Invigilation Tools

Students should be informed about:

• System requirements (required software and hardware, Internet connection) 

  • Internet speed > 0.5 MBPS, both upload and download.

  • Supported Internet browser: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari (Apple), possibly Opera. Not Internet Explorer.

• Identification requirements

• Behaviour requirements (communication about) bathroom use/leaving the room

• Workstation requirements (tidy and good visibility)

1. The lighting in the room must be bright enough to be considered as “natural light”. Lighting from above is preferred. If no lighting from above is available, the light source must not be behind the student.

2. The student must be alone in the room.

3. The room must be as quiet as possible. Sounds such as music or a television playing are not allowed.

4. The student must sit at an empty desk or table, unless explicitly stated otherwise on the cover page/landing page of the exam.

5. There must be no written materials or cheat notes on the surfaces surrounding the student.

6. The student must be able to identify themselves before and during the exam.

7. The student may not use a telephone or other device with similar characteristics or functions for which consultation or use is not explicitly permitted during the exam.

8. The student may not have texts or other material with similar characteristics or features for which consultation or use during the exam is not explicitly permitted.

1. Always check first if alternative assessment methods are possible which do not need online surveillance as an extra measure. 

2. Examiners should carefully check the identity of the person that takes the examination and carefully consider the potential for fraud and/or plagiarism in online remote assessments.

3. Examiners should communicate to their students, for instance in the course manual and/or at the start of the exam, that any attempts at cheating, fraud, and plagiarism will be taken very seriously and forwarded to the Board of Examiners.

4. There are several options available to examiners to check the authenticity of participating students.

   1. Online timed exam, oral exams: as the student card contains a photo and student number of the student, a student can be asked to show the card using the webcam to an invigilator.

   2. Take-home exams, assignments: the student may be asked to scan their student card and upload it as part of the assignment.

This 16 min video tutorial is for lecturers that need to set up their digital timed exam and apply the guidelines on authentication and invigilation.

Topics addressed are:

• How to make a Collaborate Exam Hall for invigilation and communication with our students during the exam

• How to use the Invigilator room for authentication with the student card

• How to perform the check after students have submitted the exam

• How to close the exam

Note that the check on authentication and post-exam checks can be done for a sample of students, say 20%, and may be combined when students raise their hand to ask questions or report they have submitted the exam.

After submitting the exam, students are required to stay available in an online Collaborate session for at most one hour in order to allow you to do a post-exam authenticity check on a sample of students. For this sample, no more than 20% of the students have to be included. The main goal of this check is to assure that this student has authored the exam instead of having asked someone else to do so. See the video tutorial below for a how-to explanation. We suggest:

• to ask the student to raise a hand in the Collaborate session when they have submitted their exam.

• to invite the student to the invigilator room breakout session to ask a verification question (such as: repeat the last question of your exam, how many questions have been asked, or more in depth questions on numbers used in the questions.

• to dismiss a student if you have not included him or her in your sample.

A good authentication question is specific but also forgiving. By this we mean, that the question is clear and concise but it doesn't feel like another exam question for the student. You can ask questions about the content of the exam or any related procedures (i.e., Question 4 below). Some good examples are: 

1. Q: There was a question about the NPV of an electricity generation investment? What type of investment?
   A: Gas fired power plant with CCS OR coal-fired power plant with CCS

2. Q: Which popular app was the topic of the first question?
   A: Tinder

3. Q: There was a question of an energy community, where a specific community was mentioned. What is the name of that community?
   A: Buurkracht

Q: What did you have to enter in the Excel file to see the data?
A: Student Number

Students should be informed that they need to have their student card available while doing an online exam.

In case of timed exams, you may ask a student (for example in a breakout session during or within one hour after the end of the exam) to show the student card. This allows an examiner or invigilator to compare the photo, name and student number with the person who is taking part of the exam. During the verification, students are allowed to see the data on another person’s student card.

In case students have to upload an assignment, photo or document, you may ask them to attach their student card to the scan and include it in the document.