EXAM – electronic exam software for higher education

EXAM is a modern software, developed and used by a consortium of Finnish Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences (28) with the support from the Finnish IT Center for Science – CSC and Siili Solutions Ltd, to be used for organizing electronic exams in higher education. Its primary purpose of use is in electronic exam studios monitored by cameras, but also other means of electronic exams can be carried out (e.g. BYOD).

A supported system for different types of exams

• EXAM software supports fixed and randomly varying essay question exams, automatically checked multiple choice question exams, fill in the blanks -questions and combination of these.
• EXAM supports personal exams (such as maturity exams) and public exams
• The system supports several assessment scales in questions (points, pass/fail, numerical)
• The system has a question bank for questions to be stored in and shared with examiners

Each user role has its own desktop view (essential information of the role included). Roles are teacher, student and admin. Automated backup savings are done during the exam (once every minute) and status information is transmitted during the exam process to relevant roles. Admin gets statistical information to follow processes.

Instructions for students and teachers

A general instruction video of EXAM
Instructions in English for teachers
Instructions in English for students

EXAM webinars

• EXAM webinars (Finnish name Akvaariorakkautta) are designed to share case studies, good practices and tips for using EXAM in teaching. The webinars are open to all. There is no need to register for the webinars.
• All the upcoming webinars and the recordings from past webinars can be found from this page.
• Webinars will be held here on the Zoom link.

Quick guide to Zoom

1. The first time you open the Zoom link, Zoom will ask you to download the launcher add-on. This should not take too long and can be done in advance. The Zoom link should then open by itself. If you are unable to download the add-on, you can join the webinar from this link using the browser version of Zoom.
2. To hear the audio, remember to select ”Join audio conference by computer” when you log in. If you are using headset headphones, we recommend that you connect them to your computer before clicking on the Zoom link.
3. If you cannot hear the audio from the event, click the ^ button next to the microphone icon in the bottom left bar and the menu that opens will say ”Test Speaker & Microphone”. From the same button you can select e.g. the audio source, microphone and other settings.
4. All the main functions such as participant list, chat and screen sharing are at the bottom of the Zoom window

EXAM Visit

Interface and information integration

Exam supports following integrations:

• Recognition of the user and role are carried out with FunetEduPerson scheme based on Shibboleth federation identity solutions for Finnish Universities. The minimum requirements for the system are users name, role and organization information plus student/staff ID.
• Study module/course description is retrieved from the student information systems (SIS) when creating an exam for that course. This information can be manually edited and completed where necessary.
• Exam’s current studio reservations can be retrieved for selected personell (entry points, monitoring)
• The grades can be transferred from Exam to  SIS for registering

Technical realization and architecture

• The service has been implemented with client-server architecture. The connection between server and client end communicates via REST-interface.
• Server – Play framework with its components
• Within the server, the following units can be seen: data model, controllers and Deadbold 2 authorization module
• Client interface libraries and other components:
• Interface: AngularJS-library
• Interface adjustments: Twitter Bootstrap
• Visual notifications: Toastr-library
• Interface icons: FontAwesome-library
• Editor: CKEditor, in which the writing design and mathematical formulas adding do with TeX editor (uses MathJax library)

Contact infomation

Vice chair of the EXAM-consortium

Sari Tervonen, University of Eastern Finland
+358 44 716 3628
firstname.lastname (at) uef.fi

EXAM-team

Project Manager
Henna Toivola, CSC – IT Center fo Science Ltd
+358 50 428 4034
firstname.lastname (at) csc.fi

Technical Specialist
Lauri Pohjanen, CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd
+358 50 336 9342
firstname.lastname (at) csc.fi