Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - E-Assessment

The "Prüfungsmoodle" - examination system at HU

 

Moodle was originally intended as a teaching-learning software that allows examinations (see Test and Assignment Module as well as Assessment Overview), but is not designed to meet examination-specific requirements such as the preservation of the principle of equality (prevention of cheating attempts, clear identification) or a user interface reduced to an examination. Therefore, a Moodle cannot serve both aspects of university teaching (teaching-learning and examination) equally. For this reason, there is a HU-Moodle (teaching Moodle) and an examination Moodle ("Prüfungsmoodle") at the HU, which is increasingly being tailored to the needs of digital examinations.

 

Why necessarily Moodle for exams?

This question is asked again and again, since there are also software solutions that are only used for examination purposes, e.g. LPLUS. However, despite all the difficulties that may be associated with using Moodle for exams, there are two clear arguments in favour of Moodle:

  1. Moodle is the established, i.e. for teachers and students the known and familiar software environment at HU. They can use it and know its functionalities. In addition, uniform systems open up the possibility for teachers to import materials from the teaching Moodle into the examination Moodle. However, it is more important that the teachers can design exams independently in the examination Moodle and usually only need support with detailed questions. They can see for themselves what works and what doesn't, so that they can develop their examination tasks independently.
  2. Moodle is an open source software with a broad developer community. For years, the HU has been clearly committed to open software solutions, which also offer the advantage of hosting the software on its own servers and thus being able to decide without a doubt about the whereabouts of the data.

Conclusion: The HU is also about autonomy and the ability to take responsibility for examinations, which requires quite a bit of effort, but also gives individuals the freedom to shape their own lives, which "bought-in" software cannot do due to contracts.


Examination Moodle and other components

Like the teaching Moodle (see HU Digital Teaching and Learning Landscape, HDL3 for short), the examination Moodle is the central component for digital examinations in presence and distance learning. It can be supplemented and expanded by various other software solutions as needed. Here, a distinction must be made between software that is generally required, such as a word editing programme with PDF export, and special applications with potential additional costs, e.g. SPSS. The latter are not suitable for use in digital examinations, as students may not be required to install software for which they have to pay. Even the installation of a free exam browser for use in distance exams is subject to strict regulations (§ 107b,1 ZSP-HU). In principle, only tools should be used (LINK follows, appendix) that are approved at the HU according to corresponding test procedures (ZSP-HU § 107a, 4).

 

Special features of the examination Moodle as examination software

For legal reasons, student employees are only allowed to carry out their work as an assistant ("examination assistant") with their HU employee account in order to clearly distinguish themselves from their role as the person to be examined. If the student employees do not yet have a corresponding account, they can apply for one at the User Support (cms-benutzerberatung@hu-berlin.de).

There are the following roles in Prüfungsmoodle:

  • Examination office (course administration and assessment export),
  • Examiner (like the person responsible for the course in the Lehrmoodle),
  • Examination assistant (examiner rights, but no export rights),
  • Correction assistant (may only assess),
  • Contact person for enrolment key (is additionally assigned to an existing role in the course and is considered as contact person for the enrolment key).

 

User profile and enrolment in the exam course
  1. The personal user profile and dashboard are not customisable.

  2. The matriculation number is stored in the profile for students and can be entered as a search term during manual enrolment and output during assessment export.

  3. Students and examiners cannot deregister themselves from the examination courses.

  4. Students registered in the course who are not admitted to the examination can be set to the status "not admitted" in the participant list and then no longer have access to the examination course.

  5. Students cannot see who is still enrolled in the examination course.

 

Exam course registration
  1. Examination courses are applied for and confirmed by Moodle Support. Prerequisite for the confirmation is the specification of the examination number or the course number in the field "Examination number" (https://e-pruefungen.hu-berlin.de/mod/book/view.php?id=299).
  2. Course area selection: First select the semester relevant to the examination, then the associated institution (faculty, (central) institutes).
  3. Registration of the digital examination via this website must be carried out independently by the examiners or assistants.

 

Mock exams
  1. There is a separate course area for mock exams.
  2. The Support for Electronic Examinations will be happy to create test accounts for examiners on request (see: https://e-pruefungen.hu-berlin.de/mod/book/view.php?id=299&chapterid=119).

 

Examination course design
  1. Role labels: Course Officer = Examiner, Participant = Student.
  2. Side menu in the course contains links to all materials or activities in the exam course

 

Exam activities
  1. Test settings for exams, e.g. distance exams, are already preconfigured for exams by default. Only the time and, if necessary, the prerequisite need to be adjusted.
  2. Task settings for exams are already preconfigured by default Only the time and, if necessary, the prerequisite need to be adjusted.
  3. The upload limit for files to be uploaded in an assignment is now 20 MB instead of 10 MB (for up to 25 files each).
  4. Health query and self-sufficiency statement must be imported from the template course (https://e-pruefungen.hu-berlin.de/course/view.php?id=19).
  5. There are new question types:
    Coderunner (Info) and STACK (Info)
    Kprim ETH (MC, Info), MTF ETH (W/F, Info) and Free-hand drawing ETH (Info), a editor for Cloze (Info).

 

Communication
  1. Personal messages are not possible in exam Moodle.
  2. By default, no forum is set up in new courses.
  3. Newly created forums have the default setting:
    • Mandatory mail notification for all
    • Mail dispatch after 1 minute
    • Advanced options with "Send immediately"
    • Announcements can be displayed anywhere in the course.
  4. Otherwise, the tried and tested communication channels apply: telephone, HU-Zoom (with externally accessible link), BBB, ...

 

Examination course archiving
  • Examiners and examination offices can (and must) archive examination courses themselves (for guidance).

 

Use of the Moodle app
  • The Moodle app can be used for exams (access: https://e-pruefungen.hu-berlin.de as well as HU account). However, no push notifications are sent, only e-mail notifications.