Creating Tests and Surveys

Creating a test in Blackboard, using Test Manager
Deployment and availability of a test
Can students save their tests?
A student needs to retake a test that is only available for students to take once. How do I make the test available for that student only?
A student has missed a test (or assignment) and the time limit has passed. How can I allow this student to take the test?
Adding Bonus Questions
Can students view a test after they have taken it?
Moving questions from a test to a pool.
Creating a test using questions from a Pool.
Points for students to consider when test-taking
Using Assignment Manager
Can I use Blackboard to conduct a survey?
Deployment and availability of a survey.
How do I view survey results?

Creating a test in Blackboard, using Test Manager

From the Control Panel click on ‘Test Manager’, located in the Assessment section.
Click on ‘Add Test’
Enter a name, description and instructions for the test, (note: you can come back and add the description and instructions later if you choose). Click ‘Submit’.
You will automatically be taken into the Test Canvas. It is in the Test Canvas that you will create/add the questions for your test.
Under the ‘Creation Settings’ link select the features desired. If you wish to add images or graphics to your test you must indicate this under the Creation Settings by checking the appropriate boxes under Images, Files and External Links.
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’ to save settings.
To add questions select the question type from the drop-down menu and click on ‘GO’.
Type your question in the text box and complete the subsequent fields. If the question requires, such as multiple choice, make sure to select the correct answer by selecting the appropriate radial button.
Click ‘Save’ to save the question.
Continue selecting question types from the drop-down menu and adding questions to complete your test.
When you have added all questions click ‘OK’.

To modify a test that has already been created click on the Modify button next to the test and make the changes in the Test Canvas. IMPORTANT: If the test has already been taken by students you can only make textual changes, i.e. correcting a typo. Changing anything else will erase the scores of students who have already taken the test.

Deployment and availability of a test

In order for students to see and take a test the test must be added as content or ‘deployed’ To do this:

From the Control Panel
Select the Content Area you wish to add to your test to (such as Assignments).
Click on the ‘Add Test’ icon and select the test you wish to deploy.
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’.

As with most content in Blackboard you have the ability to set date and time parameters and other availability criteria around a test. To set the options for a test:

After following the steps above and clicking ‘OK’ you will be presented with the Modify Test page. Click on ‘Modify the Test Options’.
Make sure that the radial button next to ‘Yes’ under Test Availability is selected. If you set the date and time parameters even though you make the test available it will not be available to students until the designated date and time. If you do not make the test available you must remember to go back in and change the radial button. Otherwise even when the intended date arrives the test will not show up for students.
Set the remaining options such as the date and time, Test Feedback and Test Presentation.
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’.

Can students save their tests?

Providing that the Force Completion setting has not been activated a student can save their responses without submitting the test for final grading. Once the answers have been saved the student may log out and return later to resume the test. This is not recommended for timed tests as the timer continues even if a student decides to resume the test at a later time.

A student needs to retake a test that is only available for students to take once.

An instructor can clear a student’s attempt on a test through the Gradebook. This will then allow the student to retake the test. Be aware though, that clearing a test attempt deletes any recorded answers or grades and will be overwritten with the new test attempt.

From the Control Panel click on ‘Gradebook’ under the Assessment section.
Locate the test and the student’s score. If the student was locked out of the test for some reason there will be a padlock icon instead of the score. Click on the score.
Click on the ‘Clear Attempt' button.
A warning box will appear. Click ‘OK’.
The score will have been removed and the student can now retake the test.

A student has missed a test (or assignment) and the time limit has passed.

To allow a particular student to take a past test, an instructor can set the Adaptive Release feature for that test:

From the Control Panel go to the content area that contains the deployed test.
Click on ‘Manage’ next to the test.
Click on ‘Adaptive Release’.
Choose the new date criteria by selecting the appropriate date and time. If there is a date already set in Test Options you will need to go into the Test Options by clicking on ‘Modify the Test Options’ next to the text and deselecting the date and time.
Click on the ‘Browse’ button under Membership to search for the student who will be retaking the test.
Click ‘Submit’ to enter the student’s user name into the ‘Membership Username’ field.
Click ‘Submit ‘and ‘OK’.

The elected student will now be able to take the test at the time and date specified under the Adaptive Release.

Adding Bonus Questions

An instructor can add bonus questions to a test without penalizing students who don’t answer them. Once you have created your test in Test Manager add your bonus questions with their designated points value. Deploy the test into you content area. Then prior to making the test available go into the Gradebook and change the total points value on the test:

From within the Gradebook click on the column heading of the test.
Select Item Information
Decrease the points value to exclude the bonus points.
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’

Can students view a test after they have taken it?

Students can only view tests if you have selected all Test Feedback categories (Score, Submitted answers, Correct Answers and Feedback) when indicating the Modify the Test Options settings.

Moving questions from a test to a pool

Pool Manager acts as a repository for test questions. You can then create new tests using questions stored in the Pool Manager. If you use a course cartridge, many of these upload question pools into Pools Manager from which you can then pull questions into a new test. However just because you create a test in Test Manager does not automatically put the questions created into Pool Manager. To add the questions from your existing test into the Pool Manager:

From the Control Panel click on ‘Pool Manager’, under the Assessments section.
Select the ‘Add Pool’ icon button.
Give you pool a name and description and click ‘Submit’.
You are then in the Pool Canvas. From the Add drop-down menu select ‘Choose From a Question Pool or Assessment’. Click ‘Go’.
Select the test whose questions you wish to add and click the radial button next to ‘All’.
Click Search.
Click the ‘Select All’ icon and click ‘Submit’.
The Pool Canvas will open containing all the questions from your test.
Click ‘Ok’ to save.

You can continue to add questions from different tests to the same pool by clicking on the Modify button next to the Pool name. This opens the Pool Canvas where you can add and edit your pool questions.

Creating a test using questions from a Pool

To create a test using questions from a pool you’re still going to create the test in Test Manager so…

From the Control Panel click on Test manager under the Assessments section.
Select the Add Test icon button
Give your test a name and enter a description and instructions.
Click Submit
In the Test Canvas page select From a Question Pool or Assessment from the Add drop-down menu.
Select the test whose questions you wish to add and click the radial button next to ‘All’.
Click Search.
Click the check boxes next to those questions you wish to add to your test and click ‘Submit’.
The Test Canvas will open containing all the questions from your test.
Click ‘Ok’ to save.

Points for students to consider when test-taking

→ The longer a test is (as far as number of questions) and therefore the longer the time allotted for a student to take a test the more open it is to delay and issues. A test that is over an hour long will inevitably start being problematic. If necessary a test should be split into two so that students experience the the minimum amount of time within a Blackboard testing environment.
→ Students should not wait until the last minute to take a test. If a student does experience technical difficulties there needs to be adequate time to resolve the issue and complete the test.
→ Log into Blackboard through http://sf.blackboard.com rather than going through the sf.edu website
→ If working from a computer with a dial-up connection, ensure the ISP time-out settings are set to the maximum allowed time. Many ISPs will disconnect or time out a test because of the lack of activity on the page. Even though a student is scrolling, etc within the test as far as the browser is concerned it is on the same page and "inactive". This is particularly prevalent if a test is untimed or exceeds about 45 minutes.
→ Using a wireless network when taking a test can be unstable.
→ If using Internet Explorer, version 6.0 or above is required.
→ Turn off pop-up blockers and phishing filters and make sure security settings are low enough to not be blocking traffic. Spyware and other programmes running in the background can interfere with test taking.
→ The browser must be enabled to accept Cookies.
→ Don't have any other applications open, just the internet browser and Blackboard.
→ Do not resize, minimize or refresh the browser window once the test has started.
→ Students shouldn’t use the browser back and forward buttons to navigate within a test. To move from question to question, only use the arrows within the testing window.
→ When entering the test, only click once. Sometimes it takes a while to load (give it at least a full minute). If, after clicking once, nothing happens for a while, then contact the instructor immediately. Do not click again. If a student clicks twice, a message advising the student they already took the test pops up and barrs the student from being able to retry taking the test.
→ If the test is presented all on one page it's not necessary to save every single answer (which refreshes and therefore reloads the page every time). Just save the answers every so often and then complete the final submission. If there are multiple users taking the test at the same time and continually saving answers this can cause the test to run very slowly for all users actively within the test. A student can still decide to change answers up until the time of test submission.
→ Do not click the Submit button until the test is complete.
→ A student should contact the instructor immediately if they experience a problem or a technical difficulty that has prevented them from finishing the test. The instructor is the only person who can clear a student’s attempt, through the gradebook and allow them to re-take the test. N.B. When an instructor clears a student's attempt, all previously submitted answers are erased.

Using Assignment Manager

The Assignment Manager is a useful mechanism that allows instructors to post an assignment containing attachments in any content area of a course site and automatically creating an item entry for it in the Gradebook. The instructor can then view and download the complete assignment, grade it and provide feedback all from the comfort of the Gradebook.

To create an assignment using the Assignment Manager:

From the Control Panel click on the content area you wish to place the assignment.
Select ‘Assignment' from the drop-down menu in the upper right and click on ‘Go'.
Give the assignment a name, attach a point value, any relevant instructions (keep them succinct) and include an attachment if desired.
Click ‘Submit'

To view completed assignments:

From the Control Panel click on ‘Gradebook', under the Assessment section.
Click on the exclamation point ! next to the student's name in the correct assignment column.
Click on the ‘View' button.
Click on the file name under the User's Work section to either open or save the document to your computer.
Add a grade, comments and re-submit the document if edited.
Click ‘Submit' and ‘OK'.

A really nice feature of the Assignment Manager is that you can download multiple completed assignments at the same time from the Gradebook:

From the Control Panel click on Gradebook, under the Assessment section.
Click on the name of the assignment entry at the top of the column.
Click on ‘Item Download'.
Select all students or just a few.
Click ‘Submit'.
Click on the ‘Download assignments now' link, click ‘Save' and indicate where you want the files to be saved on your computer.
The file downloads as a zipped folder so you need to unzip/uncompress it in order to view the individual files.

How do I create a survey in Blackboard?

Surveys are created in much the same way as tests, using the Survey Manager. Surveys however, are not graded (although the results are viewed through the Gradebook) and are anonymous. This means an instructor can view overall results and individual comments but without knowing the author of the score or comments.
To create a survey:

From the Control Panel click on Survey Manager, located in the Assessment section.
Click on the Add Survey icon.
Follow the steps for creating a test to create a survey.

Deployment and availability of a survey

In order for students to see and take a survey the survey must be added as content or ‘deployed’. To do this:

From the Control Panel
Select the Content Area you wish to add to your test to (such as Evaluations).
Select Survey’ from the drop-down menu located in the upper right of the panel and click Go.
Select the survey from the ‘Select Survey below’
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’.

As with most content in Blackboard you have the ability to set date and time parameters and other availability criteria around a survey. To set the options for a survey:

After following the steps above and clicking ‘OK’ you will be presented with the Modify Survey page. Click on ‘Modify the Survey Options’.
Make sure that the radial button next to ‘Yes’ under Survey Availability is selected.
Set the remaining options such as the date and time, Survey Feedback and Survey Presentation.
Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’.

How do I view survey results?

Survey results are viewed through the Gradebook

From the Control Panel click on Gradebook.
Click on the survey name in the item column heading.
Click on ‘Assessment Attempt Details’ to view the results and any comments.

University of Saint Francis Home

Blackboard