Assessment Support

Support for digital exams by ESI

ESI offers support for digital exams in the Aletta Jacobshal. For each exam a procedure is followed. Below is a resume of this procedure, for the detailed step-by-step plan we refer you to the page on EDU support. Throughout the procedure you will be supported by one person of team Assessment Support, the facilitator. We will communicate through the ‘Exam Manager’ module in Brightspace. You will receive messages from us with information about what we expect from you at each stage in the procedure.

Before the exam

Register your exam with the scheduler at your faculty. Only scheduled exams are supported by team assessment support.

An exam course based on a template will be created and a facilitator appointed. By default, the coordinator specified in Ocasys is enrolled and will receive an email when the exam course is created. In case you do not receive a message, please contact us ASAP at the email address or phone number mentioned below.

You can add colleagues to the exam management portal and the exam course. Your colleagues can then communicate with the facilitator and start constructing the exam.

Construction of the exam

During the construction phase you can take a look at the exam instruction pages on the edusupport website. If you have any questions, please turn to your facilitator for support. We kindly ask you to finish a concept version of the exam one week before the administration, so we can test your exam. Your facilitator checks all the settings and finishes the preparations.

During the exam

During the exam, a student-assistant from Edusupport will be present to assist the examiner in case of issues. If a student cannot log in to the exam, the student-assistant will make sure this student can participate with his/her own account. We do not check whether a student was enrolled in ProgRESS.

After the exam

Directly after the exam, the student-assistant will close the exam and make a backup. A report of the administration (late enrollments, technical incidents) is added to the exam course.
For exams with MC questions and more than 25 participants, a statistical analysis will be made by the facilitator.
When you are finished grading, you can organize an online review for students.

Team Assessment Support offers support and advice on processing and analysing printed multiple choice exams. We use special software to do so. Pre-Corona, multiple choice exams of around 110.000 students were checked this way annually.

The exams that teachers provide are being scanned in with an optic reading device. After this process, teachers receive the results, containing the following data: the score, the number of correctly answered questions, and possibly the grade per student and an analysis of the test, containing statistical data about individual questions and about the complete test. On request, teachers can receive individual advice about the quality of their multiple choice and essay exams. This can be done either before the exam takes place, by judging the exam questions, or after the exam took place, by creating a test analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. Where can I order test forms?
A. Test forms can be ordered here: Order forms. You can log in with your p-account and password and place your order. For more information please contact Anneke Huizinga.

Q. What do test forms cost?
A. A form costs €0,15 for internal use by the RuG, or €0,20 for external parties. The forms are bilingual (Dutch-English) and are sold per package of 500 forms.

Q. What does the processing of a test entail?
A. The answers on the forms are scanned by an optical mark reader. The data files thus produced are combined with the answer key using special analysis software. This program yields the scores per student number and an item analysis of the test (statistical information for each question and on the test as a whole).

Q. What are the costs involved in test processing?
A. The processing of a standard test (with a maximum of 150 questions) costs €75 (within the RuG). A re-analysis of the test costs €15 and grade calculation costs €15 as well. There may be a surcharge in case there are more time-consuming requests.

Q. Can I register the MC test online in advance?
A. Yes, please visit the ESI-forms website , log in with your p-account and password. Click on “Add Exam” to register your MC test for processing.

Q. Where and when do I hand in the forms for processing?
A. In the Mercator building, in one of the rooms 5415.0187, 5415.0189, 5415.0191, or 5415.0193 at Landleven 1 (first floor), 9747 AD Groningen. Our team is usually present from Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 5 PM and can be reached at (+31) (0)50 36 33640. The sooner you deliver the forms after the exam, the sooner you will receive the results.

Q. How do I hand in the filled-in test forms?
A. In an envelope or (in case of a large number of forms) a box, along with:

• the name of the course
• the test date
• faculty
• name, email address, and telephone number of the lecturer/contact
• answer key: a list of the correct answers
• particulars, such as when two alternatives are correct or a question needs to be excluded from analysis, have to be clearly indicated on the answer key
• if a question is excluded from the test, please let us know if students were informed prior or during the test, so we can take this into account when scanning the test forms
• if the number of alternatives differs: please note for each question whether it is a 2,-3-or 4-alternative question
• in case of different versions please add the coding of the versions (in other words, where did question 1 in version 1 end up in version 2?, etc.)  (also check the question on this matter)
• when groups of students need to be analysed separately, the forms also have to be handed in separately (also check the question on this matter)

You can write down your information on the intake form and tape this on the envelope with the forms.

Q. How long does it take to process a test?
A. For the UG we guarantee that your test is processed in three working days. Tests are always processed in order of delivery.

Q. How do I know that the test has been processed?
A. An email with the results is sent to the lecturer (and to other contacts listed in the included information). A pick up receipt is also sent, please print this to hand in when collecting the forms.

In case you have not received a message after 3 working days please contact  tentamenverwerking rug.nl or tel: (+31)(0)50 36 33640.

Q. What will happen with the forms?
A. The lecturer needs to make sure the forms are collected at ESI as soon as possible. A print of the pick up receipt that was sent to the lecturer needs to be handed in. Alternatively, you can ask the transport service (phone (+31)( 0)50 36 38888, Servicedesk Facilitaire Organisatie) to pick up the forms (costs of transport are not included in test processing). In that case, you will have to forward your collection notice to the transport service, so they can print it and hand it in.
We do not send test forms by internal mail for security reasons.

Q. Is it possible to calculate grades along with the scores?
A. Yes. The lecturer can send a request, preferably by replying to our results message. Please include the cutoff score and how many decimals to use. The standard formula we use is:
if score<cutoff: grade= 1,0 + 4,5 * (score – guessing score)/(cesuur –  guessing score)
if score >= cutoff: grade= 5,5 + 4,5 * (score – cutoff )/(number of questions – cutoff)
If you prefer a different formula, please include it in the request.

Q. What if I want to remove questions or alter the answer key post-hoc?
A. The lecturer can email the changes and request a re-analysis, preferably by replying to our results message. We will re-analyse the exam and send you the new results.
As the data is still in our archive, we will not need the original forms.

Q. What is the procedure when the test has different versions, i.e., the students receive the same questions but not in the same order?
A. If the test has multiple versions it is of the utmost importance that all students indicate the number of their version on the form (above the student number, in the English form this is called “test number”). When the test number has not been filled in, the form cannot be processed.

Moreover, the teacher has to indicate, when handing in the forms and the answer key, how the versions can be converted into version 1. For example: questions 1 to 16 in version 1 are questions 17 to 32 in version 2, etc. There is a maximum of eight blocks of questions that can be transposed in relation to each other. Questions cannot be randomly mixed.

If the versions cannot be converted, we need to make separate analyses. In that case, please make sure the forms are handed in separately!

Q. What if the test has been taken by several different groups of students?
A. If the test is not identical for the different groups, e.g. if some of the students are allowed to skip a number of questions, these different groups cannot be processed simultaneously and the forms have to be delivered separately per group. When you want to keep the different groups of students separate for a different reason, for example due to a difference in branch of study or location of study, the forms also have to be delivered separately.

Q. I cannot open some of the files that contain the results. What should I do?
A. Save the files to your computer. You can open them using Notepad, Wordpad, or any plain text viewer of your choice.

Q. I do not understand the item analysis.
A. At the end of the analysis you can find a detailed explanation of all values. For further questions, please call us at (+31)(0)50 36 33640 between 8.30 AM and 5 PM You can also receive advice on mark calculation and the quality of the test.

Q. How can I reach you?
A. We are available every workday at the telephone number above. You can also reach us at our joint email address: tentamenverwerking rug.nl.