Create Tests & Surveys

Overview: With Blackboard Tests and Surveys, students complete the assessments online and submitted results are stored in one single location.

With Blackboard Tests and Surveys, you’ll be able to:

• easily create different types of test questions, including Multiple Choice, Matching, True/False, Fill in the Blank, and Essay.
• take advantage of automated features such as instant scoring and feedback, randomized questions and answers, etc.
• set test options so the test displays and disappears at a given time, allow for single or multiple attempts, and limit the allotted time to take the test.
• create surveys which students can complete anonymously.
• easily view and grade results from the Grade Center.

Examples of assessment strategies include adding a pre-test to the beginning of a lesson and a post-test at the end, or taking a survey of students’ background subject knowledge.

IMPORTANT: If you are planning to administer a Blackboard assessment during class (in a classroom on campus) and if students will be using their own laptops, they must use network cables and not rely on WiFi. If you are not scheduled in port-per-seat classroom, please schedule an appropriate room with the registrar.

Action: To add a test in Assignments (or any other content area) go to the page where you want to add the test.

1. In the upper right corner of the page, make sure Edit Mode is ON, or click to turn it ON:

2. Under Assessments, select Test:

Note:To create a survey, select Survey here instead of Test. The remaining steps are same as for tests. The only difference will be when you collect results in the Grade Center, where Survey results are recorded anonymously.

3. On the Create Test page, click the Create button to build a new test (or skip to step 8 if you have already built the test questions in the Blackboard Test Canvas):

4. On the Test Information page, provide aName(required), Description and Instructions (optional), and click Submit.

5. On the Test Canvas page, click Create Question and select the desired question type, for instance Multiple Choice:

6. Enter the question. Depending on the question type, enter the answers, designate the correct answer, and choose if you would like to randomize answer choices. Randomizing answer choices is good way to help prevent cheating.

7. Repeat (go back to step 5) for each question. When you are finished adding questions, click OK. This returns you to the Create Test page.

Note: You can stop here at any time and return later to the Test Canvas to keep adding questions. To do this, look for Test, Surveys, and Pools under Course Tools in the Control Panel, and select the Edit option for the desired test or survey.

8. On the Create Test page, select your newly (or previously) created test from the list and click Submit to deploy the test:

9. On the Test Options page, designate the test settings according to your preferences:

• The test is unavailable by default. To deploy the test to students, select Yes for Make the Link Available.
• Multiple Attempts should only be selected for self-tests or other situations in which you intend for students to be able to re-take the test (for example, best score out of 2 attempts, or average of three attempts). If Multiple Attempts is not checked (most common scenario), students can only submit the test once, and cannot re-enter the test to look at it once they have submitted their attempt.
• Under most circumstances we recommend leaving Force Completion unchecked. This way students who lose their connection will be able to re-enter the test. If you have set the timer, the clock will keep running on the student, and they can still only submit once as long as you have not checked Multiple Attempts.
• Set Timer will limit how long students have to complete and submit the test. Turn on the Auto-Submit option only if you want the test to submit itself as soon as time is up, effectively terminating the student’s attempt.
• By default, students will see their score per question as soon as they submit the entire test. You can determine exactly what results/feedback students see, and when they see it, under Show Test Results and Feedback to Students.
• Checking the Randomize Questions option is a good way to help prevent cheating.

10. Click Submit. A link to the test or survey appears in the course area. If you would like to view how students see the test, simply click on the test link to access it:

Remind students that they should have a stable internet connection before taking a test. If they are taking the test in the classroom, please ask them to bring their network cables.

Action: Grade test and view results from the Grade Center (in the Control Panel).

1. Open the Full Grade Center (Grade Center area in the Control Panel):

2. Scroll through to locate the test and instantly view the test scores, as long as the questions can all be automatically graded by the system. If you need to manually score a question (for example, for essay or short answer questions), you will see the ! indicating an ungraded submission. Hover over and click the arrow next to the submission to open the attempt (select the desired attempt):

3. You will be able to view each question and how it was answered by the student. When you reach a question that is not scored, you can read the student’s response and enter the score and even feedback comments, if you would like:

4. After reviewing and scoring the test, click Save and Exit, or Save and Next to quickly move to the next student. The system will automatically total the test score.

Once graded, students will be able to see their scores in Blackboard through their My Grades tool.

Note: If you need to make changes to fix an answer choice after a test has been completed by students, you can simply make the edit to correct the answer choice inside the Test Canvas. The system will automatically re-grade the submissions that were made before you entered this correction.

Click here for complete documentation from Blackboard on Tests & Surveys: http://help.blackboard.com/en-us/Learn/9.1_2014_04/Instructor/