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Online Courses with In-Person Examinations - How to Format the Examination file

Online Courses with In-Person Examinations - How to Format the Examination file

Online courses that have an in-person examination must format the examination using the guidelines below to ensure remote students who are writing externally receive all components of the examination. Crowdmark will be used to distribute examinations to external testing centres and independent proctors.

 Examination formatting Instructions

In order to ensure that all students receive all components of the examination, everything must be included in one document. You can have multiple versions with different questions, but each version must include all components in one document.

  1. Page Set-up - all online course examinations must be created on letter size paper (8.5 x 11). This is because legal sized paper is not always readily available to our external proctors who are located worldwide. Crowdmark also adds information (including a unique QR code) at the top of the page, so the top margin must be at least 1.5” (3.8 cm).

    image-20250612-142101.png

  2. Blank First Page - Each examination document must include a blank page at the beginning. Odyssey and Crowdmark will automatically include the student’s information, the course information, the examination date, time and duration, the instructors name, approved aids, etc.

  3. Optional Instructions Page - It is recommended that the second page is an instructions page. If the examination booklet can be separated into different parts (i.e. questions and answers), this should be mentioned here. Marking schemes and other instructional information is often included. See sample below.

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  4. Questions

    1. Multiple choice questions

      1. When uploading your examination in odyssey, choose the multiple choice option to include the crowdmark bubble sheet in your booklet.

    2. Short Answer questions

      1. Format the examination so that there is space after each question for the student to write their answers.

    3. Essay Style questions

      1. List the essay or long answer questions one after another. Insert multiple pages with lines on them at the end of the document to mimic an examination booklet. These pages need to be part of the examination file to ensure they get a QR code and can be uploaded/matched to the student once complete. See provided template below.

      2. It is recommended you include instructions for the students to separate the examination into two parts (questions and answers).

  5. Optional Reference Sheet - You can include a reference sheet (these often contain formulas or datasets). It is a good idea to mention the reference sheet in the instructions page, should you include one.

  6. Ensure all of the above mentioned components are together in one document file.

 Visual summaries of examination formats

 

Essay Style.jpg
Short Answer.jpg

 

 Upload your Exam into Odyssey

Follow the steps indicated on the How to create and upload an exam into Odyssey | How does Odyssey work with Crowdmark page

Note that some screens may look slightly different, but continue working through the next steps as most of the process has stayed the same.

 

 FAQs

The Crowdmark platform allows the Examination Services Office to distribute examination papers to third party proctoring service providers (i.e. external testing centres and independent proctors). The platform is secure and uses automation for this task, which speeds up the process for both Waterloo instructors and proctors. It also greatly reduces the margin of error and allows easier access for the third party proctoring service providers.

The upload screen in Odyssey has been reworked so that all required defaults are set automatically in the system for you. You must ensure your examination is in the correct format (as detailed above).

You may decide to use Crowdmark to mark your examinations, or not. It is entirely up to you. The papers written at Waterloo will be available for you to take with you at the end of the examination. If you wish to mark by hand, simply take the examinations home with you to begin marking. Otherwise you can drop them off at WPrint in the GSC for scanning and within 2 business days, you can begin marking in Crowdmark.

Note: If you decide to mark by hand, you will need to locate the externally written examinations (including those written with AccessAbility Services) in Crowdmark and download/print them.

 

No. When you upload your examination in Odyssey, it will automatically create the course and assessment in Crowdmark.

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