Questionmark Perception: Procedures for Academic Staff

Check Regulations

Course teams should check that there are no regulations associated with the course which would challenge the use of online assessment (e.g. rules imposed by external validation bodies).

Book Accommodation

The school is responsible for identifying a suitable location for the examination.  Please contact IS.helpline@ed.ac.uk for a list of recommended venues. Rooms should have at least 1 spare machine for every 15 students, with a minimum of 2 spare machines. 

If the secure browser feature (called QMP Exam mode) is to be used at least three hours is needed prior to and after the examination to change the setting on central lab machines.

If you are using a local computer lab with no special settings please allow at least half an hour before and after the scheduled assessment event.

Inform Support teams

Notify Information Services of your intention to run an online assessment, and provide details of the venue and the date, as soon as these are known.

Notify Registry of your intention to run an online assessment.

For further details, see the document:

Requesting a Questionmark Perception online examination

Prepare Assessment

This is a multi-stage and detailed process described more fully in the documents in the Help and Support section. Some processes require significant liaison with IS. 

External Moderation of Questions

Ensure that any requirements to provide questions to external examiners or similar have been met, and any concerns arising addressed.

Prepare Students

Schools must ensure that students are familiar with the system prior to undertaking an examination. This is usually achieved by taking a practice test 3-4 weeks prior to the examination.

In line with good practice in assessment, students should be made aware of

• The number and type of questions to be used
• The scoring rules
• How this assessment contributes to the overall course mark
• Any time limit and how this is judged
• Any navigation rules applied in the test
• Procedures in the case of emergency (e.g. fire, system failure)
• Authentication methods and any passwords or identification students will need to provide.
• If the assessment includes any material which may cause offence to some students the school should warn them about the nature of the material included.
• Ensure that students know the venue, date and time of the assessment.

Check Assessment

The finished assessment will be made available to you to check. Please make sure that you review the settings described in the following documents, in particular for summative exams. It is tutor's responsability to make sure that the assessment has been set with the correct configuration settings:

• Final check for summative exams 
• Final check for assessment feedback settings (all exams)

It is your responsibility to check the questions and the feedback, and to liaise with technical team to make any corrections prior to the day of the assessment.

Have a Contingency Plan

Most QMP exams run successfully but it is sensible to have a contingency plan in case a major issue, such as a power outage, prevents your exam from running, especially if you need the assessment to be completed that day. You may want to bring a paper copy of the exam - which could be duplicated in the unlikely event that it is required.

On the day of the assessment

Students will normally be expected to log in with their usual University credentials. However on occasion they may be provided with a username and password to use for the examination. How this is provided may vary, as may the exact log in procedure.  The log in procedure will be provided as written instructions as well as verbally by any invigilator.

If your assessment is booked through Registry, then the invigilators will be responsible for supervising the process of settling in and logging in to the exam.

At least one member of Information Services can be be present, on request, during the assessment in case of any technical queries and further support will be available by telephone should it be necessary.

Getting help

For help and advice with using this service, please contact: