Scanning Best Practices
Creating an Exam
Course Sections
The scanning system is generally flexible concerning sections. Please keep in mind the following:
- Only one instructor is allowed for an exam. Instructors may add one or more proxy users, by section. Proxy users can do the same things that the instructor can.
- You may only include sections where you are the instructor for the section in LionPath. You may be listed as a PI, SI or TA.
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You may include multiple sections for your course, but only a single course per exam, except cross-listed courses.
- Please be clear about which sections on the form. The course data from LionPath includes all types of sections but the numbering from LionPath is incosistent, so you must select they type of section. For example, if you have Lecture(L) and Recitation(R) sections, you need to specify which of the two you want to use to organize your students.
- It is generally to your advantage to combine sections into a single exam where you can. The reports will split out the information into sections by LionPath enrollment information.
- You may not combine regular and honors course sections unless they are cross-listed. That is, the "ABC 430" cannot combine with "ABC 430Z" or any other number.
Exam Creation Guide
When using the scanning system to score your exams, there are a few things to keep in mind as you create your exam. See the next section for specific scoring guidelines.
- We currently have one type of sheet available, the 5CH2019; a 5-choice, half-sheet, developed in 2019. It allows up to 200 bubble responses.
- In the past we had other sheets. These will work as long as they have a date code of 2000 or greater. The older sheets have fewer questions and features that are no longer available, but the sheets will still work with the features we currently have.
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Questions and Student Responses
- The exam needs to have at least one question/response.
- The student must answer the question to get points.
- Only one student response per question is allowed.
- Partial credit is permitted.
- Extra credit is permitted.
- To allow more than one answer to be correct, bubble in all of the possible correct responses on the answer key. The student may only select a single response.
- If you have an essay or project component to your exam, you can include an instructor graded score. This score cannot include extra credit. The instructor graded score bubbles must be filled in before we can scan the sheets.
- You can have up to 10 different answer keys.
- Submit a clean answer key for each version of the exam, each time you submit an exam. Multiple correct answers are allowed so it's important that there are no stray marks on the keys.
- If you have multiple keys, you may wish to include a "Scramble key", which links the questions on the forms. This is only required if you wish to receive a "Combined Item Analysis" report. If you do not include a scramble key, you will still have individual item analysis reports for each key. Note that this feature will not work with scrambled answers, only scrambled questions.
- The scanning system has many options, but not every possible combination will work. We recommend going through the Scanning Request Form prior to creating your exam to see the options and information needed.
Scoring
The system will automatically generate scores for your exam based on your scoring profile. The default is one point per question or you can select points according to the following guidelines. The Scanning Request Form demonstrates how scoring can be done and the limitations of the system. The system will generate a report showing each answer given by the students so that you can use your own scoring system.
- The reports will always provide a percentage score. This is based on points per question correct divided by total points. Please keep in mind that an odd (not normal) number of questions may result in a non-100% maximum student score if you choose "1 point per question".
- The maximum score for the exam is 999 points.
- A single response can be 0.001 points to 999 points.
- To omit a question, set the question's point value to zero in the scoring profile. Students should still answer the question with a single response.
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The term "Scoring Profile" refers to the number of points for each question.
You have a single scoring profile if:
- You have a single form. or
- You have multiple forms and all points per question are the same. or
- You have multiple forms and the order of different point values are the same. E.g., Q1=2 points and Q2=3 points on all forms.
- Essentially, if you can't tell the difference between the forms except for the correct answers.
- You have multiple forms and the order of different point values are the different. E.g., Q1=2 points on form A and Q1=3 points on form B.
Taking the test
Students should follow these guidelines while taking the exam.
- Use a soft pencil (#2) on all bubbles. Hard pencils, different colors or inks will not be reliably read by the scanner.
- Fill in the bubble completely. Make sure that it is dark. Completely erase mistakes.
- Carefully fill out the student number and name. Student numbers that do not match LionPath roster data will be not be scanned. It is up to the discretion of the instructor regarding how to handle rejected sheets.
- You must answer the question to get points, even if every possible answer is correct.
- Only one answer per question may be bubbled in. Stray marks or incomplete erasure on the answer sheet may be interpreted as extra marks. Carefully erase any mistakes prior to submitting the exam. Extra marks automatically make the answer incorrect.
Submitting an Exam (to be scanned)
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Use the Scanning Request Form
to tell us how to process your exam. Include the printed form with the answer sheets and keys.
- If your course has multiple sections in one exam, please choose the section combination for which you wish to organize your reports. For example, if you choose section 001L, you will receive all of your data in that one section. If you choose sections 001 to 010, some reports will be by section. See the Results for more information.
- Create keys for the exam. Use a soft pencil (#2) on all bubbles and make sure they are completely filled in and dark. It helps to include the instructor name, course and exam title on each key. Please be sure to bubble in the form letter for the key.
- If you have an Instructor Graded Score, make sure to enter it and bubble in the score before you submit the exam. The system does not know the difference between an empty score and a zero score.
- Gather the above items into a bundle. Place the answer keys on top of the student sheets, then place the scanning request form on top of all of the sheets. Bundle the sheets with rubber bands or paper clips, envelope or box as needed. Avoid bending or folding the sheets.
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Deliver the bundle to the Scanning Operations office:
Scanning Operations
105 Pollock Building
504 Pollock Road
University Park, PA 16802
After the Scanning is Done
We will send an email to the instructor when we have completed the scanning process. When the email is sent, the results will be available on the Instructor Tools website.
Instructors at University Park may pickup the sheets at any time. We will mail the sheets to instructors at other campuses through Campus Mail.
We will separate the sheets that have errors into two groups. Those with a yellow sheet note are sheets that have been scanned, but have a minor problem, like a double-mark. If the sheet was scanned, you can fix the error in Instructor Tools. Sheets grouped with a pink note were not scanned. If the sheet was not scanned, you may resubmit these sheets after making corrections.
The instructor can use the Instructor Tools web site to make changes to the keys, student responses or scoring of the exam.
Results
The Instructor Tools web site provides the following reports for your exam.
- Standard - Student Score Report
- Standard - Roster Report
- Standard - Exam (Item) Analysis
- Standard - CSV Score Export
- Standard - CSV Data Export
- Standard - Answer Key Analysis
- Custom - Canvas Export - for importing scores to Canvas
You may choose to get reports based on combined (sections) or not. The default is to generate separate reports for each section. The combined report will not separate the sections, but will have separate reports for the item analsis for each key.
