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[baphd1996]

I did a brief check and didn't see this topic covered.  I've given on-line quizzes before at my Bricks and Motar Uni and of course I'm giving quizzes and exams at my e-Uni.  In both cases I always have many students claim that their computer went down for one reason or another and now they need the exam reset, so that they can take it.  I know that some of those requests are legit, but others not so much.  Some students get on, print out or write out the exam, look up the answers, and then try to retake the exam, only to find that they've been locked out.  Only 8 out of 20 students took/finished the exam I recently gave.  The other 12 claimed some computer mishap (again, I believe some of the claims, but not all).  I had to reset one student 5 times.  I made a suggestion at the school's faculty forum that we take off 5 points for each time we re-set the exam.  That idea was met with great opposition, it wasn't fair, it wasn't legal.  I don't know I just want to try something.  I don't think it's particularly fair to the students that read and follow the instructions to allow the other students additional chances.  At my Bricks and Motar Uni, any on-line assessment is just for review purposes and is not part of the grade.  I can't do that for the e-Uni. 

Any suggestions?  What do you do for request to reset on-line quizzes or exams?

[zharkov]

I keep online quizzes (that are corrected by the CMS) small stakes or no stakes.  So an occasional reset is not a big deal.  You may want to have a policy of one reset per student or something, which I think would fly with a small/no stakes quiz.  For higher stakes assignments, I don't use the autocorrect jazz at all, but have student submit the assignments for manual correction (by me).

[zuzu_]

Here is what I suggest. First off, give everyone three free resets throughout the semester, no questions asked. Announce this.

Have a large test bank, so when they reset, the students will have different questions in a different order. Students who try to game your system by copying down questions will be foiled and won't ask you to reset again.

Design your questions so students have to apply concepts. This way, they can't really "look up" the answer--they have to actually understand the concept to arrive at an answer. You cannot prevent them from using their textbooks or any other resource, so design a text that is difficult enough to account for this.

If a student needs more than three resets, require that the student contact IT immediately and present significant documentation of the problem , and scour your own tracking information to verify. Outline these requirements with your three free reset policy. Unless there are serious, legitimate problems with your CMS, very few students will ever get to this point.

If you don't already have one, require some sort of "practice" test, or a test on the syllabus, where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

[baphd1996]

Great ideas, thanks.

[giacomo]

If you don't already have one, require some sort of "practice" test, or a test on the syllabus, where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

I also do this. Students need to identify compatibility issues before they take the actual exam.

My courses are in ANGEL which allows me to present exam questions one at a time and has a security setting that prevents students from using the right-click on their mouse to copy the questions. A student would have to hit the print screen button on every single question in order to print the test. See if you can set your course to allow a question at a time and find out if there are extra security settings that you can set up with your course.

My course policy is that students are allowed one exam make up during the term including technical difficulties. I sometimes will make an exception and allow two makeup/resets during a course, but there is no way that I would reset an exam five times for a student.

I also have a pool of questions that the exam is pulled from so if an exam is reset students do not see the same questions.

[kaysixteen]

"Just say no."
    -- Nancy Reagan

[conjugate]

For the low-stakes assessments, I just set the CMS for two or three tries.  Exams are longer, and must be done in one sitting, and only one try.  However, I haven't had an all-online course in quite a while.

[theritas]

I'm thinking something along the lines of ONE reset per student unless they can get someone from the technology department to validate that they're having a problem.  This might at LEAST eliminate some of the students thinking it's a free for all on the requests.

[anon99]

I'm thinking something along the lines of ONE reset per student unless they can get someone from the technology department to validate that they're having a problem.  This might at LEAST eliminate some of the students thinking it's a free for all on the requests.

Depending on the number of assessments you have, one free reset is a good idea. If you have weekly assessments, perhaps you need to increase that number.

[macaroon]

or a test on the syllabus[/b], where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

I do this!  The first test is on course policies.  It works beautifully.

[conjugate]

If you don't already have one, require some sort of "practice" test, or a test on the syllabus, where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

I do this!  The first test is on course policies.  It works beautifully.

Fixing the quotes and such.  I did a syllabus quiz but didn't find much difference; I suppose everybody's students are different.

[proftowanda]

or a test on the syllabus[/b], where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

I do this!  The first test is on course policies.  It works beautifully.

Ditto -- actually two online tests, one on the syllabus and one on online readiness.  Each can be retaken before the course or on the first day, each three times, billed as practice in online testing.  The benefits are that students who are not ready for online learning drop, students who think online courses are easy read the syllabus and drop, whining is greatly reduced -- and no one needs resets on tests anymore.

Actually, such a request occurred only once, and it was legit, and it was the first time that I taught online -- before implementing the tests above.

Repeat:  In teaching hundreds of students online now, and these are not rocket scientists, only once was a reset requested.   OP, either your campus server and/or CMS are seriously problematic, or you are being played. :-)

[larryc]

I do a lot of the above suggestions. In addition, a student has to fill out and email me this form to get a reset:

Students: Sometimes students have a problem with the online quizzes. The most common problem is to lose the internet connection. If this happens to you, I am willing to reset the quiz once. If it happens a second time, I may or may not reset the quiz, depending on how much of a good faith effort to correct the problem you seem to have made. I absolutely will not reset a quiz for a student a third time.

Do not use this form if you went over the time limit for a quiz. Going over the time limit will also produce an exclamation mark instead of a grade. As it says on the syllabus, I will accept quizzes that are up to 1 minute over without penalty, and will deduct ten points for every minute or fraction of a minute after that. If you went over time, do nothing, I will adjust the grade eventually.

To have a quiz reset, follow these instructions exactly. Contact me immediately. Send me an email with the following subject line "Reset Quiz [number]." Cut and paste the bold sections of this form into your email. Fill out every item.

Please note that "I don’t know" is not an acceptable answer for any of the following questions, and incomplete requests will be denied. If you lost your internet connection during a quiz, contact your internet service provider and find out why. You are paying them for reliable service, make them do their job. If you have a computer problem, get it fixed. If the problem was with Blackboard, call the Blackboard Help Desk and get it straightened out.

After you submit your request, check your email the course website regularly. If I grant the request, I expect you to complete the quiz within 48 hours.

I don’t mean to be a hard ass. But there are a lot of security concerns with resetting the quizzes too often, and I have had students take advantage of my too lenient rules in the past. I have two goals with this resetting policy: 1) to provide a level playing field for all the students, and 2) to encourage students to get their technical problems fixed, and to do so as early in the semester as possible.
 
Cut and paste the following into your email:

Student Name:
Email Address:
Name of Course:
Line Number of Course:
Briefly, what are you requesting?
Have you requested the same thing before? How many times?
What exactly happened when you were taking the quiz?
What steps have you taken to make sure that this does not happen again?

[baphd1996]

ooo, I like that form Larry.  Mind if I steal it or parts of it?

[fosca]

If you don't already have one, require some sort of "practice" test, or a test on the syllabus, where students can hopefully identify any sort of compatibility issues prior to the first "real" test.

I do this!  The first test is on course policies.  It works beautifully.

Fixing the quotes and such.  I did a syllabus quiz but didn't find much difference; I suppose everybody's students are different.

I did this for my class this semester, and the only "i can't access the quiz!!!!!1!!help me" e-mail was from one student who hadn't done the practice test, and had waited until the last minute to do the chapter test.  I pointed out both of these facts to him politely, and didn't reset the test.  I do drop thier lowest test, so it's not too damaging, but I refuse to give special treatment to people who don't take advantage of what I set up for them.