Scanning Steps and Solutions to Common Issues

[expand title=”Scanning Step-by-Step”]

  1. Open Remark, Teachers, and Firefox
  2. In Remark: Click File > Open Form Template, then select _MOST TESTS_Red 200.rco (N:/Department/Sandbox/Templates).
  3. Stack the scantron sheets, make sure the key is on top, and place neatly in the tray on the right side of the scanner.
  4. Press F12 (or click Easy Scan at the top) to begin scanning sheets.
    • If a sheet becomes jammed, gently pull outward, towards the wall, to remove it from the rollers, check for damage, and replace in the right stack. If a sheet is too damaged to continue, put to the side and attach a note.
  5. Once all sheets have been scanned, click End Scanning.
    • Check the bottom tray on the left for any sheets that were not scanned. Any sheets that were turned the wrong way or had pencil marks in the margin are returned here.
  6. Look over the data in remark and note any places where multiple responses were picked up (green fields) or blanks (yellow fields). If there seem to be an unusual number of errors in student tests, or any errors at all on the key, double check the key sheet for an explanation on the errors.
    • If there seem to be a lot of blank responses, spot check some sheets to verify. If it seems like an error with the scanner, try restarting the machine then scanning again. If the issue continues, stop using that scanner and put in a maintenance request immediately.
  7. Press F2 (or click Save As…) and save the data using the format [LastName][Date](-Version).
    • For example: Smith092412, Lennartson100512-A, etc.
  8. Check the key for any special grading notes (question point value, multiple correct answers, etc.) If there are no special notes, press F6 (or click Easy Grade).
    • If there are special considerations like extra credit or multiple responses, check the section below for assistance.
  9. In Teachers (excel): Find instructor’s entry to determine which reports they receive. A “PDF” indicates that report should be saved as a PDF. An “x” means that report needs to be printed.
    • By default, a PDF or X in the 201/204 column means 204. If the cell contains “201” then save a PDF of the 201, or “x 201” then print the report. 201, 203, and 204 are virtually identical, so most instructors will just get one of the three.
  10. In Remark: Each report listed in Excel has a number (101, 103, 207, etc.) corresponding to the reports in remark. Click the link for each report on the left to view.
    • PDF: Click Export Report at the top of the screen, then Export in the new window. Saved the file with the same name you used for the data with – [Report#] added to the end.
      • For example: Smith092412-101, Lennartson100512-A-204
    • Print: Click Print at the top of the screen, then Print again, leaving all settings as normal.
    • xls/num: Click the Data tab at the top of the reports list, then click Export Data & Grade Results. If the professor is listed as xls, save the data as textual & grade results; if listed as num, save as numeric & grade results. Use the same name used for the raw data (Smith092412, etc.)
  11. In Firefox: Once all reports and excel have been collected, log into iSpartan.
    • Username: scanning
    • Password: (see most recent password)
  12. Compose a new email to the instructor and any TA’s or GA’s listed on the key. Title the message “Test Results” and attach the reports saved from earlier. If there were any notes for the test, such as a student’s sheet not scanning, write a message to the instructor in the email body.
  13. If instructor would like the sheets back through Campus Mail, be sure their name and address is on the envelope, then place in outgoing mail in room 132. Otherwise, file the tests for instructor pick-up in 121.

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[expand title=”Special Instructions”]

Different point values for questions

If a teacher wants questions worth something other than 1 point per correct response, use the Grade Wizard instead of Easy Grade.

  1. The first window allows you to set learning objectives, scaled scores, and other options. We don’t currently use any of those, so click Next without making any changes.
  2. The next screen asks you to indicate where the key is located. This is where it’s very important the key is the first sheet scanned, as it will be the first row in the table. Click the drop-down box for Source, select Grid Row, then click “Get Key…”Click Next once this is done.
    • This should populate the list below with the data from the answer key, but if you see a student’s name in the First/Last name fields, stop immediately and check your data.
  3. This screen is the Question Properties page, which allows you to select which fields are included and their value. In the case of different point values, select the questions you will need to change. You can hold shift and click two questions to select everything between them (i.e., clicking 1 and 20 will select everything from 1-20) to change multiple questions at once.
  4. Change the Correct Points value to what the instructor indicated. If they want wrong answers or blank responses to count differently, make those changes as well.
  5. Once done, click Finish. Do not save the key since we very rarely scan the same test and key twice. From this point, continue saving or printing reports as normal.

Do not grade certain questions

If a question is left blank on the key, it will automatically not be graded with Easy Grade. However, if an instructor decides after making the key they do not want questions graded, we can remove them as well. Follow the steps above to reach Question Properties. Select the question(s) like before, then uncheck the box marked “Grade this question.” This will tell it to ignore this question when grading. Finish, do not save, and continue as normal.

More than one answer can be accepted as correct/All correct answers must be selected to be counted correct

Instructors can fill in multiple responses on the key to be counted correct, or in some cases require all indicated answers for a question to be correct. Follow the procedure above to reach Question Properties. Select the questions as before, then note the Correct answer(s) drop-down box. You can select and deselect answers in this box to be counted as correct answers.

If an instructor has asked that the student must select all the correct answers to receive credit, check the box underneath indicating that option.

If an instructor has asked that all students be given credit for this question, select all answers A-E and leave the box unchecked. Finish without saving and continue with the reports as normal.

Extra Credit

This will give a student credit for the question only if they got it right, but wrong answers do not affect their score. Follow the instructions above to navigate to Question Properties and select the appropriate questions. Check the box on the right marked Extra Credit.

Questions marked extra credit will not be included in the total possible score, but will give points if correct. For example, if a test has 55 questions and the instructor wants 5 to be extra credit, students’ final scores will be x/50 where x is their total correct. In this case, it is possible to score a 55/50 (110%) but incorrect responses will not hurt their grade.

____ report with ID’s only

Some instructors will request a 101 or 301 with only the student ID’s. This may be to share the grade list with the class while preserving anonymity. Navigate to the Question Properties as explained above. On this page, click Last Name, then while holding shift click Year. This will select all fields between the two. On the right side of the screen, check the box marked Question Identifies Student, then uncheck it. This will check all the fields you selected, then uncheck them all at once. After this, the reports will only include student ID numbers.

Raw data as ASCII/Comma-delimited/other file type

Some instructors want the raw data in a format they can do their own analysis with. Grade the test as normal, then navigate to the Data Export section (where Excel files are typically saved). Export the file according to their instructions (with grade results, ID’s only, etc.), then in the save box select the correct file type. For instructors like Danford and Shukla, you’ll want “ASCII (*comma)” to create a comma-delimited ASCII file.

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[expand title=”Sheet Errors”]

The sheet is being sent to the output tray (or a message comes up saying the sheet could not be identified).

Check the margins for any stray marks or damage which might interfere with the timing marks. This can include:

  • Corner folded over a timing mark along the bottom of the sheet: carefully fold the corner along the crease in the opposite direction, like trying to flatten a dollar for vending machines. When it is flat, rescan the page.
  • Tears along the edges of the page: use a piece of clear tape to carefully repair the tear, bending it over the edge so half is on each side. Smooth the tape and try to rescan.
  • Marking extending into the margins: this can happen when students write their test version or the honor pledge along the top margin but extend too far into the left side, causing the machine to see the pencil as another timing mark. Carefully erase the marks so that left margin is clean. If the mark will not erase, tear a post-it note to cover the mark.

The sheet was filled out with pen, either in part or completely.

There’s nothing we can do to fix this issue. Let the instructor know they or the student can either fill out a new sheet or go over the pen with pencil, or they can grade it by hand. We will under no circumstances make any marks affecting a student’s responses.

Page skewed

This means the page was not run through the machine completely straight. Make sure the guide in the input tray is properly guiding pages into the scanner, and check for damage on the sheet and fix if possible. If a sheet is too damaged to scan (after 2-3 attempts), place to the side and make a note when emailing the instructor. When removing the skewed page, be sure to remove any sheet stuck at the input tray as well.

Page thickness error

Typically this means the scanner pulled 2-3 pages at once. Remove the pages, swap their order to make sure nothing is keeping them stuck together, and rescan. If this message comes up when only scanning a single page, double check the last sheets scanned. It’s possible the machine pulled several pages, assumed that was normal thickness for 1 sheet, and now thinks 1 sheet is too thin. In this case, delete all data and start the batch over.

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[expand title=”Software Issues”]

Reports in Remark are not displaying correctly (wrong formatting, colors are weird, etc. compared to previous reports)

Typically happens after a new install of Remark

  1. Load any data (doesn’t matter what since nothing is actually being graded or saved) and go into Easy Grade
  2. Click TOOLS along the top, then select IMPORT PREFERENCES
  3. Navigate to the Sandbox folder (N:/Department/Sandbox/Templates/ReportPreferencesFile) and select ReportPreferences.ini
  4. After the message says “Import was successful” click a report name (i.e. 101) to refresh the page

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[expand title=”Hardware Issues”]

Printer won’t print duplex (front and back)

Typically happens after a fresh install of Windows or reinstalling the printer

HP LaserJet P3015

  1. Go into Devices & Printers, right-click LaserJet, then click PRINTER PROPERTIES
  2. Click CHANGE PROPERTIES at the bottom (you will need admin credentials)
  3. Go to tab labeled DEVICE SETTINGS, and find the option for “Duplex Unit (for 2-sided printing)”
  4. Change option to INSTALLED, then Apply/OK
  5. Now, right-click LaserJet again and go to PRINTING PREFERENCES
  6. Go to tab labeled FINISHING, enable “Print on Both Sides” and “Preserve Layout”
  7. Apply/OK, make sure LaserJet is default printer (if necessary)

 

Remark/the scanner is not sending incorrect sheets (upside down, wrinkled, not actual scantron sheets, etc.) to the reject tray

Usually happens after a new Remark install, but Remark sometimes forgets the default settings

  1. Open a template in Remark and prepare your test (sheets in Input tray)
  2. Click READ WIZARD
  3. On the first screen, make sure Duplex scanning enabled (should have a green check mark).
  4. Click NEXT
  5. Click to Activate Reject Exceptions (make the box checked) then check the boxes for ONLY Barcode errors, Read Head errors, Timing Mark errors, and Form read errors
  6. Click the button marked Read
  7. After reading the batch of sheets, you can close and reopen Remark to make sure it saved properly

 

Scanner keeps reporting a paper jam even when nothing is in the scanner

This happens when the scanner has been on for too long or processed a lot of sheets without clearing dust, usually just to the one in the back.

  1. Turn of the scanner and removed both output trays by lifting the left end of each tray and sliding the tabs out of the machine.
  2. Carefully blow any extra dust from both above and beside the output area.
  3. Replace the trays, turn on the scanner, and try to scan a test page.

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Class Climate FAQ

Click the links below to open the article.

[expand title=”Creating a New User“]
This will walk you through how to add a single instructor or subunit administrator account. If you wish to add several instructors at once, it may be quicker to use the import function.

1. On the subunit screen, click Create New User.

ccguide_newuser-1

2. Select whether the new user will be an instructor or Subunit Administrator (ignore all the other options). Subunit Administrators cannot be assigned courses or surveys, but can make changes to user accounts like resetting passwords and have access to the reports for all instructors in that subunit.

ccguide_newuser-2

3. Enter the instructor’s information here. The only field that is required is the last name, but it’s good practice to include at least a first name and email address as well. The login name and password generated are random strings of numbers. If you would like the instructor to have the ability to log in, you may change the login name and password to something simpler which can be given to the instructor. When they log into Class Climate, they can change all the info on this screen, including their username and password, by clicking My Profile.

ccguide_newuser-3

4. On the final screen, simply click Save. The options presented here are not currently used and may be ignored.

ccguide_newuser-4

5. You should now see your newly created instructor on the subunit page. You’ll notice they currently have [0] courses and 0/0 surveys. You can click on each respective number to view an instructor’s courses or surveys.

ccguide_newuser-5back to top

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[expand title=”Resetting a User’s Password“]
1. On the subunit screen, locate the name of the account which needs a password reset. Click the small paper & pencil icon under the Actions column to go into the account details.

ccguide_resetpass-1

2. At the bottom of the box, completely delete all contents in the “New password” and “Confirm new password” boxes, then type the new password in each box. Be sure both boxes match. It’s generally best to keep the password simple, like copying the username, and instructing the user to change their password to something more secure when they log in.

ccguide_newuser-3

3. Click next. On the final screen, simply click Save. These options presented are not currently used for our instructors.

ccguide_newuser-4

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[expand title=”Creating a Questionnaire“]

Coming soon!
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[expand title=”Creating Surveys“]
To create a survey, you need 3 things: an instructor, course, and questionnaire. See the directory at the top of this page for help in creating any of these components.

1. On the left navigation bar, click Generate Surveys. This will take you to a screen with several boxes used to filter the courses for which you would like to create surveys.

 

ccguide_newsurvey-1

 

2. As you select a parameter in each box, the following boxes will become available. After selecting all filters (Subunit, Survey Period, Course Type, Questionnaire), you will see a list of courses which match those criteria. You can click and drag or hold Ctrl and click to select a range or multiple individual courses, respectively. After making your selection, the final step is to decide what type of survey these courses should be.

ccguide_newsurvey-2

  • Paper Survey – This creates a unique survey paper form for each course selected, used for face-to-face evaluations. The PDF generated can be saved, shared, and printed just as any normal PDF. If you choose to use paper, make sure to click only Hard Copy Procedure; Cover Sheet and Web Verification are not currently supported.
  • When printing paper surveys, keep these guidelines in mind:
    • The paper must be white and 20 lb or stronger.
    • Printing duplex (front & back) is recommended, but not required.
    • Page scaling must be off or 100%.
    • Forms can only be used for the specific course, semester, and instructor listed at the top. If an instructor needs more for their course, they need to print that exact form. Sharing forms between instructors or across semesters will cause problems when collecting the data.
    • The UTLC will gladly print these forms for your department at a small fee ($0.06 per 1-sided page, $0.08 per 2-sided page). These forms are guaranteed to read correctly, whereas forms printed outside the UTLC do not have that guarantee. However, following the guidelines above should give proper forms with no problems. Contact Damon Roberts (drrobert@uncg.ed)for more information about printing services.
  • Online Survey (no time Control) – This will create surveys in a browser for students to access anywhere with an internet connection. Without Time Control activated, instructors will need to provide students with a password (PSWD). These are a one-time-use token to take the survey for which it was specifically generated. Think of them like movie tickets: each ticket is good for one person to watch a movie, and each ticket is printed for a specific movie. Although once a ticket is used it is thrown away, a person with multiple tickets could see multiple movies. Therefore, it’s important to make sure students only receive one PSWD per survey. Online Surveys without Time Control will generate a PDF sheet with PSWDs. This sheet can be printed and divided up among students.
  • Online Survey (Use Time Control) – Time control automates a lot of the online survey process. You can set a time and date for the survey to open and close, as well as send automated reminders to students who have a survey to complete. The PSWD system works similarly here, except instead of handing out slips of paper to students, the system will email each student a unique but anonymous link to take a survey. They will receive one email for each survey “ticket” they need, and once they have completed a survey that link will be disabled. This method tends to have a lower response rate than face-to-face surveys, although if instructors provide incentive or set aside time during a class for everyone to take these surveys, the response rates will improve.

Paper Surveys

a. After selecting Hard Copy Procedure and clicking Generate Surveys, you will be taken to a screen showing all surveys you just generated. To view and print individual forms, click Show Questionnaire on the right side of each row. You may print as many copies of this PDF as needed, but keep in mind that forms have to be used for that exact class which generated them; if the instructor for HDF 105 runs out and borrows some forms from HDF 101, all data from those forms will be compiled into the HDF 101 report. See the guidelines above for details on how to print.

 

b. To print forms for multiple courses at once, click Batch Events on the left navigation bar. On this screen, use the filter boxes to once again narrow down the courses you want to work with. Leave the options along the top as they are. After selecting the courses you want to print, select the radio button to Create complete sets… This will generate a single PDF with each form duplicated to match the enrollment in the course. For example, if ART 250 has 12 students, the PDF will include 12 pages of the ART 250 form. This allows you to start a print job for the exact amount of forms you will need for each course all at once. The default value will be used if there is no enrollment listed for a course in Class Climate, and can be changed to any amount.

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[expand title=”Survey Details“]

Basic information can be found about surveys from the Display Surveys screen (link on the left navigation bar), such as response rate and number of submitted responses. The response rate is based on how many PSWDs were generated with the survey, but this number can be changed in the Survey Details.

 

To access the Survey Details screen, click the name of a survey. This screen has most of the options you’ll use to manipulate and manage surveys.

Show PSWDs in browser will generate a PDF with all the passwords for that course, which can then be printed or used to distribute the passwords to individual students. This is used for online surveys being taken during class time. Receive PSWDs by email will generate the same PDF but email directly to your email address instead of opening in a new window.

Send PSWDs by email to respondents allows you to send passwords directly to any email address. This can be used to manually add students to a survey by entering their email address and sending a new email.

Send reminder to respondents will let you resend emails to anyone who has not yet completed the survey. This screen also shows all previous batches of emails sent out; you can click Show under Details to see exactly who was included in each batch. Once you click Remind, you’ll be able to edit the list of recipients for reminder emails. This is not where new students can be added; anyone added to this list who did not receive an original email will be skipped.

Generate more PSWDs will be used if a new student needs to be added to the survey, but there are no PSWDs available (check the stat in the upper section of the Survey Details). Enter a number in the box, click OK, and a new window will open with a PDF containing the newly generated PSWDs. You may close this window if you do not need the PDF.

Number of participants ~ will allow you to set how many total students should be considered when calculating the response rate. If a survey was generated with 50 PSWDs but the class only has 6 students actually taking the survey, you can change this number so the response rates are accurate.

Preview online survey will open a new window with a sample of the survey in HTML format, almost identical to how students will see it.

Scheduled Tasks is the screen where the survey schedule, reminders, and close date can be changed. See the Generating Surveys section for more information.

Finish Data Collection, Close Survey will close the survey and prepare the report for this course. Once closed, the survey can be reopened from this screen to allow more entries. Each time a new response is received, the report will update to reflect the new data.

Restore Survey is essentially a reset button. It will delete all collected data for this survey but will not erase students’ PSWDs, so they may re-use the link in their email or be sent a new email to retake the survey.

Delete Survey will delete the survey and all associated data. Currently, we use Two-Step deletion, which means deleting once will delete only the data (similar to restoring except PSWDs are not reset), and deleting a second time will delete the actual survey.

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[expand title=”Evaluation Reports“]
There are 3 ways to get reports to the instructors: automatic email, manual email, or instructor access.

Automatic Email

Individual Reports: Navigate to the instructor list in the subunit. Click the instructor’s name to be taken to a list of all their surveys stored in Class Climate. (We currently have surveys dating as far back as Fall 2011. If there is no data for a course, it likely either had no data or never had a CC survey.) Beside each course name is a column labeled Report with 3 icons. Clicking the envelope icon will send a PDF report to the email address listed for that instructor. Once a report has been successfully sent, the envelope will have a blue check mark. It is possible to re-send the report even if it has a check mark in case the instructor did not receive the email.

Multiple/Department-wide Reports: To send reports to multiple instructors at once, use the Batch Events option at the bottom of the left side of the screen. On this screen, select “Send PDF Reports” and uncheck the box if you want to send all reports, regardless of whether they’ve been sent already. Use the boxes below to filter which courses you would like to see, then select the courses which need reports sent. You can also check the box to send an instructor’s reports in one compiled email, rather than receiving multiple emails with 1 report each. Once you click Request, a small window will show up to track the progress as emails are sent. Any errors will be shown after the operation is completed.

Manual Email

Individual Reports: Navigate to the instructor list in the subunit. Click the instructor’s name to be taken to a list of all their surveys stored in Class Climate. (We currently have surveys dating as far back as Fall 2011. If there is no data for a course, it likely either had no data or never had a CC survey.) Beside each course name is a column labeled Report with 3 icons. Click the PDF icon to generate the report for that survey as a PDF, which can then be saved and printed or attached to an email. The HTML icon will generate the report as a web page, which is much more difficult to share.

Multiple/Department-wide Reports: To save multiple reports at once, use the Batch Events option at the bottom of the left side of the screen. On this screen, select Print PDF Reports. Uncheck the box hiding reports which have already been sent to make sure all the courses needed are included in the batch. Use the boxes to filter which courses you would like to see, then select which ones need a report saved. Click the button to create individual reports, rather than an entire PDF; this will create a separate report for each course and save them all to a folder, rather than combining all reports into a single document. After clicking Request, a small window will come up to track progress. Once it has completed, you may be asked where to save the file. Save this somewhere easy to access, then you may do what’s needed just like a normal folder with PDFs.

Instructor Access

Some departments allow their instructors to log into Class Climate to see reports for courses they have taught. Not all departments want instructors to have this access, so double-check before giving an instructor access. In many cases, the instructor will be happy receiving their recent reports without having to log in and navigate the system. To give an instructor access, navigate to the instructor list in the subunit. Click the small paper & pencil icon on the far right beside the name of the instructor. Change the login name to something simple if necessary, usually their UNCG ID (drrobert for example), then erase everything in the password field and create a simple password. Use the same password for both fields, then continue and save the changes. It is strongly recommended that once the instructor logs in they change their password to something more secure by clicking My Profile on the left side of the screen.

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[expand title=”Importing Instructor and Course Data from Banner“]

Instructor and course data can be imported into Class Climate from a .csv file, which will create the instructor accounts and their courses all at once. The .csv is typically downloaded from the WebFOCUS tool available from Enrollment Services, but it can be manually created as long as the correct format is used.

The file must be formatted as above:

  • Column A – “Instructor” (always this text)
  • Column B – “Professor” (always this text)
  • Column C – blank
  • Column D – Instructor’s first name
  • Column E – Instructor’s last name
  • Column F – Instructor’s email address (not required)
  • Column G – Course Code
  • Column H – Course title and semester
  • Column I – blank
  • Column J – Department Code
  • Column K – Course type (typically will be 1)
  • Column L – Enrollment

To access the WebFOCUS tool, go to reporting.uncg.edu and select Departmental Reporting – Enrollment Services. If you are unable to log in, you may need to contact Denise Phillips (dcphilli@uncg.edu) for access. Once logged in, navigate to the Registration & Grades tab. Campus Climate Instructor Feed creates a .csv similar to the one above based on period and department selected, while Campus Climate Participant Email Feed creates a file with the email address for each student enrolled in a course. In each window, use the drop-down boxes to select the department and period, then click Run to generate and save the file.

Note: When opening the Email Feed, you may receive a warning about the file type. This is a known issue. Click “Yes” to open the file as normal.

After downloading the file, be sure to review it before uploading to the site. Any courses with 0 students (column L) or no instructor listed (columns D-F) should be deleted, and your department may not want to evaluate thesis or similar courses.

Once the courses to be evaluated are confirmed, upload the file on the department’s Class Climate page by clicking Choose File, then Import on the right. This final screen allows you to set the evaluation period for these courses and review all changes before submitting at the bottom of the page. Once you click Continue, the file will be imported and all instructors and their courses will be created. If an instructor already exists on the system, their information will be updated according to the .csv and their courses created.


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