- How do I register for an online written examination?
Exactly as per all other written examinations, an online written examination with ILIAS must be registered with the Examinations Office. At the beginning of the semester, the Examinations Office generally defines the dates and times of the online written examinations and reserves sufficient runs in the examination rooms in keeping with the number of participants.
- What is the maximum number of written examinations that can be taken on one day?
We can examine different numbers of participants at the same time in the examination rooms with the appropriate technical equipment. The Audimax currently offers the most exam places with 96 places for KIM notebooks and 117 places for students' own notebooks. The PC rooms equipped with stand-alone PCs are spread across the campus at various locations:
- Audimax (Garbenstr. 30, lecture hall, ground floor): 96 seats (KIM notebooks) + 117 seats (own notebooks)
- Microscopy room: approx. 50 seats (KIM notebooks)
- Computer room 1: 30 seats (KIM stand-alone PCs)
- PC room 2: 30 seats (KIM stand-alone PCs)
Depending on the size of the group, several examinations can be held in succession. If the written examination is organized by the Examinations Office, the groups will also be assigned by the Examination Office. The students will then be informed of the location and exact time of the examination in HohCampus.
- Are there A and B variants for multiple-choice examinations?
If multiple-choice examinations are required in larger courses, questions can be automatically drawn from several question pools and compiled into individual tests. Please note: There should be more questions than participants in a question pool and, if possible, the questions should be divided into several question pools, e.g. according to the level of difficulty of the questions. It is important that only questions of equal value and equal weighting are included in a question pool.
- How are the online written examinations conducted in the examination rooms?
Notebooks or computers with monitors are provided in the examination rooms, which are maintained and prepared centrally by KIM. The ILIAS exam environment is installed centrally on the notebooks and computers; during the exam, these are connected to the examination server on which the online written examination is located.
- Are the examinations taking place in a technically protected environment?
All ILIAS examinations take place in so-called kiosk mode. The kiosk mode guarantees that the examination participants can access the corresponding written examination only. Other tools such as access to the internet browser or files on the hard disk are not accessible. Communication elements such as chats or emails are also deactivated during the examination. The Save Exam Browser (SEB) is used as a kiosk system, which is installed centrally on the notebooks and computers together with the ILIAS examination environment.
- How are the logins for the examinations created?
The logins (user name and password) which the examinations participants use to log in to the exam server while taking the exam are created by KIM. These examination logins will only be announced to the examination participants on the day of the examination by the person responsible for the examination on site.
- How do I create a question pool?
A question pool is created in your examination area on the examination server. You can create a new question pool there via “Add new object.” The title of the question pool should contain the module number, the module name, potentially the author's abbreviation and the semester for which it is used (example: “1111-222 (2016) course title”).
You can create questions directly in the question pool under the “Questions” tab. You can choose from various ILIAS types of questions.
· How are the question pools integrated into the tests?
To include the questions from the question pool in the online written examinations, the question pool must first be switched “online” (“Settings” tab in the question pool). You must then create a new test object to which the created question pool is to be linked. Once you have created the test object and given it a name, you can integrate the created question pool into the test under the “Questions” tab and the sub-item “Selected question pools.”
Important: Please note that the function for integrating the question pool is available only if you have selected the option “Add questions from question pool or create directly in the test” and “Random question selection” in the test settings.
- What types of questions are there?
There are two types of questions available in ILIAS:
- Open-ended questions: Free texts and cloze texts. These must be evaluated manually after completion of the examination.
- Closed questions: Single Choice, Multiple Choice, K-Prim, Arrangement, Matching, Cloze, and Text Subsets tasks. These are automatically evaluated by the ILIAS system.
You can find an overview of all ILIAS question types.
Please note: Always observe the requirements of the examination regulations and module handbooks! It may be the case that certain question types are not permitted for your examination.
- How do I create questions for the online examination?
Questions are created in a question pool and organized by topic or difficulty. In this way, the question pools can be used, expanded, and individual questions revised over many years. You can find Instructions for creating questions in ILIAS here.
- How can I evaluate the examination results?
There are two categories of question types in ILIAS.
1. Open-ended questions: These include free texts and cloze texts. These must be evaluated manually after completion of the examination.
2. Closed question types: These include Single Choice, Multiple Choice, K-Prim, Arrangement, Matching, Cloze, and Text Subsets tasks. These are automatically evaluated by the ILIAS system. For this purpose, the appropriate number of points per correct solution must be indicated in the questions. The evaluation of the closed questions can be downloaded from the exam as an Excel file immediately after the end of the examination. This also makes it possible to offset different parts of the examination against each other and to take the pass mark into account when grading.
· How do I grade open-ended questions (manual evaluation)?
Open types of questions such as free texts or cloze texts cannot be automatically evaluated by ILIAS. Therefore, the answers given are not automatically taken into account in the overall result of the examination.
However, the online written examination offers the “Manual assessment” function. This means that open questions can be graded directly in ILIAS and individual points awarded. These are then included in the overall result of the examination and are automatically offset by ILIAS against all other points achieved.
- Can I change the points scored for a closed question retrospectively (manual assessment)?
Closed question types are usually automatically graded and evaluated by ILIAS. The score achieved is offset against the scores from all other questions.
If a question has been asked incorrectly or answers have been entered incorrectly, the evaluation of a closed question can also be changed retrospectively using the “Manual evaluation” function. The changed score is then automatically included in the overall test result calculated by ILIAS.
- Can the processing time be extended individually before or during the examination?
If an allowance for student disadvantages with writing time extension is registered before the examination, the student's writing time can be extended in ILIAS as soon as the person has started the test. This will extend the processing time of the test by the specified minutes.
If there are disruptions during the exam that cause one or more students to lose time, they can also be allocated additional processing time in the ILIAS test.
- How can I save and archive the written e-examinations?
You can save and archive inspection of written graded examinations in two ways for later viewing. For data backups, you should use both methods if possible:
1. Following the written examination s, we will provide you with an examination archive on the examination server. This can be found in the “Export” tab, it contains result files for all participants as a zip file. You should download this file and save it locally.
2. You should also download and keep the Excel file in the “Statistics” tab. This contains the detailed results of all participants and all questions of the test.
Moreover, incidents and circumstances must be recorded during the examination.
You can find further information on archiving the examination here: Retention obligations
- How is the inspection of graded exams organized?
The inspection of electronic graded examinations can be organized in various ways:
- If there are only a few participants, it is advisable to offer the inspection during a consultation hour and to show the students the results of the test as a PDF on a computer.
- Alternatively, an online consultation hour can be offered. The results of the screen sharing test are shown in this context.
- If there are many participants, the inspection can also be offered in a PC room on campus. The individual test result for each participant is displayed on a separate computer and can be viewed for a certain period of time.
