test – Blackboard Help

Export a single test

Here is how to export a single test (rather than all tests or the whole class.

In Blackboard Tests live in the “Test Manager” but are deployed in particular content areas and also have associated columns in the Grade Center. To use Course Copy or Export/Import from “Packages and Utilities” to move a single test is not possible. However there is an alternative.

NOTE – this does not work for tests which are drawing from Pools or other Tests as Random Blocks, Question Sets, etc.

Go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Tests, Surveys and Pools > Tests

In the OLD course go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Tests, Surveys and Pools > Tests

Export the test

Find your test.
Using the drop-down menu next to the test name (1) choose Export (2)
You will be prompted to save a zip file to your computer
Remember where you save it!
If you rename it keep the extension .zip

Now go to your NEW course (where you want to import it

In your NEW course, go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Tests Surveys and Pools > Tests
Once you’re there choose Import Test
Browse your computer and choose the zip file you just saved
Submit

Now Deploy Your Test

Your test now “lives” in Tests, Surveys and Pools but must be deployed.
Note that if you go to Tests, Surveys, Pools > Tests and you see “No’ next to a test it means this test is not deployed (posted in a content area where students have access.)

Go to the Content Area to deploy the test

Using the Course Menu, go to the Content Area on the menu and then to the folder where you want to deploy the test.
From the Assessment menu (1) choose Test (2)

Choose the test

You’ll have a chance to choose from all tests which are not yet deployed – choose the test you want and Submit

Set Test Options

Set the test options – you can write a description for students to see when they see the link to the test.
Tests are unavailable by default – at the very least you must change “Make the Link Available” before your students can see the test. Once you’ve chosen Yes, you can also set a time window for availability, but if you leave it at “No” it will NEVER be available.
The act of deploying the test creates a column in the gradebook.

If you want to copy all the test from your OLD course to a new one then you can use Course Copy (found in Control Panel > Packages and Utilties > Course Copy) and check ONLY Test, Surveys and Pools. This is where Tests, Surveys and Pools “live”. They will all copy to your NEW course but not be deployed.

If you copy a Content Area where tests are deployed you must ALSO copy the Grade Center (once a test is deployed it gets an associated column in the Grade Center) AND “Tests, Surveys and Pools” since that is where the test actually lives.

A test that pulls from other Tests or Pools as Random Blocks or Question Sets must be copied simultaneously with those other tests or pools – the only way to to that is to use Course Copy to copy all Tests, Surveys and Pools (and delete the ones you don’t want).

Reviewing an online Test

This tutorial explains how to review the results of an online test. The instructor reviews results through the "Grade Center", and the student reviews results through "My Grades".

Instructor: Go to the Grade Center

In Control Panel

go to Grade Center and then
go to Full Grade Center

Find the column for the test

Find the column for the test. You can simplify the gradebook view by using the "Filter" function found to the upper right of the grade center. This lets you filter by category. Note – you’ll have to change the filter back to "All Categories" to see the full grade center again.

Viewing Statistics for the whole test

(1) To the right of the column header for the test, find the drop-down menu
(2) Click on the drop-down menu icon then choose Attempts Statistics

You can also "Download Results" – read the instructions carefull to save the results.

Attempts Statistics

Attempts Statistics will give you a question by question breakdown showing what persentage of students submitted each answer as well as over-all statistics for the test.

View Results for Individual Students

To view individual student grades, go to the first student that has a result in the gradebook. From the drop-down menu next to their score in the column ( (1) this only shows when you move your mouse over that area in the gradebook column) choose (2) View Grade Details.

View attempt for the first student

Now click View Attempt for that student.
You’ll only have to do two clicks for the first student – after that it becomes easier!!!

View a students result

Now you can view an individual students result and over-ride their grade if you would like to (1)

Note also the link that says "Test Information" (2) – this can be important!

Expand Test Information

Expanding "Test Information" by clicking on it lets you know how long the attempt took etc. It is also one way to Clear the Attempt or to Submit an Attempt for a student who takes part of the test then either times out or has a glitch while submitting.

Leave Feedback, Continue to next student

Scroll down while viewing the attempt
(1) You can leave feedback for the student
(2) You can make notes for yourself
(3) At the bottom click "Save and Next" to continue to the next student of "Save and Exit" to return to the Grade Center

Grading Essay Tests

Essay Tests (tests with question type Essay) are graded in the same way. You will of course have to give the grades manually – each question will have a place to enter the score for that question and an individual feedback box for each question.

Entering grade manually

You can enter grades manually from the full grade center view. Just click once or twice on the first row that you want to enter a grade, type the grade and then Enter key.

Do not be too impatient! The grade center takes a bit of time to save the grade and grade history – you’ll see the grade update and your cursor in the next row shortly after you type enter

How students review their grades

You must make "My Grades" visible before a student can see their grades and feedback – use the drop-down menu next to the My Grades link in the course menu and choose "Show Link" (it will have a square with slash through it next to the menu item name if it is hidden).

Student’s view of My Grades

The student will see all the gradebook "columns" down the page when they view My Grades. The score of their test will be a link (1). The will also see any feedback you have entered (2).

Students can click on the link for the score to view attempt

If students click on the link for their score (then click a secont time on the score on the next page) they can review their test.

What they see depends on the level of feedback you have set in "Test Options" when you deploy the test – if you have set only "score" then they cannot review the test. You can also choose to show their answers, the correct answers, and general feedback (if the instructor has entered it when making the test).

In the example above both "submitted answer" and "correct answer" have been selected.

Controlling the level of feedback displayed

The level of feedback the student sees is determined by the options set at the time they go to My Grades. For example

While a test is available you may only wish to show the students their score. They will see this immediately after taking the test and when they go to My Grades.
AFTER the test is no longer available – you may wish to show submitted answers and correct answer – you can Edit Test Options and change the level of feedback – now when the go to My Grades they will see the additional information

Note: for Essay test the correct answer is a model answer which the student can compare their own answer to.

Edit Test Options

Change the availability or level of feedback by editing test options – go to the drop-down menu next to the test name and choose "Edit Test Options"

Getting Started with Respondus

This tutorial explains how to use Respondus to convert a Word file into a test which which can be imported into Blackboard. UAS has a site license for Respondus, which is a Windows program. Contact the helpdesk for assistance in installing the program.

Set personality to Blackboard 7.x-9.x

Start Respondus.
(1) Make sure you are on the "Start" tab.
(2) Set the "personality" to Blackboard 7.x-9.x

Getting Help

The Help in Respondus is context sensitive. The easiest way to find the "Help" for importing questions is to click on Import Questions then click on Help in the dialog box that opens up. Click on links in the Help to find help for:

The Standard Format for Importing Documents
Importing Images with Questions

Create an Exam using Word (.doc or .docx) or as a Rich Text Format file (.rtf)

Creating an Exam File in Word. A variety of question types can be used. This tutorial will discuss the most common ones. To learn more about the different options, Click on the Import Questions button in Respondus and then click on Help in the dialog box that opens.

Multiple Choice: Simply type the question as shown above. Note that "show hidden characters" in Word has been turned ON. This means that spaces are shown as dots and the end of paragraphs by the special character that looks like a backwards P.

Each question has a number followed by either a period or a close-parenthesis and a single space: 3. or 3)
Each answer has a letter followed by a period or close-parenthesis and a single space: b. or b)
The correct answer is preceded by an asterisk: *
There should be no spaces in front of the leters and numbers
Do NOT let Word use auto-numbering (turning the numbers or letters into a automatic list). If autonumbering starts you can type Control-Z (undo) to cancel it.

You can insert pictures in your questions by inserting them in the Word document in a new paragraph after the question. Note that the picture must be a single image file. You cannot create a picture or label it using the Word drawing tools. One way to create a single image file of a picture you wish to label is to insert the picture in a separate Word or Powerpoint document, use the drawing tools to label it, and then use a screen capture program like Snag-it or Jing ( www.jingproject.com ) to select the area around the picture, make a screen capture, and then save the image to a file.

If you are starting with a Word file that is supplied by a publisher, then you can also indicate answers by listing them at the end of the document – see the Respondus Help for more information.

Importing the Word File into Respondus

Once your exam has been typed up you will need to save and close your Word file. (You don’t have to close Word, just that particular document).
You will start Respondus and click Import Questions
(1) Choose the type of file (correct version of Word)
(2) Click Browse and find your file
(3) Type a name for the "Respondus File" that will be created by this program
(4) Choose Exam or Survey (surveys are the same as exams but do not have correct answers)
(5) Click Preview

In the Window below you’ll see the questions that were imported and Warnings and Notes below.

Warning: Questions with duplicate titles. This can be ignored – if you didn’t explicitely give the question a title then Respondus uses the first words for a title. Some of your questions may begin with the same words.
Warning: X questions had no correct answers (with questions listed below) – do not ignore this one, you either forgot to indicate an answer or it is formatted incorrectly
Warning: X questions were invalid or missing – this should not be ignored either. In this case the number of questions is also wrong, so this indicates what is probably a formatting error.

Do not close Respondus or this dialog box yet!

Re-open the Word file

Note the question numbers which had possible errors. Without closing the "Import Questions" dialog box, switch back to the Word document. This can easily be done if you did not close Word (just the document) – You can easily find the Word exam file in your most recently opened documents.

Go the the question(s) where there were possible errors. You’ll find the errors most easily if you "turn on" the ability to see unprinted (invisible) characters using the backwards "P" button (1).

In the example above, there was no answer given for question "3" and question "4" is not formatted correctly because there is no space after the "b". A tab would not be correct in this case either – it must be a space. This is why showing the invisible characters is helpful

After you have edited the Word document to correct it, save the document and then close it (but do not close Word in case you need to come back).

Go back to Respondus

Go back to Respondus. If you did not close the Import Questions dialog box, you simply need to click "Preview" again.

If everything has been cleared up, you can click "Finish"

Preview your questions

Click on the Preview and Publish tab(1), then on Preview the File(2). Click through to view each question (3) If you find an error you can click "Modify Item" to edit (4). Click Close when you are done.

When you are ready you can click "Publish to Blackboard"

Publish to Blackboard

Click on the Publish to Blackboard button on the left (1) then on Publish Wizard (2).
Leave the selection set up Publish to a Single Course (3)
Choose the Blackboard Server (4) if it is already set-up or choose "add new server".

If this is the first time you’ve used Respondus you’ll need to "add new server"

Adding a new server (UAS Blackboard

Using the UAS licensed Campus-Wide Respondus program, you’ll be able to add UAS Blackboard as a server by choosing "Yes, check for preconfigured server settings.

Leave the selection on "Yes" and click Next.

If you are unsuccessful in setting up a server it is still possible to save the exam or pool as a "zip" file and upload it manually.

Additional steps for uploading this zipped file into Blackboard can be found here: http://blackboardhelp.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/import-a-test/

Setting up UAS Blackboard on the Campus Wide licenses Respondus

Give the server a name (such as UAS Blackboard) and enter your UA username and password (the same as you use to login to UAS Online). Check the box to save if you wish. Click Next to continue. The server will attempt to connect. If it reports success then you are all set up! Click Next and Finish.

If there are problems it may be that

Your username and password are incorrect (or you have not yet visited a UAS Blackboard course and are not in the Blackboard database).
The settings have changed and the set-up file is out of date

Uploading a Test using Respondus

Once the Blackboard server is set up, choose that server and click Next

Uploading a test or pool but not deploying it

To upload the test to Blackboard but not deploy it
(1) Choose the course
(2) Give the test (exam) or pool a new name
(3) Uncheck all the boxes for deploying the test
Click Next and when success is reported click Finish. The test or pool will be uploaded to the Test Manager – you will still need to deploy it.

To upload and deploy a Test at the same time, you’ll first need to go the Settings tab in Respondus and choose the Test Options. Then you can publish. You’ll be given a chance to browse and select the Content Area into which you want to deploy the test.

More about Respondus: When you create a test or pool in Respondus it creates and saves a "Respondus File" – usually in a folder called Respondus Projects in My Documents. You can re-open this file to edit or re-upload your test rather than starting from the Word file. There are many more options in Respondus (such as printing tests, retrieving tests and so forth). Use the Help documentation within Respondus to learn more.

Deploying a Test and Setting Test Options

After a test is created in or imported to Blackboard it is necessary to "deploy" it to a content area. This "posts" the test and also created a column in the Gradebook (Grade Center).

In Blackboard both computer graded quizzes and essay tests are considered "Tests" – the only difference is the question type.

A test can be deployed in any Content Area or Folder. You’ll want to decide on a predictable place for your students to find the test. One option is to put the test inside a folder corresponding to that unit or week along with other content and activities that go with that unit.

Tests are located in the Test Manager.

Go to the Control Panel located in the lower left below the course menu (1)
Click on Course Tools to expand it (2)
Click on Tests, Surveys and Pools (3)
Click on Tests (4)

Now you’ll be in the Test Manager. There you’ll see all your tests (both quizzes and essays) (5) and an indication of whether or not they are deployed (6).

To deploy a test you’ll need to go to the content area where you wish to post it.

Browse to the Content Area where you wish to deploy the test.

Using the Course Menu and clicking on Folders within your main Content Areas, browse to the Content Area or Folder in which you wish to deploy the test. In the example above, the test is being deployed in Week Two, so I click on Course Content and then the Week Two folder.

Create Assessment > Test

At the top of any Content Area you’ll see the buttons "Build Content", :"Create Assessment", "Add Interactive Tool" etc.

Mover your cursor over Create Assessment and select Test.

You can create a new test or deploy an existing test

At this point you have the option to create a new Test or deploy an existing Test.
You’ll only see Tests that are not yet deployed to a Content Area – you can’t deploy a test in two different places.

What you can do is write a notice or do a "cross course link" so that students looking in one Content Area or Folder are aware that the test is (or will be) deployed elsewhere.

After selecting the Test, click Submit.

Test Options

There are many test options – the following describes the most common. Additional help for setting test options can be found by following a link on the Blackboard page (1) or by viewing the tutorial at http://ondemand.blackboard.com

The Test Name is mandatory as indicated by the orange asterisk. A description is optional – it will appear below the link to the Test and the students will see it before they take the test (but only if the test is available to them).

Make the Test available

By default the Test is NOT available. This is so you don’t accidentally have it available before you are ready. At the very least you must change this selection to Yes.
No means the test will NEVER be available to students.

Set options for availability

(1) For the Test to EVER be available you must set this option to "Yes" – you can then set a time window to limit availability
(2) Set number of allowed attempts
(3) Check these boxes if you want to set a time window – you must both check the boxes AND choose dates and times
(4) Choose dates and times. When choosing a time at the end of the day – scroll down the list and choose "End of Day"
(5) You can set a password for a proctored test.

There is also a "Due Date" option – this does not limit availability. It simply provides information to the student and can also be used in the Blackboard early warning system.

Test Feedback

This section determines the level of feedback the students will see both after they complete the test and whenever they go to "My Grades" (their view of the gradebook) and click on the score.

During the time the test is open and available – you may want to limit the feedback (to Score for example)
After the test is no longer available (the link to it will disappear) you can change the level of feedback. If you want to let students see the correct answers you can check the boxes for Submitted Answers and Correct Answers. They will view these by going to "My Grades" and clicking on their score.
The box labeled "Feedback" does not apply unless there is feedback entered for a test question.

Set any other options you wish and click Submit.

Link to Test in Content Area

The Test link will now be available to you in the Content Area or Folder. If the test is not available, it will be grayed out and a message will indicate its status.

If the message simply says "This item is not available" – that means "No" is still checked. It will never be available unless you manually change this.
If the message says "Item is not available. It will be available after date." or "Item is not available. It was last available on date" then the Availability is set to "Yes" but you are outside the time window.

Editing the Test or Test Options

Use the drop-down menu found by clicking on the two downward arrows next to the Test name. This is how you change the availability dates or feedback levels.

There is usually no need to remove a test from a Content Area or Folder unless you don’t plan to use it again. You can make it unavailable and then the next time you teach the course you can edit the options for availability and feedback. You also use this menu to delete a test.

The Test in the Gradebook

Deploying a Test automatically puts it in the gradebook. It will be at the end of the list. You can change its position by going to "Manage" and then "Column Organization".

Hiding a Column

Gradebook columns that are still linked to things that are deployed can NOT be deleted from the gradebook. You must first locate and delete them from the Content Area.or Folder. If you don’t want students to see this column in the gradebook then you can choose "Show Hide to Users" from the drop-downmenu next to the column name.

Be sure to choose "Show/Hide to Users" and not the entry "Hide Column" which is lower down on the list!

Columns Hidden from Students

If a column is hidden from students then you will see a circle with slash through it next to the column name. Make sure you see this indication – if the column simply disappears, it means you have hidden it from yourself but not your students! You will need to go to "Manage" and "Column Organization to reverse this. After hiding it from your students you can also hide it from yourself, if you wish.

Moving a Test

A test cannot be moved – instead it must be deleted and then re-deployed in a new location.

NOTE – deleting a test from a Content Area or Folder does NOT delete it from the test manager.

If there are no grades associated with this test then deleting it will also delete the column from the gradebook. If there are grades, you will be asked whether or not you wish to delete the column.

Creating tests

This tutorial explains how to create tests, pools, and surveys. They can be created in a content area or using the control panel.

Make sure editing is ON

To add a test directly to a content area (area linked to from the left side course menu), make sure editing is on and go to the content area.

Tests are an “Interactive Tool”

(1) Hover over the link labeled Add Interactive Tool
(2) Click on the link labeled “Test”

Create or add a test

From here you can create a new test (1) or add an existing test. Before going into details, we will show the alternative way to create tests.

Accessing Tests, Pools, and Surveys from the Control Panel

In Control Panel find Course Tools and click on the down-arrow to the left.

Click on Tests, Surveys and Pools

Click on the link to Tests (or Surveys or Pools) that appears in the main window

Build a new test or import a test

You’ll see the list of existing tests (1) and also links to Build a new Test (2) or to Import a Test. (3) Tests are imported from a zipped file which is exported from Blackboard or from a publishers program.

Modify an existing test

To modify a test, click on the down-arrow next to the test name, You can edit, export, copy or delete the test. (Your ability to edit or delete will be limited if the test is deployed and students have taken the test.)

Building or editing a test.

When you Build or Edit a test, the steps are very similar to previous version of Blackboard. For more instructions on building a test and the types of questions possible, see this pdf file (22 MBytes)
http://library.blackboard.com/d/?c637668a-85d0-4d99-bb38-2f6c60691c76