eSAM - Setting up a secure exam
Learn how to set up a secure exam using eSAM by enabling restrictions, allowing specific apps, and configuring invigilation settings. Ensure a smooth exam day by testing the setup in advance and advising students on necessary preparations.
Two steps: turn eSAM on for the quiz, then set the exam up on its own page. The first takes a moment; the second is where the decisions are.
1. Turn eSAM on for the quiz
- Open the quiz and go to its settings.
- Find Extra restrictions on attempts.
- Tick Require eSAM.
- Choose a profile. A profile is a ready-made set of restrictions. Four ship with eSAM, and your college may have added its own; each one says what it is for underneath its name. See Exam profiles.
- Save the quiz.
From now on, students can only attempt this quiz through eSAM. On the quiz page they see This quiz must be taken in eSAM and a Start secure exam button.
If the quiz already requires Safe Exam Browser, Moodle will not let you tick this as well. Turn Safe Exam Browser off first.
2. Open the eSAM exam settings page
After saving, an eSAM entry appears in the quiz's menu. It has seven tabs:
- Restrictions
- What is locked down: the screen mode, keyboard shortcuts, clipboard, printing, monitors and so on. Starts from your profile; you can change individual settings for this exam. If you may manage profiles, Manage exam profiles at the top of this tab takes you to them.
- Apps
- Which programs a student may open. See Allowing apps in an exam.
- Documents
- Reading material students can open during the exam. See Giving students documents.
- Invigilation
- The Teams meeting link, if you invigilate remotely, and how eSAM behaves when a student moves away from the exam.
- Alerts
- How much of each kind of behaviour is worth telling the invigilator about.
- Student adjustments
- Extra time, a screen reader, extra apps or a different screen mode for one student. See Adjustments for individual students.
- Monitor
- Opens the live dashboard while the exam is running.
What happens when you save
Every save sends the exam to the eSAM service, so the settings are waiting when your students arrive. The page shows the status while that is happening.
If it says the exam has not reached the service, save again and then tell your IT team — it usually means the connection between Moodle and eSAM needs attention, which is not something you can fix from this page.
A sensible order to work in
- Restrictions first: decide the shape of the exam.
- Apps next, because a calculator or a screen reader may change the screen mode you need.
- Documents, if students need reading material.
- Invigilation and Alerts, which depend on how you are watching.
- Student adjustments last, once the exam everyone else gets is settled.
Before the exam day
- Run through the exam yourself on a Windows PC with eSAM installed. Ten minutes now is worth an hour of exam-day firefighting.
- Check the adjustments list matches the access arrangements you have been given.
- Tell students to install eSAM in advance and to bring a charger.
person people found this useful.
