Quizzes and Exams

Quizzes and exams can be stressful for students, even more so when held online. Students may be thinking, “What happens if my internet goes down in the middle of taking the test?” or “Will I be able to find a quiet place to take the exam?” As such, you are encouraged to consider alternatives to an exam, such as:

• Redesign the exam as an alternative assessment that can be complete remotely, for example as a final paper, case study presentation, or multimedia project.
• Cancel the exam altogether and distribute the weight of the exam across other assessed work.

If an exam is required, there are a number of options:

Non-proctored, take-home exam

You can give the students a take-home exam via the Brightspace Quizzes function. You can also consider giving your students permission to use their course materials to complete it. Even with a take-home test, there are options for its timing and duration:

• Exam is synchronous (at the same time for everyone – e.g., “Wednesday, December 1 at 2-4 p.m. Atlantic”)
• Exam is fixed range (e.g., available for 24 hours and students have 3 hours to complete the exam once they start)
• Exam is available for a longer duration and students have the entire time to complete and submit the exam (e.g., available for 24 hours and students have 24 hours to complete and submit the exam)

Multiple-choice exam using question pool

Quizzes and tests can be set up in Brightspace to use a question bank. In these cases, the system randomly selects different questions at the same difficulty level for different students. The questions and/or answer choices can be randomized.

Proctored online exam

It is possible to use online proctoring software, which verifies student’s identity and monitors them while they write an online exam. Proctoring is not 100% reliable, and proctored exams can bring up feelings of stress, concerns around privacy, and more.