Step 1: Create Your Exam
☐ Decide if you can make your exam more flexible (e.g., change from Timed to Flexibly Timed OR Flexibly Timed to Multi-Day Open Book)
☐ Decide which Brightspace tool (Quizzes or Assignments) you will use to deliver your exam.
☐ Pick strategies to support Academic Integrity. (e.g., randomized sequencing of questions)
Step 2: Set Up Your Exam
Work through this section when you are setting up your exam. If given sufficient time, TIL can also help build your exam for you. For our recommendations on specific settings and the reasons why we recommend them, please review our exam recommendations for Quiz Tool or Assignment Tool.
Timed Exam - Quiz Tool
Before you get started, learn more about our recommended Quiz Tool settings in our resources How do I set up online exams using the Quiz Tool in Brightspace? Use this checklist section to make sure you have everything ready!
Properties Tab
☐ Give your quiz a name (e.g. Final Exam)
☐ Add and edit your questions
☐ Add the academic integrity pledge to your quiz
If you want the pledge to appear as the first question in your quiz and set your quiz questions to shuffle, you will need to create quiz sections and set up shuffling per section. Also, consider if students will receive a mark for completing the pledge.
☐ Adjust the questions per page
☐ Do not check ‘prevent moving backwards through pages’
☐ Consider checking ‘shuffle questions’ at the quiz level (or at the section level) to randomize questions
☐ Description: Click “On” – Add any information here you would like students to know about the quiz before it is available to them
☐ Header/Footer: Click “On” – Add information about what to do in case of unexpected interruption or technical difficulty
☐ Disable right click under optional advanced properties
☐ Disable Email, Instant Messages and alerts under optional advanced properties (students can email you directly from their UVic inbox rather than Brightspace inbox during the exam)
Restrictions Tab
When setting up exam restrictions for a timed exam, keep in mind that start date, end date, and timing are all important (and interact). Here is an example for a timed exam: I am running an exam that starts at 10:00 am. Students can start the exam until 10:15 am. Students will have 1 hour to complete exam. Settings: Start Date – 10:00 am, End Date – 10:15 am, Due Date – 10:15 am, Enforced Time Limit – 1 hour
☐ Unhide your exam from students before the exam starts but after setting up exam availability (start date and end date)
Keep in mind that students will not be able to see your exam/assignment until you set visibility as show. If you unhide your exam, the exam will be accessible to students automatically on the start date.
☐ Set the Due Date for the last time students can start writing before it will considered late
☐ Set the Start Date for when you want students to begin the exam
☐ Set the End Date for last time a student can start writing an exam
☐ Set an enforced time limit for your quiz (length of time a student can write the exam)
☐ Grant special access for students who have extended time for the quiz (contact LTSIsupport@uvic.ca for assistance)
Assessment Tab
☐ Do not check ‘automatic grade’ (we recommend you manually release grades to students)
☐ Add the quiz to the gradebook by picking or creating a grade item
☐ Do not check ‘auto export to grades’ (we recommend you manually release grades to students)
Submission Views Tab
☐ Edit the default view to uncheck the option ‘show attempt score and overall attempt score’.
Flexibly Timed Exam – Quiz Tool
Before you get started, learn more about our recommended Quiz Tool settings in our resources How do I set up online exams using the Quiz Tool in Brightspace? Use this checklist section to make sure you have everything ready!
Properties Tab
☐ Give your quiz a name (e.g. Final Exam)
☐ Add and edit your questions
☐ Add the academic integrity pledge to your quiz
If you want the pledge to appear as the first question in your quiz and set your quiz questions to shuffle, you will need to create quiz sections and set up shuffling per section. Also, consider if students will receive a mark for completing the pledge.
☐ Adjust the questions per page
☐ Do not check ‘prevent moving backwards through pages’
☐ Consider checking ‘shuffle questions’ at the quiz level to randomize questions
☐ Description: Click “On” – Add any information here you would like students to know about the quiz before it is available to them
☐ Header/Footer: Click “On” – Add information about what to do in case of unexpected interruption or technical difficulty
☐ Disable right click under optional advanced properties
☐ Disable Email, Instant Messages and alerts under optional advanced properties (students can email you directly from their UVic inbox rather than Brightspace inbox during the exam)
Restrictions Tab
When setting up exam restrictions for a flexibly timed exam, keep in mind that start date, end date, and timing are all important (and interact). Here is an example for a flexibly timed exam: I am running an exam that starts on Monday at 8:00 am and finishes on Friday 5:00 pm. Students will have 1 hour to complete the exam. Settings: Start Date – Monday 8:00 am, End Date – Friday 4:00pm, Due date – Friday 4:00 pm, Enforced Time Limit – 1 hour
☐ Unhide your exam from students before the exam starts but after setting up exam availability (start date and end date).
Keep in mind that students will not be able to see your exam/assignment until you set visibility as show. If you unhide your exam, the exam will be accessible to students automatically on the start date.
☐ Set the Due Date for the last time students can start writing before it will considered late
☐ Set the Start Date for when you want students to start the exam
☐ Set the End Date for last time a student can start writing an exam
☐ Set an enforced time limit for your quiz (length of time a student can write the exam)
☐ Grant special access for students who have extended time for the quiz (contact LTSIsupport@uvic.ca for assistance)
Assessment Tab
☐ Do not check ‘automatic grade’ (we recommend you manually release grades to students)
☐ Add the quiz to the gradebook by picking or creating a grade item
☐ Do not check ‘auto export to grades’ (we recommend you manually release grades to students)
Submission Views Tab
☐ Edit the default view to uncheck the option ‘show attempt score and overall attempt score’.
Multi-Day or Single-Day Open Book Exam – Assignment Tool
Before you get started, learn more about our recommended Assignment Tool settings in our resources How do I set up online exams using the Assignment Tool in Brightspace? Use this checklist section to make sure you have everything ready!
Note: When setting up exam restrictions for a multi-day or single-day exam using the Assignment Tool, keep in mind that start date, end date, and due date are all important. Here is an example: I am running an exam that starts on Monday at 8:00 am. The exam finishes Friday at 5:00pm but I will accept late submissions until Saturday at 11:00 am. Settings: Start Date – Monday 8:00 am, End Date – Saturday 11:00 am, Due Date – Friday 5:00 pm
General Settings
☐ Give your exam/assignment a name (e.g. Final Exam)
☐ Specify how many points you will use to score the exam/assignment (different from gradebook weighting)
☐ Add the exam/assignment to the gradebook by picking or creating a grade item
☐ Set the Due Date for the last time students can submit before it will considered late
Availability Dates & Conditions
☐ Set the Start Date for when you want students to start the exam/assignment
☐ Set the End Date for last time a student can submit the exam/assignment
☐ Grant special access for students who have extended time for the exam/assignment (contact LTSIsupport@uvic.ca for assistance)
Submission & Completion
☐ Set submission type, instructors usually choose “file submission”
☐ Set the number of files allowed per submission
☐ Set submissions to “all submissions are kept”
Evaluation & Feedback
☐ Add a rubric if needed
☐ Check ‘make annotations tools available for assessment”
Save & Close
☐ Unhide your exam from students before the exam starts but after setting up exam availability (start date and end date).
Keep in mind that students will not be able to see your exam/assignment until you set visibility as show. If you unhide your exam, the exam will be accessible to students automatically on the start date.
Step 3: Preview Your Exam
After you have set up your exam but before releasing it to students, consider the following options to reduce the risk of errors on your exam:
☐ Try out the exam using a demo student and request changes from TIL if required. Request your demo student.
☐ Ask a trusted colleague or a TA to try out the exam and let you know if there were any questions where the wording was confusing.
Step 4: Develop a Contingency Plan
While you may have set your exam up very carefully and even had a colleague or TIL review it, there are always things that can go wrong. Review our sample contingency plans. For final exams, it’s particularly important to develop an exam-day plan that considers the following:
☐ How will you communicate expectations, instructions or updates?
Announcements and email are both good options.
☐ How will students contact you or ask questions during the exam?
Options are via email, discussion forums, or an open zoom room.
☐ Who will assist students with technical difficulties during the exam and how?
Students should be contacting a TA or instructor if they have issues during a timed exam but they can also contact helpdesk@uvic.ca to help solve their issue.
☐ How will you handle potential academic integrity issues if noticed?
Expectations should be explicitly communicated with students in advance so that consequences are defined and assumptions are not made about what is allowed.
☐ What will you do in case of major interruption (e.g. power outage / system outage)?
Students should be contacting a TA or instructor if they have issues during a timed exam. Consider what your course policies say about this and what evidence you might require from students, if any.
Step 5: Communicate to Students
After you finish creating your exam, you will need to provide clear and timely communication to students to reduce confusion. Review our sample communications. Consider the following:
☐ Provide students with information about how the exam will be conducted, what materials they will need, what materials are prohibited, as well as any other instructions
☐ Provide an optional practice quiz for students to ease exam anxiety
☐ Ask your class that any students who require accommodations or alternatives inform you several days before the exam
☐ Post an announcement or email your class to let them know that the exam is available
Other Resources
These additional resources will be helpful as you prepare to give an online exam in Brightspace:
- Online Exam Guide
- Invigilating Online Exams at UVic
- Instructor Help Guides: Assessment & Grading in Brightspace (step-by-step instructions for specific activities in Brightspace).
