Manually marked question. The question is answered by entering values on an Excel spreadsheet.

The Microsoft Excel question type in Inspera Assessment can be either an manually marked question (as described in this article) or an automatically marked question. With this question, the Author can prepare a Microsoft Excel for the Web spreadsheet, which the candidates will edit. 

This article explains the core elements of Microsoft Excel questions, details how to author them, and lists its known limitations.

Understanding the Microsoft Excel question type

The Microsoft Excel question type offers a direct integration with Microsoft Excel for the Web, which it part of the O365 suite.

In this question, the Author can create a spreadsheet from scratch or use one they already own. This is the spreadsheet the candidates will edit and the Grader will evaluate.

How to author a Microsoft Excel question

In order to author a manually marked Microsoft Excel question, the Author needs to follow four steps:

1. Create a new question
2. Define the question text
3. Attach a spreadsheep
4. (Optional) Attach a model answer sheet
5. Set up how to mark

Create new question

1. Start by selecting the Author module > Questions.
2. Click Create new (we suggest using New Author).

3. Under Manually marked, click Microsoft Excel.

   

Define Question Text

Similarly to the other question types offered by Inspera, the question text depicts the instructions the candidates should follow to answer the question. It can include text, images, tables, etc.

 We provide some Instructions for the Author as displayed in blue in the image. Please replace this with the question text as they will otherwise be shown to the candidates as part of the question text.

Attach a spreadsheet

The spreadsheet is the Excel file the Author provides to the candidate and that the candidates will edit in order to answer the question. There are two ways of attaching the spreadsheet:

1. Create template on browser
2. Via the Excel panel

Create template on browser

By clicking "open in Microsoft Excel for the web in a new tab", a new tab will be opened with an empty spreadsheet. The Author can edit the spreadsheet as they want. This is the spreadsheet the candidates will be asked to edit when taking the assessment. The spreadsheet is automatically saved after each edit and the Author can edit it as many times as they want.

Via the Excel panel

On the right sidebar, there is a new section called Excel Panel. Here, the Author can upload two documents: an existing template (Upload existing template) and/or a model answer sheet.

When uploading an existing template, the Author is prompted to select an excel file from their computer and upload it into the question. This is the spreadsheet that is going to be edited by the candidates when answering the question.

Attach a model answer sheet

Optionally, the Author can upload a model answer sheet, under the Excel Panel.. The purpose is to provide to the Grader an example of what a correct answer would look like. It is NOT used for automatically mark the question, in any way.

Set up how to mark

This is the main difference from the Automatically Marked version. The marks section of this question is similar to the one from Essay: the Author can define:

• Maximum marks
• Criteria
• Rubrics

During the Marking phase, the Grader will mark the question depending on the "how to mark" setup defined in this section. The Grader will be able to access the original spreadsheet and the candidate's edited version, as well as the model answer sheet if one was uploaded.

Candidate Experience

When the candidate is taking the test, they will have to open the spreadsheet on a new tab by clicking on "Open in Microsoft Excel for the web". Any changes they do will be automatically saved but there will be no visual indication that happened.

Known Limitations

• It is not possible to block the cells of the spreadsheet the Author prepared, the candidates will be able to edit the whole spreadsheet. The original one is always stored and can be accessed both in Author and in Grade
• When the candidate opens the spreadsheet, it will open on a new tab, not embedded in the question view. This is a constraint imposed by Microsoft
• Any changes a candidate does on a spreadsheet will be automatically saved but there will be no visual indication that happened.
• Offline support: the changes are done within the Microsoft Excel software, we do not have a way of accessing them if the candidate goes offline. Once they are online again, we will save all their changes.
• This question type is not compaticle with SEB and it should only be used either in an Open Browser or IIB v2