Oite Remote Testing issues no live text updates from tech support

[Dawn Vega]

Hi all-

Our program is holding its first remote oite testing today, and my residents are frantic RE: lag time in questions, getting kicked off testing site.

Tech support, has a mechanism to sign up for alerts regarding tech issues, I have not received any alerts, but I did call and speak directly via the number provided for live help.  I was advised that they are aware of these issues and to just keep having the examinees log out and sign back in to help with the lag time ( upwards of 4 minutes to load questions and or images) and sign back in.  Same if they are kicked out just to sign back in.   Just wondering if any other program is or has tested yet and experienced this issue ?   I’ve got frustrated kids calling and texting and all I can say is we need to call tech support.

Thanks !

 

[Laurie Lynch]

Hi Dawn! We are testing in person, but I did get this message from their alert system this morning when I logged in to my email about 6 am. Does not help make it any less frustrating though. Hopefully they will get it fixed for you soon! Good luck! Laurie

 

[Dawn Vega]

as an update- everyone I did  just get a call from AAOS ( christina the person who actually creates the exam) and they are aware of this issue, and are working on it. She also said she would/did reach out to ARCOS to let us all know that there was a lag time and kick out issue with Proctorio.

Hope this helps everyone !

[Lauren Behrendt]

Good Morning! Wanted to check to see if we received any more feedback/updates from AAOS regarding the OITE. My residents were so frustrated. We started at 7am and my last one finished around 5:30pm due to the constant kick outs and taking multiple tries to log back on. The lag time with questions was also quite frustrating for them. I did talk with support about 3 times on Saturday, but their response was the same that they were aware of the issue and were working on it.

We have our make-up day on Wednesday for those that were on call Saturday and want to make sure the issues have been resolved.

Thanks y’all!

[Erica Fry]

Good morning!

This was the first year that the University of Wisconsin program administered the exam remotely. We started on on Saturday 11/4 at 8:00 am and the last trainee completed their exam at 5:15 pm. The feedback from the residents that took the test on 11/4 uniformly said that this was the worst texting experience of their lives. Every single resident had constant lag between questions. The initial work around was to close their browsers numerous times, clear the cache and reopen the exam (required taking a photo, providing ID and a system check). This was  a painfully slow process and the interruptions were very frustrating for the residents.

Later in the day coordinators/managers learned that residents could press F5 (PC) or Command +R (Mac) to refresh the testing browser to stop the lag. This improved the afternoon experience, but all residents still had to close the browser at least once during part two of the exam. I can’t imagine that the residents were able to provide peak test performance with such a suboptimal test delivery experience.

Below is a screenshot of the updates provided by AAOS and the testing vendor about the issue.

Going forward, I hope no other residents are subjected to such poor test delivery experiences. The OITE is stressful enough without these technical difficulties. Our main test date is next Saturday. I hope the experience is nothing like this weekend.

I hope the info will help all involved. Good luck!

Erica

[Dawn Vega]

Good Morning All-

Erica I certainly feel your pain !!! My residents also complained that this was the worst test experience, and we have done remote since Covid.  My 5’s were the most frustrated.  I did speak with Christina from AAOS on Saturday, I emailed the exams at AAOS, she called me immediately.  I was also concerned  because   I signed up for test systems live  text alerts , for ease of sharing with my examinees testing  on Saturday and got no alerts. I had to login into the test system live for  updates. The  F5, command + R  solution was sent out  around 12 pm, and I passed along to my group. I didn’t get alerts every 15 minutes to issues they were aware of as indicated  twhen I signed up for alerts.

I was assured  by Christina  this texting site issue would not effect grades but again we had 8 am start and  most of the class finished at or around 5pm.  Though they have a 7 hour window, we all know most do not utilize the entire time. She also advised me to let her know if anyone timed out and that she would provide us with an extra test day if needed since we only signed up for 2 dates.

I’ve got 10 taking makeup today – they started at 8am and so far only one was kicked out, but no other issues!! Fingers crossed!

Good Luck everyone- maybe would be good to include an Oite portion of best practices for testing etc, with someone from AAOS, at our meeting in February?       -Dawn

[Laurel Lewis]

The AAOS / OITE Team is most always featured at the ARCOS Conference (unless they cannot make it) and we do have them scheduled this year.

Please get up to the mic and ask them your questions in February!!!  They need to know your difficulties and that of your residents, as well.

I would also like to hear how everyone fares with the 2 proctor system.  The Board of Directors met with the OITE team in May and expressed concerns about this issue.

We will test in person this weekend, but as many of you are aware, there have been problems in the past!!

Stay Calm and Coordinate On!!

~Laurel

 

[Laurel Lewis]

Dawn and Others,

Did everyone have the opportunity to take a make-up exam?

So sorry this happened to you and your residents 🙁

~Laurel

[Dawn Vega]

Laurel Hi !  Hope you’re well  – looking forward to seeing every in SF in February!! Actually NO One Timed out – and yes I was offered an additional day testing if I wanted it.

The  10 taking today were on call on Saturday. We didnt require an additional day thankfully.

-Dawn

[Laurel Lewis]

Oh, Sorry, Dawn, I misunderstood.  It is good to hear there was an offer of a retake exam, if needed.  We are on this weekend.

Glad you are excited about the ARCOS Conference in February!  We have a lot planned including opportunities for members to get involved while they learn, grow, and network!!  Keep watching for reminders to sign up or click here for info!!  #shamelessplugforARCOSconference  #itsgonnabesofun

All the best this week, everyone!!!

~Laurel

[Janet Lockshin]

Hi Everyone,

I spoke to David Marshall at AAOS on Saturday because one of my residents was worried about losing time, frozen computer, no answer at tech support, etc and he was kind enough to return my call.

He was very apologetic about everything that has happened. I suggested that if they change processes from year to year, an email explaining that this year will be different from last, and what the differences will be, would be helpful. I also suggested they gather a small group of seasoned PCs prior to making any changes to discuss how those changes might impact all of us on our end-he admitted that there were just some aspects this year’s changes that they didn’t realize would impact us all so much-such as not being able to log into program workshop.

We’ll see what happens, but hopefully this week will go more smoothly than Saturday did.

Have a wonderful week!

Janet

[Amy Kraus]

We are currently still testing – proctored. The system has been working rather well today yet we have been feeling the stress (after watching the ARCOS discussion and the rare email from OITE testing). Not sure what happened to the text correspondence that I signed up for – only received 4-5 emails.

I find it hard to believe that the Proctors / Program Administrators are not able to track their remote testers. It has been very helpful to see where are residents are in the exam and review process.  This is my 20th year proctoring the exam – so many changes. I think I was more concerned this year than I have been any other year – that is saying a lot since I have been here through paper exams, to discs, to browsers, and now secure browser with scrutinized proctor instructions. We have followed the instructions to the letter yet still had concerns.

I so feel for everyone who tested this weekend. That would normally been our program but due to institutional barriers we had to schedule for today(Monday) our primary testing date and Saturday 11/11 for the secondary date.

I am so sorry than any of your residents experienced added stressors. Reminds of the exam, about 5 years ago – shut down across the nation. We sat in the hallway for about 2 1/2 hours waiting for the system to come back online. We were about to call the exam and my Chair & PD were ready to scratch that year. I had already placed calls to AAOS determining our next moves.

Hang in there everyone. We will get through this exam.

Amy

[Kim Reising]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to send a quick update with some good news! 🙂

I have 2 residents taking the exam remotely today and so far there have been no issues.

Kim

 

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