Summative Assessment

The exams of the modules shall take place on the Irchel campus whenever possible. The faculty would like all students to be able to take the exams under the same, controlled conditions, especially those for the mandatory modules of the programs.

The students write their exam on campus with paper and pencil.

A new paper scan software "evaexam" is available.

"Grundstudium" paper exams: for advice contact ewa.bolli@biol.uzh.ch

 "Fachstudium" paper exams: for advice contact karin.isler@biol.uzh.ch

The expression "Bring Your Own Device", has gained widespread use and seems to be a practicable compromise between paper and pencil on-site exams and remote exams. The exam takes place on campus, but the students use their own devices and all is done digitally.

For advice contact karin.niffeler@biol.uzh.ch at least two months prior the exam date or the responsible person in your institute.

The Safe Exam Browser is a web browser environment to carry out e-assessments safely. The Software turns any computer temporarily into a secure workstation. It controls access to resources like system functions, other websites and applications and prevents unauthorized resources being used during an exam.

The Save Exam Browser has been tested within the Faculty of Science by Karin Niffeler in June 2022 in the module BME247 with 66 students (no problems occurred during the exam - one has to include a test run for the students during the semester in order to solve problems before the exam date). From HS22 it should be available for the whole UZH. The SEB browser offers different functionalities and could be your solution for BYOD closed booked exams:

• blocked fullscreen mode during the exam
• prevention of shortcuts, task manager, program switcher, print screen and shortcuts
• specific restriction of program and document use

For advice contact karin.niffeler@biol.uzh.ch at least two months prior the exam date or the responsible person in your institute.

If you like to conduct a Safe Exam Browser BYOD closed book exam then

• organise the three "emergency" computer at least two weeks prior the exam (see "Infrastructure at Irchel for BYOD exams)
• book the computer room Y01-F-2-50 with additional 21 "emergency" computers in time (see "Infrastructure at Irchel for BYOD exams)

The exam results during the Lockdown have shown that several students did not respect the exam Code of Honor and illegally tried to get better exam results. As a consequence, the Faculty of Science gives the guideline to hold exams at the Irchel campus as paper exams or online BYOD exams.

Although, a Remote Proctoring software could help that the students maintain the integrity of the test, this is joint with an additional workload and a need of manpower especially in modules with large cohorts. They could be monitored through video which flags any irregular student behaviour. At the University of Zurich however, only live online proctoring is allowed due to legal concerns.

Remote proctoring has three categories:

• Live online proctoring, where proctors observe the students during the exam.
• Recorded proctoring, where images and log data are filed for later review.
• Advanced proctoring, where the software detects irregularities, which proctors review when needed. 

The problematics of remote, open book exams. Students could:

• use a phone to call a friend
• ask a friend (locally or online)
• have another person take the exam
• copy the questions for future use
• record an oral exam

In addition, the students could experience technical problems:

• internet connection, hardware or software that slows down
• internet connection that completely blocks their possibility to successfully answer the questionnaire in time

How you can decrease cheating:

• conduct the exam during a specific time which is rather tight and leaves no time for discussion between the students
• randomise the order of questions
• use three different questionnaires and allocate the students beforehand – the level of difficulty of the questionnaires should be the same
• Use a question pool – questions for each student are randomly assigned (you can categorise/group the questions in the pool)
• include at least some "free text" questions
• inquire only topics which are related to the course content (constructive alignment John Biggs)
• if possible, test your students orally via TEAMS or Zoom
• if possible, use other written formats than questionnaires (e.g. paper, report, essay, portfolio...)

Additional possibilities (probably too strict):

• set a time limit for each question in the questionnaire
• the students can answer a question in the questionnaire only once. After sending an answer, they are not able to correct it

How you can decrease the impact of technical issues:

• provide the students the chance to conduct a mock exam.
• be available by e-mail or phone during the exam. Students that are blocked should be able to immediately contact you.
• If the problem can't be solved quickly, the result does not count and the student gets another chance at the date of the repetition exam.

WLAN

The lecture hall WLAN was tested by the Central Informatics during the spring semester 2022. Recommended WLAN connection for the students: "uzh-5GHz"

Computer room with "emergency" computer

We recommend to book the computer room with 21 computers (with seating space) room Y01-F-2-50  during an on-site BYOD exam. For the room booking send an e-mail to ewa.bolli@biol.uzh.ch.

Three "emergency" Apple MacBooks Pro

Exam organisers can borrow up to three Apple MacBooks Pro. The operation system will be up to date. All additional software has to be installed by the exam organisers. In case of interest, please, call 635 48 91 at least two week prior the exam.

Power plugs

Currently, different lecture halls at Campus Irchel will be furnished with power plugs.

Y15-G-19: available (since 09.08.2021)

Y04-G-30: available (since 09.08.2022)

Y24-G-45: available (since 09.08.2022)

Y24-G-55: available

Y03-G-85: is planned - unknown realisation date

Y16-G-05: is planned - unknown realisation date

Y17-M-05: is planned - unknown realisation date

Y35-F-32: is planned - unknown realisation date

Y15-G-20: is planned - available until approximately 01.09.2023

Y15-G-40: is planned - available until approximately 01.09.2023

Y15-G-60: is planned - available until approximately 01.09.2023

There are different options how you could perform the exam review.

At the division of Biology and Biomedicine we recommend the following:

• Offer the students at the campus Irchel in a lecture hall to a specific date and time slot(s) the exam review. You could organise the enrolment for the time slots via OLAT enrolment element. In case of large cohorts invite only the students who did not pass the exam.
• Make only the answers and the received points for each single student via your OLAT course element "Participant Folder" (distribution of individual files) available and discuss the questions in the plenum, in small groups or individually or use the Safe Exam Browser so that the students see the exam questions, their answers and received points but cannot take screenshots during the exam review.

Possible exam review settings in OLAT:

The software QuickTicket allows you to import students' lists with the matriculation numbers which you then can easily scan (students' "legi"-scan) and tick with several smart phones via smart phone browser application. For this, one has to buy a PREMIUM subscription for CHF 49.- / up to 100 exam entry controls per month (for detailed information please contact: karin.niffeler@biol.uzh.ch).

_{(The University of Zurich offers currently no practicable solution.Therefore, the Division of Biology has specified the requirements for an "QuickTicket extension" with has been developed by the company of QuickTicket in 2020. Nevertheless, we also handed in a project proposal for an UZH solution.)}

Information only in German - see pdf in German (PDF, 1 MB).