Navigate to https://digitaldesk.tamu.edu in an internet browser. Instructor Tools works best in Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox. Information may not display correctly in Internet Explorer. 


Authenticate through CAS using your NetID and Password. This is the same login information used to access Howdy. 

IMPORTANT: If logging in from an off-campus computer, a virtual private network (VPN) is required. Technology Services provides one here.

The Instructor of Record can add Teaching Assistants following these steps:

To assign a Teaching Assistant (TA) who has access to a course’s exam information in Instructor Tools, click on Settings in the lower left corner of the screen. 


Under the Course Management tab and Add TA submenu, search for the Course and Section from the dropdown menus. 

Once the course and section are selected an Info section will appear as well as a Teaching Assistants search bar. Under Teaching Assistants, search for the student via their UIN or TAMU email address. Click Search. A pop-up window will appear with the student’s name and campus email addresses. Click +Add TA. The student’s name will now be listed under Teaching Assistants, and a button to remove them will appear as well. OIEE removes all TAs at the end of each semester. 

The Rescore menu item is typically used after scantrons have been processed for an exam. This is where exams can be rescored if changes have been made to point values or maximum points via Modify Existing Exam. 

On the Rescore page, select the Exam ID from the dropdown menu and click the blue Rescore Exams button at the bottom of the page to make changes go into effect. 
From Rescore, Instructors can add bonus points to student scores. After selecting the Exam ID from the dropdown menu, student information including their names and scores will appear in the right-hand window. To add bonus points, simply click the checkbox next to Add Bonus Points and enter the number of points to be added. Then select whether the bonus points should be applied to All or Individual. 

With Individual selected, click which student will receive the bonus points. This will highlight the student row in yellow. Select Rescore Exams to re-calculate student scores. 

Under Reports, Instructors can generate and download various useful reports for their own purposes. This is also where Instructors go to push exam grades to gradebooks in their Canvas courses. 
Select the Exam ID from dropdown and click the checkbox next to the exam when it populates in the right-hand window. Select the Custom tab under Report Options. PLEASE NOTE that the red Release Student Grades button on the “Standard” tab WILL NOT push grades to Canvas. Clicking that button will send individual Student Score Reports to each student via their TAMU email address. 

Click Run next to the Canvas API Report option. A pop-up will appear indicating whether the process was successful. It may take up to 15 minutes for the grades to appear in the Canvas gradebook. Instructors should receive an automated email once grades have been successfully loaded to the Canvas gradebook. 

In the Canvas gradebook, there will be a new column titled “DD-XXXX”. The exam name will take place of the Xs. Review the data in this column to ensure everything worked as expected. In some cases, Canvas may not allow manual entry of “0” in this column for students who did not take the exam. It also may not allow selection of “Excused”. To manually enter a grade of “0” or select Excused in the DD column, follow these steps: 

1. Go to Assignments in the Canvas course. 
2. There will be an assignment created for the exam, with the same name as the column header in the gradebook. Click on the assignment. 
3. Click Edit. 
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the Assign section. Click Add if nothing is currently showing there. Then select Everyone from the list. Click Save. 
5. Go back to the gradebook and notice you can now manually enter a 0 for all students who didn’t take the exam (or, alternatively, select Excused for individual students).

Under the Answer Keys menu item, Instructors can make changes or corrections to the answer key. This includes changing question weights and adding additional credit after an exam has been processed. 


To Change a Standard Question Weight: Select the question number/answer in the right-hand window. This will highlight it yellow. The current information for that question is then populated under Modify Item Value. Instructors can change the item value by entering a different number in the text box, and they can also select a response (A-E) to indicate a different correct answer. Once the desired changes are made, click Update and Save. 


To Assign Partial Credit: In this case, a single answer is assigned the Standard value/weight of the question, but one or more responses is also selected for partial credit. Select the question number/answer in the right-hand window. Under Modify Item Value, select Partial Credit. As an example, if A is the most correct answer worth 2 points (Standard question weight), but B and C should be worth 1 point each, select the checkboxes next to B and C and enter “1” in the text box next to each of them. Once the desired changes are made, click Update and Save. 


To Assign Additional Bonus: If a question’s weight should not be included in the Maximum Points for the exam and only function as additional bonus points for students who answer it correctly, select the question number/answer in the right-hand window, under Modify Item Value select Additional Bonus under Bonus Type, and select the checkbox next to the correct answer. Instructors can also revise the bonus question weight. Once the desired changes are made, click Update and Save. 

Upon logging in, the Instructor Tools dashboard appears. The dashboard shows exams processed on the day of login. Instructors can also view other exams processed in the current semester by clicking the Current Semester tab. See an example below: 


On the right side of the dashboard there is a System Messages section where OIEE may periodically post important information for all Instructors who use Scanning Services. 

This feature allows Instructors to complete an exam setup before bringing scantrons in to Scanning Services for processing. This is not a requirement, but it is an option available to Instructors who wish to set up their own exams and scoring profiles prior to scanning. The steps below describe how to create a new exam in Instructor Tools 
First select "Exams" from the left menu, then Create New Exam.

Step 1. Use the dropdown menu to select the course. Once the course is selected, all relevant sections will appear. Select the desired section(s). Click Next. 
     NOTE: If multiple sections are selected, all sections will be included in a single exam setup and scantrons from all sections will be run as one exam. 


Step 2. Enter the Exam Title and select or type the Number of Forms (i.e., answer key versions). The maximum number of answer keys is four. It is NOT necessary to fill in any other fields, including Start Date and End Date. Click Proceed to Exam Settings. 
     NOTE: The Online Exam function is not enabled for our campus. 


Step 3. Supplemental Materials is not currently utilized. Click Proceed to Report Options to skip. 


Step 4. Under Student Report Options, the Show Results Immediately option is disabled. However, if the instructor intents to use the Student Score Report these options must be selected. 


Step 5. Enter the Number of Questions and Exam Maximum Points. Click Proceed to Review. 
     NOTE: This information will need to be entered for each answer key individually if multiple keys were selected in Step 2. 


Step 6. A Scoring Profile pop-up box will appear asking if you would like to set Item Weights. For a standard exam setup (i.e., all exam items worth the same number of points, equaling the Exam Maximum Points), select No. If items on the exam have varying values, select Yes. See the picture below showing how to set item weights. When finished setting weights, click Proceed to Review. 
     NOTE: If there are multiple answer keys with varying point values, a scoring profile will need to be set up for each key. 


 In the example above showing how to set up a scoring profile, first the Form ID (i.e., answer key) is selected. This is an important step if there is more than one key for the exam. Then, using the Start and End fields, group together serial items that have the same point values. For each set of items with the same value, select under Bonus Type whether these are regular points or bonus points. 
    On the right side of the picture, notice that the scoring profile for Form 1 has been completed: • Items 1 through 30 are worth 2 regular points each (60 pts) • Items 31 through 40 are worth 3  
 regular points each (30 pts) • Items 41 through 45 are worth 2 regular points each (10 pts) • Items 46 through 50 are worth 1 additional bonus point each Notice how all items with regular point values add up to the exam maximum points—100, in this example. If there is more than one form, at this point the Instructor should select “2” from the Form ID dropdown and repeat the process for Form 2. 

Step 7. After clicking Proceed to Review, an exam summary will appear. Confirm all the information is correct and click Publish. An Exam ID will be created, which can then be provided to the Scanning staff when the scantrons are brought into the office for processing. 

In order to create an answer key, you must first create a new exam.

Upon clicking OK to acknowledge the Exam ID, the exam management page now shows a Create Answer Key button. This feature is optional. Instructors who opt to use this feature do not need to fill out a paper scantron answer key for scanning. If the Instructor chooses to create an answer key in Instructor Tools, click the button and a popup will appear asking how many distractors are needed for the answer key. Distractors are the number of answer options. There are 5 distractors on the scantrons that are processed by Scanning Services, so “5” should be selected. This does NOT mean each exam item must have five options; just that five is the maximum number of response options available. 


Upon selecting distractors, an answer key profile will appear. Select the distractor box(es) for each item that will result in points being awarded for that item. 

IMPORTANT: Once key(s) have been set up, you MUST rename the key(s) as letters instead of numbers. The default Form name is Form 1, Form 2, etc. These must be renamed as Form A, Form B, etc., using the Edit Form Name button (as seen in the picture below). If this is not completed prior to processing student scantrons, there may be issues with scoring. Please let the Scanning staff know whether this has been completed prior to the processing of scantrons. 


IMPORTANT: Currently, the DigitalDesk software DOES NOT support multiple correct answers for a single test question. The scanners will automatically read a student’s answer as incorrect if they have bubbled in more than one bubble on their scantron. The software DOES support “either/or” scoring—e.g., If the answer key has both A & B bubbled in, a student can mark EITHER A OR B to receive full credit on the item. 

Once the steps above have been completed for all forms/keys, click Save. Back on the Exam Management page, click Publish a second time to ensure both the exam setup and newly created answer key(s) are saved. 

Additionally, it is possible to use a single answer key to set up multiple forms with specific scoring profiles. There are seven pre-programmed patterns in Instructor Tools that use a single answer key to create up to three additional forms/keys. This can be done by selecting the Create Key Link checkbox. 

REMINDER: Exam setup and creation of answer keys in Instructor Tools is optional. Scanning Services staff is trained to set up exams and scan answer keys manually filled out and provided by the Instructor. 

From the Exam menu item, existing exams can be modified by clicking the folder icon. Simply click Detail next to the exam to be modified. Modifications can also be made after exam scantrons have been processed. The system will walk Instructors through each of the exam setup steps detailed under the Create New Exam section in this manual. Simply change information and settings on each of these pages as necessary. Click Publish when finished. 

From the Results Data menu item, Instructors can see a summary of student exam score reports by name (alphabetical listing). Simply select the Exam ID from the dropdown. By clicking anywhere in the row for an individual student, the Instructor can see how the student responded to each item. The key is also listed for reference. If, for whatever reason (see IMPORTANT section below), a student’s responses need to be manually changed, that can be done here by the Instructor. Simply click the response to be changed and select the new response from the distractors listed below. Additionally, if a student’s scantron was evaluated against the wrong answer key, simply select the correct key from the Key Version dropdown menu. After any changes are made, click Update and Save. Finally, Instructors can download a student’s individual score report from this page. More information about the Student Score Report can be found in the Reports section of this manual. 


IMPORTANT: Take notice of whether any information appears at the bottom of the Exam Results page, below the student score summary. If the scanner picked up any errors while scanning individual scantrons, those errors will be listed in this section of the page. These errors, usually labeled MRK_ERROR, are tied to specific items on the affected scantron. They may simply indicate that the student left that item blank, but sometimes they indicate stray pencil marks that were made on the item line which prevented the scanner from reading the student’s answer. Additionally, sometimes damage to the scantron will cause these errors (wet/water marks, tears, extensive creasing, etc.). When multiple items are listed next to a MRK_ERROR, this may be an indication that the scantron was damaged and students’ answers were not recorded even though answer bubbles were filled in. In such a case, Instructors may wish to locate the scantron and record the student’s responses using the instructions above. In the example below, there are three scantrons with MRK_ERRORs. The students’ last names appear next to the list of affected items. 

Clicking on one of these three rows will take the Instructor directly to that student’s summary of individual item responses. The Instructor may wish to cross-reference the paper scantron with the affected items and make any necessary manual updates. Remember to Update and Save if changes are made. 

Select the exam from the dropdown menu and wait for the exam to populate the window on the right. In that window, click the checkbox to the left of the exam to select it. NOTE: If multiple course sections were scanned under the same Exam ID, select all sections. If multiple sections were scanned the Instructor wishes for all sections to be included in each report, select Combined Section Reports under Report Options. All available reports can be generated at the same time or individual reports can be selected for generation. Click Run when ready. Once the reports have been run, they can be downloaded from the Download and Graph tabs across the top of the page. 

If Generate All Reports was selected, on the Downloads tab there will be a long list of reports for download. Click Download All, which will create a zip file with all reports. 

Types of Reports: 

Each of the reports which can be downloaded from Instructor Tools will be briefly described below. Examples of these reports can be found in Appendix B. 

Student Score Report This report will download as a single PDF with each individual student score report on a different page in the file. Each individual student report shows the exam summary (course information and number of possible points), and the student’s exam results (total regular/bonus points earned and grade percentage). By default, the Student Score Report also shows which questions the student missed. In the Questions Missed section of the report, the item number, student’s answer, and correct answer will be displayed. The information that shows up under Questions Missed can be customized when setting up and exam using the Create New Exam option in Instructor Tools. 

Roster Report This report provides the Instructor with a quick overview of student exams. It is a PDF file that includes a row for each student with their Student ID, Name, Missed Points, Correct Points, Total Points with any bonus included, and overall Score. 

Exam Analysis This report provides Instructors with a detailed overview of exam questions and student answers. It includes summary statistics (High/Low scores, Mean, Median, Standard Deviation, Page | 16 Cronbach’s Alpha) and item-specific statistics. This allows Instructors to take a deeper look at their exams and provides useful information for potentially improving exams in the future. Some key things communicated in this report are: • Effectiveness of exam questions to differentiate between students of varying ability • Question difficulty • Effectiveness of question distractors (i.e., incorrect answer options) For more in-depth information about how to interpret this report, please see Understanding Exam Analysis. 

CSV Score Export Two files are generated when this option is selected. Both are CSV files that will open in Excel. The first is a summary that includes the same information as the Roster Report. The other file is the Incorrect Response Analysis. It includes a row for each student with their earned points, grade, and which distractor they selected for each item. Correct responses are indicated by a blank cell. This report only shows incorrect responses for each item and what the student selected. This is an easy way to visually determine which items were the most difficult for students overall, and what the most common incorrect responses were. 

CSV Data Export Two files are generated when this report is selected. Both are CSV files that will open in Excel. The first, Sorted by Sequence, provides summary data for each student as well as their responses to each on the exam. The answer key is also included on this report in its own row. The order in which the data appears in this file is simply by the order their exam scantrons were processed through the scanner. The other file, Sorted by Name, includes the same information but the results are listed in alphabetical order by Student Last Name. Only the Sorted by Name report is included in the Appendix. 

Answer Key Analysis This report provides a view of the answer key with weights listed for each item (i.e., number of points per item). Items are color coded by type—standard items are gray and bonus questions are orange. 

Score Graph Two files are generated when this report is selected: one JPEG and one PDF. The graph shows the distribution of scores for the exam in bar graph format. 

Instructors of Record

 Instructors of Record must sign in to Scanning Services upon arrival with scantrons. After scanning, the Instructor of Record can access exam scores and analytics at https://digitaldesk.tamu.edu, via the DigitalDesk Instructor Tools secure website using TAMU CAS authentication. Faculty who are Instructors of Record can request printouts of exam scores and analytics for each exam. These printed copies are to be signed for by the Instructor of Record and released/provided only to that Instructor of Record in a sealed envelope. Exam scores and analytics can be provided via Filex (encrypted files) to the Instructor of Record, if requested. In such cases, an email will be sent to the Instructor of Record at their @tamu.edu email address with encryption keys sent from scanning@tamu.edu. For security reasons and consistent with TAMU policy, only the official TAMU email account will be used to send information that includes any identifying information. Emails coming from scanning@tamu.edu will only be sent to the recipient at the official @tamu.edu address. For courses that need to be cross-listed, instructors will need to contact Scheduling (458-4950) and request that their courses be cross-listed. Exams in cross-listed courses can be scanned/graded together. 

Teaching Assistants & Staff 

Teaching Assistants (TAs) for faculty designated as the Instructors of Record or staff members who help instructors need to sign in to Scanning Services upon arrival with scantrons. No hard copies of exam analytics or test scores will be provided to any TA. The Instructor of Record can authorize TA access in Instructor Tools via the Settings tab in the lower left corner of Instructor Tools upon login. Instructors will need the student’s/staff’s UIN or email address to add them to their course. 

Verify Enrollment

 Scanning Services verifies course enrollment when scanning, so only scantrons identified by enrolled student UINs will be processed. At the request of the Instructor of Record, Scanning Services can forego the verification of course enrollment to allow ALL scantrons to be processed (whether students are enrolled in the course or not). Please be aware that an unverified UIN has the potential of being assigned to a different TAMU student resulting in a grade not being recorded for the enrolled student when grades are sent to Canvas. Additionally, this means that if the Release Student Grades feature is used, a student not enrolled in the course may receive an enrolled student’s exam grade in their email inbox, which is in violation of FERPA. Therefore, in the event the enrollment verification is turned off, the Instructor of Record must provide agree to not release student grades via email and provide their signature.

If grades need to be hidden from students when they are first imported into Canvas, the grade posting policy for the course will need to be set to Manual. After grades are imported into Canvas, the policy can be changed back to Automatic if desired.

Watch the Posting Grades in Canvas (4:08) video for additional guidance on how to change a course’s grade posting policy. 

Grades will be imported into Canvas in an Assignment with the following settings that can be modified as needed: 

• Name: “DD-[Exam name used in Digital Desk]”
• Details: Digital Desk Assignments Auto Created by ORCA Service.
• Points: Max points possible used in DigitalDesk through Instructor Tools
• Assignment group: Assignments
• Display Grade as: Points
• Submission type: a text entry box

In order for the grade to be included in the Total column and final grade calculations, under the Assign To section, add “Everyone.”

It is recommended that faculty input available "from" and "until" dates after assigning the associated Digital Desk assignment.

After the settings have been modified as needed, the Assignment can then be moved from the current Assignment Group into its appropriate group. To do this, follow these steps:

1. From the course navigation, click on Assignments.
2. Locate the Assignment.
3. Click the drag handle next to the assignment name. Drag the assignment into the appropriate assignment group.

Watch the Assignment Groups (4:30) video in the next panel for additional guidance on how to move an Assignment into an Assignment group. 

Once all settings have been verified and grades have been reviewed for accuracy and the course has set a Manual grade posting policy, use the Post grades feature so they can be made visible to students. To do this, follow these steps:

1. From the course navigation, click Grades.
2. Locate the column and click the menu options (three vertical dots).
3. In the menu that appears, select Post grades, and then select Post.

Watch the Posting Grades in Canvas (4:08) video in the next panel for additional guidance on how to post grades. 

DigitalDesk exam tools allow instructors to know the following within seconds of their exams being scanned: 
• Overall exam reliability 
• High and Low scores 
• Mean and Median scores 
• Standard Deviation of scores 

Instructors can delve deeper into individual test items with measures of:
• Effectiveness of test questions to differentiate between students 
• Question difficulty 
• The effectiveness of question distractors 

The Exam Analysis is a concise and easy-to-understand report which lays out: 

Exam Reliability: Data gathered from exams test the likelihood of exams to produce consistent results. The reliability coefficient is based on a Chronbach’s Alpha analysis. Chronbach’s Alpha consists of three factors: 

1. Intercorrelation Between Items: The greater the interconnection between items, the stronger there relationships are. Exam reliability increases as the correlations between items increase. 
2. Test Length: Longer tests are more reliable. 
3. Test Content: Using a wider variety of content and techniques increases exam reliability. 

The exam ‘reliability coefficient’ can range in value from 0 (no reliability) to 1 (perfect reliability). In practice, exams DigitalDesk scores range in value from 0.5 to 0.9. On an exam with a high reliability coefficient, students who answer one question correctly will tend to answer other questions correctly. This helps instructors understand how well the set of questions on a test effectively measures student knowledge. 

The exam reliability coefficient provides an effective way for instructors to know how good their exams are at a glance: 

RELIABILITY COEFFICENT	INTERPRETATION
.90 and above	Excellent reliability (at the level of the best standardized tests)
.80 to .90	Very good for a classroom test.
.70 to .80	Good for a classroom test. Several items could be improved.
60 to .70	Mediocre score. This test should be revisited and the class should be supplemented by other measure to determine student grades accurately. A number of items could be improved.
50 to .60	Test should be revised.
.50 and below	Unreliable test. This test should not contribute to course grade.

High/Low Scores: The high and low scores help frame test results within the range of student performance. 

Mean/Medium Scores: The average score is presented in both points and percentage. Comparing the average score of all students with the medium—or middle—score helps instructors get a feel for how their classes respond to exams. 

Standard Deviation: This is a measure of how clustered student scores are around the average to provide instructors with a measure of how effectively faculty instruction is meeting students learning needs. A highly dispersed set of scores indicates that students are responding differently to classroom instructions and assignments. A tightly grouped cluster of scores around the mean indicates all student learning styles are being adequately met by class material. 

After gaining a sense of how the overall exam results relate to materials and classroom environment, the analysis allows instructors to delve deeper into the individual test items and identify which items need to be revised to improve overall exam reliability. The item analysis assists instructors in identifying: 

Item Difficulty: Judge question difficulty by analyzing the P-value of a question. Ideal P-values fall a little above halfway between perfect score and chance. Instructors can reword and rework questions to create finely honed questions. 

Item Discrimination: Instructors can quickly determine question reliability with a Point-Biserial correlation (PBS). A PBS analysis renders a ‘discrimination index’ which is color-coded so instructors can fine-tune their tests much more efficiently by quickly seeing which questions are good, and which should be revised: 

Distractor Analysis: Instructors are provided with an analysis of how many students picked each answer option and their combined average scores. By comparing the average scores of test respondents to specific distractors, an instructor can see in an instant how effectively their answer choices are at discriminating between students based on their level of knowledge. This information is distilled into the color-coding mentioned above for quick test improvement. 

Instructors and TAs can send student score reports from the Reports tab in Digital Desk Instructor Tools by selecting their exam from the drop down menu, then selecting the section(s), and finally clicking "Release Student Grades"

Each student will receive an email with the following instructions. Below we have provided screenshots of each step.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Go to https://scorereport.tamu.edu. Use your NetID and password to authenticate through CAS.
2. On the left hand side of the screen, select Courses. Select the course you want to view results for. 
3. Click Grades.
4. Click Show Details next to the exam. You can also download a PDF copy of the Score Report by clicking the PDF icon.

1. Go to http://scorereport.tamu.edu. Use your NetID and password to authenticate through CAS.

2. On the left hand side of the screen, select Courses. Select the course you want to view results for. 

3. Click Grades.

4. Click Show Details next to the exam. 


You can also download a PDF copy of the Score Report by clicking the PDF icon.