student seating allocation & exam attendance · student administration applied and was granted...

STUDENT SEATING ALLOCATION

& EXAM ATTENDANCE

Technology Rollout & Process Improvement

Presented by Reuben Pucek& Henry Taylor

THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE EXAMS

BACKGROUND

Long history of effective examinations/results delivery at the University of Adelaide

High stakes assessments

High detail with a low tolerance for risk of error

Historical images of University of Adelaide exams

BACKGROUND CONT.

▪ Current state provided an incentive to continue as is i.e. don’t fix what isn't broken

▪ Growth in student numbers, enrolment terms and examination venues since original systems implemented

Exams held at Centennial Hall with a capacity ofApprox. 1000 desks

BACKGROUND CONT.▪ Significant changes in the number of

centralised exam offerings and student numbers since original systems were implemented

▪ RAA numbers 1966 vs 2019

▪ Current systems still managed using similar methods

1966 R/AA (Supp) exam offerings

Exam request system 1977 utilising Ledger-based data entry

CURRENT STATE▪ Introduction of centralised Trimester and Winter exams

▪ 7 primary and 7 R/AA (Supp) exam periods now overlap across the year

▪ Alternate Exam Arrangements (AEA) and External exam numbers steadily increasing across all exam periods

Our current Sem 1 & 2 examination venue, Wayville Pavilion, which currently contains 2520 exam tables

CURRENT STATE CONT.▪ Strain on offline & integrated manual systems to effectively manage examinations

and grading processes

▪ Significant impact of these inadequate systems on policy adherence and student experience

▪ Risk of error elevated

Our current Sem 1 & 2 examination venue, Wayville Pavilion, which currently contains 2520 exam tables

CURRENT STATE CONT.▪ Data drawn from dynamic online systems

(PeopleSoft → Exam Scheduler) into offline documents for seating allocation/attendance/Student signs/paperwork

▪ Offline data not easily updated to reflect fluid changes in online systems (such as enrolments, late exam additions and Alternate Examination Arrangements)

▪ Manual/offline attendance and seating allocation systems lack scalability and accuracy – Are required to be uploaded back online

Attendance checklists individually edited/generated

Exam venue seating plan individually edited/generated

CURRENT STATE PROCESS MAP

1. Student Systems Data Export

(People Soft)

2. Exam Timetable Scheduled with imported data

(Exam Scheduler)

3. Timetable exported (Date/time/location) back to PeopleSoft to

be published in student portal

4. Reports exported from PeopleSoft for

use offline

5. Exam Seating Plans/Checklists/Allocation done offline (Excel

&Word)

6. Various reports merged/printed and annotated at exam

venues offline

7. Reports scanned & uploaded as images

(offline - not data) to Secure File Manager

(HPE CM)

8. Schools/Faculties Access HPE CM to

ascertain exam attendance

CURRENT STATE CONT.▪ Offline systems (I.e. Excel Datasheets and

Word merge documents) were open to potential student collusion/suspected academic honesty – Documents were also required to be uploaded back online

▪ Delivery of attendance data to Schools and Faculties cumbersome/inaccurate/time consuming (1-2 week delay)

▪ Delay of attendance data resulting in delays in processing times for replacement exam applications – Not policy compliant

Abrig, DonAnderson, Abcde

Example of completed attendance checklists scanned back into system for reporting to Faculties

Example of manual seating plan calculations/candidate audit

POSSIBLE SOLUTION?

IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE

ALLOCATED SEATING

▪ Student Administration applied and was granted funding for a project (IIP) to implement software/hardware to digitally record exam attendance (EA)

▪ Scientia/Cyon proposed a system to do this, although not currently tested in the examinations space

▪ The University of Adelaide is the first to trial/pilot the software in conjunction with Exam Scheduler – Project commenced April/May 2018

PROPOSED PROCESS CHANGES

▪ Key mandate to bring/keep student data online throughout the examinations process to allow for the recording of online attendance/data analysis/metrics


(People Soft PS)

2. Exam Timetable Scheduled with imported data

(Exam Scheduler ES)



4. Reports exported from PeopleSoft for

use offline

5. Exam Seating Plans/Checklists/Allocation done offline (Excel

&Word)

6. Various reports merged/printed and annotated at exam

venues offline

7. Reports scanned & uploaded as images

(offline - not data) to Secure File Manager

(HPE CM)

8. Schools/Faculties Access HPE CM to

ascertain exam attendance

PROPOSED PROCESS MAP


(People Soft PS)

2. Exam Timetable Scheduled with

imported PS data

(Exam Scheduler ES)



4. Exam seating allocation done within

ES utilising existing capabilities (online)

5. Exam seating allocation data

transferred to Exam Attendance EA module

from ES (online)

6. Various reports exported for exam

management using ES report manager

directly from ES online data

7. Exam attendance recorded live at venue

using EA web application on mobile

devices (online)

8. Schools/Faculties access EA user portal directly to ascertain

exam attendance (online)

IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE

ALLOCATED SEATING

Semester 1 2019 the EO allocated exams and seating from live/updated student data (excluding AEA’s & Ext exams)

All students allocated seats accurately without error

Live cloud-based data enable seamless troubleshooting during exam events by staff (adding a seat for a student not enrolled correctly)

Seating allocation within ES. Green boxes denote allocated seats

CUSTOM ONLINE REPORTS

Metrics and error reporting now available to mitigate errors prior to exam events

All reports made in-house by IT support team

Reports now centralised replacement for various offline event management documents

Custom ES scheduling/seating reporting

CUSTOM ONLINE REPORTS CONT.

Custom SQL Seating plan report automated wholly from online ES data

CUSTOM ONLINE REPORTS CONT.

Custom SQL Checklist & Student Seating Sign report automated wholly from online ES data

Delayed –awaiting vendor

development

Delayed –awaiting vendor

development

PROCESS MAP – AS OF SEM 1 2019

Student Systems Data Export

(People Soft PS)

Exam Timetable Scheduled with

imported PS data

(Exam Scheduler ES)

Timetable exported (Date/time/location) back to PeopleSoft to


Exam seating allocation done within

ES utilising existing capabilities (online)

Exam seating allocation data

transferred to Exam Attendance EA module

from ES (online)

Various reports exported for exam

management using ES report manager

directly from ES online data

Exam attendance recorded live at venue

using EA web application on mobile

devices (online)

Schools/Faculties access EA user portal directly to ascertain

exam attendance (online)

Successfully tested

Successfully tested

Successfully tested

FUTURE STATE -

IMPLEMENTATION OF

ATTENDANCE TECHNOLOGY

(SEMESTER TWO 2019)

ONLINE EXAM ATTENDANCE

Next step?

Cloud-based exam attendance

Updated with live and accurate student data from ES

School/Faculty will have access to attendance data immediately after exam events

EA Session landing panel with list of exams scheduled

ONLINE EXAM ATTENDANCE CONT.

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ID cards scanned to find student in list and then to record attendance/relevant incidents during exams (In-house development)

Student photo now also visible

EO can ascertain a higher level of vigilance regarding student collusion during exams

EA checklist for an exam and example of the EA student panel

ONLINE EXAM ATTENDACE CONT.

Student requiring Alternate Exam Arrangements (AEA) can be accurately allocated alternate venues/provisions/attendance lists

Possibility of recording reportable incidents at venue against attendance

Attendance metrics available in various configurations (developed in-house)

Example of trial custom SQL completed Checklist report generated from EA/ES data

QUESTIONS?

Presented by Reuben Pucek& Henry Taylor

THANK YOU ☺