The actual examination details (dates, settings and markers etc.) are specified by the Planner in Inspera. This is usually a departmental administrator.
In your role as Author, the creation, and sharing, of a Question Set for use as the examination, is the final step for you in the creation process.
It is important to ensure you share the Question Set with your planner rather than a Question. Exams must be linked to Question Sets.
Options for exam creation
Staff are encouraged to author their exams in Inspera so that students can answer the exam within Inspera using Essay boxes, MCQs, etc, and where possible to avoid the need for file upload points.
Questions should be written on Inspera, but if the exam paper uses a significant number of equations or tables, it is possible to upload the exam paper as a PDF panel.
The Author’s tasks:
- Create the Question Set by either:
- Creating a Question Set and create new questions within it.
- Or creating questions individually outside of a Question Set. These will be saved in a question bank. You can then create a Question Set and add the questions from the question bank to it. (This may be useful if you wish to reuse questions from previous years).
- Change the Design Settings and preview how it will look to students.
- Share the Question Set with your Planner.
Authoring a Question Set
- The Author uses available Inspera question types for each question in the Question Set (document, essay, multiple choice, multiple response or file upload). This requires some understanding of the different properties.
- All questions will require a mark be set. These marks should be as you wish to mark – e.g. if you have 2 essays and would like to mark each /100, set each to be /100.
- Students respond directly to each question in the online Inspera Test (i.e. question by question).
- Marking is determined by question types (automatic and/or manual) and manual marking is completed in Inspera by Graders.
- Multiple markers (ie. Graders) can grade the exams and where this is the case the Unit Convenor will need to confirm the final grade.
For further information, have a look at the Inspera guidance on Creating a Question Set, which you may also find helpful.
Authoring an exam with optional questions
Authoring exams with optional questions (e.g. answer 2 out of 5 questions in this Section) is now possible on Inspera. This is done using the randomisation button on the Question Set.
Further information can be found on the Inspera Help Centre page on Candidate-selected questions.
Changing the Design Settings
On the Question Set, click the Design tab at the bottom.
Ensure the following are selected:
- Table of contents
- Hide question titles
- Show sections in table of contents
- Enable flagging
- Question maximum marks
- Show interaction accessibility guide
- Highlight “next” button when responses are completed
Do not enable
- Hide navigation bar.
- Disable navigate back button.
- Show progress indicator
- Warning when navigating away from pages with incomplete response
For the Numbering Scheme you should use either Test sequential or Section alphanumeric.
Pressing the Preview button in the top right will show the exam as it will appear to students.
Uploading an exam paper as a PDF
If necessary, it is possible to upload the exam paper as a PDF panel onto the Question Set.
- The Author uploads the exam paper as a PDF document into a Question Set.
- Marks are set to the total marks of the exam.
- Students respond by uploading their completed submission (in a PDF document) to the Inspera Test.
- Marking and moderation can be completed on Inspera, or offline.
Sharing a Question Set with your Planner
Once the question set is complete it must be shared with the Faculty / Department Planner and Admin. The Planner will then attach it to the exam.
Editing a question set after the exam has been set up
Preferably there will be no changes to a question set after the Unit Convenor has shared the exam with a planner. However, if the Unit Convenor notices a mistake in a question set then they can edit the question set and then must inform the planner. If the planner is not informed, then the edited question will not appear on the exam for students.