PROCTORED DE EXAM PROCEDURES
Version 6 (July 2009)

All undergraduate UMUC distance education (DE) students are required to take a proctored exam for each course* in which they are registered. With the exception of Summer, the proctored exam week for UMUC Europe DE courses for academic year 2009-2010 is during the last week of instruction.

Note: Undergraduate one credit hour courses and Graduate courses do not require a proctored exam.

At most education centers in UMUC Europe and Asia we administer computer-based proctored exams (CBPE) where there is a UMUC computer-lab. The procedure for creating, administering and retrieving completed CBPE include the following five basic steps: 

1. Instructor accesses CBPE Web site and uploads exam.
2. Proctor logs into CBPE Web site and downloads exam.
3. Student completes exam offline on local PC at the proctoring center.
4. Proctor logs into CBPE Web site and uploads the completed exam.
5. Instructor accesses CBPE Web site and downloads the completed exam.

Students taking a CBPE only have access to MS-Word 2003 and Paint. Students are unable to access the Internet or any other software on the UMUC lab load. Since we are unable to confirm our security needs, students who must take an exam at alternate site must complete a paper-based exam.

Ideally, we would prefer that all exams be completed electronically, but we will continue to administer paper-based exams at sites where there is no UMUC computer lab, which includes students in remote locations in Asia and Europe, downrange locations, as well as those needing to take exams at an alternate test location. This therefore requires that faculty submit exams using MS-Word 2003 by following guidelines that allow the exam to be administered in either form.

ADMINISTERING PAPER-BASED EXAMS. The DE Office downloads the exam and e-mails it to the authorized proctor. For this reason we require the exam not be changed again after the above date listed for the “last date for changes” After the student completes the paper-based exam, the exam is either mailed via postal mail directly to the instructor or e-mailed/faxed to the DE Office. Once the DE Office receives the exam it is scanned and forwarded via e-mail to the instructor for grading.

SCHEDULING THE PROCTORED EXAM. Students enrolled in UMUC Europe DE courses do not need to register for exams. However, they need to schedule an appointment to take the exam at their local UMUC office. Since testing times and sessions vary and may not always be convenient, instructors should encourage their students to schedule proctored exams three weeks before the scheduled exam week.

Should a student relocate during the course and need to take the exam elsewhere, i.e., Iraq, he/she will need to complete an “Alternate Test Location” form at https://www.ed.umuc.edu/de/de_alt_exam/altexam_form.php. As always this link is available to students under “Academic Policies” in the online syllabus.

REQUESTING A MAKE-UP EXAM. While the proctored exam is scheduled for only one week, exceptions may be granted. Use the INTERNAL policy described below as a guideline when advising students. Please note, this is for internal use only and should not be published in any form.

For students who need to take exams early or late:

·         Students unable to test during the designated proctored exam week may take the exam in the week immediately preceding or immediately following exam week under the following conditions: A) The student provides the appropriate UMUC testing personnel with official documentation showing that they are hindered from taking the exam on time for duty-related or medical reasons. B) The testing center can provide suitable alternate dates.

In keeping with standard exam procedures, proctors must indicate the reason for administering the exam outside of exam week on the exam coversheet. The documentation itself should not be forwarded to the instructor, but kept with the back-up copy of the exam for the prescribed period.

·         Students without official documentation regarding a medical condition or duty-related obligation, as well as those unable to test within the three-week core period described above, must obtain permission directly from their instructors before an alternate test date can be arranged. In this case, students must provide their proctors with e-mails showing faculty authorization to test outside of the exam week before they can schedule their exams. The proctor must then submit this e-mail to the instructor, along with the completed exam.

Review the DE Exam Procedures on our Web site <http://www.ed.umuc.edu/de/deprocexam_procedures.html> for additional information.

PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH FEEDBACK.

·          Use the Gradebook for the proctored exam! Create an assignment titled, "Proctored Exam." Ask students to submit a message in the assignment textbox with date, time, and testing site, including whether it was administered as computer-based or paper-based. This will then allow you to track the exam as well as provide a place to post/attach comments.

·          Contact the DE Office at edde-exams@ed.umuc.edu if you do not receive exams from students who you know have taken the exam. Please provide the students name, the testing site, include whether it was administered as computer-based or paper-based.

Do not assume that an exam is missing, but ASCERTAIN WHERE, WHEN AND IN WHAT FORM THE EXAM WAS TAKEN (computer-based or paper-based). If you receive NO RESPONSE from your e-mail inquiry, assume that there is no exam and calculate the grade accordingly. (Assigning an Fn where appropriate.)

Note: Give your students feedback on their exams! Students need to know how they did on the exam.

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A.   REVIEW THE BASIC FORMAT OF THE EXAM. DE exams must be created using Microsoft Word as form-fill document. Once a form-fill document is protected correctly the exam questions are protected from any modifications such as edits or deletions. Merely, creating the document using form-fill does not protect the document. Thus, it must be further protected with a password. These functions are all available within Word.

There are a variety of ways to create an exam with various types of questions By using the “Forms” toolbar in Word check boxes  or text fields with one-character fields   can be used for multiple-choice questions. Text fields       for fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions are useful because the text fields can be unlimited or limit in the number of characters authorized. The text field will then expand as the student types. When using the “Forms” toolbar option to create questions there is no need to protect sections of the document because by protecting the document as a form it automatically protects any written text while leaving the form-fill items editable.

While text fields       unlimited in character length can be used for essay questions they pose formatting limitations such as not allowing paragraphs, tabs, and bolding. An option that is more ideal for long-essay questions is the use of “Sections” whereby a continuous section break is entered after each question and some space is left for the answer with a section break just before the next question. In order to protect this type of document, you will need to select the sections which need to be protected (the questions) at the time the document is password protect as a form.

B.   PREPARE FOR THE EXAM. In order prepare you for creating your exam we have created a rather lengthy document for you to review “Creating Dual-Format Proctored Exams.” Please read this document thoroughly. It contains a lot of information and includes screen shots and several examples for creating various types of questions. When you click this link you will be prompted to login with your “faculty e-mail login and password.”

You should prepare one version of your exam to be administered via the computer or as paper-based. The computer-based exam system only allows one exam to be uploaded. Thus, there is no need to create two versions of your exam.

Contact your Assistant Dean or Faculty Peer if you have questions pertaining to the content of your exam. Always check at the beginning of the term when the exam is due. See table at the top of this document.

If you use MS-Word 2007: The instructions for “Creating Dual-Format Proctored Exams” do not provide examples using Word 2007, these instructions are based on Word 2003. It is still possible to create and protect documents with MS-Word 2007. However, you must remember to save the file as a “.doc Word 97-2003”. Not all of our UMUC lab loads support MS-Word 2007. Please see the “DE exam instructions for Word 2007” for a tutorial in creating a proctored exam in Word 2007. When you click this link you will be prompted to login with your “faculty e-mail login and password.”

Note: If you use answer sheets that appear at the end of the exam, please reconsider this practice since the CBPE presents the exam to students as continuous pages. Thus, in scrolling students may easily lose track of their place in the exam and become confused.

C.  FORMAT THE EXAM.  The basic format of the exam should include the following:

• MS Word 2003 document (documents created in Word 2007 should be saved as 97-2003).
• A4 paper size.
• 1-inch margins.
• Number all pages of the exam. Although you should count the coversheet in the total number of pages, you should not display the page number on coversheet.
• Include a header with the course number, year, semester, and session, and your name
• At the end of the exam, enter the text “--- End of Exam ---“. You should format the exam so that this line is not on a page by itself.
• Do NOT include the completed answer key with the exam document.
• Note:  For an example for page numbering, header and header on this document)

D.  ACCESS EXAM COVERSHEET. We will post an MS-Word document containing the coversheet at the beginning of each term at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/de/defacguide/.

In order to access the coversheet use the following URL example:

http://www.ed.umuc.edu/de/defacguide/coversheet-2098-ed1.doc

(Default will be coversheet-2098-ed1.doc. Please change the URL to reflect the coversheet for the term as listed in the table below.):

E.  DOWNLOAD EXAM COVERSHEET. The below steps may help guide you in downloading the coversheet:

1. highlight the URL (hypertext) in the “coversheet URL” email
2. select copy and paste in the address bar of your internet browser
3. save the “blank coversheet” to a drive on your PC
4. open the “blank coversheet” from the drive you saved to in step “C” by double-clicking on it

F.  MERGE EXAM WITH COVERSHEET.  There are several ways to merge the two documents: 1) copy your exam and paste it onto the second page of the coversheet or 2) begin typing your exam on the second page of this document.

G.  COMPLETE THE COVERSHEET. The following items are explained to assist you in completing the coversheet.

·        COURSE # – Enter the course and number [Example: IFSM 300]

·        WEBTYCHO SECTION – Change this to reflect the true section of your course and exam. Default is section E8XX or E9XX.  Section code representation:

o    E8XX = Session 1

o    E9XX = Session 2

·        MAIL TO: – Your name should be in this section! Provide an "APO/FPO AE" address whenever available as most education center staff can send to these addresses free of charge. If using APO/FPO mail, please delete COUNTRY from the address line.

o    If you live near an education center and are able to go to that center to collect your exams, ask the UMUC Field Representative if you can have the exams sent in care of (c/o) their UMUC address. We ask this because many education centers are unable to send mail to international addresses. In addition, this will help reduce costs. If you only have an international address, please include it.

o    If you are in the US, please use your stateside address.

o    The DE Office may also assist in receiving and returning the completed exams. If necessary, Please use our address in this field.

·        SESSION – Provided. Verify coversheet is for the current semester/session.

·        EXAM WEEK – Provided. It is easier for all involved to administratively prepare for one week of exams opposed to multiple weeks. This will avoid any confusion in the field and among the students. You must adhere to the dates set by the DE Office.

·        TOTAL PAGES – Enter the number of total pages of the actual exam including the coversheet.  You must include the coversheet with the exam count. Do not include additional sheets of paper in this count!

·        MATERIALS AUTHORIZED – Check appropriately.

o    The entire exam is administered in one sitting. Thus, it is not possible to change the materials for various parts of an exam.

o    Please contact edde-exams@ed.umuc.edu if your exam requires additional materials not listed on the coversheet.

·        TIME LIMIT – 3 hours. The default is 3 hours. Please do not change this time.

·        ADDITIONAL PAPER AUTHORIZED – Please consider this field mainly for students who are taking a paper version of the exam.  Note: If additional paper is authorized, it is unlimited unless you state otherwise. For ease of photocopying/scanning, we prefer responses to answers be only on the front of the exam or on a additional lined paper, students should not be required to write on the back of the exam. (Double-sided pages tend to be more difficult for proctors to photocopy because the copy machines jam more frequently than when copying single-sided pages.) 

H.  PROTECT THE EXAM.  After the document is protected the only way for the student and proctor to enter data is if the answer sections are unprotected. Following the instructions in either “Creating Dual-Format Proctored Exams” or “DE exam instructions for Word 2007” protect the document as a FORM with the assigned password.

I.  TAKE THE EXAM. While this may seem ridiculous it is a key part in creating dual-formatted exams. Some of the common mistakes that we encountered include:

·         Using numerical fields, when alpha characters should have been used. (The question will default to Zero when you tab to the next question.)

·         Using text fields that limited the number of characters, when unlimited character length should have been used. (The cursor will not allow you to type a full sentence. -- i.e., the SSN field on the cover sheet is both a numerical field and the maximum characters is 4.)

·         Using improper section breaks and/or protection, which should have allowed students to type their responses to long-essays. (The question may either be unprotected so that you can modify it after the document is protected. Or the response field doesn't allow you to type in the field.)

·         Using drop down menus, but not providing the selected responses/options for those students who must write the exam as paper-based.

·         Using drop down menus, but not leaving the first choice as a blank. Thus, the answers all default to the first option. This makes it difficult for students to track which questions they need to go back and answer.

·         Using macros as not all PCs have the correct security to allow macros. Thus, they should not be used.

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J.  UPLOAD EXAM TO CBPE SERVER. Each of you is required to upload your exam to the CBPE server. Due to the security involved the DE Office is currently unable to assist in the upload. If you wish to modify your exam after uploading, you will have to delete the existing file and reinitiate the upload process. This can be done as often as necessary, but in the future there may be a date at the end of which it will no longer be possible. You will be advised of this date. The computer-based exam system will allow only one exam to be uploaded for any given course. There is also no longer a strict file naming convention except that the file must end with (.doc). The steps for uploading exams to the server are as follows:

1.    go to “UMUC Europe Online Services” for faculty at https://www.ed.umuc.edu/faculty/faculty_menu.php.

2.    login using your MyUMUC login and password.

3.    click on "Instructor class exam upload" under the header "DE Proctored Exams".

4.    select the term for which you want to upload the exam.

5.    browse your computer and upload the exam for the selected class.

6.    review the uploaded exam on the server and make sure it is for the correct term/session, course, and section.

Note: The file must end with (.doc) and be saved as Word 97-2003.

K.  REVIEW THE POSTED EXAM ON THE CBPE SERVER. You can view your uploaded exam by clicking on the newly created hotlink.

L.  DOWNLOAD STUDENT EXAMS FROM CBPE SERVER. You  may download completed exams as they are available. The steps for downloading student exams from the server are as follows:

1. go to “UMUC Europe Online Services” for faculty at https://www.ed.umuc.edu/faculty/faculty_menu.php.
2. login using your MyUMUC login and password.
3. click on "Instructor class exam download" under the header "DE Proctored Exams"
4. select the term/session for which you want to upload the exam.
5. click on a class for which you would like to review completed exams

Note: In this area you will see the original exam that you submitted, alphabetised class roster excluding those students who have been withdrawn. The names of the students who have completed the exams will be in “red” and accompanied by the “proctor upload" date. These are the exams that you can download.

6. click on a student’s name to download the exam.
7. browse your PC to save the exam or open the exam without saving.
8. when you have successfully downloaded the exam, manually check the "Downld box" next to the name and then click the button "Update Instructor Download Dates"

Note: You can check more than one box at a time. The exams you updated will now be in "green" and both the "proctor upload date" and "instructor download date" will be entered.

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M.  CONTACT THE DE OFFICE. If you have questions or need any assistance, please contact the DE Office at DSN (314) 370-6762 or civilian +49-6221-378191. Please e-mail us at UMUC Europe DE Exams edde-exams@ed.umuc.edu.

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