Example of Remote Online SummativeTest

INTRODUCTION

Summative tests need to be controlled more strictly to prevent plagiarism. In remote online tests, it is extremely difficult to prevent students from discussing with others. Summative tests are best done individually because we want to test their accumulated knowledge and skill without any help from other people.

The preparation for the test described in this article is geared towards a summative test that is designed to test the knowledge and skill of an individual student. This type of test is a suitable replacement for the typical mid-term test and even final year examination. What is shown in this example is an actual mid-term test for students of Chemical Engineering, HK03, taking a course in Management and Accounting for Engineers.

The most important tool to use is the Moodle based Smart UMS Version 3. Another important tool is Google Meet for the invigilation process. The best way to learn is just to try the menus. Just take note of the important techniques used here.

For Moodle, use random ordering and random essay questions that allow unlimited number of attachements to be uploaded by the students.

For Google Meet, install the Google Meet Grid View extension.

INVIGILATION

Ths course is a good example of the application  essay subjective and objective calculative type of questions. Because this is a remote online test, it is not practical to invigilate fully students taking the test. It is also difficult to block students communicating with each other or others. The only way out is to have an open book examination with a Bloom's difficulty level of at least 3.

Attendance

Even with open book examination, some sort of invigilation is still required. The time of the test should be similar for each student so that there is little possibility of sharing questions. Atttendances need to be taken. The best method of attendance taking is by using UMS Smart-Hadir app. Students who are able to scan the QR code of the course will be recorded as having attended the course in our UMS OBE system.

Smart-Hadir:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.umsattendance&hl=en

QR code for the attendance using UMS OBE system at:
http://webapps.ums.edu.my/OBE/courseCOPO_my.aspx

 Google Meet

 This code is displayed to the screen of ;the student using Google Meet running on Chrome browser.
Google Meet for the PC is browser based at:
https://meet.google.com/?hs=197&pli=1&authuser=0

Students can also view the screen using mobile phones running Google  Meet App:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.meetings&hl=en

Google Meet appointment link can be generated in Google Calendar. The official email addresses of students are used to send the meeting link to students. This is another control for the examination process. This also solves the problem of requiring to approve each participant. Students using their student email accounts joining the Google Meet session do not need to be approved by the presenter.

Students just need to click the invitation link when they open their invitation email in order to join the Google Meet session. If they use a mobile phone, they will be prompted to install the required app automatically.

In Google Meet, you can choolse to present one window or the entire screen. There is little problem in sharing the QR code in the full screen sharing mode. There are problems with the scanning of QR codes by some students. However 29 out of 41 students managed to scan the atttendance QR code.

As backup attendance, students are required type their matriculation number in the Chat of the Google Meet. They are supposed to say their names when they just join in but this is difficult to enforce.

Google Meet Grid View

For the invigilation process, Google Meet uses the Google Meet Grid View extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-meet-grid-view/bjkegbgpfgpikgkfidhcihhiflbjgfic/related?hl=en-US .

This extension is able to display more than 50 participants at once with their names and microphone status. Attendance is therefore multiply verified. Their microphones need to be switched on during the test. They will be disqualified if they deliberately switch off their microphones or do not show their faces throughout the test. The questions are actually displayed using another app.

 Before the test was conducted, its instruction had been published.

Instruction

1. The test will be conducted using SmartV3 Essay Quiz.
2. You must also join a Google Meeting where you enable the microphone and video camera throughout the test.
3. The invitation for the test will be sent via Google Calendar to your UMS student email accounts.
4. Accept the invitation if you want to take Test 1 this week.
5. Your attempt with the Smartv3 quiz is only recognised when the Meeting of yourself is recorded.
6. When you join the Meeting, write down your matriculation number at the Chat, and say your name at the microphone.
7. The  video conference of the Test will be recorded for use as evidence.
8. Google Meet or Zoom with Screen video recording, may be used.
9. I shall offer the same test in the second week when the second-half semester begins.
10. All students are allowed to retake the test and the highest mark will be used.
11. The questions will appear at random order and they are not exactly the same so do not attempt to copy or discuss with each other the answers.
12. Any evidence of academic misconduct will be investigated, recorded and appropriate action taken.
13. For students that have poor bandwidth, they should move to places that have better bandwidth, but MOC must be respected.  Download the this call for test if you are stopped by the police and ask for special exemption for the duration of the test.
14. The test will last for one hour, and you have only one attempt.
15. You may refer to any online sources but cannot refer to other people for the answer.
16. The answers must be handwritten and accompanied by the workings in getting the answers.
17. All the steps and variables used must be explained in your own hand writing. The answer is only part of the mark that will be awarded.
18. For each question, take a photo of your hand written answer, and upload to SmartV3 using its file picker.
19. If you have problem uploading using Smartv3, please email it to me at othman58@ums.edu.my before you proceed to the next question. The time stamp of the email and the SmartV3 time for the question will be checked to be within the time allocated by you for the question, or else, the email will not be accepted.
20. The questions will be presented page by page but you cannot reverse. Upload your answer before the next page is attempted.
21. Any corrections to answer scripts of previous questions can also be uploaded at the same time as the current question attempted.
22. The correction must be done in red ink and its question number must be written at the top left of the corrected page. Only the page containing the correction needs to be uploaded.
23. Download any attachements relevant to the test before you attempt Test 1.
24. Those who want to join, please accept the Google Meet/ Zoom invitation.
25. If you cannot have a stable video feed, you may use Whatsapp to record your voice only into the Google Meet/ Zoom full screen recording.
26. Those who do not accept the Google Meet / Zoom invitation or those who do not have their Whatsapp audio connected to my phone, will not be allowed to take the test in SmartV3.

 SETTING QUESTIONS

 The questions are set using the Moodle based Smart UMS Version 3. It is able to allow random ordering of questions and random questions.

Quiz Settings:

Use sequential but clicking the More button and the Navigation method. This ensures that students cannot reverse in viewing the pages. Once they view the second question, they cannot go back to the previous question to view or submit corrections. Any correction to the previous question can still be submitted in subsequent questions but in red ink.

 Adding random questions 

 

Please click the Shuffle is the order of the questions are to be random. This disallows all students to attempt the same set of questions at the same time. Select Random questions and edit the entry in order to add a few questionns that will be randomly selected.

Entering questions

I am sorry that I cannot reveal the questions now because students need to take the test again because some students cannot attend the test for various reasons.
 
Make sure they are in the same category and this category is at the same level. To make it easy for me, I just set their category level as the top. Questions should be selected from this set of questions with the same category listed above. I name the question with labels 1A, 1B, 1C, just in case the software cannot distinguish the questions from each other.

Notice that the questions are exactly similar. It is actually a mistake. I can just use a normal question but the questions ask students to create names for the company by attaching their names to the name of the company in question (b).

In question (a), students are required to choose the type of company for a certain situation. For this question I just set the scenario to be similar, but based on the answers submitted, there are varieties of answers. I do not detect any evidence of plagiarism or collaboration among the students.

The other two sub questions (c) and (d) are just standard textbook descriptions on the setting up of companies and organising them. However, they are required to insert the name of their companies and product into their descriptions. All are to be submitted by handwriting.

RESULTS

The time set for the question was 1 hour for 50 marks in total. There are two 20-mark questions and one 10-mark question. The test questions are simpler versions of examination questions. Examination questions are simplified versiions of tutorial questions that are long and complete. So my tutorial questions are submitted as assignments with no invigilation at all.

Because of difficulty of invigilating tests, all my previous tests are also open-book tests but this batch of students are not used to taking open book examinations despite been given warnings about the importance of timing.

Only less than 10% of students manage to answer all questions. A few submitted late. Those who are late by 5 minutes are still acceptable and need to be sent using email. The file upload system of Moodle maybe slow but I had tested it and it should be similar to email.

Despite being advised to install the Moodle app, most did not. Because the test requires students to scan their handwritten answers first, answering using a mobile phone is faster. Some students claimed to need to place the mobile phone outside in order to get better reception and they do not have other phones because other family members also study online at the same time.

Therefore time is the major complaint. A few students requested that the time for the test be doubled to 2 hours. I am reluctant to allocate more because this will increase the chance of collaboration and plagiarism.

Time constraint is a very important part of living. We need to submit our work on time in order to be useful. In most circumstances, work submitted late will not be of any use or their values are much less compared to work submitted on time.

Students just need to adapt to the environment that timely submission is vital, not just the correctness.