Share a test with your students and make sure they can't cheat
Thomas Courtley
Education Specialist
You have prepared a test, assignment or exam for your students in LessonUp. You are satisfied with the result and can’t wait to share it with your class!
This is the first time that you are going to hand out a test with LessonUp, and you are not sure how to share it with your students. You also wonder what options are available within the platform - how to set a time limit for example - and have some doubts concerning cheating possibilities. Is it easier for your students to cheat? Could you be oblivious to new tricks? And last but not least, what are the options for marking/saving the test?
In this article we are going to explore the answers to all these questions, one by one. After reading it you should have a good idea of how to proceed without doubts. Ready?
In order to hand out tests to your students you need to have a Pro licence account.
Try it out for free! After 30 days, your account will automatically become a Free licence.
Hand out a test to your students/class
To share a test with your students you can click on the red icon Hand out in Test settings. You can choose between a number of options, such as: questions randomly shuffled and/or linear testing. With the latest, students can’t return to previous parts of the test. You can also limit access to LessonUp’s lesson material during testing and/or insert a time limit. If a student needs more time to complete the test, you can easily reverse this limit.
Once your students have completed the test, you can close it manually via the Status tab.
Give feedback to your students
Feedback is always crucial, whether you are working with summative or formative assessments.
Good feedback gives students insight in how they are doing with respect to achieving learning objectives. On the other hand, they also gain insight in the learning process and tips for the next time they have to take a similar test.
Feedback is really effective when detailed and specific. Most importantly, the feedback you give your students can be both positive and negative.
In LessonUp you can give instant feedback, visible on each slide. Students will be able to view your feedback only if logged into their “My LessonUp” overview page.
Test results are always saved
Test results, indicated in the reports, are saved automatically by LessonUp. Only if you delete a test via My classes or Test settings, also the reports will be deleted. Beware of this, especially for examination results required to be on record for a certain time span.
Most schools choose to keep all test results in an exam dossier. In the absence of specific rules, a folder with digital test results is a valid alternative to paper documentation.
Tips to avoid cheating among your students
Cheating at school is as old as the world. We have all seen it happen more or less successfully. With traditional (paper) tests it was quite difficult to cheat, but the first time you work with digital testing you might ask yourself: is cheating easier this way? Will my students share screenshots? Or send each other answers? The checklist indicated in “Giving a test in LessonUp” (part of 👉 how to assess your students digitally) helps prevent most of the cheating strategies. Next to that, it is important to make clear agreements with your students:
- All others apps and tabs have to be closed;
- Place your tablet flat on your desk while working;
- Don’t turn around during test time, keep your focus on the screen;
- If I see a “suspicious” swipe movement you will be penalised.
The best, easiest class setup is a computer lab with a central, double row of desks with screens against each other, and 2 external rows confining with the wall and window sides.
