Guide on how to use automatic graded question types
• Use of appendix in question sets in Inspera Assessment

Tips for making a good digital exam 

Finish making the question set

Language

We recommend completing the question set before translating to another language (form). The default text in the questions is translated automatically when adding more languages. After completing the question set for one language, click the cog wheel next to the language tab in the overview page:
You get the following image:

By ticking more language boxes, more language tabs are added:

Remember that the question text as well as the alternatives still have to be translated manually.

NOTE! To preview your question set, click on the eye icon in the top right corner. To see the different languages, click on the hamburger button that appears in the top menu in the preview version. 

Sharing the question set

In the topmost right corner, you will find the following menu:

By clicking the eye icon to the right, you can preview the question set. Remember to share the question set with the administrative contact person at your department. You can also share the question set with colleagues, in case the question set should have more than one author. To share the question set, click on the person icon to the left, and begin typing the name of the person you want to share it with.

Threshold Values

In the grading process, you have the possibility to set score (points) for every question in a question set. In a question set with automatically corrected questions the total score is computed. In a question set with one or more manually corrected questions, the total score must be set by the grader. When the total score is set for a paper, you use the threshold values to decide the grade. The threshold values decide what grade ("A", "B" and so on) the candidate gets by the points in every question. 

NOTE! The threshold values  in Inspera is NOT the same as those used by NTNU (Grading scale using percentage points). It is however not difficult to change the proposed default values.  

The threshold values settings are managed by the administrative staff. 

In question sets with manually corrected questions, you can choose not to use points. In this case you set a grade directly.

Options for question set

As the author of a question set you may add some options for the test that will influence how the candidates view the questions. At the bottom of the page there will be a menu with two choices, one is «Questions» and one is «Design».

Under «Design» you will have the following options:

• Choose how the questions will be numbered. There will be three alternatives:
  • Test sequential (1, 2, 3, …)
  • section alphanumeric (1a, 1b, 1c, …)
  • section numeric (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, …)
• Hide navigation bar, candidates will not be able to view the navigation bar that shows the questions (e.g. 1-20), and shows where they are in the question set.
• Disable navigate back buttion, may be preferable if the solution to one question is given in the following question. Remember that for this option one must also hide the navigation bar. Otherwise the candidates will be able to use the navigation bar to navigate back to earlier questions.
• Table of contents, this provides the candidates with an overview of the questions in the set.
• Hide question titles, if the question title provides clues to the solution then it will be adventageous to ensure that the candidates are unable to view it.
• Show sections in table of contents, if the author wants to show the title of the sections in the table of contents.
• Enable flagging, allows the candidates to mark questions they’re struggeling with, and want to return to. They can easily mark the question and navigate back when they want.
• Question maximum marks, candidates able to view the maximum amount of points they can achieve for each question.

Quality check

Errors in question sets can at worst mean that the examination has to be held again, causing extra work and delays for both employees and students. It is therefore important that authors of a digital question set make sure that the set is checked for errors by getting a fellow member of the scientific staff to quality check your question.