Recommendations from the First- and Second-Cycle Education Committee regarding remote examination

Context

Due to the COVID-19 situation, the President has decided that distance examination will be implemented for all examinations that take place during the period 2020-04-14 – 08-22 (V-2020-0273). The decision applies to preparatory, first and second-cycle education.

In light of this, the First -and Second-Cycle Education Committee has decided on the following recommendations, which apply to the examination and re-examination periods in weeks 22-23 and weeks 33- 34. The recommendations are based on the work that was conducted prior to the re-examination period in Week 16, as well as the experiences of participating students and staff.

Recommendations from the First- and Second-Cycle Education Committee

In consultation with the Director of Studies and colleagues, the examiner should evaluate the conditions for replacing the written examination with digital alternatives. Written examinations are primarily to be replaced by an unsupervised take-home examination, which may be supplemented as necessary by an oral examination in which the examinees describe their solutions. Alternatively, written examinations may be replaced by a so-called digital written examination with supervision.

Take-home examinations

In take-home examinations, the written portion of the exam is conducted in Canvas, and includes written assignments, quizzes or a combination of these. No supervision is carried out during the take-home examination, which can last either for several days or a shorter period of time (hours). Often more aids are permitted during a take-home examination than during a written examination, and the formulation of the examination assignments should take this difference into account. The examiner determines the writing time and decides which aids are permitted. If an oral portion is implemented, a Zoom meeting is to be conducted in which one or more examinees present their written examination and answer questions about it in order to verify the examinee's knowledge and abilities. The oral examination must be documented and archived. The entire examination must be completed before the end of the examination period. Personal identification verification must be carried out in connection with the oral examination.

Digital written examination

Alternatively, the written examination may be replaced by a so-called digital written examination. Digital written examinations are conducted in Canvas and include written assignments, quizzes or a combination of these elements, and the examinees are supervised by invigilators via a Zoom meeting. In a digital written examination, the students receive the exam wording digitally and can either solve the problems digitally or solve the problems by hand on sheets of paper, which are then scanned with the ScanPro app and submitted digitally. Personal identification verification must be carried out in connection with the digital written examination. This is then supplemented by random checks in which the examinees are telephoned and asked to provide an account of their written examination, in order to verify the examinee's knowledge and abilities.

Information to the students

For all examinations, the examinees must receive written information in advance in which the examination is described. It is strongly recommended that each respective course coordinator/examiner arrange practice sessions one week before the examination session, where they can review how the examination will be carried out together with the students. During the examination, the examinee should be able to ask the teacher clarifying questions about the examination. Furthermore, teachers are encouraged to correct the written assignments in the ‘Speedgrader’ Canvas function and to use automatically corrected assignments when appropriate. When formulating the examination, account must be taken of the time that must be devoted to administrative elements such as the scanning and submission of assignments.

Oral examination

In courses with few participants, it is recommended that the written examination be replaced by an oral examination. The oral examination is conducted as a Zoom meeting at which the examinees answer questions or solve problems in order to verify their knowledge and abilities. Personal identification verification must be conducted in connection with the oral examination, and the audio of the Zoom meeting must be recorded as documentation of the examinee’s performance, in accordance with the recommendations of the Swedish Higher Education Authority (Universitetskanslersämbetet, UKÄ).

Things to keep in mind

When implementing distance examination, it may be necessary to rethink how knowledge and skills are examined and assessed. It is therefore recommended that before you start to ‘build’ your examination assignments in P4, you should consider the intended learning outcomes for the course and how the student might be able to demonstrate the achievement of these objectives in other ways than through written examination, for example via the abovementioned options.

Examination guidance

Do you or your teaching team/colleagues wish to receive guidance on the selection and formulation of examinations due to the altered examination forms in P4 and the next re-examination period?

E-mail: e-learning@kth.se

PLEASE NOTE! Include the words examination guidance in the subject line.

The Digital Course Development Team will support you.

Implementation of examination at a distance

Overview of implentation process

Examination course rooms and import of registered students

Special course rooms are set up in Canvas for all examinations in the coming examination weeks. An examination course room will automatically be created if an activity session is opened in Ladok when the exam registration period starts. The students who have registered for the activity session will be added when the registration period has closed. The examiner for each course has been granted access to the examination course room which can be found in your personal menu. Here is an example of how the examination course room in your personal menu might look like the picture below:

The examination course rooms in Canvas are based on a simple blueprint to support the execution of your exam and create a common foundation for all exams. In practice, this means that the course rooms are created with a number of presets, a front-page and a code of conduct for students. Teachers who do not want to use the provided information can simply edit or substitute the content with their own information. Examination course rooms are unpublished and should only be published if/when they are to be used. Note that in these course rooms students cannot see the students or student groups that are included in the same course room and the tab People is blocked for students.

Examiners are granted rights to add colleagues and other teachers to the course rooms in order to get help with preparations and execution of the exam. Quick guides for examiners on how to add colleagues, add extra time for students eligible to this aid and how to use Canvas Speedgrader can be found on the page

Key dates during the preparation period for re-examinations in August

18 June: All material on this page and subpages is updated to apply to examinations in August.

22 June: Examination course rooms are made available for examiners with examinations in August no later than 17:00.

30 June: Last day to request help with merging of examination course rooms from IT-support@kth.se  (later requests will be handled during week 31).

19 July: The registration period for re-examinations in august expires.

20 July: Registered students for the re-examination period are read in to the examination course rooms at 17:00.

31 July: The material on these pages is updated and supplemented to create the final version for examinations in August.

3 August: Examiners should schedule practice sessions during Week 32, in order to give colleagues and students the opportunity to practice the tools that will be used in the examination. Students whose examination is handled by Tentafunka must also participate in the school's own practice sessions.

Systems to be used

The Undergraduate Studies Committee has decided that the following systems should be used for distance examination: 

• Canvas - for quizzes and handing in material
• Möbius - for more advanced quizzes

IT- Support has extended opening hours in week 33-34

During the remote examinations in week 33-34, KTH’s IT-support will have extended opening hours and readiness to help with examination tool issues.

Monday 10 August – Friday 14 August and Monday 17 August – Friday 21 August:

• 07:00 – 19:30
• Only for ongoing examinations with extended time 19:30 – 22:00

You can reach the IT-support on 08-790 66 00. If you state the need of support during an ongoing exam your issue will be prioritized and solved as soon as possible.

Support and FAQ

• For technical questions about the examination tools, please contact
• For administrative questions, please contact the education administration at your school, which can also assist with any transfers of exam setups to Tentafunka.
• For questions about students' compensatory support in relation to various forms of examination, please contact
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