[Using Sakai] [Building Sakai] "Autosave" Feature for Tests & Quizzes

[Diana Perpich]

One question per page is safe, but not always appropriate for the material, particularly when questions build upon each other.  Displaying multiple questions on a single page also maps better to the experience students are used to on paper and they can then use some previously established test-taking strategies.

Auto-saving can be tricky though, because students may not *want* to save what they've entered so far.  In Mneme, auto-saving could make it difficult to identify questions you intended to leave blank and return to later without checking "Mark for Review."

We often recommend splitting the difference and displaying multiple questions on multiple pages (much like paper), and using the 20-minute mark as a recommended max for any given page-- "Risk only as much as you're willing to lose."  If you're not randomizing, some reminder text above the first question and below the last question on the page can be helpful, although useless if you're using the "forward-only" option.





diana perpich | MLibrary teaching + learning | university of michigan




On Mar 2, 2012, at 9:15 AM, Mathieu Plourde wrote:

> We recommend to our faculty to create quizzes where students see one question per page. Every time they hit the next button, the answers get saved.
> 
> Mathieu
> ==================================
> Mathieu Plourde, MBA
> Project Leader, LMS/Educational Technologist
> IT Client Support & Services
> mathieu at udel.edu
> Office: 302-831-4060
> ==================================
> IT Support Center: http://www.udel.edu/help
> Sakai at UD Support and Training: http://www.udel.edu/sakai/training
> Open Education at UD Blog: http://sites.udel.edu/open/
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 4:29 PM, Jeff Davidson <jdavidso at usouthal.edu> wrote:
> Michael:
>  
> Good information.
>  
> Thanks a lot,
>  
> Jeff
> 
> >>> "Stoufer,R M" <kc4uf at ufl.edu> 3/1/2012 12:30 PM >>>
> Hi Jeff,
> 
> I know there has been some discussions going on about this in the past few days.  See the messages with the subject line about samigo assessment time.  Essentially, the student will be able to continue from the auto-save point but the amount of time remaining will be based on when  testing began.  There is no way for the test to differentiate between a network outage and someone logging out/logging back in.
> 
> Michael
> 
> From: Jeff Davidson [mailto:jdavidso at usouthal.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 12:31 PM
> To: sakai-dev at collab.sakaiproject.org; Stoufer,R M
> Subject: RE: [Building Sakai] "Autosave" Feature for Tests & Quizzes
>  
> 
> Hi Michael:
>  
> Thanks for your reply.  It was suggested
> to us to set it to five minutes as well.
>  
> In your experience, say a 60-minute exam,
> if a student lost internet connectivity or
> power "blink" at 43 minutes, once the
> student logs back into Sakai:
>  
> 1. Does Sakai allow the person to continue
>     from the 40-minute "autosave" point?
>  
> 2. If a 60-minute exam, would the student
>     have 20-minutes left?  17 minutes? or
>     60-minutes less any elapsed time from
>     the actual start time (including the
>     "downtime")?
>  
> Thanks again,
>  
> Jeff
>  
> Jeff Davidson
> Manager, Learning Management System Services
> Innovation in Learning Center
> University of South Alabama
> (251) 380-2845
> (251) 380-2713 (fax)
>  
>  
> >>> "Stoufer,R M" <kc4uf at ufl.edu> 3/1/2012 10:10 AM >>>
> Hi Jeff,
> 
> I believe you are referring to samigo.autoSave.repeat.milliseconds?
> 
> We have ours set to 5 minutes:
> 
> samigo.autoSave.repeat.milliseconds=300000
> 
> I haven’t heard of any issues, performance wise, for us.
> 
> Michael Stoufer
> Academic Technology – ICS
> University of Florida
>  
> From: sakai-dev-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org [mailto:sakai-dev-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Davidson
> Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 5:11 PM
> To: sakai-dev at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: [Building Sakai] "Autosave" Feature for Tests & Quizzes
>  
> 
> Is anyone here using an "autosave" (this is my
> own terminology) feature/setting in their instance
> of Sakai in order that when a test/quiz is in process,
> if a person loses internet connectivity, power "blink",
> etc., they do not completely lose their test results.
>  
> We understand their is a setting which would allow
> us to "autosave" every few minutes to minimize lost
> answers.
>  
> Any feedback on the use of this setting, what specific
> interval you use, and has it affected the performance
> (by too frequently polling/saving) of the individual's
> exams and/or your overall Sakai instance?
>  
> Thanks in advance,
>  
> Jeff
>  
>  
> Jeff Davidson
> Manager, Learning Management System Services
> Innovation in Learning Center
> University of South Alabama
> (251) 380-2845
> (251) 380-2713 (fax)
>  
> 
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