Assessment: Quiz or Test Creation

Creating a test is a three-step process. First, you create the test item in the Test Manager. Next, you are brought to the Test Canvas to choose the individual questions. Finally, you make the test available from a content area. Blackboard calls this third step "deploying a test." Test results are graded and recorded in the Grade Center tool.

There are several different ways to create a quiz or test in Blackboard. You can create each question manually, choose questions from a previous test, or select questions from a Question Pool.

ELI students can take proctored exams through Blackboard in the college's testing centers. Also, remind students that they can get help from the testing center staff if they have technical difficulties while taking the test.

• Create A Test Placeholder
• Manually Create A Test
• Select Questions From a Previous Test
• Select Questions From a Question Pool
• Deploy A Test
• Grade a Test
• View Course Statistics

Create A Test Placeholder

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. In the Assessments Pane, click Test Manager.

3. Click Add Test.

4. Enter a name, a description and instructions of the test.

5. Click Submit. You will automatically be brought to the Test Canvas. If you do not wish to build your test at this time, click OK. If you would like to build your test, begin adding questions using any of the methods on this page.

Building Your Test in the Test Canvas

Method 1: Select Questions From a Previous Test
Note:  If already in Test Canvas, skip steps 1-5.

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. In the Assessments Pane, click Test Manager.

3. Click Add Test.

4. Enter a name, instructions and a description of the test.

5. Click Submit.

6. From the Add drop-down menu, choose Questions From a Pool or Assessment.

7. Click Go.

8. Click on the name of the Test to select it.

9. Check the types of questions that you would like to use.

10. Search by point values assigned to questions.

11. Click Search.

12. Select questions you would like to use. 

13. Click Submit.

14. Once you have reviewed the questions, click OK to accept questions additions and return to test canvas.

15. If adding test questions are complete, see deploying test.

Building Your Test in the Test Canvas

Method 2: Select Questions From an Imported Question Pool

Many textbooks are sold with a Question Pool for creating tests. The Question Pool exists in the form of a computer file. You must upload the Question Pool into Blackboard before you can select questions from it.

To Import A Question Pool:

From Control Panel

1. In the Assessment pane, click Pool Manager.
2. Click the Import Pool button.
   
3. Click the Browse button and select the file containing the Question Pool.
4. Click Submit.

Choose Questions From An Imported Pool
Note:  If already in Test Canvas, skip steps 1-5.

1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. In the Assessments Pane, click Test Manager.
3. Click Add Test.
4. Enter a name, instructions and a description of the test.
5. Click Submit.
6. From the Add drop-down menu, choose Questions From a Pool or Test. (Alternatively, you can also choose Random Block.)
   
   
7. Click Go.
8. Click on the name of the Question Pool or Test to select it.
9. Check the types of questions that you would like to use.
10. Click Search.
11. Select questions you would like to use. 
12. Click Submit
13. Once you have reviewed the questions, click OK to accept questions additions and return to test canvas.

If adding test questions are complete, see deploying test.

Building Your Test in the Test Canvas

Method 3: Manually Create A Test
You can choose from many different types of questions. We will cover just a few of them here.

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. In the Assessment pane, click Test Manager.

3. Click Add Quiz/Exam.

4. Enter a name, instructions and a description for the test.

5. Click Submit.

6. Now, you will begin adding questions. From the Add drop-down menu, choose a question type and click Go.

Fill in the Blank Questions:

• Choose Fill in the Blank from the Add drop-down menu and click Go.
• Type in a question in the Question Text text field.
• Enter the number of points that the question is worth.
• Determine if question is extra credit.
• Type in the correct answer in the Answer Values text field.
• Enter the text that you would like Blackboard to display as feedback. You can choose different feedback for correct and incorrect answers. The student will not see the feedback until the test is graded by Blackboard.
• Click Submit.
• Click Add Another Question to continue or OK to return to the Test Manager.

Matching Questions:

• Choose Matching from the Add drop-down menu.
• Type in a question in the "Question Text" text field.
• Enter the number of points that the question is worth.
• Determine if question is extra credit.
• Select options if desired.
• Select a number of question items you will want for the matching question.
• Enter all of the questions in the Question text boxes.
• Enter all of the answers in the Answers text boxes.
• Assign letters to each Answer.
• Enter the feedback students will see for correct and incorrect answers.
• Click Add Another Question to continue or OK to return to the Test Manager.

Multiple Choice Questions:

• Choose Multiple Choice from the Add drop-down menu and click Go.
• Enter the Question text into the text box.
• Assign a point value to the question.
• Determine if question is extra credit.
• Select options if desired.
• Choose the number of answers from the drop-down menu.
  
  
• Enter the possible answers into the text boxes and click the radio button next to the correct answer.
• Enter feedback for correct and incorrect answers.
• Click Submit.

7.  How to create questions

• Open the Test Canvas for an assessment.
• Select Question Type from the question type drop-down list. Click Go.
• Enter the Question Text. Assign a Point Value.
• Select the Answer Orientation and correct answer for the question.
• Complete any advanced features for the questions as defined by the Creation Settings of the assessment.
• Click Submit to add the question to the assessment.
• Click Add Another Question to continue or OK to return to the Test Manager.

Deploy A Test

To make the test available to students, add it to a content area.

You can add a test to most content areas: Course Documents, Assignments, etc. For this example, we will use Assignments.

From Control Panel

1. Click Assignments in the Content Area pane.

2. Click the Add Test button.

3. Select the name of the test from the list of tests and click Submit.

4. Click Submit.

5. To set the availability options of the test, click Modify the Test Options.

6. Enter a description for students to see.

7. Choose the options for you test. The following options are set from the Test Options window:

• Create link for test
• Whether or not to create an announcement for this test
• Whether or not to allow multiple attempts
• Whether or not to force students to complete the test in one sitting
• Set a maximum time for the test
• Set a date range for availability
• Set a password to begin the test
• Determine if grade is seen in the Grade Center
• Determine what kind of feedback to give students
• Whether to present the test questions all at once, one at a time or in a random order

8. Click Submit.

9. Click OK to confirm test modifications

Note: You must make link available for students to be able to see and take the test.

Caution: If you choose to allow multiple attempts, students are able to begin a test in the testing center, quit the test, leave the testing center and re-open the test in an unproctored area. Check "Force Completion" to avoid this problem.

Caution: If you choose to include correct answers in the feedback given to students, it is possible for students who are working asynchronously to share the correct answers with students who have not yet taken the test. To avoid this problem, do not include the correct answers in your feedback to students.

Tips:

• If you pick Random Block when you create a test, you don't have to select each question or enter points to each question individually.

Grade a Test

Viewing a Student's Test Results or Grading Assessments Manually:

From the Control Panel:

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.
2. Click on the Action Link in the grade cell to open the menu.
3. Select Grade Details.
4. Scroll down to the Attempts area.
5. Select View Attempt button.
6. Review the student’s submission.
7. Enter a grade in the Grade box. Optional: Add any comments to Feedback (displays to students).
8. Select Submit to return to the Grade Details page.
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the OK button.

Modifying Graded Assessments

From the Control Panel:

1. Click on Grade Center in the Assessment section.
2. Click on the Down Arrow Action Link in the grade cell to open the menu.
3. Select Grade Details.
4. Scroll down to the Attempts area.
5. Select the Modify Attempt button.
6. Enter a modified grade in the Value box. Optional: Add any comments to Feedback to User (displays to students) or Grading Notes (displays only to instructor).
7. Select Save to return to the Grade Details page.
8. Select OK to return to the Grade Center.

Viewing Multiple Attempts on a Survey/Test
Assessments that are added to the content of a Course can be modified to allow students to have multiple attempts to take the assessment. The instructor can allow unlimited attempts or enter the number of allowable attempts under Modify Test > Test Options within the course.

If you as the instructor have modified a Survey/Test to Allow Multiple Attempts, you can view each attempt, no matter how you've chosen to grade the assessment To view all of a student's attempts for a particular Survey/Test:

From the Control Panel:

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.
2. Click on the Action Link in the grade cell to open the menu.
3. Select Grade Details.
   
4. Scroll down to the Attempts area.
5. Click on View Attempt in the Actions Column.
   
6. View, Clear Attempt, Modify Feedback, and reassign points for each question if so desired.
7. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Grading Multiple Attempts on a Survey/Test
Assessments that are added to the content of a Course can be modified to allow students to have multiple attempts to take the assessment. The instructor can allow unlimited attempts or enter the number of allowable attempts under Modify Test > Test Options within the course.

Instructors define the way multiple attempts are scored in the Grade Center by modifying the properties of the column that corresponds to that assessment. To utilize the multiple attempts by modifying the properties of a column, follow these steps:
From the Control Panel:

1. Locate the Grade Column corresponding to the Survey/Test with the Allow Multiple Attempts Option enabled.
2. Click on the Action Link next to the column name.
3. Choose the Modify Column link.
   
4. In the Column Information pane, locate Score Attempts Using.
   
5. Click on the Score Attempts Using drop-down menu to select which Attempt(s) to use for the final score of the Survey/Test.

   Score Attempts Using Menu Options:

   • Grade of Last Attempt - This is the default value and shows the score for the latest attempt in the Grade Center View Spreadsheet.
   • Highest Grade - Shows the score for the highest scoring attempt in the Grade Center View Spreadsheet.
   • Lowest Grade - Shows the score for the lowest scoring attempt in the Grade Center View Spreadsheet.
   • Grade of First Attempt - Shows the score for the first attempt in the Grade Center View Spreadsheet.
   • Average of Attempt Grades - Shows the average of all attempts in the Grade Center View Spreadsheet. The average is calculated by dividing the number of attempts into the sum of all attempts. When necessary, the average will be rounded to two (2) decimal places.
   
   
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

 

Assign a Grade to Essay Questions
From the Control Panel:

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.
2. Click on the Action Link in the grade cell to open the menu.
3. Select Grade Details.
4. Click on View Attempt in the Attempts pane.
5. Assign a Grade to each essay questions by typing the number of points earned in the text field to the right of the essay question header.
   
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Clearing Survey/Test Attempts

From the Control Panel:

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.
2. Click on the Action Link in the grade cell to open the menu.
3. Select Grade Details.
4. Click on Clear Attempt in the Attempts pane.
   
   Note: This removal of the grade is permanent and can't be recovered.

Assessment: Course Statistics

Blackboard is able to track each user as he or she moves through a course site. You can use the Course Statistics feature to see which areas of your course site are used most intensively, when students access the site and even whether or not a particular students has accessed the site at all.

To Access Course Statistics:

From Control Panel

1. In the Assessment panel, click Course Statistics.

2. Choose the parameters of the search you wish to conduct. Begin by selecting a type of report: Overall Summary of Usage, Accesses by Content Area, Accesses by Groups, Accesses by Forum.

3. Choose a date range.

4. Choose the users that you wish to track. You can choose to see data for all the users in the course, or you can select specific students.

5. Click Submit.

Export Statistics

You can export your course statistics as a .csv file and open it in a spreadsheet or statistics program.

1. Create a Course Statistics report by following the instructions above in the section titled "To Access Course Statistics"

2. When the results appear, click the Export Statistics button at the top of the page.

3. You may see a message box asking your permission to change the file extension to .csv. Click OK.

4. Click Save and save the file to your hard drive.

5. Open the .csv file in the spreadsheet or statistics software of your choice.