Latest revision: 2024-08-06

Specific learning support for exams

The best course of action is always to by default try to make an exam as inclusive as possible, but for some students all accessibility cannot be provided by an inclusive mindset. These students can apply for specific learning support. The student would then recieve an NAIS-document (Nationellt administrations- och informationssystem för samordning av särskilt pedagogiskt stöd på universitet och högskolor), describing what accommodations they need. This is handled by the unit for learning support at the university and you as an examinator will always be informed about which, if any, accommodations are provided or needed for each exam.

Default learning support at digital exams

Getting to write your exams on a computer is currently one of the most common accommodations students apply for at regular exams. This is to be able to make use of the following:

A word processor, to be able to copy and paste text and thus have an easier time editing their text.
Spelling programs for students with disabilities like dyslexia. These are programs that help with spelling in a different way than a regular word processor.
Text-to-speach programs. This is also used by students with reading and writing impairments. It is also commonly used by students with visual impairments or who, for any other reason, process information better through listening.

To make sure digital exams are accessible, these programs are always included for all students at a digital exam. This reduces the amout of students who need special accomodations.

Digital course literature

At an open book exam, some students need to bring their course liturature through the digital portal Legimus. In a digital exam, the teacher can add a link to Legimus, thus eliminating the need for students to bring their own laptops to an exam.

New kinds of learning support at digital exams

Digital exams are in many ways easier to make inclusive than traditional exams. At the same time new its necessary to think about new kinds of accesibilities. Some students that do not need learning support when writing a paper exam might need it when writing their exam on a computer.

Automaticaly graded questions

Systems like Insper provide question types that can be graded automatically. Answering these types of questions is not always comparable to answering a question in plain writing for students with disabilities. For example, some students might have a harder time understanding how to answer a question when the options are pre-defined than when they can use their own words.

Physical or visual impairments

A digital exam can be hard to navigate for a student with physical impairments. Programs like Inspera can also sometimes be hard to parse for text-to-speach programs that are designed for use on plain text only.

This course has a chapter about learning support for each each question type available in Inspera to help you make your exam as inclusive as possible. In addition to this students with NAIS-documentation are able to request learning support specifically aimed at digital exams. These support types are as follows:

Taking a digital exam as a paper exam.
Writing the exam in Word instead of in Inspera.