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EXAM Moodle

1. How do I use EXAM Moodle for Assignments?
2. Can Students chat with me during an exam?
3. Can I alert Students to a problem that arises during the exam?
4. How can I add a block e.g. Calculator to an exam?
5. How can I use the Assignment PDF editor to grade an exam?
6. How can I use TomaGrade to grade an exam?
7. How can I alert students to an unexpected problem with some question during an exam
8. How can I record students' attendance during a BYOD exam?
9. How can I be sure that students will have no problem accessing the exam



See also the EXAM Moodle miniguide and Quiz cookbook



How do I use EXAM Moodle for Assignments?
  1. Go to your course in EXAM Moodle
  2. Click on Turn editing on
  3. Click on Add Assignment
  4. Enter a value in field Name, set Active exam to Yes, and set an Opening time and Time limit. Save.
  5. Click on button Edit exam
  6. Enter at least the Question text. Save
After students have taken the exam:
  1. Go back to the exam and click on button Prepare attempts for grading
  2. Wait for the notification (on a yellow background) that the attempts were exported successfully
  3. Click on button Grade attempts and proceed to grade, as for a usual Assignment
After you have finished grading:
  1. Go back to the exam and click on button Save grades
  2. Click on Edit settings and set Release grades to students to Yes. Save
Students can now click on link מבחנים משוחררים לצפייה on the frontpage of EXAM Moodle to view feedback and grades.

For more information, see the EXAM Moodle Miniguide



Can Students chat with me during an exam?
Yes! Set Enable Chat to Yes in the exam Settings.

Then, for the Student:
  • There is a Chat block in which he can conduct a conversation with you.
    (Only the Student, yourself, and other Teachers and TAs, can see and join the conversation.)
  • There is a Refresh button.
    If you respond, he will see your response when he clicks on the Refresh button, or navigates to another page, or saves the page.
    Otherwise, the Refresh button will turn to red within a minute of you responding.
You (and other Teachers and TAs) can respond to Students on the Announcements/Chats page:
  • Normally, you will see only conversations that await a response.
    If a message does not require a response, click on 👍 and send to ensure that the conversation is no longer shown when the page is reloaded.
  • If other course staff are also responding, make sure to click on the Grab button before responding.
    That way you will know if somebody else has started responding or has already responded.
    (If you change your mind, click on the Release button.)
  • After responding, you will probably want to click on the Reload button to get an up-to-date view of all conversations that await a response.
  • If you are not expecting many messages, check Alert me if there is a new message and reload.
    Conversations are ordered from most recent message to oldest. To reverse, toggle descending/ascending and reload.
    To see also conversations that do not await a response, toggle most recent message/first message and reload.
  • To send a message to a Student who has not yet sent you a message, or to send the same message to several Students:
    • Go to the Grades page.
    • Select the Student/s.
    • Enter your message in the Chat message window and click on Send message to selected students.
For further information, see also What facilities are there for communicating with students during an exam? and The Announcements/Chats page in the EXAM Moodle miniguide



Can I alert Students to a problem that arises during the exam?
Yes! Set an Alert on a question as follows:
  • Go to the Edit question page.
  • Click on Show more... in the top section.
  • Enter the message in the Alert text field.
  • Click on button Save changes to this version
If there is an Alert on a question:
  1. The message appears in red-on-pink above the question text.
  2. The question is highlighted in pink in the quiz navigation block.
Note: If the student is unlikely to reload or save the page, send an Announcement instead.
The Announcement block has a Refresh button that turns to red within a minute of you sending a new Announcement.
See What facilities are there for communicating with students during an exam? in the EXAM Moodle miniguide


How can I add a block e.g. Calculator to an exam?
On the course page:
  1. Click on Turn editing on
  2. In block Block add a block, select the block you wish to add
  3. Click on the cogwheel of the new block, select its Configure option, open section Where this block appears and select Any page. Save
In the exam
  1. Click on Edit settings, open section Appearance, click on Show more... and set Show blocks during quiz attempts to Yes. Save.
  2. Click on Preview. (Editing should still be on.)
  3. Click on the cogwheel of the new block, select its Configure option, open section Where this block appears and select Attempt quiz page. Save
To add the same block also to other exams, follow step 1 above in each exam.


How can I use the Assignment PDF editor to grade an exam?
  • Create an exam of type Assignment
  • In the exam Settings, in section Grading, select Assignment from option Grade using.
  • On the main quiz page, there will be a column of three buttons
  • assign.jpg
    • After students have submitted, click on Prepare attempts for grading.
      This will create an Assignment with the same name as the Exam.
    • Now click on Grade attempts.
      This will take you to the Assignment
    • After you have finished grading the Assignment, click on Save grades
      This will import the grades, annotated PDF and feedback from the Assignment back to the exam
    Note: You can click on any of the buttons again, as necessary, if there are new submissions
  • Now enable Release grades to students in the exam settings


How can I use TomaGrade to grade an exam?
  • Create an exam of type Assignment
  • In the exam Settings, in section Grading, select TomaGrade from option Grade using.
    (This can be done also after students have submitted.)
  • On the main quiz page, there will be a column of three buttons
  • tomagrade.jpg
    • After students have submitted, click on Prepare attempts for grading.
      This will create an Assignment with the same name as the Exam. You can ignore it
    • Now click on Upload to TomaGrade.
      This will export the exams to TomaGrade
    • After you have finished grading in TomaGrade, click on Save grades
      (The button will remain disabled until some minutes after you have finished grading in TomaGrade.)
      This will import the grades and copybooks from TomaGrade back to the exam
    Note: You can click on any of the buttons again, as necessary, if there are new submissions
  • Now enable Release grades to students in the exam settings


How can I alert students to an unexpected problem with some question during an exam
  • Go to the question's edit page
  • Click on Show more... in the first section.
  • Enter something in field Alert text.
  • Click on Save
This has two effects:
  1. The question is highlighted in pink in the quiz Navigation block
  2. The text entered appears red-on-pink above the question
If the question is to be used again in another exam, you will probably want to fix it after this exam and remove the Alert text



How can I record students' attendance during a BYOD exam?
  1. In the browser of you mobile phone, authenticate to Moodle in the usual way.
    Alternatively, authenticate as the Proctor user. (The password is available on request.). Then enter the course ID and Access key for proctors.
    (The Access key for proctors can be set in section Local users of the course Settings.)
  2. For each student:
    1. Request him to click on icon qrcode in the fixed bar at the top of the window. This will open a popup window with a QRcode.
    2. Scan the QRcode and open the link in your browser.
      You will see the name, id and picture of the student. Also one of the states Enter, In exam or Exit, depending on whether the student has not yet started, has already started or has submitted, respectively.
  3. Following the exam, go to the Security report (item Security under Reports in the exam Settings), and check for students who were not present, arrived after starting, or left before finishing.
    See What is the EXAM Moodle Security report
See Log Entry/Exit by QRcode for further information



How can I be sure that students will have no problem accessing the exam
Set a Starting time in the exam settings.
Students will be able to authenticate and view the Introduction at the Opening time but clicking on the the Start exam button won't open the exam until the Starting time
Note: The Start delay is measured from the Opening time, not the Starting time. So ensure that it is sufficiently long.