Instructors are encouraged to contact eclass@ualberta.ca with any questions when deciding on a delivery format and to take advantage of our exam checking service to review the details, setup, and configuration of their exam in advance. Registering an exams to allow the eClass team to review the configurations in advance, complete usage and system performance testing if applicable, and plan support resources.

Register Your Online Exam(s) HERE

exam checks, exam check, exam registration

Pedagogical Support for Remote Exams:

The remote delivery of exams has its own challenges with regards to academic integrity or from a student-user experience. Instructors can book a consultation with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) regarding the restructuring of assessments while adhering to learning outcome objectives.

Since using online exam proctoring tools adds an unavoidable extra layer of complication and stress to test-taking, CTL has also created the following videos regarding alternatives:

1) Discussing alternatives to closed-book final exams 
2) Guide to creating Open Book Exams (OBEs)

CTL has also created resources for instructors considering how AI will impact their assessments: Teaching and Learning in the Context of AI.

Physical Locations for Online Exams:

With the mix of online and in-person delivery methods now available, one challenge facing students with mixed schedules is finding a location where they can write online midterms. In some cases, students face challenges with travel time between home and campus for online or in-person classes, meaning that they will require an appropriate place on campus to write their exams. Students are able to use a Windows machine in the Cameron or Rutherford Library computer labs to complete exams. These machines should not be used if an exam requires SEM or Respondus monitoring because external webcams may not function properly on Windows computers. Students are able to book a Cameron Library study room to complete SEM exams as long as they provide their own webcam.

Instructors can book a classroom for a specific day and time and day for an online exam. Doing so will ensure that their entire class has access to a space for exam taking. Rooms can be booked using the RO’s Classroom Booking page. If one is available, instructors can also book on-campus computer labs for exams. Machines in these spaces already have Respondus LockDown Browser enabled but cannot be used in conjunction with either Respondus Monitor or SEM since the machines do not have webcams.  

Guidelines for Constructing Quizzes

• Preview all quiz questions  

  There are many different questions types available to be used in new quizzes with a varying degree of complexity. Instructors should always preview questions after creating them. This is especially important if instructors are delivering quizzes that have been migrated from eClass using K16 and there are some known issues that should be reviewed.

• Quiz Layout

  Unlike eClass where it was recommended that quizzes all be delivered with 1 question per page, data entered into Canvas quizzes is saved as soon as it is entered. Instructors can choose to deliver either all questions on one page or one question at a time (available in quiz settings.) If several questions refer to the same material (for example a diagram, case study, or written problem), these can be set apart in a Canvas quiz using a text block quiz question (basically freeform text like in eClass) or a Stimulus question (a new Canvas question type that links material with a few questions.)

• Use built-in security features  

  There are a wide range of available security features in Canvas quizzes including question and answer order randomization, password protection, and more. Note that Canvas quizzes do not provide the option to require students to complete an honesty check statement so these should be added at the course level or included as a zero point TF question. 

Practical Considerations

• Flexible timings

  Ensure that the quiz time limit and open/close dates and times provide a buffer to account for technical challenges. Specifying a longer exam time window provides students flexibility for their specific start time, spreads outperformance and support load, and generally reduces anxiety. For example, if a quiz time limit is 120 minutes and scheduled for 2PM - 4PM, open the quiz at 1:30PM and close it at 4:30PM. Longer windows, for example providing students with 3 days to complete their exam are also recommended.

• Communicate early with students

  Instructors should communicate the exam details such as format and timing, how and when students will access the exam link, and any other special requirements students need to be aware of as soon as they can to head off any potential issues. For example, if the link to a quiz will appear in eClass only at the assigned start time, students may panic if they do not know that in advance. It is also imperative to set the expectations for student behaviour during exams and to outline the consequences for not meeting the requirements. Instructors are encouraged to emphasize to their students that the correct, complete monitoring record of an exam is considered a required component of successful exam submission and it is the student's onus to provide this. Instructors should also ensure that students review the guide Taking Canvas Quizzes (for Students).

  If instructors are delivering exams remotely or in-person on campus on student's own devices, it is also important to provide students the warning that they should always access online exams using the EduRoam wifi network (as opposed to using the Guest@UofA free wireless connection.) The Guest@UofA wireless network is known to drop connections during exams and can cause the loss of answers and submissions.

  It is also recommended to provide detailed test taking suggestions in the instructions fields of quizzes or SEM sessions. A possible example to copy and paste would be:

  Prior to writing this exam ensure the following:

  • Your operating system and apps are up to date.
  • You have recently rebooted your device.
  • You have minimized the number of open apps and browser tabs to prevent resource drain.
  • You have a full healthy battery or are connected to a power source. --- Note: Many devices have a "lower power mode" that will intermittently cut WiFi or stop scanning for WiFi connection to save power.
  • If using wifi on campus, ensure you are connected to EduRoam and not to Guest@UofA network.

  If your device dies during the exam you will NOT be permitted to switch to the paper copy. You will have to either accept your mark as is or have the weight transferred to the final.

  Instructors are also encouraged also post the link to the IST Support, student-facing usage guides for the specific tools they are using: Using Respondus Lockdown Browser (for Students), Using Smart Exam Monitor (for Students) into their Canvas courses.

• Run a practice quiz

  Running a practice quiz with students accessing from wherever they will complete their final exam is essential. Whether students are already familiar with taking quizzes on Canvas or not, attempting a quiz from the actual exam-taking locations where bandwidth or firewall issues may occur can prevent these from occurring during the actual exam. Whenever possible, running a practice with 'for marks' quizzes (eg. existing formative assessments in your course) will ensure a higher rate of student participation.

  Practice exams should be run prior to every high-stakes exam as updates to student's device, operating system, or browser version can often cause problems.

• Prepare for problems

  - Establish a communication process for the different kinds of issues that may arise during an exam - eg. for subject matter questions, contact the TAs; for internet outages phone your internet provider (or immediately switch to cellular internet service or personal data hotspot); for technical issues with your computer contact the IST helpdesk (780-492-8000); for eClass issues contact eClass support (780-492-9372). These tips are also suggested for students here. Please note, eClass support is open Monday to Friday, 8:00AM-9:00PM so if exams are scheduled outside this time range prepare an alternative mechanism for support.

  - Some available communication options include phone, email, Google Meet, a 'live' shared google doc, or the Canvas inbox. Instructors may also want to create an online meeting, for example a Zoom session with the waiting room enabled for 1-to-1 interactions that students can log into during an exam to pose questions.

  - Be familiar with using quiz/assignment overrides to give students having issues a time extension if warranted.

  - Plan a backup solution - for example offering an alternative variation of the exam to be emailed to a student, completed, and returned or shifting students to a deferred exam.

• Create a backup quiz

  - Duplicating a quiz in advance of the exam but leaving any exam security tools off can be a quick way to allow any students who have problems with their device and/or monitoring setup on the day of the exam. These can be configured in canvas with access assigned only to the 'Default' section of a course (so it would not be visible to any actual students sections) and then individual students who require access can be added as additional Assign to entries.

Employing Exam Security and Remote Monitoring

As mentioned above, remotely delivered exams pose a range of challenges to be overcome. Some of the technical/practical challenges can be addressed by communicating early with students, clearly outlining expectations, and running practice exams to identify issues before exams. From an academic honesty perspective there four main challenges:

• Ensuring the exam taker is the correctly enrolled student (identity validation).
• Monitoring the student and the physical space where they complete the exam to ensure no disallowed materials are used (physical integrity validation).
• Monitoring the students' online activities to ensure they are not accessing any disallowed electronic resources (online integrity validation).
• Making sure that exams and questions aren't copied by exam takers (question security)

The available options for exam delivery are listed below in order of increasing ability to meet these challenges but also in increasing order of potential for technical challenges. No academic honesty measures are going to be 100% effective. It is up to instructors to decide which challenges to address are most important to them and which of the options below they feel comfortable with having their students use. There is also the cost of the service to consider. 

Option 1: No remote monitoring - Alternative assessment or open-book Canvas exam staged over a flexible time block

- Method: CTL has provided suggestions for this type of assessment and they are available for consultations on how to convert existing assessments.

- Support: Assessments of this type create the fewest barriers to student access and have the fewest technological limitations and are - often carried out in eClass which is fully supported.

- Cost: Charges may apply depending on the delivery method chosen by the instructor, but use of eClass is free.

- Monitoring: This style of exam does not provide any of the four types of monitoring noted above. Instructors should be aware that exam questions may be copied.

Option 2: NEW for 2025! Canvas exam using Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor - Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB) and Monitor have been selected as the new exam security and remote proctoring tools for Canvas.  

- Method: Instructors use Canvas to deliver secured and/or monitored exams.

- Support: LockDown Browser and Monitor are both vendor-supported. Basic setup help and documentation is provided by the eClass team.

- Cost: Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor are free to use.

- Monitoring: A full range of monitoring options are supported are supplied, and an audit report is produced by the vendor. All session videos are available for instructors to review.

Option 3: Canvas exam using Smart Exam Monitor (SEM) - A Chrome-only web application that records student webcam video, audio, and screen activity

- Method: Instructors use Canvas, or another exam delivery method and use SEM to monitor the exam session. SEM features an option to deliver Canvas quizzes in a forced-full screen mode. Any students navigating away from the exam-taking window are automatically flagged. 

- Support: Canvas exams and SEM are supported by the eClass team; instructors can engage the team and sign up to have their exam validated. Other exam delivery methods are up to the instructor to support; SEM may be able to be used in these scenarios.

- Cost: Canvas and SEM are free.

- Monitoring: Provides identity validation, monitoring/recording of the student’s physical environment, and lightweight monitoring/recording of the student's onscreen activity. Does not provide question security or full monitoring of the student’s computer activity.

Option 4: Canvas exam or another exam delivery platform delivered at the LAC - Physical location with live, proctored Canvas or alternative exams in a secure lab

- Method: There are two options, full-service and self-service. Instructors can either build their own Canvas quizzes and contract the LAC to deliver the exam (self-service). Or the LAC can assist with digitizing the exams in Canvas for the instructor (full-service). There is an additional fee for full-service..

- Support: LAC provides full service support. 

- Cost: LAC charges for usage. Contact edlac@ualberta.ca for more information.

- Monitoring: All four types of monitoring are supplied, and an audit report can be produced by the LAC. 

During the rapid shift online in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, eClass began assisting instructors moving assessments online by converting digital files into electronic exams. As this service was intended to provide instructors with a starting point for moving exams online, with the return to in-person learning in Fall 2021, exams will no longer be digitized on demand. Instead, eClass will be working with instructors to train them in building and administering examinations through eClass to improve online exam delivery and the student experience.

Instructors should begin by leveraging the guide for creating quizzes, and this short instructional videos for basic aspects of quiz building here in eClass 101. Information on the basic mechanisms for importing and uploading files into the course question bank is also available.

Instructors can also use 2 helper tools to assist them in this process: the Exam Digitizer, a custom tool that converts MS Word exams into eClass quiz questions; and Respondus Quiz Authoring tool. 

Please note that online exams may not be required so instructors should follow any department, faculty, or central academic directives on assessment and should also consult the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s guidelines for online assessment.

Smart Exam Monitor (SEM) is a vendor-provided external tool that allows instructors to remotely proctor online exams. It can be added as a resource in eClass or Canvas courses.

SEM uses the student's webcam and microphone to confirm their identity and then record them during a remote exam attempt. Their onscreen activity is also recorded and the system intelligently monitors for suspicious activities. It is authorized in accordance with the UofA's Security and Privacy policies.

SEM can be used for remote proctoring a variety of assessment activities in eClass such as eClass quizzes and Assign2. It can be used in conjunction with ExamLock and also Access restrictions (see Common Practices). It can also be used as a monitoring tool for other web-based activities.

New in Spring 2026, support for SEM Version 1 has been discontinued by the vendor. SEM version provides  increased monitoring reliability and ease-of-use for students so is now the only SEM version available in Canvas. Instructors can review the vendor-supplied documentation for more information on using the tool and provide their students the article Using SEM Version 2.

 

System requirements for using SEM:

• Google Chrome browser
• Desktop or laptop computer (i.e., Windows, macOS)
• Chromebooks are supported, but iPads and tablets are not, i.e., no Apple iOS or Android devices, etc.
• Please note: SEM does NOT function reliably with the LabConnect software provisioned in most on-campus computer labs. Instructors should arrange for a different proctoring mechanism in those environments.

Determining whether to use SEM:

Guidelines for delivering remote exams

SEM known Issues, system limitations, and recommendations

Adding SEM to your course:

(Video: Setting Up SEM for base eClass Exams)

1. Activate Edit mode in the top right of your course page:activated,

2. Click on the 'Add an activity or resource' link:

3. For SEM version 1 (for SEM version 2 see bullet 5), select Smart Exam Monitor:

4. At the next screen, enter a name and click "Save and return to course":

5. To use SEM Version 2, users must be select that option from the dropdown list of preconfigured site-wide tools when selecting a 'basic' External tool:

Configuring SEM:

Now that you have added the SEM activity to your course, you can add SEM sessions within it to connect to an eClass quiz activity that you have created. (To do this in SEM Version 2, please see Creating an Exam Session in SEM V2.)

1. Click on your newly created SEM activity.

2. Click the '+ New Exam Session' button.

3. Complete the fields:

• Exam Title (required): Visible to students when session is toggled available.
• Description (required): Visible to students when session is toggled available. Create a brief or generic description for students.
• Exam Instructions (required): (Visible to students when session is toggled available. Write any special instructions or leave a generic statement.
• Exam password: Visible to students only after the SEM session start time is reached. Enter the password set in the activity SEM will launch. The password will be hidden until SEM reaches its start time where students are given a button to copy the password or copy/paste it from the screen. Enter the password EXACTLY as it is set in the activity and be sure there are no leading or trailing spaces.
• Date/Time Details: The date and start must be filled out completely, but the Time Zone setting should be ignored (all exam start times assume Mountain Daily or Standard time offset).
  • Any SEM session that is toggled 'Open to students' (see below) will allow them to complete the SEM setup on their device. Once complete, they will see a timer counting down until the Start time is reached at which time a Launch button (if an Exam URL is entered) will appear for them.
  • The start date and time MUST match EXACTLY with the quiz activity (as in this example) or occur AFTER the quiz is open and available to students in eClass.
    
    A SEM session that 'launches' a closed or hidden quiz will cause confusion for students as they will not be able to open their exam and may not realize they need to refresh the quiz launch page after the actual start time in the quiz settings is reached.
    
    
• Rec Duration (hrs): This specifies the maximum number of hours that SEM can record up to (i.e., this is NOT the same as the quiz length setting).
  
  This number should be your longest anticipated time for any test taker, including any accommodations plus 30 to 60 minutes for potential issues. For example, if you have a 60-minute exam with a 2x time accommodation, you should set the recording duration to 3 hrs. Students can add time if they require longer monitoring by clicking the Add Time button in the SEM tab. They can also disable the monitoring once their exam is complete by closing the SEM browser tab.

Exam Types (monitoring presets):

• Open Book: For any eClass quiz where students are permitted access to course materials, online textbooks, or other resources.
  • Default toggles for this option:
    • AI Monitor (On)
    • Monitor Audio (Off)
    • Monitor Desktop (Off)
• Closed Book (Full Screen) - recommended: For any eClass quiz or activity. These settings offer the highest security as they will force students into a full-screen browser view. Any attempts to leave the exam browser tab will be flagged.
  • Can be used to launch Crowdmark, Exam.med, Assign2, and static exam files hosted somewhere
  • Default toggles for this option:
    • AI Monitor (On)
    • Monitor Audio (Off)
    • Monitor Desktop (On)
• ExamLock: For use with ExamLock
  • The popular use case for using this combination: Prevents desktop screenshots during exams and provide exam continuity in case of internet disruptions.
  • Default toggles for this option:
    • AI Monitor (On)
    • Monitor Audio (Off)
    • Monitor Desktop (Off) - ExamLock will handle this operation.

Monitoring options:

The monitoring options determine (pre-set by the exam types above but still editable) what automatic flagging models are enabled:

• AI Monitor: model uses the student webcam feed to identify and flag:
  • Use/presence of cell phones, laptops or other electronic devices
  • Other people in the room
  • Students who leave the testing area
• Monitor Audio: model alerts for ANY audio activity (i.e., students communicating with one another). The system attempts to transcribe audio where possible.  Monitor Audio should be disabled if the exam will display audio or requires a student to speak aloud.
• Monitor Desktop: model will monitor and flag any navigation away from the exam or any Allowed sites. (Do not override the toggle to On for Open Book exams).
  
  

• Exam URL: Entering a URL will give students a Launch button in SEM when the start date/time is reached. This URL can be anything you want students to immediately start with. The URL must begin with http:// , https:// , etc.
• Start Exam Template: not required for eClass
• End Exam Template: not required for eClass
• Allowed sites: Add any URL that a student is allowed to visit during an exam. e.g., Library, PDF files in your eClass course, and certain external URLs. Leave these fields blank if only the quiz is permitted.

4. Save when complete.

Once the exam session is saved, you may click Open to students. Students can begin the SEM setup process and can start the SEM monitoring (along with Launch and Copy Password buttons) during the time specified in the SEM session settings.

The session will have Edit and Proctor buttons available.

Recommended practices:

• Multiple SEM tool links can be added to a course so it may make sense to have a monitoring session link for each different exam that needs to be proctored. 
• As an alternative to manually toggling sessions 'Open to students' shortly (or an hour) before the exam start time, it is possible to use access restriction settings to automate the visibility of the SEM tool link, i.e., set the SEM session 'Open to students' on when created and limit access to the tool link to a certain time:

• Access restrictions can be used to group students into specific SEM tool links (eg. separate tools for sub-sections of a consolidated course or a number of different AR tools).

• Please note these additional warnings about using Access Restrictions in relation to time limits.
• It is recommended that you only have SEM sessions with at most about 600 students using them. If there are more than that, then when you are proctoring exams, then you should make multiple SEM sessions for students to take the exam, perhaps separated by last name (e.g. a last name starts with A-M session and a last name starts with N-Z section, for example).
• A quiz's availability setting can be set to 'Make available but not shown' so that students do not accidentally bypass the SEM process (screenshot below). If doing this, please note that any other course links to the quiz will also allow students to access it, i.e., calendar, upcoming events, gradebook, so it is imperative that quizzes have passwords to ensure students don't accidentally access without initiating a monitoring session.

6. With all these items configured, once an exam start time is reached students will be ready to launch their monitoring session:

Please consult Proctoring and Reviewing SEM Exam Attempts for details on what to do during and after exam sessions.

Setting a Password

To protect quiz activities with a password, go to your quiz settings under Extra Restrictions on attempts, and specify Require password.

Toggling the eyeball with hide or show the password to you so you can check if the supplied password is correct.

Instructors must communicate this password to students so that they can enter it before doing their quiz.

Honesty Checking

This option requires quiz takers to acknowledge the statement confirming the University of Alberta's academic integrity standards. This setting is located in the quiz settings under Extra Restrictions on attempts, after clicking on 'Show more...' to expand the number of options.

Quiz takers will see the following before beginning their attempt:

Shuffling Questions and Answer Order

Randomizing the order of questions and answers is common way make it difficult for students to share their answers with each other. It is possible to randomize the questions as they appear, but it is also possible to randomize response order of answers per question (if applicable for the question type, i.e. multiple choice, matching...). To do this:

• If the quiz settings, under 'Question behaviour', toggle Shuffle within questions to Yes:
  
  
  
  
• When you edit the question from the Question Bank, ensure that the box is checked for Shuffle the choices:
  
  
  
  
• Note: Multiple-choice questions are set to Shuffle the choices by default. This should be unchecked for questions that require answers to be in a specific order. i.e. if the last response option is "All of the above", etc.

Shuffling the overall question order can be accomplished by checking Shuffle box at the top of the 'Edit quiz' page. This option is also available for any sub-sections of a quiz:

Randomizing Questions

Questions in a quiz can be drawn from a collection (by category or tags). This functionality requires that questions have already been constructed and grouped into categories (or have been tagged) in the course questions bank (see Using the Question Bank.)

To add random questions, go to the 'Edit quiz' page and click Add > a random question:

In the modal that opens, choose the question bank category and then choose the number of questions that students should receive using the dropdown:

After saving, the 'edit quiz' view will show a dice icon indicating a random question, along with the name of the category where the question comes from, as well as a link for you to see all possible questions from that category:

Note: This does not guarantee that every student will receive the same questions.

Limiting Access to Quizzes

For high stakes exams, and in large classes where students attempt quizzes at different times, it is possible to limit access to a quiz using other options under 'Extra restrictions on attempts':

• Password: (mentioned above) Instructors can show the password (on whiteboard, etc) in an exam room for students present in the room.
• IP Address Restriction: If available, the IP address or a range of IP addresses for a computer or a lab room full of computers can be entered to restrict the quiz. Students accessing from any different IP will not be allowed to attempt the quiz. Please note: The changes to campus lab computer infrastructure have changed the existing IP addresses and have changed this functionality. For more information, please contact IST eClass support.

Quiz Delivery

eClass is able to strip away normal functions of a browser and alter the interface so that it restricts students from accessing anything else other than the quiz. This can be configured by expanding the options by clicking Show more... under 'Extra restrictions on attempts' and then setting Browser security to 'Full screen pop-up with some javascript security:

The quiz activity will resemble the screenshot below for quiz takers:

The window can still be re-sized and will function normally and so proctors should advise quiz takers to start full screen and expanded. That way, it will be obvious if a student tries to do anything other than the quiz. The absence of browser navigation will restrict access to other websites.

External Tools

Quizzes can also be delivered using several exam security and monitoring tools available on campus:

- Smart Exam Monitor (SEM) is a 3rd party tool that can be used for remote proctoring of online exams including recording webcams and screens. This tool can be paired with ExamLock. For more information see Using Smart Exam Monitor.

- Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor. These tools are only available for use in Canvas.

This article explains how to add quiz questions to an existing quiz on eClass. If you have not yet added a quiz, please see Adding Quizzes.

Add 'a random question':

1. To add random questions, first, select the category containing your set of questions to be used.

2. Choose the number of questions from this category that you would like each student to answer. You may even filter questions by specific tags.

3. Click Add random question when done.

4. When 2 random questions are selected as above, 2 new questions are added to the quiz editing overview:

5. For random questions, each student could be asked to answer any questions added from the selected category.

Note: Random questions are better drawn from a category with more, rather than fewer, questions.

Adding Pages and Headings:

1. We strongly recommend that only one question is put on each page

2. Changes are saved whenever a student navigates between pages.  Saving pages when moving to a new page limits data loss in the event of an internet connection interruption, power failure, etc.

3. Nevertheless, some questions may have to be grouped together. For example, you may ask several questions about a single description-type question:

4. Page breaks can be added and removed manually clicking the icons to the left of the questions.

6. Quiz pages can have headings added to them to provide contextual information about the questions on the page.

7. Headings can be added by clicking the pencil icon near the top left, above the page number.

8. Headings for inserted pages must be added from the 'Add' dropdown which only appears between pages where no heading exists:

9. Press 'Enter' to save headings.

10. Section names are visible both to a student taking a quiz and to an instructor previewing a quiz:

11. The quiz navigation panel is on the right side of the quiz page attempt or preview:

Repaginating:

The Repaginate button near the top left of the questions page can be used to re-organize the quiz with a set number of questions per page. This can be helpful after adding or reordering questions to restore your intended layout. Note: it is not possible to repaginate quizzes after any student attempts have been made.

Before any attempts are made, it is also possible to repaginate and/or specify that quizzes to display quizzes with one question per page on the quiz settings page. In the ‘Layout’ section of the quiz settings, set New page to 'Every question'. Selecting 'Repaginate now' will force the quiz to repaginate.

Managing Existing Questions:

1. There are multiple tools for arranging the format of your quiz:

2. Existing questions can be edited and updated using the displayed icons. A brief description of the function of each of these icons is included below:

• Move: Questions can be reordered either by clicking the Move icon and selecting a new question from the popup or by dragging and dropping it.
• Edit: Question text, answers, and feedback can be modified.
• Preview: Try a question from the student's perspective.
• Delete: Remove the question from the quiz.
• Edit Maximum Mark: The maximum mark for each question can be modified to weight questions differently. Start by selecting the pencil icon indicated in the screenshot above. After entering your desired value, save the new Maximum Mark by hitting ‘Enter’ on the keyboard. To cancel editing of the value, press the ‘Escape’ key.

Change Maximum Grade:

1. If the 'Maximum grade' is different from the 'Total of marks', the quiz will display a grade out of the maximum in the grade book:

2. The 'Total of marks' indicates the maximum amount of marks a student can get on the quiz.

3. The 'Maximum grade' indicates what the quiz will be scored out of in the gradebook and can be adjusted to match the grade breakdown in your syllabus.

4. Student grades are automatically scaled for display in the gradebook (e.g., in the screenshot above, 3/6 on the quiz would translate to 50/100 in the gradebook).

5. If you do not want a quiz to appear in the gradebook at all, you can set the Maximum grade to 0.

Shuffling Question Order:

1. Shuffling of questions from the 'Questions page affects the order in which the questions are presented to the student.

2. Shuffling can be set independently for each section of a quiz and does affect the order of questions set in other sections of the quiz.

3. If you wish to shuffle the order of choices in multiple-choice or matching questions, first see the question behaviour section in our article Adding Quizzes.

This article outlines how instructors can set up exam accommodations for students who are taking fully remote exams. Instructors should also ensure they are familiar with the accommodation guidelines provided by the Academic Success Centre. In addition, instructors working with student accommodations, should also remember to create their class test definitions in ClockWork's Instructor Services Portal 5 days before your scheduled exam and no later than the middle of March for end-of-term exams.

This guide covers the different setups for accommodations across a range of different delivery methods available for delivering remote exams. Instructors may also need to consult Creating Custom Versions of Exams for Audio Accommodations if that is required. 

Sharing Activities or Resources with Specific Students or Groups

When a student requires access to a different format of an exam, for example, an audio file version, these can be shared with students through eClass. The general guidelines for uploading media files apply but instructors should note that audio files will not embed and playback if the option to prevent users from downloading is applied. If this is a requirement, it is possible to request the Alternate Formats (AF) team to produce .mp4 exports with only audio that do function when that setting is checked.

To Add restriction, go to the activity of your choice and click on the Settings tab at the top of that page. Then scroll down to Restrict Access.



Files, resources, or activities on eClass can have access restrictions applied to limit their use to specific time ranges and to specific users. It is important to note when restricting access to toggle the eyeball closed on any restriction that could reveal private information to the course at large:

When more than a few students require access to a resource or activity, it can save time to add all the students into a group through the course participants list and use that group as a criterion for restricting access.

Adding Time or Attempt Overrides for Quizzes or Assignments

eClass quizzes (and assignments) have a built-in mechanism to change the delivery mechanism for particular users. The article Modifying Quiz Settings for Select Users has more details but it is a straightforward process to provide a different exam duration or open/close time for specific users (or groups.)

Setting Up SEM Monitoring for Different Periods

When using Smart Exam Monitor to have students provide a record of their academic honesty during remote exams, instructors can set up alternate exam durations in a couple of ways.

The easiest is to use the same SEM session for everyone and simply extend the monitoring duration to a time that encompasses the longest required time multiplier. The control of an individual's quiz duration is then handled by their quiz attempts directly in eClass or in ExamLock (see below).

If required (for example if all the students need to FINISH their exam attempts at the same time), it is possible to set up multiple SEM tools in a course and restrict access to them (see above for restricting access).

A last point about monitoring is that in case a student encounters technical challenges or need additional time during a session, they are always afforded an alert that their monitoring session is going to close when the duration is going to expire and have an option to extend their monitoring session to provide a complete record of their exam.

Setting Up Individual Student Time Overrides when Using ExamLock 

When delivering exams through ExamLock, it is possible to add additional time to each student requiring it by pre-populating the list of students and entering different exam durations. This is equally possible after the exam has already started as ExamLock checks for time extensions every 3 minutes and alerts the student if any have been added. This would be the method to use if a student encounters technical issues requiring additional exam time. 

1. Click on the ExamLock activity in eClass and then find the required exam based on its session code and click on the "Monitor" button (far right side of screen). 
2. Click on 'Import Users' icon near the top-right of the screen to 'Import Users from eClass'. 
   
   
   
   
3. You will now see a list of students and can search for a particular student's name (tip: make sure that "Rows per page" at the bottom-right of the webpage is set to "All" and then search quickly with ctrl/cmd+f and start entering the students name in the box that appears in the top right of the screen). 
   
   
   
   
4. Once you find the student, click on the clock image to the right to add additional time. In the pop-up window, enter the amount of additional time in minutes that this student will get for this attempt. For example: a student with a 1.5x time accommodation on a 60-minute exam would get an additional 30 minutes. In the box you would put 30 and click "Save".
   
   
   
   
5. If the clock icon now displays +## the time has successfully been added. 
   
   
   
   

Setting Up Multiple ExamLock Sessions

If numerous accommodations are required for the same quiz, it is also possible to create multiple ExamLock sessions: one exam for the intended duration, another for 1.5x the intended duration, and another for 2.0x the intended duration (assuming all 3 are required). 
In ExamLock you can create as many sessions from a compatible eClass quiz as you need and each would have their own 5-letter session code that could be shared with the different students. 

This article outlines how instructors can use ExamLock Manager to manage existing secure exam sessions and review student activity during quizzes. Instructors should follow the instructions for Using ExamLock to Promote Quiz Integrity in eClass to configure their quizzes and create exam sessions. It is also recommended that instructors consult our current list of known issues before delivering exams using the tool and may find it helpful to review the latest troubleshooting steps for common issues during exams in advance to be prepared in case of issues.

Instructors should contact eClass support in advance of any exams if they have questions and are also encouraged to register their exams. 

Please note: if instructors elect to also hide eClass course content sections during their ExamLock exams, this should be done well before students launch their ExamLock attempts as otherwise there may be performance issues launching student sessions.

Managing Entire Exam sessions

On the ExamLock manager, instructors will see the list of all the exam sessions that they have created with action icons in each row to edit the session details, lock the session, and view session activity.

Adding extra time:

During an exam, if there have been disruptions or students need a longer time to complete the quiz, instructors can extend the time of the quiz for all the attempts. 

To add extra time for all students, click the Edit session settings button (pencil icon) in the row for the session:

Then, enter the desired time extension, in minutes, into the Extra time field:



Any students who have not yet submitted and have more than 2 minutes remaining on their own quiz timer will receive an alert in their quiz attempt indicating that they have received an extension. From that point onwards, their quiz timer will show the time added.

See below for adding extra time to an individual student's attempt. 

Locking sessions: After an exam session has been launched, or after it has been completed, you have the option of locking the session so no further attempts can be started or restarted. Existing attempts can be submitted normally when a session has been locked. To lock a session, click the Lock icon in the row for the session:

Session locking might be used in large course sections during exams where it is not possible to account for all the students submitting attempts - locking would prevent students from launching sessions from un-proctored locations and can also be used to ensure that students aren't quitting and resuming their exam session in cases where close proctoring is not possible. Locking should be standard practice after exams are completed and submitted if not all students have completed the exam.

Viewing Session Activity

The Session Activity button allows instructors to manage individual student attempts and review any flagged attempts. These functions are available before, during, or after an exam has been completed.

The session activity page displays all students who have accessed the quiz, along with their current status (the help icon describes all the available statuses.)
By pre-loading, all students in the course will be populated in the session list (whereas otherwise, they appear when they launch their attempt in ExamLock).



Pre-loading allows instructors to manage any students with accommodations by adding additional time for their attempt only. To add more time to individual students, you will have to click on the Clock Icon beside the student's name to add more time just for them

The exam activity page can be filtered to show only attempts that have been flagged, allowing instructors in large live exams to more easily check for potential issues.

Managing individual students:

For each student you can add extra time to their attempts, lock/unlock their attempt, or allow them to switch devices using the icons at the right:

The Device switch toggle will allow a student to switch to a different machine in case of a machine crash or a battery problem. This toggle will allow the student to re-launch the last saved attempt using ExamLock on a different/new device. Device switching takes the student's last saved data from the Examlock cloud manager and pre-fills a new ExamLock attempt on the new device. Students should select the option to Resume exam once they have input the exam session code. This should only be used if a student has access to a different machine - it will not function on the original machine.

Reviewing Student Attempt Evidence:

The interface for viewing evidence shows the attempt details at the top left and a bar representing the total duration of the exam. Any flagged events are listed as red ticks in the horizontal bar and appear in a list below the timeline. Clicking on any of the ticks in the horizontal bar will show the screenshots for 30 seconds on either side of that time.

The list of flagged events shows when they occurred. The types of events that are captured include:

Once displayed, clicking on a particular screenshot will enlarge it to provide more detail:

At the bottom of the evidence view of a particular student attempt, instructors can mark an attempt as clean in case a student has been flagged for a harmless infraction (eg. their monitor went to sleep or a windows update alert popped up) and the instructor has already reviewed the evidence. To do this:

The student’s status will now be updated in the overall class list:

Question Tagging - A guide to show how you can organize your question bank by tagging.

Options for Bulk Creation of Quiz Questions

Manually creating questions from scratch within eClass may be time consuming. Here are a few faster options available for building questions:

Basic import of text-based questions - If instructors already have exam questions in text documents (e.g., MS Word), with some reformatting, questions can be imported directly after being converted into a .txt file:

eClass accepts a wide range of other importation formats; each with its own uses:

AIKEN format is the simplest and can import a large number of questions using the format depicted below:

Click Here for a sample AIKEN file.

To learn more about other specific formats, please click Here to see the following guide from Moodle.

Note: AIKEN format can only be used to import multiple-choice, text-only quizzes. If images are required within questions, Respondus is currently the best option.

Respondus Quiz Authoring Tool - The U of A has a site-wide license for the Respondus Quiz Authoring Tool, a Windows-only application which can import, manage, and publish quizzes and questions. It can import a wider range of question types than the basic text import methods and can import the embedded images in MS Word files. Respondus can push questions directly into eClass courses or even specific quizzes via integration and has a slightly different question syntax requirement than AIKEN (see image below):

Obtaining the U of A Version of Respondus Quiz Tool

Quick Start Guide for Using Respondus (vendor documentation with the graphics matching the latest version of the software).

Full User Guide for Using the Moodle (eClass) Personality in Respondus (full vendor user guide with screenshots showing older version of software but all functionality is the same).

An additional feature of Respondus that can be valuable is that a number of publishers have partnered with Respondus to provide question banks associated with some of their textbooks. The Respondus Text Bank website has a searchable interface allowing instructors to check if their particular text has any existing questions which can be downloaded into Respondus and then pushed into eClass courses. These types of questions can make 'homework' style quizzes as a formative assessment for students.

eClass Exam Digitizer - An eClass-developed tool that converts MS Word exam documents into eClass quiz questions. With a wider set of features than the basic AIKEN import, this web-based tool will work for Mac and PC users alike. The Digitizer is in open beta in hopes that it will assist some instructors with final exams in the coming terms. 

Creating and Using Categories in the Question Bank

The question bank in courses gives instructors flexible options for creating and organizing categories of questions. While optional, categories have several useful functions like having better organization of large numbers of questions. By default, all questions are created under a default category level. Organizing them into categories would allow you to better index and locate questions that you create. Coming up with a naming convention for your questions would also make indexing easier.

Adding multiple questions in one operation is only possible when questions reside within the same category:

Similarly 'Add random question' pulls a specific number of questions from the selected category. It is possible to create subcategories, which would be included when pulling random questions:

Quiz-Level Question Banks

So far, we know of question banks at the Course-level, but there is also a more subtle quiz-level question bank which is accessed only from within the context of a particular Quiz activity:

Questions stored at the quiz-level are not available at the course-level and is useful for copying a specific quiz from one course to another without having to copy the entire course-level question bank which occurs by default (see next topic). Questions already added to any course-level category can be moved into the quiz context.

Re-Using Quiz Questions WITHIN Courses

By default, questions added to a quiz or created from the course-level question bank are re-usable in other newly created quizzes (see previous topic).

Duplicating a quiz will not create extra copies of the questions. Unless the questions reside at the Quiz-level, editing questions in a duplicated quiz will alter the questions in previously deployed quizzes. Instructors who wish to practice version-management should duplicate questions from the question bank, and rename/re-categorize them using clear indexing logic.

Re-Using Specific Quizzes/Questions ACROSS Courses

The import function can be used to copy quizzes from one course in eClass to another. Unfortunately, due to the random question mechanism, this will always copy the original course's entire question bank along with any quiz imported even if questions are stored at the quiz-level.

To copy a single quiz, ensure that the questions are stored at the quiz-level. You can then backup the quiz and restore it in another course.

Alternatively, you can export and import categories of questions. This can be useful to select specific topics, concepts, etc. from one course and transfer them to another course.

Re-Using an Entire Course Question Bank in New Courses

When you request your courses, you are given the option to copy content from a previous class you instructed which includes the question bank and quizzes. Instructors wanting to build questions from a clean slate can exclude this option during the copy process (see image below).

This may be useful for faculties or departments that want to manage quizzes and question banks at a departmental-level by pushing quizzes from Respondus into specific courses. For units requiring that kind of capability, Category Question Editor and Sharer roles will provide additional functionality - please contact IST eClass support for more information.

New in June 2023, instructors can create attempts for students within the quiz activity. These attempts would reflect any random answer ordering or question ordering specific to those students. Once created, these attempts can be easily printed, giving instructors the option to fill in the answers in the students attempt (to allow grading to occur automatically). It is also possible to view and/or print student's completed attempts including answers to provide secure review or retain copies.

This new functionality can be used if students need to complete a quiz but do not have internet access and will also streamline the process of creating print or PDF copies of exams to share with the Academic Success Centre for alternate format conversion.

BEFORE printing exams, it is essential that instructors are aware of the limitations of this workflow:

• Several quiz question types CANNOT be converted to static/paper form including the drag-and-drop types, multi-answer (Cloze) questions that contain dropdown boxes, and STACK online computational questions.
• Creating attempts using this workflow actually launches student attempts on eClass so if quizzes have time windows or time limits for completion, the countdown will start for those attempts. Students can be given overrides that work around the timer so that that any offline processes can occur in an appropriate time. Instructors CANNOT submit attempts for students if the countdown timer has elapsed or the exam completion window has closed. 
• When you are submitting answers for students, if you have a multiple choice questions that allows the user to select multiple answers at once (a select all that apply question), when you are in the Submit student responses interface, then you will only be able to select one answer. If two or more answers are correct, you cannot choose them all. Right now, there is no workaround for this issue, so it is best to not use "Select all that apply" questions.

Creating Student Attempts

To access the attempt creation interface, open a quiz, click the Grades tab from the top header, and then select Create student attempts from the options dropdown at top left:

This page is similar to the standard quiz results table with additional columns is opens a table that lists all students in the course with new columns Attempt sheets, Answer sheets, Submit student responses, and Create attempt.

In a particular student's row, click Create attempt, then confirm to launch their attempt and pull any random values. Note: if a student has already attempted the quiz, there is no option to create their attempt:

Printing student attempts

Once created, a number of new options appear in a student's row - Attempt sheet, Right answer sheet, and Submit student responses:

Click Attempt sheet to display the student's entire attempt with random question/answer ordering in a printable form. This page displays all the questions as they would appear to students so should be proofed to ensure all the questions are working correctly:

Scroll to the very bottom right to Print the page. This triggers a standard browser interface for printing with options to save as pdf or send to a printer device for a paper copy:

Submitting answers for students

If a student has completed an exam on paper, instructors can use the Submit student responses link to transcribe their answers into eClass. Instructors could equeally score the paper copy themselves and enter the total score directly into the eClass gradebook. Entering the answers as the student allows the automated grading actions of the quiz to do the scoring and pass values to the gradebook.

The student's answers can be directly entered into the page but must be saved by clicking the green Submit answers on behalf of [student name] and finish attempt button at the very bottom right:

When importing questions from the Question Bank there are several formats that easily transfer into eClass quizzes.  One approach is to write questions using the AIKEN format. The AIKEN format allows you to create multiple choice or true/false questions using a plain text file. 

To set up AIKEN format questions:

1. Using a word-processing application (e.g. MS Word) or text editor (Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac), type out your questions using the following AIKEN conventions:
   • write the entire question on one line
   • add the response choices starting with an upper-case letter (ie. A, B, C) followed by a period or parenthesis.  For example, A.  or  A)
   • In the next line after the final response choice, type "ANSWER: " in all upper-case letters with a space after the colon.  Then, type in the letter of the correct response for that question.
   • For example:
     • What is the capital city of Alberta?
       A. Barrhead
       B. Calgary
       C. Edmonton
       D. Toronto
       ANSWER: C
     • Nunavut is a Canadian province.
       A) True
       B) False
       ANSWER: A
2. When you are finished adding all the questions in the document, click Save As and ensure that your file is being saved as a .txt (plain text) file in UTF-8 format.  Note: If you do not see this option in TextEdit, select Format in the top menu and choose Make plain text. Then save the file as .txt
   
   

Instructors can access the system at: 

https://digitizer.cloud.eclass.ualberta.ca/

U of A instructors can access the tool from any modern browser where they can upload files that will then be converted into an xml format (QTI) that is compatible for import into Canvas. The format can create the following question types: multiple choice (including images), essay, and true/false questions.

A walkthrough of using the tool is available in the following video:

Using the Exam Digitizer for Canvas  (running time ~6 minutes)

Usage Notes:

- All users must sign in with their CCIDs to use the tool.

This article describes the Question bank in eClass and the basic operations available within it. 

Adding a question to the Question bank from a quiz:

Adding any new question within a quiz also automatically stores it in the question bank for the course. For more details, see Adding Questions to Quizzes. Questions are added by default into a generic category for the course titled Default for [course name].

It is possible when creating questions to change the default category by adjusting the category dropdown in the question settings to any pre-existing categories set up in the course question bank (see below) or into a category specific to the current quiz.

Note that the quiz-level category of the question bank is only available and visible when accessed from within the quiz and has some very specific functions. See Creating and Managing Large Question Banks for more information.

 See also the article on Question Tagging to learn more about how to better organize your question bank.

To access a course Question bank and add questions:

Instructors can also add questions directly to the course-level question bank. This is the mechanism used for randomizing student quiz attempts by pulling a range of questions from a larger pool but can also be useful simply for organizing larger question banks in courses where multiple assessments are being delivered. Once added to the question bank, questions must still be added to specific quizzes as shown in Adding Questions to Quizzes.

1. From the main course page, click the More menu in the header and select Question Bank.
   
   
   
   
2. Select a category for your question using the dropdown menu, or simply click Create a new question to begin generating items in the Question Bank in the currently selected category. Within a particular category in the question bank, you may also click Edit using the drop-down. This allows you to edit,  duplicate, copy, preview, or delete questions in the list.
   
   
   
   

Bulk operations in a question bank:

Instructors can perform bulk operations on questions in categories:

1. To move questions to different categories, select the corresponding checkbox beside questions in the category.
2. Scroll to the bottom and select a new category from the dropdown in the row underneath 'With selected'.
3. Click Move to...
   
   
   
   
4. It is also possible to delete multiple questions by selecting question(s) and clicking Delete.

Create new Question bank categories:

To manage existing categories and create new categories in the Question Bank:

1. Click the Categories tab at the top of the Question bank.
2. To delete, edit, or move categories, click the corresponding icon to their right.
3. To set up a new category, scroll down the 'Add category' area.
4. Select a 'Parent category', enter a name, and click Add category.
   
   

This article describes how instructors can use the ExamVis external tool to provide students with feedback on their eClass exams. This tool, developed as a part of a TLEF project headed by Dr. Okan Bulut from the Faculty of Education, splits exam questions into subject matter categories that provide students detailed information on their strengths and weaknesses in those areas as well as a range of summary statistics. Dr. Bulut has provided this short overview of the tool.

For the Fall 2022 term, we have made a number of performance improvements over the summer as we continue to transition ExamVis to central support. Instructors should ensure to check the known issues before using the tool.

ExamVis can be added to an eClass course through Add an activity or resource > External tool > Select ExamVis from the list of preconfigured tools:

To get started using the tool, Dr. Bulut has prepared a user guide for using this tool that contains complete instructions.

Please note, since the tool is in open beta, instructors should be aware of the following known issues before opting to use ExamVis:

• The Description type question is not compatible with the tool. Descriptions will cause issues with calculating students correct total scores within question categories. If this type of question is required in a quiz, it/they can be added to a separate question bank category to prevent errors - this category would appear in the reports but not have any student scores associated. Note that collecting description questions will break the display of top visual graph, 'Radar chart'- per category scores and class averages will still be displayed in the Bar Chart below.
• Questions cannot be pulled randomly from categories into quizzes. If random order is required in a quiz, the shuffle feature can be used.
• Images within quiz questions cannot be added as base-64 encoded data (which commonly occurs when question text including images is pasted from word docs). These will cause the ExamVis tool to throw an http 504 error when loading the tool in a course. Base-64 encoded images can be identified by opening the html editor view of a question or answer and looking for either an image with a file name or an image consisting of a (very) long string of characters as in the screenshots below:
  
  
  • Not base-64:
    
    
    
    
  • Base-64:
    
    
    
    
• Very large courses (in terms of quizzes, question bank size, and overall content) may encounter errors when trying to load the ExamVis tool. This issue only appears intermittently and can sometimes be circumvented by launching the tool and running reports at off-peak hours when there is less overall traffic on eClass.
• Student reports are sometimes not fully generated on first attempt but if instructors click 'Generate reports' again, they should all appear.
• Student reports sometimes report that all student reports are generated when the actual number is lower and some reports are missing. This issue can sometimes be resolved by clicking 'Generate reports' again.
• ExamVis reports will not display correctly when questions with multiple versions are set to the default version setting 'Always latest' in quizzes. New versions of questions are created automatically every time a questions is edited so instructors who have made any changes to questions in ExamVis-enabled quizzes may need to manually change the version. This issue is being worked on by eClass developers. This issue can be resolved by selecting the latest version in the question's version dropdown (instead of 'Always latest'): 
  
  

Instructors encountering any issues should contact eClass support.

This article outlines how instructors can set up individualized versions of exams for specific students. This is most commonly required if an instructor needs to facilitate an approved Exam Audio (AF) accommodation and this article will describe that use case in detail. The eClass steps for creating individual, printed copies of exams may apply to other situations.

New in June 2023, instructors can now create individual student versions of quizzes that use both randomized values WITHIN questions such as the calculated, simple-calculated question types and that have both shuffled question or answer orders. These attempts have a convenient option to create print versions. This new workflow is now the recommended process for creating audio versions of printed exams. It is still not possible to create printed-in-advance versions of exams using the STACK question types, the drag-and-drop question types, or CLOZE questions with dropdown boxes so these scenarios require an alternative delivery method for audio accommodations.

The eClass quiz tool has several delivery options but converting an exam to audio requires three primary steps: 

1. Configure the quiz in eClass for printing (and optionally, if the student will be writing online, ensure they have access to the quiz);
2. Upload the resulting file to ClockWork’s Instructor Services portal; and
3. Share the converted audio file with the student.

When conversion for an Exam Audio (AF) accommodation is required, instructors will be contacted by the Academic Success Centre’s Alternate Format Team to request electronic files of the eClass quiz at least three (3) working days in advance of the exam. (Exam accommodation procedures can be reviewed on the Academic Success Centre’s Academic Accomodations website.) 

Important note: at this time it is not possible to create an audio conversion or printed-in-advance version of an exam that uses randomized values WITHIN questions such as the calculated, simple-calculated, and STACK eClass question types because these create the questions for each student “on-the-fly” when each attempt gets launched. In these situations, a separate static quiz must be created.

Step 1: Configure the quiz in eClass for printing

A. No randomization. The easiest case is a quiz that involves no randomization of questions OR answer order. When a quiz is static, students using an audio format copy of the exam can use the same version as the rest of the class. The basic instructions for quiz printing apply: switch the layout of the quiz temporarily so that all questions are on a single page, launch a preview of the quiz, and then use the browser print function to create a PDF. Save this file and then share it with the Academic Success Centre’s Alternate Format team as per the instructions in Step 2 below.

After saving the PDF, ensure to return the layout of the quiz to its original question-per-page format (quizzes should never be delivered with all questions on a a single page.) Approved exam time multipliers can be added as overrides. In this case, no extra steps are required to give the student access to the online quiz.

B. Randomized quiz. Any time you have used question or answer order randomization as part of a quiz setup, you must create a separate version of the quiz in order to enable an audio conversion. You can do this easily by using the eClass Duplicate function available in the '3 dots' (⋮) menu to the right of the quiz:

Once duplicated, the options for question and answer shuffling can be turned off.

Question order shuffling:

Answer order shuffling: 

The quiz can then be printed following the steps in part. A. above, ie. switched to 'All on 1 page, printed, and then returned to 1 question per page. If the student is taking the quiz on paper, this version can be hidden. If the student is taking the quiz online, this quiz version can then can be access-restricted to the specific student requiring with the audio accommodation. This student should also be excluded from accessing the non-audio version of the quiz using another access restriction.

Specific notes on quiz construction:

For audio conversion to be successful, all features used in the digital eClass quiz must be able to be translated to a paper format:

- Any online content such as linked files, embedded videos, or You Tube links must be shared separately with the student.

- The drag-and-drop eClass question types cannot be printed so will not convert to audio.

- The matching question type uses dropdown boxes so it will not convert to audio.

- Random variable questions like calculated and STACK cannot be printed in advance so will not convert to audio.

- When using CLOZE-style type questions, you must specify that answer options are displayed as radio buttons, MCV or MCH, as opposed to in a dropdown list.  (See here for more information on CLOZE.)

- Similarly, for questions whose answers require the selection of numeric units, the units should be displayed as multiple choice radio buttons as opposed to in a dropdown list.

Step 2: Upload the resulting file to ClockWork’s Instructor Services portal

Upload your saved PDF of the “all questions on one page” version of the eClass quiz to ClockWork:

This will enable the Academic Success Centre’s Alternate Format team to access the file and complete the audio conversion. The resulting converted audio file will be returned to you through a Google Drive folder. Note that while it is possible to block the options for downloading videos/audio files in the google drive interface, students could still be able to save hard copies of files. It is possible to share .mp4 type audio files through YuJa without giving students the option to download.

Step 3: Share the converted audio file with the student

The most common method for providing the audio format of an eClass quiz with a student is to share it through a Google Drive folder. This can be accomplished in either of two ways:

• add direct url links to the folder or files;
• embed the files via the Google embed tool

With both of these methods, you must restrict access to only the student with the Exam Audio (AF) accommodation, making sure to follow the steps here for protecting student private information. If you wish to prevent downloads of the exam audio files, follow the instructions here.

• 4. Number the choices: Allows the option to select how the answers will be displayed to students. Options include numbers and upper and lower case letters and Roman numerals.
  
  
• 5. You may choose the standard eClass instructions displayed before the answer choices.
  • By toggling Yes, students will see the instruction "Select one" or "Select all that apply" before the answer choices. Selecting No would not include this instruction at all, and go straight from question to answer choices.
  • Selecting Yes will display the Select one: before the answer choices

• • Selecting No means nothing will display before the answer choices

Creating answer choices: 

The next group of settings is specific to the answer choices available for the question.

1. The word ‘Choice’ indicates the answer choices being offered to the student (i.e., a., b., c., d.).

2. In the screenshot above there are two answer choices, Red and Blue. Changing the Grade on ‘Choice 2’ to 100% sets Blue as the correct answer to the question.

3. You can add as many answer choices as needed, by clicking the Blanks for 3 more choices button.

4. To preview the question before adding it to the quiz, select Preview. Once you are ready to add the question to the quiz, select Save changes.

5. The question will now appear on the Questions screen and will be available to edit at any point until the quiz has been attempted by students.

Multiple correct answers cautionary note:

In addition to shuffling questions and multiple-choice choice orders as academic integrity mechanisms, instructors can distribute multiple versions of eClass quizzes or assignments to students.

Once multiple versions of an assignment or quiz have been created, these can be selectively restricted to groups in the course. The example below demonstrates how to create random groups for the different exam versions and set up the access restrictions for each version.

Create random groups:

In this example, students are randomly allocated to groups. It would work equally well to use existing groups in a course, for example, the automatically created groups for different sections within a combined course (eg. LEC B1, LEC B2, etc.)

1. Click on the Participants tab at the top of your course page:
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the Enrolled users dropdown and select  Groups:
   
   
   
   
3. Click Auto-create groups:
   
   
   
   
4. Choose options to 'Auto-create based on' Number of groups then enter the required number of groups:
   
   
   
   
5. In the Grouping settings at the bottom of the settings page, create a 'Grouping name':
   
   
6. Click Submit to display the number of groups specified:
   
   

Create your assignments or quizzes:

In this example, the alternate versions of a quiz are already created. It is important to name each version of the assessment clearly to avoid confusion and to organize things correctly in the gradebook:

Set up access restrictions:

1. Click on the 3-dot dropdown menu and select Edit settings to access the quiz or assignment settings

2. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page and open the 'Restrict access' category:

3. Restrict access to each item according to the specific group that should have access:

4. Click Add restriction... to set the restriction:

5. If the eye icon was not clicked, your students should see the group restrictions:

Note: After you have completed the setup, verify that your Gradebook setup accurately reflects your requirements (i.e., weightings, etc).

An instructor may need to adjust scores globally on a quiz by adding or subtracting points or scaling the scores without having to enter mass gradebook overrides to student scores.

eClass can do this by any combination of adjusting the 'Offset' and/or 'Multiplicator' values within the grade item for the quiz in the gradebook.

(Note: this procedure is not the same as adjusting the scores on specific questions when, for example, a wrong answer to a specific question was set as the correct answer or else was not scored correctly. Refer to Editing and Regrading Quiz Attempts for direction on how to adjust the grade on a specific quiz question).

Multiplicator: The factor by which all grades for the grade item will be multiplied. For example, to add 2% to every quiz attempt, add a Multiplicator of 1.02.

Offset: A number that is added to every grade for this grade item, after the multiplicator is applied.

If you wish only to add 2 marks to every quiz attempt, set a Multiplicator of 1.0 and an offset of 2.0.

In another scenario, if you set a quiz where students are given the choice of answering two essay questions out of three topics and

• the quiz is worth 10 marks;
• the three answers are worth five marks each;
• students must provide only two of three answers; 

you could set a multiplicator of 1.5 to give them the full value of the grade out of ten. In other words, you would be dividing the number of marks of all the questions by the total grade (15/10 = 1.5).

The grade that the student will see will equal (grade the student scored * multiplicator) + offset.

Note: the adjustment is made in the gradebook grade item setting, as below, and not in the quiz settings.

To adjust these settings:

1. Go to your course's Grades tab then go to Gradebook setup:
   
   
   
   
2. Locate a Quiz activity and click Edit settings under the Edit link at the right:
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click on Show more. Enter your 'Offset' and/or 'Multiplicator' values.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click Save changes to register the change.

The Question Bank allows instructors to tag questions as an enhanced means of organization. Questions can each have multiple tags and can be used to filter the question bank to view to tagged questions across categories. It is also possible to use tags to construct quizzes when pulling questions or adding random questions that match a tag or set of tags. 

Adding Tags to Questions

The first method to add tags is when editing an existing or creating a new question:

1. Either create a new or edit an existing question.
2. At the bottom of the question properties, expand the 'Tags' section.
   
3. You can assign an existing tag by typing in the search box, or you can type and create a new tag followed by Enter/Return on your keyboard or by clicking away. You may also click on tags that appear in the suggestion box. Assigned tags will be shown above the search box. You may also remove them by clicking on the tag's X mark.
   
4. Save to add the tag.

Quick Tagging Questions

Alternatively, if you already have numerous questions in your question bank, you can quickly tag them by clicking on the Edit dropdown in a question's row and selecting Manage tags:

This will open a tagging overlay using the same mechanism as above:

Filtering a Question Bank Using Tags

At the top of the question bank, once at least one question has been tagged, a new 'Filter by tags' dropdown will appear: 

Opening the dropdown will display all the tags used in the questions bank and is searchable. Once a tag is added in the filter, it will appear in blue above the field and the question bank will only show the questions containing the specific tag(s):

Using Tagged Questions in Quiz Construction

When adding questions from your question bank or adding random questions, similar filters appear to allow only specific tagged questions to appear in the 'From Question Bank' or 'Add a random question' overlays:

If using random questions that are tagged, the applied tags will be displayed in the quiz editing view:

Sometimes multiple choice quiz questions will be displayed in different colours or may have additional line spacing added.

Distracting formatting is commonly caused by pasting content from coded text such as Microsoft Word or web pages which copy unwanted format codes.

This article outlines how to repair the formatting easily and prevent student distractions during exams.

To fix formatting errors in quiz questions:

• Click to turn on Edit mode in the top right corner of your course page;
• Click on the quiz
• Click to open a Preview;
• Navigate through the questions until you find a misformatted question;
• Click on 'Edit question' on the left side:

• On the question editing screen, locate the misformatted text in the ‘Question text’ field or in any of the specific answer choices;
• Click on the down-pointing arrow button to expand the toolbar options and look for the HTML button: 

• Each answer should have no other coding at the beginning and end of the answer choice except as shown in this example:

• Preserve coding for individual symbols, words, or phrases that indicate formats such as italics, superscripts, or subscripts
• Clicking “Save changes” will return you to the quiz or exam
• You may have to start a new Preview to see the change to your question

Your formatting issue should be resolved:

Note: The tag "<p>” is a paragraph marker that draws its style from a hidden style sheet which sets the paragraph colour and spacing. Some other coding overwrites that style with extra line spaces or different colours.

Note: Alternatively, deleting all HTML coding at the beginning and end of an answer choice will remove all colours and leave behind no line space issues.

A drag and drop question requires the test taker to drag missing words into a paragraph of text.

How to create a question

1. Complete all required fields. The descriptive name is only for your reference and is not visible to students.
2. Enter your question into the editor.
3. Use double square brackets '[[n]]' with a number in place of the word you wish the students to find:

Add the missing words or phrases in the correctly numbered boxes in the 'Choice' section. (You may add extra ones to make the question harder.) If you tick 'Shuffle' the display order will be shuffled:

Use of the following markup is acceptable for this question type:

• <sub> (subscript)
• <sup> (superscript)
• <b> (bold)
• <i> (italics)
• <em> (italics)
• <strong> (bold)

Groups

Choices that are within the same Group are colour coded and may only be dropped in a gap of the corresponding colour. Choices that are marked as 'Unlimited may be used in multiple locations.

In the example below, Group 1 are verbs and Group 2 are possessive adjectives:

The students see Group 1 as white boxes and Group 2 as grey boxes:

Note: It is not possible to make a drag box containing multiple lines. A workaround is to list long sentences as text, and place a label next to it for students to drag.

Scoring and Feedback

All gaps are weighted identically. Only gaps that are filled correctly gain marks. There is no negative marking of gaps that are filled incorrectly.

Advanced Options for Scoring and Feedback

In interactive with multiple tries mode Combined feedback is shown after every try as well as when the question completes.

The option ‘Show the number of correct responses’ is overridden in interactive with multiple tries mode by the same settings in the ‘Settings for multiple tries’ section of the editing form.

Penalty for each incorrect try: The available mark is reduced by the penalty for second and subsequent tries. In the example above a correct answer at the second try will score 0.6666667 of the available marks and a correct answer at the third try will score 0.3333334 of the available marks.

If the question is used in 'interactive with multiple tries' behaviour the marking is modified as follows:

1. The mark is reduced for each try by the penalty factor.
2. Allowance is made for when a correct choice is first chosen providing it remains chosen in subsequent tries.

Hint: You can complete as many of these boxes as you wish. If you wish to give the student three tries at a question you will need to provide two hints. During the attempt, when the hints are exhausted, the question will finish and the student will be given the general feedback and the question score will be calculated.

Clear incorrect responses: When ‘Try again’ is clicked incorrect choices are cleared.

Show the number of correct responses: Include in the feedback a statement of how many choices are correct.

Accessibility

Drag and drop questions are keyboard accessible. Use the Tab-key to move between the gaps and the Space-key to cycle around the possible choices for each gap.

Using blanks as a response

If you require a blank to be draggable as a response option, you will need to input a non-breaking space. i.e. type &nbsp in the Text editor.

This question type allows students to drag words, images or both from a list and drop them into pre-defined spaces on a base image.

How to create a question

1. Complete all required fields. The descriptive name is only for your reference and is not visible to students.
2. Add the question to the text editor.
3. Preview - click the background image button to upload an image. Your image will then display under the file upload box.
4. Draggable items - you can upload images if you leave the type as 'draggable image' or you can type in words if you change the type to 'draggable text'. You may have a mix of images and text.
5. Drop zones - choose which items to go in which zone. Click the 'Refresh preview' button.
6. Then position the items on the background image and it will add their coordinates.

Notes:

1. Draggable images cannot be more than 150 x 100 pixels. If they are larger, they will be scaled on import. Remember to add a short text descriptor too. If you change your mind about an image, simply upload a different one to replace it.
2. The following markup is allowed for use in this question type:
   1. <sub> (subscript)
   2. <sup> (superscript)
   3. <b> (bold)
   4. <i> (italics)
   5. <em> (italics)
   6. <strong> (bold)
   7. <br/> (line break)
3. Choices that are within the same Group are colour coded and may only be dropped into a drop zone with the corresponding colour. Choices that are marked as 'Unlimited' may be used in multiple locations.

Example 1

In this example, the student must put the stages in order.

In the Preview section, a basic image of steps is uploaded.

In the Draggable items section, the 'type' chosen is 'draggable text' and text for each stage is added. (Groups and the Unlimited setting are not used in this example)

In the Drop zones section, items from the previously added options are chosen from the drop down:

The text then appears below the image:

The text boxes are dragged to their correct positions on the image (steps on the staircase) This will then add the co-ordinates to the Dropzones section automatically:

Once other settings are completed (see below) and the question is saved, test takers must drag the stages to the correct step:

Example two

Participants must add the correct country flag and capital city onto a map of Europe.

This question has both images and text while making use of the Groups feature.

In the Preview section, a basic map of Europe is uploaded.

In the Draggable items section, the capital cities are added as the type 'draggable text' and the flags are added as the type "draggable image".

All draggable images (the flags) are in Group 1 and all draggable text items (the capital cities) are in Group 2.

In the Drop zones section, an item from the previously added options is chosen from the drop down. The Group 1 boxes will display in a different colour from the Group 2 boxes.

When the boxes are dragged to their appropriate places on the background image, the coordinates in the Drop zones section are updated automatically.

Once other settings are completed and the question is saved (see below):

Scoring and feedback

All gaps are weighted identically. Only drop zones that are filled correctly gain marks. There is no negative marking of drop zones that are filled incorrectly.

Advanced Scoring and feedback

Whether or not Combined feedback is shown to students is governed by the Specific feedback setting on the quiz settings form.

Penalty for each incorrect try: The available mark is reduced by the penalty for second and subsequent tries. In the example above a correct answer at the second try will score 0.6666667 of the available marks and a correct answer at the third try will score 0.3333334 of the available marks.

If the question is used in 'interactive with multiple tries' behaviour the marking is modified as follows:

1. The mark is reduced for each try by the penalty factor.
2. Allowance is made for when a correct choice is first chosen providing it remains chosen in subsequent tries.

Hint: You can complete as many of these boxes as you wish. If you wish to give the student three tries at a question you will need to provide two hints. At runtime when the hints are exhausted the question will finish and the student will be given the general feedback and the question score will be calculated.

Clear incorrect responses: When ‘Try again’ is clicked incorrect choices are cleared.

Show the number of correct responses: Include in the feedback a statement of how many choices are correct.

Accessibility

Drag and drop questions are keyboard accessible. Use the <tab> key to move between the drop zones and the <space> key to cycle around the possible choices for each drop zone.

Note: This question type is not accessible to users who are visually impaired.

This question type allows students to drop markers onto an area on a background image. Drag and drop markers questions differ from Drag and drop onto image question type in that there are no predefined areas on the underlying image that are visible to the student.

How to create a question

1. Complete all required fields. The descriptive name is only for your reference and is not visible to students.
2. Enter your question into the editor.

In the Preview section, click the background image button to upload an image. Larger images will be displayed at a maximum 600 x 400. Your image will then display under the file upload box. Note the grid lines now visible:

In the Markers section, add the words you want the students to drag onto the areas you select.

In the 'Number' dropdown, you can choose the number of times the marker can be used, from 1 to Unlimited.

In the Dropzones section, choose the shape of the selectable area(s). In each 'Marker' dropdown, choose the item you want for that area.

You will now see the name entries added next to the image uploaded:

Drop zones may be dragged into position and resized by mouse. Alternatively, they can be defined by coordinates. More information about how to add coordinates is displayed if you click the question mark icon next to the Drop zone.

Generally, drop zones should be slightly oversize to compensate, so that users are not required to drop items to the exact pixel or otherwise score incorrectly.

Once all the drop zones have been defined, save the changes and preview the question.

Note: When dragging a marker, students must position the small circle top left of the marker in the centre of the area they have selected, not the whole marker, as this might cause confusion and an unexpected incorrect answer.

Using markers and drop zones more than once

If 'Unlimited' is selected from the 'Numbers' dropdown in the Markers section, then the markers may be used more than once.

If the same coordinates must used for several markers in the Drop zones section, then more than one marker may be placed in a single area, as in the example below (1), where students identify regions (2):

Creating polygons

When creating a polygon drop zone it starts off as a triangle. Click on it to reveal 'handles' at each corner.

To add a new handle click on one of the existing ones while holding down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) and drag. This will create a new handle that can be dragged to change its position between the existing handles.

Scoring and feedback

All drop zones are weighted identically. Only drop zones that are correctly labelled gain marks. There is no negative marking of drop zones that are incorrectly labelled.

If more markers are placed on the image than there are drop-zones a penalty is applied for the extra markers. If there are n drop zones and n+m markers are placed of which p are placed correctly the score is calculated as p/(m+n).

Advanced Scoring and Feedback

If the question is used in 'interactive with multiple tries' style the marking is modified as follows:

• The mark is reduced for each try by the penalty factor.
• Allowance is made for when a correct choice is first chosen providing it remains chosen in subsequent tries.

Show the number of correct responses: Include in the feedback a statement of how many choices are correct.

State which markers are incorrectly placed: Include in the feedback a list of markers which are incorrectly placed.

Move incorrectly placed markers back to default start position below image: When ‘Try again’ is clicked incorrectly positioned labels are removed.

Accessibility

Marker questions are keyboard accessible. Use the <tab> key to move between the markers and the <arrow> keys to position the markers.

Note: This question type is not accessible to users who are visually impaired.