Setting up sessions

A session is a time slot at a given location inside a testing center. Thus sessions belong to testing centers, and they can be used by many courses running different exams. Before you create sessions, you must decide on the following configurations:

Session duration

The duration defines the minimum length of time that will be taken by a student reservation. For example, suppose you have a session duration of 50 minutes, leaving 10 minutes between sessions to check in a new group of students. In this case you could have sessions starting at 9am, 10am, 11am, etc. Exams can be longer or shorter than a single session, but a reservation will always take up at least one session. For example, a 90 minute exam at 9am would take up two sessions (at 9am and 10am), while a 20 minute exam at 9am would take up a single full session. In all cases the students would only receive their allotted times to do the exam (90 or 20 minutes, respectively) but their reservations will take up complete sessions (2 and 1 sessions in this example). For this reason it's more efficient to have 50 minute exams (or 1 hour and 50 minutes, or 2 hour and 50 minutes) when using a 50 minute session duration.

Exams with self-scheduling

Testing center staff will need to decide if reservations are pre-assigned, or if students should self-schedule. When students are allowed to self-reserve into a session, you must also define:

• self-reserve limit: this defines the latest time when students can still make a reservation for a session. For example, if a session starts at 9 am, and you set self-reserve limit to 30 minutes, then students can make a reservation for that session until 8:30 am.

• self-change limit: this defines the latest time when students can still make changes to their reservation for a session. For example, if a student is registered for a session that starts at 9am, and you set self-change limit to 30 minutes, then students can delete or change their reservation for that session until 8:30am.

Session bridging

If sessions are scheduled back-to-back, then you should define the bridging interval, which is the maximum gap (in minutes) between two consecutive sessions that a student should be able to continue doing an exam. For example, with 50 minute sessions starting at 9am, 10am, etc, you should set the bridging interval to 10 minutes so that students with two-hour exams can have their reservation bridge from one session to the following one.

Check-in options

• required check-in: This option will require students to be checked-in by proctors before they can start the exam. Normally this check-in would be done at the door as students enter the testing center. Proctors will click Start Exam once all students are checked in, at the session start time. The check-in process can continue after the start of the exam for students who arrive late.

• not required check-in: Students can start working on their exams as soon as the exam is opened by the proctor. They will have a pre-defined amount of time, the start window, to start the exam after the proctor clicks Start Exam. After this time expires, they will need to contact the proctor, to have their check-in process done manually to get access to the exam. This is a safety feature to avoid very late students from starting the exam without a proctor's knowledge.

For both check-in options, late students will not be given any extra time to complete their exams. Proctors can manually give students extra time if desired.

Create Sessions

• Select the appropriate institution under the Institution administration panel from the homepage.
• Go to Centers page and open the appropriate testing center.
• Go to Sessions from the top bar menu. Click Actions to select between the following methods to create sessions:

Add session

Click Add session. You will need to define:

• Location: use the dropdown menu to select the location where you want to create sessions)
• Duration
• Start time (using 24 hrs clock)
• Capacities: you will be able to define the capacity for each seat group available in the selected location
• if students will be allowed to self-reserve into this session. If yes, enter:
  • Self-reserve limit
  • Self-change limit
• if students are required to check-in to start exams. If no, enter:
  • Start window
• if the session is allowed bridging into later sessions. If yes, enter:
  • Bridging interval

Bulk-add weekly sessions

Click Build-add weekly sessions. This option will create multiple sessions following a repeating weekly pattern, from the start date to the end date, according to a list of starting times for each day of the week.

You will need to define:

• Location: use the dropdown menu to select the location where you want to create sessions)
• Duration
• Start date
• End date
• Starting times: start time of each session on each day of the week (using 24 hrs clock)
• Capacities: you will be able to define the capacity for each seat group available in the selected location
• if students will be allowed to self-reserve into this session. If yes, enter:
  • Self-reserve limit
  • Self-change limit
• if students are required to check-in to start exams. If no, enter:
  • Start window
• if the session is allowed bridging into later sessions. If yes, enter:
  • Bridging interval

Edit Sessions

Go to the Sessions panel from the top bar menu to edit existing sessions. The sessions appear organized by day.

Delete all sessions existing on a day: use the dropdown menu next to the date in which you want all sessions to be deleted.

Edit or delete sessions over a period of time: click the Actions button to bulk-edit sessions or bulk-delete sessions.

Edit or delete specific session: from the Sessions page, select the date in which you want to have a session modified. This will give you a list of all sessions in that day. Use the dropdown menu next to the date and time if you want to delete a specific session. To make changes to a session, click the date and time, and then go to the Settings tab.