"Now all campus exams can be assessed digitally"
Hi Martin Löfgren, at E-learning who’s been responsible for a project aiming to assess scanned exams digitally, what’s the news for the next exam period?
”We have developed an app for Canvas so that we can digitally assess exams written on campus. After two successful pilots, the app "KTH Import Exams" will be installed in all examination rooms in Canvas. The teachers will of course be able to choose whether they want to assess the exams in Canvas or on paper.”
How was this project initiated?
”It started with a teacher not being able to come and pick up the exams because the person was stuck in Norway during the most strict covid restrictions. We thought about whether we could solve it by importing the exams to Canvas from the scanning system Windream - which worked. We realized that more teachers would probably appreciate not having to carry around paper, even if they were not necessarily stuck in another country, so we started working towards making this available for all courses at KTH. As we speak, about 120 exams have used the app, and about 14,000 exams have been imported, which we think is excellent!”
Are there more benefits than not having to carry paper?
”It's useful when there are several teachers involved because you can assess an exam simultaneously. But you also have the opportunity to transfer assessments from Canvas to Ladok via the app "KTH Transfer to Ladok," which has saved a lot of time for teachers using both apps.”
What have been the challenges?
”From the technical perspective, a few things needed to be changed that existed outside the systems we manage. Still, we quickly received support from our KTH colleagues and also from the company that develops the scanning system. We also had to work out recommendations for the actual assessment in Canvas as it differs a little from how to assess on paper, but it seems that the teachers quite quickly found their way to do this in Canvas.”
Interviewed by: Anna Gullers