The University has announced the launch of its new exams platform in collaboration with Inspera Assessment, a European e-assessment provider, which will be available to demo from late February. More detailed information about this term’s academic provision has also been released, including the announcement that those taking exams this term will be expected to take the same number of papers and assessments as usual, unless this was previously confirmed to change (as is the case with Classics Moderations).
The exams platform will be available for use from Trinity, while all exams scheduled to take place this term will happen in Weblearn. The new platform, which has been in use by the Medical Sciences Division since 2018, will feature 3 specific modes for typed, handwritten, and mixed exams. Students completing handwritten or mixed mode exams will be given 30 minutes of technical time to scan and upload their exam material.
Students normally entitled to 25% extra time for exams will be given an additional hour to complete their exams in Inspera, and any students entitled to more than 25% extra time will by default be given an exam duration of 8 hours. Courses that already have longer online exams, such as some English exams, will not generally be giving additional time. Further details for international students will be released later in February, but the university has announced that students in different time zones should be able to complete their exams in daytime hours.
The new academic provisions information summarises some of the details previously released by the university, including encouraging students to keep a record of disruption faced if they wish to apply for Mitigating Circumstances. The provisions also confirm that most students can expect entirely online teaching for the start of Hilary term, with the exception of some research students. All exams scheduled to take place in Hilary will be online, with the exception of one medical exam.
Dissertations and project work will be adapted for the context so that they maintain “the same intellectual rigour,” and the university has acknowledged that some projects may have to be designed, or redesigned, in order to account for the inaccessibility of some resources. Placements and year abroad projects will continue to go ahead with increased consideration of risk, although the university has noted that students “will not be required to take up a year abroad or other placement against their wishes.”
