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Creating Test/Quizzes in Blackboard

Giving your assessments via Blackboard can be convenient and time-saving, both for yourself and your students.

The biggest advantage to using Tests in Balckboard is that all objective questions are scored automatically. When

you set up your test, you tell the system what the correct answers are, how many points to assign and what

feedback, if any, you want to give your students for each question. Student test scores are recorded directly in

the Grade Center

To Create a Test or Quiz 1. Log into your course and made sure Edit Mode is on.

2. Go to the Control Panel and select Tests, Surveys, and Pools under Course Tools.

3. On the Tests, Surveys, and Pools page, click on Tests. The Tests page displays any

existing tests and allows you to build new tests.

4. On the Test page, click on Build Test

5. Enter a name and description for your test. If desired, enter instructions for

students taking the test. Click the Submit button to save the information.

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6. You will now be on the Test Canvas page where you will create test questions.

7. Select a question type from the drop-down list and click the question type you

wish to create. In this example, we selected the Multiple Choice question from the

list.

8. A form with options specific to the type of question you selected will appear.

While some question types are relatively simple, others require several steps to

create a question – just follow the instructions on the screen. Fill in the required

information and click the Submit button to add the question to your test.

You will see the question you just created on the Test Canvas page that appears

after submission.

9. To create additional questions, repeat the steps above. When you are done adding questions, click the OK

button to return to the Test Manager.

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Making Tests Available to Students

Once you have created a test, there is a two-step process for making it available to students:

Step 1: you must create a link to it from a content area in your Blackboard course site, and

Step 2: you must modify the test options.

Step 1 : Creating the Link in a Content Area 1. Go to Content Area in which you would like the test to appear, such as Course Content. Click on Assessments

and then from the drop-down list, select Test.

2. Select the test you wish to display from the list that appears and click the Submit button.

3. A confirmation page will display with a message that the test was added successfully, and the Test Options

page will be displayed.

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Step 2: Modifying the Test Options The Test Options page allows you:

o to modify the test information such as the test name and description

o to select how and when the test is made available to students

o to select what type of feedback students will see after completing the test

o to specify how the test is presented to students when they take it

o to determine how the test is treated in the Grade Center

There are several options to choose:

1. Test Information: Here you can change or edit the name of the Test and add a description for the test.

2. Test Availability: Here you set the options as to when the Test will be available and for how long.

3. You can opt to have an Announcement created for the test

4. You can control how many Attempts

5. Force Completion: We recommend that instructors not use the force completion option:

The Force Completion setting on Blackboard exams only allows for a one-time entry into an exam. If a student

accidentally closes the browser or loses connection to the test (something that can happen for a variety of

reasons), the student cannot continue with the exam unless the the instructor intervenes and resets the exam

or already set multiple attempts to retake the exam.

It is recommend that instructors use the Timed Test option - that way, if the exam connection is broken, the

student will be able to re-enter and continue taking the exam. The timer will continue to record the time from

the initial exam entry. The Blackboard timer does not stop if the student exits and returns to the test. This

results in less instructor intervention and less student frustration with the exam .Set Timer is time limit the

student has to take the exam in one sitting. NOTE: Students do not get locked out of an Test if they go over

the time allotted, instead the instructor will be see a notification in the Grade Center.

6. Display After and Display Until are used to set the dates that the Test is available for students to take.

Instructors can choose a password students will need to access the exam.

7. Test Availability Exceptions: Test availability exceptions allow an instructor to customize the settings of an

existing Blackboard test to accommodate an individual or group. For example, an instructor can extend a

timed exam for a learning-disabled student or allow extra attempts for a student using a screen reader.

8. Instructors can set a Due Date

9. Self-Assessment Options: you can use these options to setup review exams for practice test for students to

take, in which you do not want to record grades for.

10. Test Feedback: Upon completion of the Test you can allow students to view a few types of feedback. Select

one, two, three, or all four of the options.

11. Presentation Mode: it is recommended at have the Exam displayed All at Once, this minimizes the number of

times the student will interactive with Blackboard and the Internet and prevent accidental lockouts.

12. Randomize Questions is a good way to help minimize cheating on online test.

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Viewing Student Test Results

1. On the Control Panel, click Full Grade Center.

2. In Grade Center, locate the cell for the student’s test containing an exclamation mark.

The exclamation mark appears when a test requires grading. If the test is self-grading,

you will see the students test score in the box.

3. Move the mouse pointer over the cell to see the Action Link and click the Action Link to access the contextual

menu.

4. Select View Grade Details.

5. On the Grade Details page, the attempts the student has made on the test are shown. There will only be

multiple attempts shown if that was an option you selected when deploying the test.

6. On the Grade Test/Attempt page, review the student’s answers, grade any questions that require manual

grading, and enter Feedback, if desired.

7. Click Save and Exit. You are returned to the Grade Center.

Overriding Grades 1. In Grade Center, locate the cell containing the student’s graded test to override.

2. Move the mouse pointer over the cell to see the Action Link.

3. Click the Action Link to access the contextual menu then select View Grade Details.

4. On the Grade Details page, click the Manual Override tab.

5. In the Override Grade cell, enter the changed grade.

6. Click Save. The updated Grade Details page appears.

7. You are returned to the Grade Details page and the new grade is now the Current Grade.

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Clearing Attempts 1. In Grade Center, locate the cell containing the student’s test grade to clear.

2. Move the mouse pointer over the cell to see the Action Link.

3. Click the Action Link to access the contextual menu and select View Grade Details.

4. On the Grade Details page, locate the Clear Attempt button adjacent to the attempt of interest. (NOTE: There

may be more than one Clear Attempt button if you enabled Multiple Attempts on a Test or Survey.) Select

Clear Attempt. A warning message appears.

5. Click OK

6. To return to the Grade Center, click Return to Grade Center at the bottom of the page