So, When's This Thing REALLY Due?
Thoughts on deadlines in online testing with timed tests
Within our learning management system, Courses (powered by Sakai), there is a powerful testing tool called Tests & Quizzes. This tool can accomplish many assessment goals, from surveying opinions to conducting high-stakes final examinations. If you want students to take a low- or high-stakes test online, one of the most important questions to ask is: when is it REALLY due?
Why is this important? In a purely online setting, you need to decide whether the due date is for completing an assessment or starting an assessment. In other words, must a student submit before the due date or must he/she at least begin the assessment before the due date? This is critical when we think about timed assessments online.
For example, let's say you want students to take a one-hour test. The due date is Friday at 5:00 PM. In the "submit by" model, this means that students must start the test by 4:00 PM to have a full hour. However, if they start at 4:58 PM, the internal timer and likely the assessment description will still say it's a one-hour test, but in reality they only have two minutes left. This can create confusion.
The other approach is to treat the due date as a "start by" date. This way, a deadline communicated as a "start by" date would offer students the full time to complete the assessment as long as they start by that date. We'll review how to accomplish both models.
"SUBMIT BY" MODEL
This is the traditional model of a deadline. In a classroom setting, there's a lot of structure. The class begins at a specific time and ends at a specific time. The deadline is usually by the end of the class and students must physically turn in their papers before the next class begins. In an online setting, the beginning and ending dates can be fixed or more fluid. The "open" testing period may be two days, while the exam itself may be an hour-long timed assessment, for example. This interpretation of the start and end date/time is where student confusion can happen.
The "submit by" model says that the "due" date is the deadline. This approach can teach students the importance of time management and personal accountability. Students will experience pain when they misinterpret or ignore directions. Some of their work may be lost by not saving or submitting work before the deadline. Professors that choose this approach should be prepared for complaints, especially at the outset. Offering a low-stakes or no-stakes practice exam is strongly recommended to reduce student and professor frustration when using this approach.
To accomplish a "submit by" deadline, we recommend the following settings:
- Under "Assessment Introduction," clearly communicate that this is a "submit by" deadline. In the Description/Intro field, describe the assessment and be explicit in the settings and expectations. If the deadline is 5:00 PM, it does not hurt to explain that students must begin the assessment no later than 3:55 PM to receive the full time -- students that start after that time must complete the assessment by 5:00 PM despite any time listed on the countdown timer. You can click "Show/Hide Rich-Text Editor" to add emphasis and color to highlight key points. We pad the date by five minute to account for potential time differences between student clocks and the server's clock; the assessment is controlled by the server's clock.
- Under "Delivery Dates" in the assessment's settings, enter the deadline in the Due Date field (e.g. 03/15/2014 05:00:00 PM).
- Under "Delivery Dates," enter the same date plus five minutes in the Retract Date field (e.g. 03/15/2014 05:05:00 PM).
- Under "Timed Assessment," enter the one hour limit.
- Under "Assessment Organization," we strongly recommend that you select "Each Question is on a separate Web page" in the Question Layout section. This will insure that student work is saved after they complete each question.
- Under "Submissions" in the settings, select the option "Late submissions WILL NOT be accepted after the due date" in the Late Handling section.
- Under "Submissions," check the box for "Saved assessments will be automatically submitted after the retract date passes" in the Automatic Submission section.
- Under "Feedback," we recommend the option "Feedback will be displayed to the student at a specific date" if you want to release automated scores and feedback. This way, you can set a date after the deadline and not expose answers to students when others haven't completed the assessment yet. If there will be make-up test takers, you may want to set the date several days after the deadline to allow for these make up exams. (For make-up tests, you would create a group for those specific test takers, duplicate the assessment, and release that copy to only that specific group.)
- For other setting details, refer to our Tests & Quizzes Settings guide.
- Always save the settings and review them thoroughly before publishing the assessment.
"START BY" MODEL
In this model, we've decided that the "due date" is the time students must at least begin the assessment. If they start by the due date on a timed test, then they'll have the full amount of time before the retract date to turn in their assessment. You still run the risk of student complaints, but you minimize the risk by setting a time that will align with the assessment's built-in timer.
To accomplish a "start by" deadline, we recommend the following settings:
- Under "Assessment Introduction," clearly communicate that this is a "start by" deadline.
- Under "Delivery Dates" in the assessment's settings, enter the deadline in the Due Date field (e.g. 03/15/2014 05:00:00 PM).
- Under "Delivery Dates," enter the REAL deadline in Retract Date field (e.g. 03/15/2014 06:05:00 PM). We pad the date by five minute to account for potential time differences between student clocks and the server's clock; the assessment is controlled by the server's clock.
- Under "Timed Assessment," enter the one hour limit.
- Under "Assessment Organization," we strongly recommend that you select "Each Question is on a separate Web page" in the Question Layout section. This will insure that student work is saved after they complete each question.
- Under "Submissions" in the settings, select the option "Late submissions WILL be accepted after the due date. However, this applies only to students who have not submitted their work prior to the due date. They will be given one chance to do so and their submission will be tagged as late."
- Under "Submissions," check the box for "Saved assessments will be automatically submitted after the retract date passes" in the Automatic Submission section.
- Under "Feedback," we recommend the option "Feedback will be displayed to the student at a specific date" if you want to release automated scores and feedback. This way, you can set a date after the deadline and not expose answers to students when others haven't completed the assessment yet. If there will be make-up test takers, you may want to set the date several days after the deadline to allow for these make up exams. (For make-up tests, you would create a group for those specific test takers, duplicate the assessment, and release that copy to only that specific group.)
- For other setting details, refer to our Tests & Quizzes Settings guide.
- Always save the settings and review them thoroughly before publishing the assessment.
OTHER ONLINE TESTING TIPS
- Remind students that essay or file upload questions are not auto-graded. Students may panic when they see the initial grade before you've reviewed and assigned grades for manual grading items. Prepare them ahead of time.
- If you use essay questions, please remind students to save their work regularly. We recommend that students draft their essay in Microsoft Word or another word processor and paste in their work. Students can lose their work if they: (A) fail to save their work often by clicking the "Save" button on the page (especially if time runs out on a timed assessment!), (B) accidentally close their web browser tab or window, (C) click the browser's Back button, (D) accidentally Select All and erase their content, or many other situations. This is why it's their responsibility to save their work regularly.
RESOURCES
- Pepperdine's Test & Quizzes documentation
- Clicking the blue question mark (?) icon in Courses will pull up contextual help. The Tests & Quizzes documentation is an excellent resource.
