Before the semester begins there are several steps that must happen in order to ‘link’ up Examity with the course section.
The main goal is to have the exams ready for students to schedule from day 1 in the course. That does not mean the questions have to be populated or updated at that point…just the settings. Please note that students cannot schedule exams until the setup steps on this page have been completed.
Set up Examity in the Canvas Course
Populate the Course
In Canvas, populate the new section by importing from a previous semester or a master course.
Create Your Exams
If you haven’t already, create a quiz (exam) in Canvas. In order for Examity to pull the quiz into their system, the settings in the quiz must include:
- a time limit,
- a password (access code); and
- “Available From” and “Until” dates.
Verify that the exam in Canvas is published for students.
Add Examity Link to the Canvas Course
Add the Examity Dashboard link to your Canvas course navigation menu by:
- selecting Settings at the bottom of the course navigation menu
- select the Navigation tab
- locate the Examity link and enable it by dragging and dropping it to the top, or selecting the three dots beside the title and then clicking on +Enable.
- scroll to the bottom to select Save.
You may additionally, or alternatively, choose to add the Examity link to a Module within the Canvas Course. When doing so, be sure to select the “Load in a new tab” box (see Figure 1.1).
Start the Sync with Examity
- Click on the Examity link in your course. Initially, you will be redirected to the Examity request form.
- Complete and submit the Examity request form. You will be notified via your PSU email when it has been approved.
- After your request has been approved, Examity will sync with the quizzes created in that Canvas course. The sync happens nightly.
After the sync has completed, selecting the Examity link in the course will give users access to the Examity Dashboard.
Exams must be published and synced with Examity before the “Available From” date in the Canvas quiz begins.
Set Up Exams on the Examity Dashboard
For each exam using Examity, instructors must create an Exam Shell in Examity, select the proctoring modality, and set the exam rules.
Select the Examity link in your course to access the Examity Dashboard. Your Examity Dashboard is divided into four sections:
- Courses/Exams: access and edit your exam shell, select your proctoring modality, and tailor the rules to meet your needs.
- Student: search student enrollment records or add accommodations.
- Exam Status: track your students’ scheduled, completed, and proctored exams. This will also give you access to the video recordings of all proctored tests as well as time-stamped flags and comments.
- Reports: view analytics associated with your exams.
Accessing/Editing Examity Exam Shell, Selecting Proctoring Modality, and Customizing Exam Rules
- Select Courses/Exams in your dashboard (see Figure 1.2).
- You will see a list of all of your courses (past, present, and future) that have been synced with Examity.
- Select the white arrow, to the left of the Course ID # associated with your course (see Figure 1.3), to open the window that shows the exam shells in that course.
- You will see a list of all Canvas quizzes in that course.
- Select the pencil icon in the row of the exam shell you wish to edit (see Figure 1.4).
- A window will pop up that is titled “Edit Exam” (see Figure 1.5). Verify your exam details in this window, as outlined below. Do not edit the Exam Name, Duration, Start/End Dates, or Password in these settings. Updates to these fields must be made within the Canvas quiz settings and will be reflected in the Examity Exam Shell the following day.
- To select the proctor modality, in the FairExam Level drop down menu, select 1S for Standard, or 1P for Premium (see Figure 1.6). Refer to the Automated Proctoring options for more information about each level.
- Scroll down to the Exam Rules section (see Figure 1.7). Under Additional Rules, check all boxes that apply. It is important to have the Exam Rules selected early because students receive these rules when they schedule their exams.
- In the Special Instructions text box, enter any special instructions for the proctor and/or student, then click Save. You must click Save in the Special Instructions box before clicking Update to save the instructions. Proctor support will read your special instructions prior to the exam and make sure all students adhere to them. If using automated proctoring, students will read and agree to the exam rules
- Click Update.
Clone Special Instructions and Additional Rules
You can clone additional rules and special instructions from previous exams in your course:
- Open the exam shell in which you would like to add special instructions or additional rules. Once the shell is open, scroll down to Additional Rules.
- In the “Would you like to re-use additional rules and special instructions from a past exam?” menu, select Yes. Then select the exam from which you would like to copy the additional rules and special instructions (see Figure 1.8).
- The rules and special instructions from the selected course will be applied. You can make additional changes to these options by selecting or deselecting the boxes. If changes are made in the Special Instructions box, be sure to select Save before selecting Update at the bottom.
- Click Update at the bottom.
Exam Updates after Initial Setup
Updates to the exam settings, such as due dates, availability dates, duration, etc., should made in the Canvas quiz, not in the Examity Course Shell. The changes made in the Canvas quiz will sync to Examity overnight.
If you make changes in a Canvas quiz and import that updated quiz into other Canvas courses that are using Examity, you need to access the Examity Course Shell in the other sections to verify the correct settings are applied. Pay particular attention to the “Link to access Exam” field in the Course Shell. The URL there should match the URL of the Canvas quiz. If it does not match, you will need to manually copy and paste the URL of Canvas quiz into the “Link to access Exam” field in the Course Shell settings.
Check the status of scheduled, completed, and proctored exams by clicking Exam Status in the Examity dashboard. You can see which students have completed their exams and whether or not they had any violations. This is also where you view any student violations.
Scheduling Practice Exams
It is recommended that you schedule a practice test for students to get experience connecting to the proctor prior to the proctored exam. To do so, follow the same steps as you would to create a proctored exam, with these specifications:
- title it “Practice Test” or “Automated Practice Test”
- set the time limit to 15 minutes for automated proctoring, or 10 minutes for live proctoring.
- provide a few easy questions
- typically, the points for these practice tests are set at 0.
Scheduling Exams Not Administered in Canvas
You can use Examity proctoring for exams that are delivered through a publisher system, such as McGraw Hill Connect, instead of being created as a Canvas quiz. To do so:
- Create an assignment in Canvas with the following settings:
-
- Title
- Instructions – in this field, tell the students that they will access the exam via the Examity link
- due date
- available from and until dates
- total exam points
- please note, this assignment is used to provide a place for the exam grade in Canvas, and so the exam shows up in the student’s Canvas calendar and To-Do items.
- Create an Exam Shell in Examity:
-
- In the Examity Dashboard within that course, select Courses/Exams. You will see a list of all of your courses (past, present, and future) that have been synced with Examity.
- Locate your course in the list and select the Add Exam icon in the Action column (see Figure 1.12).
- In the Add Exam window, enter:
- Exam Name – title of the exam as it is set in the publisher system and the Canvas assignment.
- FairExam Level drop down menu – select 1S for Standard, or 1P for Premium. Refer to the Automated Proctoring options for more information
- Duration
- Link to access exam – enter the http address for students to access the exam in the publisher’s system along with any instructions the students will need to find the exam (i.e. “scroll down to Final Exam and select it”).
- Start and end dates and times – make sure this matches what is
- Exam UserName and Password – these will be supplied within the publisher system.
- Set the Exam Rules
- Don’t forget to select Save Exam