Homer Babbidge Library will be new home to Scantron exam scanning service. (Lamisa Mannan/The Daily Campus)
The Scantron exam scanning service at the University of Connecticut moved from the Math Science Building to the Homer Babbidge Library during spring break, making it easier for the 170 professors who use the service to access it amid construction.
Steven Fletcher, a computer manager in UITS said in an email that the move occurred because the Math Science building has become less reachable due to current construction.
“The library was selected because it is a central location and at least one of the drop-boxes is available 24 hours,” Fletcher continued. “We plan to evaluate and evolve the exam scanning service to improve accessibility and shorten delays.”
In order to use the service, professors should drop of their answer key sheets and exams for processing in a labeled envelope in the blue drop-boxes on level P or 1 of the library, Fletcher said. From there, the exams are retrieved and processed.
“Exams are retrieved from the drop-boxes Monday through Friday at 12 p.m. and 10 a.m. / 4 p.m. during finals,” Fletcher said. “Exams are processed immediately after pickup.”
The exam results are emailed to instructors after processing, Fletcher said. Instructors will receive an email from SCHDSCN@uconn.edu with a subject line of “Secure Mail” and a link to the exam results.
The hard copies of the exams are delivered back to instructors by campus mail or left at the ITS Help Center in the library to be retrieved, Fletcher said.
Fletcher said the most common processing errors come from incorrect instructor key sheets or mistakes with how the Scantrons were filled in, such as filling in the wrong exam version or putting numbers in the wrong columns.
Although ITS does not make alterations to exams, they dop notify the instructor to correct the mistake on the key sheet or Scantron, Fletcher said.
“If an exam does not process due to a key sheet error, we notify the instructor and ask them to come correct it. If they are unable to correct it that day, we return it via the preferred method with an instruction guide noting the issue,” Fletcher said. “If a student exam does not process due to error, it is not graded. We add a note to that exam and return it to the instructor.”
ITS wants to provide as many options as possible to support teaching and learning, which includes Scantrons, Fletcher said.
“[The option for professors to use Scantrons] is a personal choice.,” Fletcher said. “Another exam service that ITS supports and that many instructors use is online testing in HuskyCT. This service also has automated grading [like Scantrons].”
Rachel Philipson is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at rachel.philipson@uconn.edu.