As we move toward Finals Week, you may be concerned with the experience your students will have completing their exam online. Here are some best practices for the smoothest finals experience in Canvas.
Quiz/exam start times: Instructors with courses of 200 students or more are advised to stagger quiz start times in Canvas in order to avoid quiz load delays for their students. Even varying the start times for groups of students by 5 or 10 minutes can help avoid delays with quizzes loading due to a large number of students clicking to begin the quiz simultaneously. Contact CEETE to help set up staggered start times.
One question at a time and locking questions: While making an exam with one question per page as referenced in the document may provide some protection for your students by saving their submission after each question, there are many trade-offs to consider for this recommendation. Exams with one locked question per page may prevent students from good exam taking practices like looking through the exam to budget their time on a per question basis. Locking questions will also prevent students from returning to a previous question once they have moved on (this may be a desired affect). Also, some students have reported that there have been significant lags as Canvas saves and submits their answer which prevent students from having the full time allotted for the test.
Reminder: Examity is not being recommended for broad use at this time. If you would like to use Examity for your final exam, please contact CEETE as soon as possible.
- Schedule the Canvas exam and set a time limit
- Decide how to release grades
- Set up a communication channel to use during the exam
- Test it out beforehand
- Make a backup plan
- Communicate with students
- Understand Canvas exam safeguards for students
Please remember that your exam during Finals Week will be happening along with all of campus. Load on the Canvas tool will be high. Demonstrating patience with the tool and having a backup plan will help to reduce the stress on your students. Keep a designated line of communication open with your students in case they have issues and need your assistance. If your students have technical issues during their final exam, they should contact the DoIt Help desk to troubleshoot their issue.
Read the full article at: https://kb.wisc.edu/luwmad/101386