Support from FASE's Education Technology Office

Running an online deferred assessment

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This guide contains a subset of recommendations for online assessment planning for final high stakes assessments (like a mid-term or final exam), bearing in mind the limited time for planning and building your online deferred assessment. It will also be helpful to those running a not-online final assessment but who still want to provide access to their course (after the default course close date).

A few things to consider before your assessment:

  1. Be aware of the default course timeline (courses will lock after one month). Course Status will remain active for one month after your course ends. Quercus courses are active for students for one month past the official course end date (see Quercus Course Life Cycle).
  2. Extend access to your course (if needed). If you are running an exam after this month window, or if you want to be extra sure your course is available, you can 'open up' the course again temporarily, following the instructions on our guide: How do I reactivate the +People button? (the instructions are actually for opening up the course after the course end date).
  3. Communicate a contingency plan to your students. Include an alternate method of communication, as a backup to Internet issues. Technical support is limited on the weekends but students can contact the Information Commons Help Desk for support.
  4. Consider beginning the exam with a webinar session. This can help to launch the assessment smoothly, check-in with the student(s), and provide a place to ask questions. There is no requirement to have video on or to proctor the students virtually; you might just remind the student(s) that you will be there should they need assistance.
  5. Aim to keep technology part of the assessment as simple as possible (while meeting your objectives). Consider using the Quercus assignment tool (don't let the name fool you, it does more than just assignments! This is a great way to receive files; see how do I create an online assignment?) instead of the more complex Quercus Quizzes tool. 
  6. Book some time with the ETO Team. If you have any questions, please schedule a consultation with the ETO Team using our Bookings Calendar. We can review your assessment with you and help flag any areas of concern.

If you have any questions, please schedule a consultation with the ETO Team using our Bookings Calendar.

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