Scheduling an Exam in BetterExaminations

“How To” Video

This video details the process of scheduling an exam in BetterExaminations (for those who prefer watching a video than reading about it).

Select the External Player External Player option if you want to view the video on full screen. (will open in a new window)

Step-by-step Instructions

Here are the steps that would help you schedule a BetterExaminations exam in Blackboard

Step 1: Access the University of Windsor BetterExaminations (opens new window)  from Blackboard as shown in the Sign-in chapter of this eBook. When you are successful, you will be greeted with your BetterExaminations (BE) dashboard.

Note: On the right-hand side of the Dashboard are the tiles that contain essential information that might be useful to the user. It also provides quick access to exams or courses that needs the users’ immediate attention. On the left-hand side is the navigation menu. Users can utilize it to navigate to other sections within BE.

BetterExaminationsDashboard-Cropped
BetterExamination Dashboard for instructors (users).
BetterExaminations Navigation Bar with Dashboard, Courses, Students, and Users within in it
The Course tab is located within the navigation menu on the left-hand side of the BetterExamination user interface.

 

Step 2: Click the Courses tab on the left menu to view all courses associated with your account. (If you don’t see the left menu, select theHamburger Button, Three Horizontal line stacked on top of each other icon)

Step 3: Select the course you want to schedule an exam for from your list of courses.

 

 

 

 

the Course Overview menu right beside the Navigation menu in BetterExaminations.
Select Exam from the Course Overview menu.

Step 4: Click the Exams option on the navigation menu.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Select the Approved exam you want to schedule a sitting for from the Exam bank list. If the exam status is Awaiting approval, make sure to visit the Exam Approval section of the previous chapter and follow the steps.

the Exam bank for the selected course.
Exam bank showing list of all exams and their statuses with the currently selected course.

Step 6: To start scheduling a sitting for the exam, click the Schedule exams button.

An exam details section of a particular exam that has already been approved.
If the exam has the Approved status, users need to click on the Schedule exam button to start the scheduling process.

Step 7:  Complete the Exam sitting name (required) text field.

Step 8: Select which student/s will take this exam sitting by marking the checkbox beside their Given name. You can use the filter text field to find a specific student quickly by replacing the Filter by text with the student’s name.

Note:  You can enable multiple sittings for the same exam to facilitate students needing different options (e.g., extra time). Be careful not to miss students or duplicate exams in separate sittings.

the Step 1 of Exam scheduling panel for the selected exams.
Step one of the exam scheduling process is naming the exam sitting and selecting which students will take the exam. Filter by text field helps narrow down the selection if used.
the Next and Prev button of the Exam Scheduling panel
The Next button on the bottom right corner of the panel

Step 9: Once you are done selecting which student/s will take the exam sitting, click the Next button in the bottom right corner of the panel

Step 10: Click the Start at a specific date and time button within the scheduling panel.

 

 

 

Step 11: Fill out the Start date and time text field by clicking the date picker and using the built-in time and calendar option to select the start time of the exam. The specific date and time option is suitable for exams only for a day, while the within a range option offers students the option to begin an exam between the earliest start date & time and the latest date & time.

Note: The time interval for the starting time is set to 30 minutes (i.e., 1:00 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:00 pm, etc.). This means that you can’t have exams set to a time such as 3:45 pm or 1:10 pm.

The Step 2 of Exam scheduling panel for the selected exams.
Step 2 of 3 is actually selecting the date and time of the exam. The two options are Start on a specific date and time or Start within a range.

Step 12: Set the exam length by filling out the Hours and Minutes text fields

A part of the Step 2 Exam Scheduling panel where Hours and Mins text field is located.
Hours and Mins text field for exam length.

Step 13: Adjust the settings for Exam re-entry and allow Late Joiners to your preferences.

Step 14: Click the Next button to proceed to student Exam tools selection

A part of the Step 2 Exam Scheduling panel where Allow re-entry and Allow late joining options are located
Users can toggle the options on whether or not to allow students to re-enter the exam when they accidentally quit or let students join the exam after the start time has passed. Late joiners will have reduced time on the exam.

Step 15: Click on the Exam Tools you want to make available to students when they are taking the exam.  Click the Finish button to complete.

The Step 3 Exam Scheduling panel with all the Exam Tools options.
Step 3. Select available exam tools for students. Click Finish to complete.
Conclusion: You have finished scheduling an exam sitting for an exam. It is now ready to be inserted into your Blackboard course in a content area by selecting Sync Course with Better Exams. This option is found under the Build Content menu in a Content Area like Resources in your Blackboard course.

License

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BetterExaminations at the University of Windsor Copyright © 2021 by Lorna Stolarchuk and Jykee Pavo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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