Successful Online Exams despite COVID-19
A look behind the scenes.
After long and in-depth discussions, it was decided that the session exams should take place between 3 and 28 August 2020 with all of the expected restrictions due to the corona virus crisis. It is not uncommon for the exams to be decisive as to whether studies are continued or not.
Proximity and distance present hurdles
With their regular capacities, the large, extraordinary exam rooms HG G1 and ONA E7 posed the most significant challenge.
Development of a room concept
In very close cooperation with the SSHE (ETH Safety, Security, Health, Environment) and LET departments, staff from ITS NET and SDL discussed possibilities and scenarios for guaranteeing the number of examinees – especially for the very large exams.
A room concept was quickly developed, which allows online exams to be carried out with sufficient minimum distance between the examination places.
It was possible to implement the exam places that were no longer available in the original rooms in the workrooms ONA E16 and E25 for the time being. During regular operations, these are generally used by architecture students for model building.
Special thanks also go out to the colleagues from ITS NET and the external companies. Thanks to additional protective walls, network components and cabling for the infrastructure of the two rooms, the examinations can now definitely take place.
After completion of the work in ONA, the exam rooms in the main building were made ‹Covid-ready›, and additional rooms were set up here as well with HG G1 and G3.
Exams at the level of the previous year
More than a tenth of written exams are now held as electronic exams. Therefore, this does not just present a test for the students, but also one for the infrastructure provided by IT Services. After all, it is not just the computers in the computer rooms that have to work, but also the entire IT infrastructure that supports them.
- Around 11,000 students took the 96 online exams during the four weeks of August, 11 of which under Linux, with the remainder running under Windows.
- 18 of the 85 Windows exams are now taken using mobile devices (notebooks) in normal lecture halls that are not equipped with fixed computer stations.
- 15 of the 85 Windows exams use System Services› VDI service. These special settings with VDI allow – similar to the 11 exams with the Linux exam setup developed by Client Delivery – more complex exam types to be implemented using any third-party applications during the exam.
- 16 of the 96 exams are held simultaneously with more than 200 and up to 500 candidates. In order to cope with the onslaught, the exams normally take place simultaneously in the Centre and in a temporarily converted location in Oerlikon. The supervisors ensure the necessary cooperation between the two locations and many different rooms via radio.
There are now so many exams that Saturdays must also be used as exam days. Online exams on Saturdays mean that the entire ICT infrastructure must also be fail-safe and reliable at weekends and that rapid support must be ensured in the event of outages. Alongside ITS Service Delivery, our colleagues in ICT-Networks, System Services and Basic Services are also faced with particular challenges here.
Thank you to everyone who helped
Thanks to the cooperation and outstanding innovative strength of all those involved, session examinations at ETH could take place in the form of online examinations, with only minimal restrictions compared to normal operations.
ITS Blog
- ETH online Examination Rooms “Corona-ready” https://blogt.ethz.ch/its/2020/06/29/eth-online-examination-rooms-corona-ready
- Lunchtime meeting goes online and sneaks a look at the ETH online exams (German only) https://blogt.ethz.ch/id/2018/08/27/kontakt-uber-mittag-geht-online-und-wagt-einen-blick-in-die-eth-onlineprufungen/
- Online exams at ETH / ONA https://blogt.ethz.ch/its/2018/06/26/online-exams-at-eth-ona/
- ETH online exams successfully implemented https://blogt.ethz.ch/id/2014/03/06/eth-online-exams-successfully-implemented/
- New at HG: Large online examination room https://blogt.ethz.ch/id/2013/02/04/new-at-hg-large-online-examination-room/
Contact
- Stefan Geissler, Team Lead Online Examinations and Computer Rooms, Managed Services, ITS SDL, IT Services
- Reinhard Hess, Group Manager Managed Services, ITS SDL, IT Services
