Step-by-Step Guide: Automate Exam Grading with Power Automate & MS Forms

Key insights

Key Insights:

• MS Forms and Power Automate provide a versatile platform for creating custom exam markers, offering an external-facing, easy-to-build quiz mode integrated with a timer.
• Developing a validation script requires navigating through uncharted API territory, utilizing browser network tab insights for understanding API calls due to limited official documentation.
• Scripting with Office Scripts enables complex operations like looping over questions, checking answer types, validating responses, and scoring, albeit with the challenge of handling data in JSON format.
• Configuring SharePoint HTTP requests within Power Automate enables automation without premium licensing, leading to a budget-friendly solution for response processing and validation.
• Form settings play a critical role in ensuring a fair exam environment, with options to control practice mode, result visibility, response saving, and submission limits to mitigate cheating.

Exploring Custom Exam Marker Creation with MS Forms and Power Automate

Creating an exam marker that automates the grading process and sends instant feedback to users is a powerful application of Microsoft's Power Platform. This process leverages the simplicity and external accessibility of Microsoft Forms, enriched with a versatile quiz mode. Even though MS Forms is user-friendly, the journey to a fully automated marker involves diving deep into APIs with minimal guidance, necessitating a clever approach to extracting crucial data like questions and responses. The integration with Power Automate and the innovative use of Office Scripts for dynamic validation and scoring scripts highlight the flexibility and creative potential of Microsoft's tools. Building such a system not only showcases the technical prowess required to overcome the lack of direct support for specific features but also emphasizes the strategic setup of quiz form settings to maintain integrity and fairness. In summary, this blend of Microsoft technologies offers an insightful exploration into creating efficient, automated systems for evaluating quizzes or tests, paving the way for educators and developers to craft tailored, cost-effective solutions for their specific needs.

David Wyatt explores an innovative way to automate exam marking using MS Forms and Power Automate. Without a budget for ready-made solutions, he leverages his Power Platform skills to create a versatile testing and result distribution system. MS Forms was chosen for its ease of use, external accessibility, quiz features, and integration potential with Power Automate, despite initial functionality gaps.

The project involved several key steps: mapping the Forms API, developing a validation script, compiling everything into a flow, and adjusting form settings. MS Forms supports various question types, though Wyatt focused on text inputs and multiple-choice questions, excluding types without clear right or wrong answers.

To capture question and answer details, Wyatt navigated the lack of direct Power Automate connectors and incomplete API documentation through browser network inspection. This led to identifying essential APIs for fetching questions and responses, setting the groundwork for processing exam submissions.

The validation script, crucial for assessing responses, was executed through Office Scripts. It involved iterating over questions to check answer types, compare submitted answers with correct ones, and tally scores. This script facilitates dynamic exam marking, overcoming Power Automate's limitations in directly handling such tasks.

Integrating this script within a Power Automate flow, Wyatt managed to automate the response handling. Utilizing SharePoint HTTP requests allowed for a non-premium solution. The flow includes steps for evaluating exam results, generating certificates via Microsoft Word, and disseminating results and certificates through email.

Form settings were meticulously adjusted to enhance security and integrity. Features like disabling practice mode and hiding answers post-submission were pivotal in maintaining exam fairness. Despite these measures, Wyatt acknowledges the solution isn't cheat-proof but serves its purpose effectively.

A demo version of this exam automation system is available, offering a hands-on experience for Power Automate and Power Apps enthusiasts. It showcases Wyatt's achievement in elevating the utility of MS Forms and Power Automate for educational assessment purposes.

Exploring Power Automate for Educational Tools

Power Automate, as showcased by David Wyatt's project, offers vast potential in customizing and automating educational processes. By integrating it with other Microsoft services like MS Forms and Office Scripts, educators and developers can create tailored assessment tools without the need for expensive off-the-shelf software. This approach not only saves costs but also allows for personalized exam settings, automatic marking, and immediate feedback provision.