Archive
How the LRC can help you proctoring your computer-based make-up exams
- We are testing
- whether we can offer proctored make-up exams for students that missed scheduled (publisher website- or Moodle-based) computerized exams that were held in the LRC. We have not been given additional resources for this service, so we have to set it up as smoothly as possible – as you and your students will desire also.
- Alternatively, you could administer your exam in your office, like you used to, but now using your office computer (where presumably you tested the exam in the first place – the LRC can temporarily borrow you a headset
- or we could group schedule all remaining students for a make-up in the main LRC classroom maybe during class meeting (likely more secure and quicker, but taking away from contact hours). Both the presence of the teacher and the lrc director may be required.
- The teacher gives
- to the studentthe exam’s
- step-by-step instructions (depends on your exam website, look at my example here regarding mylanguagelab tests (version 2012-10): goo.gl/g8q5g),
- or, if the exam is self-explanatory to the student (nothing ever seems to be, so if you want to go this route, please be prepared to troubleshoot with your students, the LRC can only help with making step-by-step guides beforehand), the link, i.e. login (e.g. mygermanlab: goo.gl/JUSUC) and exact location of exam (either path for manual browsing or (preferably, if at all possible) a direct link);
- duration
- deadline
- to the LRC coordinator the exam password. The LRC coordinator publishes the password in LRC Moodle forum “sticky notes” (to which only LRC staff has access).
- to the studentthe exam’s
- The student
- From her NINERMAILcalendar
- prepares a new/meeting request,
- “subject: [your course number] make-up exam”,
- to “resource:” lrcroomcoed433c @uncc.edu AND lrcroomcoed433d@uncc.edu, our small group rooms,
- uses the tab:”scheduling assistant” to find a free (= white, not-blocked) time-slot with the exam duration and before the exam deadline,
- and deletes that group room that s/he does not need before actual sending the meeting request (For the quietest experience, s/he should also stir clear of tutoring hours, subject:”up to ####” in the other group room http://mail.uncc.edu/owa/calendar/LRCRoomCOED433c@uncc.edu/Calendar/calendar.html http://mail.uncc.edu/owa/calendar/LRCRoomCOED433d@uncc.edu/Calendar/calendar.html ).
- The student can get help withmaking this meeting request at the LRC reception desk, including booking the room on the fly, but no group room may be immediately available for walk-in clients).
- cancels the meeting request if s/he changes her mind, to make the room available to other (we record the check-in time to report offenders who prevent other students from taking their make-up exams). Only in our 2 group rooms next to the reception desk the student can be (loosely) monitored by LRC assistants serving as proctors from behind the reception desk. We can test before term start if your website can use additional security features like Sanako controlled web browsing or Respondus Lockdown browser.
- prepares a new/meeting request,
- comes to the LRC shortly before her scheduled time slot,
- logs in on the computer in her group room first (to speed things up);
- opens her meeting request on the reception desk computer to receive a check-in code from the LRC assistant into the meeting request and “sends update”;
- places any personal possession behind the reception desk;
- opens the exam instructions (e.g. goo.gl/g8q5g) on the group room computer;
- Following instructions therein, goes to the exam website on the group room computer, opens the exam, so that the LRC assistant can type in the password from the LRC Moodle forum “sticky notes” without letting the examinee know the password.
- TBA: Will we require students to get a checkout code? The LRC assistants are not in a position to enforce exam deadlines; your testing software likely should be.
- From her NINERMAILcalendar
MyGermanLab shortlinks and step-by-step chapter test for GERM1201, GERM1202 classes
- Using Internet Explorer, go here: goo.gl/JUSUC.
- Log into MyGermanLab.
- to open your test:
-
- Click on the assignment for today on your assignment calendar to the right:
- if your test does not show as assignment in the calendar (Update for proctored make-up exam: this applies espeially to you), go to the top tab: “course materials”“. Hold the CTRL key and click on the assignment
- either in the list on the right or
- at the bottom in the list on the left.
- if your test does not show as assignment in the calendar (Update for proctored make-up exam: this applies espeially to you), go to the top tab: “course materials”“. Hold the CTRL key and click on the assignment
- Enter the password that you will be given during the exam in the LRC:
, hold the CTRL key and click button: “OK”. - Click button: “start”.
- Click through the pages until it tells you you have “submitted” the test.
- Click on the assignment for today on your assignment calendar to the right:
- to handle multimedia:
- Use the headsets hanging behind the screens for questions that require listening/speaking.
-
When you load the audio player or audio recorder, you will see a dialogue like these, click button: ”Run” or “Trust”:
- There is a step-by-step guide on how to record here.
- If you get an error for the audio recorder saying “Authentication failed”, keep calm and carry on, your recording is not lost, you only cannot review it anymore:
- If you have a question, do not disturb others. Rather put your headsets on and get in the queue by clicking button: “Call” in this window
. Your call will be answered shortly.
- Please be advised that this exam is
- proctored and that your screen can be seen by the proctor at any time.
- randomized, so that your neighbors’ screen will most likely display your current test question at a quite different time.
Oral assessments with Sanako model imitation – The ultimate training summary…
…using animated GIFs. Load the speed of your choosing (or several, use CTRL-Click to open links in a new tab) into the left screen of the teacher station before administering an oral exam, with the window active, press F5 in your web browser to restart the animation from the beginning. Slower? Expanded:050cs, 075cs, 100cs, 150cs, 200cs, 300cs, 400cs, 500cs, 1000cs.Or compact for recapitulation: 025cs, 050cs, 075cs, 100cs, 150cs, 200cs, 300cs, 400cs, 500cs, 600cs, 700cs, 800cs, 900cs, 1000cs. 
Video quizzes on Youtube.com in Beta
Video Questions Editor lets channel owners display multiple-choice questions on top of their videos as they play (I see only a “start” in the timeline), offer hints, get results on your feedback page.
But if it supports only summaries, not usernames, it is more a poll than a quiz, which limits it usefulness in foreign language classes as much as that you apparently are limited to your own uploads, and cannot link your questions to the wealth of foreign language video uploaded by others…
Summer 2012 Learning materials creation clinic for preparing oral assessments/assignments
1. I am holding a “Clinic”, open to anybody who needs help with preparing their classes using oral assessments/assignments in the LRC this fall term – RVSP if interested.
2. This clinic focuses on material creation for delivery in upcoming specific courses – based on, but different from my faculty workshops on this topics, If you have not attended, please view the below links for what was covered in the workshops
a. https://thomasplagwitz.com/2011/08/18/sanako-study-1200-workshop-spring-2011/
Specifically:
1. Materials creation
- with SANAKO
i. make teacher audio recording for model-imitation/question-response oral exam: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2012/01/25/how-a-teacher-best-adds-cues-and-pauses-to-an-mp3-recording-with-audacity-to-create-student-language-exercises/
ii. Make teacher recording (https://thomasplagwitz.com/2012/01/11/recording-with-audacity/) for model imitation with voice insert (like reading practice homework assignment, https://thomasplagwitz.com/2012/01/24/how-a-teacher-creates-audio-recordings-for-use-with-sanako-student-voice-insert-mode/ ):
- with Moodle
i. Moodle Kaltura webcam recording assignment: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2011/11/02/how-to-grade-a-moodle-straming-video-assignment-and-moodle-streaming-video-recording-assignment-glitch-2/
ii. Prepare Moodle metacourses learning materials upload: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2011/06/17/moodle-metacourses-part-iv-the-support-workflow-uploading/ and https://thomasplagwitz.com/2011/01/26/moodle-batch-upload-learning-materials-give-students-access/
- with PowerPoint (visual speaking cues with timers): https://thomasplagwitz.com/2009/11/18/create-a-powerpoint-slide-with-a-timer-from-template-for-a-timed-audio-recording-exercise/
- Materials delivery with SANAKO
- remote control student pcs, collaborate over headphones: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2012/05/04/how-you-can-view-the-computer-screens-of-your-class-using-sanako-study-1200/
- pairing students’ audio using headphones: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2011/05/11/study-1200-pairing/
- You must bring some assessment ideas that fit into your skills course which we will turn into audio recordings. You can also bring prerecorded audio files from textbooks as mp3 which we can edit to turn them into materials. If you would like some examples of what colleagues have done
- With Moodle Kaltura: https://thomasplagwitz.com/feed/?category_name=learning-usage-samples&tag=kaltura
- With Sanako oral (formative) assessments/(outcome) exams: please email me, I make accessible to you samples that we do not publish to preserve exam integrity.
How to easily merge MP3 files
- There are many ways, including many that are easier than doing it manually in Audacity.
- MergeMP3 is a free and easy one that worked here:
Does Respondus-lockdown–browser block when a user attempts to load a Moodle quiz on 2 different computers?
- We experienced slowness of Moodle during an exam where about 12 students
- load a Moodle quiz into the Respondus lockdown browser (lockdown browser hangs with message "page loading"),
- but also already when logging into Moodle with a regular browser (hangs on login page).
- Turns out large classes used the Moodle quiz function elsewhere on campus which put lots of load on the Moodle servers.
- What can we do on our end to work around this as smoothly as possible?
- First, be patient while Respondus-lockdown–browser displays “Page loading”
- “Refresh” or “Back/forward” are the next resort once “Page loading” attempt has stopped and the page
- states it cannot be loaded
- displays an error about missing CSS component (likely due to incomplete load before timeout)
- says it “can be loaded only in Respondus-lockdown–browser” while you are in Respondus-lockdown–browser (Huh?).
- Keep calm and carry on, i.e. on your current computer.
- In general, trying on additional “fallback” computers is likely to make matters only worse, since even more load is put on the Moodle server system.
- Specifically, however, does Respondus-lockdown–browser block when a user attempts to load a Moodle quiz in Respondus-lockdown–browser on 2 different computers simultaneously? One student kept getting “can be loaded only in Respondus-lockdown–browser” consistently, until closing Respondus-lockdown–browser on this computer. Then the quiz would finally load in Respondus-lockdown–browser where she was logged in on another computer (can this being tracked by the Respondus-lockdown–browser security layer that checks whether a page is loaded within Respondus-lockdown–browser? Why then no more helpful error message, or is this “Security by obscurity”? Data seems inconclusive).
- Additional tips for takers (and authors) of Moodle exams are available.
Questions? Read the About. Or just ask me a quick
Your message has been sent
FAQs for LRC student staff or for students or for teachers. To search our FAQs, in the browser addressbar, add after "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=faqs+/" "+TAG1" (from tag cloud below) OR "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/tag=faqs
&category_name=" "CAT1" (from category hierarchy below). OR search both categories and tags, and multiple TAGs/CATs (connect with "," for OR-search, with "+" for AND-search), like so: https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=TAG1+TAG2+...TAGn&category_name=CAT1
+CAT2+...CATn"
Other ways to find help
If you cannot find it here, look there: 5,500 Language-Learning Links and Programs for learning or teaching 150 languages
Shortcuts:Our Lists, Our Maps, LRC Staff Moodle Site,LRC Project Moodle Site, 49erexpress, UNCC Moodle, Student Recordings: s:claslcslrcsanakostudent
Learning usage samples: Sanako oral exam, Kaltura webcam presentation, Dictation with speech recognition, Sanako written exam, Chinese and Japanese interactive stroke-order practice
Test the Sanako Installer, Webbrowser Popup Konfigurator for XP, or Windows7, faster LRC TeacherPC Log-in Let MS facilitate diacritics writing by installing for you US-International keyboard layout
This is my personal blog (Google+). The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer. The information in this weblog is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Thomas' Work Space 
