Offline Marking - Bulk Upload of Explanations

Introduction

We’re excited to introduce an expansion of Inspera's current offline capabilities, empowering graders to not only grade and mark, but also provide explanations to candidates offline. 

Graders can now download either of two Excel files—“Marks and Explanations as Excel” or “Grades and Explanations as Excel”- both of which include a new "Explanations" column. These files, which previously supported updating marks and grades (existing on demand functionality), now also allow the inclusion of explanations. Once modified, the files can be uploaded back into Inspera, where marks or grades, and explanations are automatically synchronized according to predefined rules. Users are shown success notifications, error alerts, and links to documentation for troubleshooting. 

Note: This update enhances the existing on-demand functionality for updating Marks and Grades using Excel. If the existing functionality is already available to you, the explanations will automatically be included as well with this release. If the functionality is not yet activated for your account, please contact the service desk to enable this feature. 

How It Works

1. Downloading the Excel File

To begin, you need to download an Excel file that contains grades and explanations for all candidates.

  1. Download the Excel File:
    • Navigate to the Grading Section of the relevant section
    • From the grading page, you’ll find options to download either “Marks and Explanations as Excel” or “Grades and Explanations as Excel”. Download the preferred file format.
      • Marks and Explanations as Excel: This file includes both marks and explanations (if available).
      • Grades and Explanations as Excel: This file is available only if grading is set to "Grading is needed" and includes both grades and explanations (if available). 
  2. File Name:
    • The downloaded file will have the same name prefix, "marks_and_explanations_export" or "GradesAndExplanationsExport", followed by a unique identifier, depending on the file selected. 
  3. Content of the Downloaded File:
    • Either of two Excel files—“Marks and Explanations as Excel” or “Grades and Explanations as Excel”— include an "Explanations" column. 
    • Existing Explanations: If explanations already exist in Inspera, they will be included in the file. Rich Text explanations will display as a placeholder message indicating that this formatting is unsupported - ““Rich text formatting is not supported in the Excel download”. 

2. Modifying the Excel File Offline

Once the file is downloaded, you can modify the grades and explanations offline:

  1. Edit the File in Excel:
    • Open the downloaded file on your local machine.
    • Add explanations or modify existing explanations for each candidate as needed. If the explanation column is blank, it will not override existing explanations in Inspera unless a new explanation is provided.
  2. Save the File:
    • After making the necessary changes, save the Excel file.
    • Ensure that it is saved in a supported format, either .xls or .xlsx.

3. Uploading the Excel File Back to Inspera

Once you have completed your offline work, you can upload the modified file back into Inspera.

  1. Upload the excel file
    • Navigate to the Options in Making 2.0
    • From the grading page, you’ll find options to import either “Marks and Explanations as Excel” or “Grades and Explanations as Excel”
    • A confirmation message will appear asking if you are sure you want to upload the grades and explanations. Review the file and click Upload.
    • Inspera will process the uploaded file, updating grades and explanations as per the contents of the file taking into account the business logic. 
    • The notifications and helpful error messages ensure that the process is smooth and any issues are easily addressed. 

4. Handling Different Scenarios

Here’s how Inspera handles different scenarios when uploading explanations and grades:

  • Explanations Provided:
    • If a new explanation is provided in the uploaded file, it will replace the existing explanation in Inspera. 
    • If the file contains a blank field or rich text format for explanation, the existing explanation will remain unchanged in Inspera.
    • If the file includes non-text data types such as boolean values (true/false), numbers, or date/time formats as explanations, the upload will fail. The explanation field only accepts text input (strings). Please ensure that all explanations are provided as plain text strings during the bulk upload.

    • If Inspera has already sent an explanation to the candidate, it will not be overwritten or modified by an Excel upload with the same explanation for that candidate.

    • If an invalid explanation results in an error, all data processed up to that point will be saved. However, the system will stop processing any remaining data after encountering the error. Successfully processed data will be stored, while any data after the point of failure will remain unprocessed.

  • Multiple Cases: The system has predefined rules for how it handles different situations during the upload process:
    • Case 1: If an explanation exists in Inspera but hasn’t been sent to the candidate, and a new explanation is provided in the uploaded file, the new explanation will overwrite the old one. If all the candidates in the upload fall in this category, the following message will be displayed. 

Message: Either of the messages “Marks and explanation import successfully completed” or “Grades and explanation import successfully completed” depending on the file, will be displayed. 

  • Case 2: If there is no explanation in Inspera, and a new explanation is provided in the uploaded file, the uploaded explanation will be added. If all the candidates in the upload fall in this category, the following message will be displayed. 

Message: Either of the messages “Marks and explanation import successfully completed” or “Grades and explanation import successfully completed” depending on the file, will be displayed. 

  • Case 3: If an explanation exists in Inspera and has been sent to the candidate, and a new explanation is provided in the uploaded file, the new explanation will NOT overwrite the old one, and the old one will remain. If one or more candidates in the upload fall in this category, the following message will be displayed. 

Message: 

  • Case 4: If an explanation exists in Inspera but hasn’t been sent to the candidate, and the file doesn’t include an explanation, the existing explanation will persist. If one or more candidates in the upload fall in this category, the following message will be displayed. 

Message: 

For a given file upload, different combinations of these cases may occur across the candidates included in the upload, and the appropriate message would be displayed. 

  • Error Notifications: If issues occur during the upload (e.g., invalid formatting, unsupported file type), you will be notified with an error message and a link to troubleshooting documentation.
  • File Formatting Error: If the Excel file has formatting issues, an alert will appear: “File formatting error has occurred.”
  • Unsupported File Type: If the file format is incorrect, the error message will state: “File type not supported error has occurred.”
  • Content Error: If the explanation column has invalid text or formatting, including rich text, an error message will appear: “File content is not supported”.

Limitations

The bulk upload feature will apply to both Shared Marking and Private Marking in the following grading settings: Candidate level Grading (where each candidate is confirmed individually) and Test level Grading (where all candidates are confirmed at once). However, results alignment for Private Marking will be out of scope for this feature.

Conclusion

Whether you’re working offline with Excel or updating a large batch of candidates, this feature makes it easy to sync all your changes back into Inspera—quickly and efficiently. The clear notifications and helpful error messages ensure that the process is smooth and any issues are easily addressed.

Artikler i denne seksjonen

Var denne artikkelen nyttig?
0 av 0 syntes dette var nyttig