Tools and Work Aids For lecturers

The workflow of an exam with iliasEXAM

The workflow of an exam with iliasEXAM can be broken down into 6 phases:

In the following, you will find a description of the individual phases and the steps they involve.

Please note that these steps assume an on-site exam.


You should start preparing the exam as early as possible.

Designing the exam

The first step is to design the exam. Refer to the predefined learning outcomes, to ensure that the format of the exam as well as the exam questions match the conveyed contents of the course (constructive alignment). The services offered by the Educational Development Unit and their Assessment Toolbox may assist you in this process.

Checking suitability of iliasEXAM

Check whether iliasEXAM is suited for your exam. Pay particular attention to the available question types. For a detailed insight into the question types, you can use our overview (in German).
Also keep in mind the limited accessibility of iliasEXAM. Exams cannot be navigated using only the keyboard, so it is necessary to use a mouse, trackpad or similar..
If you find that iliasEXAM is not suited for your exam, choose a different tool.

Setting the date of the exam and the registration deadline

Set the exam date as usual. The registration deadline, by which students must have registered for the exam, should be at least 5 days before the exam date, so that the registered students can receive the information and the access link to the exam well in advance. This will also help to identify and solve any technical issues ahead of time.

Reserving a room

Reserve a room for the exam well in advance. Make sure that the room is available 30 min before the start of the exam and that there is sufficient power supply. Power strips etc. can generally be obtained from the facility services. We have compiled a list of known contacts for you here. Eduroam coverage in the selected room will be checked by iLUB; we will contact you in case of a problematic room.

Planning invigilation

Plan and organize enough staff for the invigilation of the exam. Since online exams pose a higher risk of cheating, we recommend that you have more invigilators than for exams without digital devices. This is especially important if your exam focuses on recalling or explaining facts and basic ideas at lower taxonomy levels. For exams in the " Open Book" format that address higher taxonomy levels, invigilation can easily be done with fewer staff. 



Register your exam with iLUB at least 2 weeks before the scheduled exam.

Registering the exam with iLUB

Once you are done with your preparations, register the exam with iLUB using the registration form.

Please note that only exams that have been registered in advance with iLUB can be conducted with iliasEXAM.

If your exam can be conducted as registered (date, capacity, etc.), iLUB will set up the exam environment on iliasEXAM. The person responsible for the exam specified on the registration form will be given administrator rights for this environment. This person will be informed by email as soon as the exam environment is set up.

The exam environment contains, among other things, the preferred exam template (empty, single-choice questions only, different question types, or a copy of a previous exam). For more information on setting up the exam environment, see the iliasEXAM manual (p. 8).



You can create your exam up until 3 days before the scheduled exam.

Checking "course" settings

Before you start creating the exam, you need to check the settings of the «exam course». The default settings are optimized for exams with iliasEXAM and should be left unchanged. Certain changes are possible under certain circumstances. To find out how to get to these settings and which changes are possible, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p.11-13).

Checking "exam container" settings

Before you start creating the exam, you need to check the settings of the exam container. The default settings are optimized for exams with iliasEXAM and should be left unchanged. Certain changes are possible under certain circumstances. To find out how to get to these settings and which changes are possible, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p.14-16).

Editing questions

Depending on which template you work with, exam questions need to be edited or created.

To edit or create exam questions, navigate to the «Questions» tab within the exam in the exam container

For further information on the procedure and the specific features of the individual question types, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p. 17-39).

Checking "exam" settings

The default "exam" settings are optimized for exams with iliasEXAM and should be left unchanged. Certain changes are possible or in fact necessary. To find out how to get to these settings and which changes are possible and necessary, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p.40-44).

Adding files and exam agreement

Should there be any «Exam-relevant files» for your exam, these have to be uploaded and linked. If there are no «Exam-relevant files», the section should be deleted from the exam environment. For information on how to proceed in both cases please see the iliasEXAM manual (p.46-48).

In the «Notes and support for the e-exam» section you may upload your own mock exams and additional files that are not directly relevant to the exam. To find out how to do this, please see the iliasEXAM manual (p.49-50).

The draft for the «Exam agreement» on the content page has to be adapted to the respective exam or deleted if necessary. Please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p.51-52) for information on how to do this.

Doing a test run

We recommend that you do a test run before conducting the actual exam. This can be done by yourself and/or other persons, e.g. student assistants. Please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p.54) for instructions on how to proceed.

Completing the exam

1. After the exam has been finalized, check that all the settings are correct so that the exam can be conducted as planned.

a) iliasEXAM Check: If you wish, this check can be performed with the iLUB support team. An iliasEXAM check has to be performed at least 4 days before the scheduled exam. Contact us in advance at exam.ilub@unibe.ch. No adjustments may be made to the exam after this check.

b) Independent check: Perform the check by yourself using our check list. An independent check should be performed no later than 3 days before the scheduled exam.

After this period, iLUB will autonomously check the access settings of the exam as well as its operability. If we identify any problems, you will receive a message from iLUB with instructions on any adjustments that may be necessary. No other adjustments may be made at this time. If you do not receive a message, the exam can be conducted as planned.


2. Check whether all test results from test runs have been deleted or delete them if necessary.



Inform your students about the modalities of the exam etc. no later than 5 days before the scheduled exam.

Informing students

As soon as possible after the registration deadline for the exam, but no later than 5 days before the scheduled exam, students should be informed about the iliasEXAM exam and receive the access link to the «exam course». Before you send out the information, make sure that the «exam course» is online and the exam container is password protected. To find out how to check these settings, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p. 58).

Email the information about the exam to the students via Outlook. If there are more than 200 participants, emails should be sent in several stages.

For the email you can use the template "Invitation to the e-exam". If you choose not to use the template, please make sure that the following information is included in your email:

  • Access link (see iliasEXAM manual p. 61)
    • incl. a note that students should join the «exam course» ahead of time and familiarize themselves with both the exam environment and the «notes and support for the e-exam» (especially the tutorial and mock exam)
    • Exchange students should enter their Studis-ID (student number), e.g. EU-1000078899, in their iliasEXAM profile
  • A note that students...
    • should arrive at the exam room 30 min before the exam starts to set up their workspace and make sure they are connected to Eduroam and have access to the «exam course». When entering the room, the students' WIFI should be deactivated.
    • should test and ensure connection to Eduroam on site well in advance of the exam (no later than 1 week before exam date), including a link to Eduroam instructions: https://serviceportal.unibe.ch/sp?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB001004
    • need to bring their own laptop incl. charger (not cell phones or tablets) with the following minimum requirements:
      • At least 13" display, resolution of at least 1024 × 768
      • At least 10GB free memory (20GB recommended)
      • Fully charged battery, at least 2.5h battery life
      • Fully functioning Wi-Fi capabilities
      • Chrome or Firefox (latest version), not Safari, Edge (Legacy) or Internet Explorer
      • Up-to-date Windows 10/11, MacOS or Linux, not Android, iOS or Chrome OS
    • (if applicable) may have the opportunity to obtain a replacement device during the exam, but that the number of available devices is limited (according to exam registration with iLUB)
  • (if applicable) examination agreement (can be copied from the «Notes and support for the eExam»)
    • date, time, duration and place of the exam
    • number of questions and question types
    • Max. score, scoring criteria
    • criteria for a passing grade
    • (if applicable) exam declaration


On the day of the exam

Picking up replacement devices, if applicable

If you made reservations for backup laptops and their availability has been confirmed, iLUB will arrange a time for pick up. The laptops need to be picked up here:

iLUB
University of Bern
Hochschulstrasse 6 (H6)
3012 Bern

Our offices (333-334) are located in building H6, 3rd floor west.

Onboarding of students and start of the exam

To ensure a smooth process, we recommend that you follow the procedure outlined below.

Please note that this procedure refers to on-site exams.

The pages refer to the iliasEXAM manual.

Invigilation

During the exam, we recommend to pay attention to the following:

  • The background of the exam questions has a consistent color scheme that makes it easy to see whether students are on iliasEXAM or have potentially opened a different browser window or software. If there are «Exam-relevant files» that students need to use or should other software be allowed, you cannot rely on this color scheme as a means to minimize the risk of cheating.
  • Should students wish to leave the exam early, ensure that these students have submitted the exam. You can do so on the «dashboard» of the «exam».
  • In case of detected attempts of cheating, the exam can be ended manually for the respective student. Go to the «dashboard», click on the triangle menu of the respective student and select «Test beenden».

Ending the exam

Once the exam time is up, the exam must be terminated immediately for all participants by the invigilator. Announce well in advance that you are about to end the exam for all students and that answers that have not been saved will be lost in this process. For information on how to end the exam for all participants, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p. 72).

After the exam has been terminated, the «exam course» needs to be set offline. Please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p. 73).



After the exam

Returning replacement devices, if applicable

If you received backup laptops, please return them to iLUB as soon as possible after the exam.

iLUB
University of Bern
Hochschulstrasse 6 (H6)
3012 Bern

Our offices (333-334) are located in building H6, 3rd floor west.

Manual scoring

If you used the question types "Essay question" and/or "File upload question" in your exam, the answers have to be scored manually. Otherwise, you can skip this step. Please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (pp. 78-80) for information on how to perform manual scoring.

Viewing and managing exam results

There are three ways to view and/or manage participants' exam results: the "Results", the "Statistics" and the "Export". What these options include and what you can use them for, is explained in the iliasEXAM manual (pp. 81-85).

Grading and transfer to KSL

iliasEXAM calculates the total score for each participant. To determine the grades based on these calculations and transfer them to KSL, we recommend using the "Statistics". For more information, please refer to the iliasEXAM manual (p. 86-88).

Post-exam review

In order to allow students to review exam results, we recommend the following procedure:

  1. Make a list of students registered for post-exam review
  2. Export the "test results" for the respective students, including the maximum and achieved points, the given answers per question and as well as the pass/fail  status or grade
  3. Print the file(s)
  4. Present the printed exams to students for their review

Archiving

Exam results must be archived in accordance with faculty guidelines.

The university guidelines require a minimum archiving period of 18 months. However, due to possible delays caused by appeals or legal proceedings, a minimum of 2 years is recommended.

When archiving, please note that the exams including results will be deleted from iliasEXAM after a few years (tbd). It is therefore recommended to export them and archive them externally.