Tests and surveys

• How to create tests and surveys
• Specify test settings
• How to add questions to the test or survey
• How to add a test or survey to a content area

Tests can be a way to help students revise subject materials. Reviewing results during the semester can help instructors identify areas where students are having difficulty. Tests in UTSOnline require a point value to be assigned to each question. There are many types of questions you can use in your test including either/or, essay, fill in the blank, matching, multiple answer, multiple choice, short answer and true/false.

Surveys, on the other hand, are useful when you want students to evaluate a course or class, find out what students think about a particular topic or conduct a random knowledge check. You cannot see which student entered the response but you can check which students have completed it, and you can see view aggregated results for each survey question.

How to create tests and surveys

Creating a Test (video 3 min : 50 sec, Blackboard)

1. In the Control Panel, expand the Course Tools menu and click Tests, Surveys and Pools.
2. On the Tests, Surveys and Pools page, select Tests.
3. On the Tests page, click Build Test.
4. On the Test Information page, enter a Name for the test. Remember, if you change it later, you will also have to manually change it in the Grade Centre.
5. Enter any Description information that students should see before they take the test.
   
   
    
6. Enter any Instructions to appear when the test is launched.
   
   
    
7. Click Submit. A new, empty test is created.

Specify test settings

After the test has been added, the Test Canvas page will open and you can specify the settings required for the test questions you are about to create. Question Settings control the options available when creating Test questions and is located on the right hand side of the Test Canvas page. Not all options are available for all question types.

How to add questions to the test or survey

There are three ways to add questions:

1. Create Question: contextual menu which lists all of the different types of test questions available.
   
   
   Creating a Test (video 3 min : 50 sec, Blackboard)
   
    
2. Reuse Question: you can reuse questions from a question pool or another test or create a random block questionr another test.
   
   Building a test question pool (video 2min : 39sec, Blackboard)
   Adding existing questions to a test (video 2 min :  27 sec, Blackboard)
   Create a random block and add to a test (video 2 min : 39 sec, Blackboard)

3. Upload Questions: click and browse for a local file of formatted questions.
   
   
   Uploading test questions from Microsoft Excel (video 3 min : 25 sec, Blackboard)

Create Question

1. On the Test Canvas page, point to Create Question on the Action Bar to access the drop-down list.
   
   
    
2. You can select from:
   • a basic question type:
     
     • Calculated Formula
     • Either/Or
     • Essay
     • File Response
     • Fill in the Blank
     • Matching
     • Multiple Answer
     • Multiple Choice
     • Ordering
     • Short Answer
     • True/False
   • OR an advanced question type:
     
     • Calculated Numeric
     • Fill in Multiple Blanks
     • Hot Spot
     • Jumbled Sentence
     • Opinion Scale/Likert
     • Quiz Bowl
3. On the Create/Edit page, add the necessary information to create a question. This page contains different sections and fields for each type of question.
4. Enter a Question Title if you want to, and add Question Text.
5. Complete the remaining sections as necessary for the question type.
6. Click Submit.
7. The new question will display on the Test Canvas page, type the Points to be assigned for the correct answer.
   
   
    
8. Repeat Step 1 through Step 7 until all of your questions are added to the Test.
9. Click OK.
10. The Test is added to the list on the Tests page. The Test is now ready to be deployed in the Course.

View videos on creating each type of question under Tests, Surveys and Pools

Reuse question

1. On the Test Canvas page, point to Create Question on the Action Bar to access the drop-down list.
2. Select Create Question Set, Create Random Block or Find from Pool or Test from the drop-down menu.
   
   
   
   
   • A Question Set is a group of questions drawn from selected tests or pools. You tell Blackboard how many of these questions to present, and (as long as this number is less than the total number of questions in the set) each time it presents the test to a student, it makes a random selection from the set.
   • A Random Block is a set of questions randomly retrieved from a single question pool, based on the type of question you specify and the number of questions available in the selected pool. (Random blocks cannot be drawn from tests, or from more than one pool.)
   • Find from Pool or Test allows you to use the Question Finder feature to add any combination of existing questions to a test from question pools. Pools are useful for storing questions and reusing them in more than one Test or Survey.
3. Complete the Create Question Set, Create Random Block or the Search Pools and Tests page.
4. Click Submit.

Note:  Random Blocks are not available in Surveys.

How to add a test or survey to a content area

Deploying a test involves adding a link to the test in a content area, (whether as an item in itself, or within a learning module or folder), and making this link available to students by making selections in the Test Options page.Test options control the availability, presentation and feedback for a test or quiz. You can only select these options once the test has been added to the chosen content area.

1. Navigate to a Content Area of the course. For more information see Folders, tools & content
2. Point to the Create Assessment drop-down list and select Test or Survey.
3. Select an existing Test or Survey from the Add Test or Add Survey list. You also have the option to Create a New Test or Survey.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Submit.
5. The Test Options page appears.

Making a test or survey available to students

1. On the Test Options page, click Yes to Make the Link Available to Users. If this option is set to No, it will not appear to students. Instructors may make the link available, and then use the Display After and Display Until fields to limit the amount of time the link appears.
2. Set the following options for the Test:
   
   

   Option	Function
   Add a New Announcement for this Test or Survey	The Announcement will include the date and state "an Assessment has been made available in [Course area that includes the link to the Assessment]". This Announcement will appear in the course Announcements as well as the My Course and My Announcements modules. If an Announcement has previously been posted using this feature, the date and time of the most recent Announcement will be displayed.
   Multiple Attempts	Click the check box and select from the following options: Select Allow Unlimited Attempts for Students to take the assessment as many times as they wish. Select Number of Attempts and enter a number to indicate a specific number of attempts that is allowed.
   Force Completion	Select the Force Completion check box to force users to complete the Test or Survey once it has been launched. Students may not exit the assessment and continue working on it at a later date. The Save button is available for students to save the assessment as they work through it, but they may not exit and re-enter the Assessment.
   Set Timer	Select this check box to set a time limit for finishing the assessment. If this option is selected, enter the amount of time to allow for the Test or Survey in the hours and minutes boxes. The time elapsed is displayed to the student during the assessment.  A one-minute warning is also displayed as Students approach the time limit. Selecting this option also records completion time, available under Test Information when the attempt is complete If a timer is set, turning Auto-Submit on will save and submit the assessment automatically when time expires. Leaving it off will give students the option to continue after time expires.
   Display After and Display Until	Use the Display After and Display Until date and time fields to define the availability of the Test or Survey. Click both the Display After and Display Until check boxes to enable the date and time selections.
   Password	Select the Password check box to require a password to access the Test or Survey.



3. Click Submit.

Note: Each test can be added only once to a content area, learning module or folder. You cannot deploy a test, quiz or survey to more than one location in a course. If you want the test to be accessible to several groups or individuals throughout the course, you can create several links to the test from different pages in the course.