computers in exams - question for secondary teachers please

[storminamooncup]

can any secondary teachers advise as I'm confused.

DD is a slow writer but otherwise does not have any ASN. She has 5 Highers and doing mix of AH and Hs in S6. She has had some timed essays and has found them difficult to complete in time. Had same issue in exams. Throughout the year however, her work is A grade standard when she is not being timed.

She says one of her teachers has offered to 'complete a form', so that she can use a computer in exam conditions to type rather than write her essays as she finds it is quicker to type than write. She says she was offered this last year but turned it down because she wanted to try writing. Now that her grades are in, and not as great as she wanted, she is now open to the offer of a computer.

here is where I'm confused though - should this not be just for kids who have ASN? DD has no diagnosis. DD insists anyone can get it if the teacher feels they are slow writers but capable of good marks if they can type instead. She says her teacher says all he has to do is complete a form to get it set up for her.

I'm torn - on the one hand, I want her to complete her essays in time and get the best marks she possibly can, but on the other, it doesn't sound correct, surely if its just a form, anyone can get it, and it becomes almost like cheating?

Can any secondary teachers advise me please as DD is confusing me.

Additional arrangements are by observed need rather than requiring a diagnosis. A good idea to accept the support offered. Definitely speak to uni support department before making applications to find out what support they would offer - I imagine using a lap top for exams is pretty normal for most courses but good to check.

When DS got to uni he started hitting massive barriers because their policy was no additional arrangements or using computers without a formal medical diagnosis.

So then it was a mad (expensive) scramble to get that diagnosis formally.

Gosh that’s very surprising. DS had to use a school laptop that is completely locked down, blank of files, is unconnected to the internet and only had Wordpad! It’s usually very strict and not usual to use your own device!

Yes when I was invigilating last year there was no bringing your own laptop! I had to watch what was happening on the screen to make sure kids weren't accessing files they should not have been.

My DC will be using a computer in exams. Normally he uses Google so everything is automatically saved. Is this something we need to watch? Does the program used for exams autosave or is there a risk that if he absent mindedly closed the laptop at the end all his work would be lost?

You need to check with school. I had never asked before and once I started asking questions got all sorts of unexpected answers. Each school will have its own policy - so ours is a clean laptop, no office files, only wordpad for basic typing. no internet. so that will be different to google and not necessarily autosave!

Hmm, he automatically closes his chrome book when he finishes work. It might be worth trying to stop that habit now!

I am surprised that there isn’t consistency of programme etc used for digital exams - I would have expected to be completing a digital paper on a standardised app.

It isn't really cheating though, all the spelling check etc is turned off. If your DC rocked up at school with a broken writing hand/arm on the morning of the exam they would sort a word processor out sharpish, it's not the same as having extra time etc.

These days hardly anyone does regular extended pieces of handwriting apart from in exams. Nearly all longer pieces of written work are typed on computers.

AFAIK the computers used in the school where I was invigilating the computers autosaved to the school drive every X number of minutes but we always told students to make sure everything was saved manually too at the end of the exam. Digital papers are then printed by the invigilator, often with the assistance of school staff (as there was not a printer in the room where I was working) and then packaged up with the rest of the handwritten papers to go off to the SQA.

@KnottyAuty were in Ireland so possibly different, and also had it from start of Covid that this was the device dd used at home and also in school all the way through. We never got as far as the "it must be wiped" conversation - we just bit the bullet when "it must be locked up from the week before exam 1" conversation.

School used some kind of generic laptop but almost all students had access to some sort of device during lockdown and were actively encouraged to use their own where possible once returned to school, their IT person sorted them all to access the network and to lockdown what could be on the devices to join the school network.

So i was probably trying to be helpful and just caused confusion. Instead, sorry.