Viewing
and Grading Completed Tests
Overriding Scores
Online tests should be considered primarily as self-assessments. You have no control over the test-taking environment in an online assessment; there is no mechanism for preventing students from sharing answers or consulting outside resources For this reason, assessments are best used as self-assessments or for asking open-book, free-response questions. Once a test has been created and made available to students, a column is automatically created in the course Grade Center to track student attempts and scores.
It is a good practice to compose the test offline before creating the test within your course site. Typically, assessments are created in Microsoft Word and then cut and pasted into the online format.
- Log into your course site.
- Click the Control Panel.
- Click on the area (i.e. Course Documents) in which
you want the test to appear.
- Click the Add Test button.
- Click the Create button.
- Type a name for the test. The name should correspond
with the topic, unit, or module you are covering. An example of
a title would be “Module 01 Self-Assessment”.
- Type a description of what will be assessed, if desired.
- Type the instructions to accompany the test.
- Click the Submit button to proceed to inputting questions.
- You may adjust the default settings for the test by clicking Creation
Settings. For example, if all quiz questions are worth
one point, you would want to click Creation Settings and change the point
value to 1.
Note: You do have the option of adding images to your assessment, amongst other options listed under Creation Settings. If you would like assistance with adding images to your assessment, please contact us.
Once you have determined your settings, click the Submit button, and click OK.
- You are now ready to start adding questions to your test. There
are a variety of question types available within the Test Manager.
From the dropdown menu in the upper-left corner of your window, select
the type of question you wish to add, and click the GO button.
Note: The "From Question Pool or Assessment" option allows you to take questions from a previous assessment or out of a question pool created using the Pool Manager in the Control Panel. For more information on how to use Question Pools, please contact us.
- Fill in the information for the question and
answer possibilities. You may also enter Correct and Incorrect
Feedback which can be displayed to students once they’ve completed
the test.
- Select the correct answer.
- Confirm the question point value.
- Scroll down, and click the Submit button.
- Repeat steps 11 – 15 until all questions have been added.
- When the last question has been added, scroll to the bottom of the page
and click OK.
- You will return to the Add Test window. Click on the name
of the test you just created, and click Submit.
- A Test Added confirmation message will appear. Click OK.
- Click Modify the Test options.
- Under the Test Availability section, click Yes to make
the link to the test available.
You may also choose to have the system automatically generate an announcement informing students of the test availability.
Because it is impossible to control the test-taking environment, you may also choose to allow students to take the exam more than once.
It is not recommended that you choose the Force Completion option or set a time limit.
You may choose to set a date range during which the assessment will be available. If you use these options, be sure to inform your students of the availability of the test. If you choose NOT to use these options, be sure the boxes are left unchecked.
- Under the Self-assessment Options section, you may choose whether or
not you want the score to be included in final grade calculations.
- Under the Test Feedback section, you may choose to have the following
items display: the final score, the student’s submitted answers,
the correct answers, and instructor feedback (which was entered at the
time the test was created).
- Under the Test Presentation section, you may choose to have all questions
display at once or one at a time. If you choose to display questions
one at a time, you may also choose to limit backtracking to questions
that have already been answered. Another option you have is to randomize
the questions. This displays the questions in a different order
for different users.
- When you have made your selections, click the Submit button. Your online test has been created successfully.
The online assessment tool grades tests automatically, except for short answer/essay type questions.
For tests that have short answer/essay type questions, users will see an exclamation point (!) in the online Grade Center until points are assigned for those questions.
In addition to assigning points for short answer/essay questions, it is also possible to change point values for questions that have been automatically scored.
To assign or change points values:
- Click the Control Panel.
- Click Grade Center.
- Tests that are waiting to be scored will appear as an exclamation point
(!). Click on the dropdown arrrow to the right of the score or ! for
the student assessment you want to grade, and choose Grade Details.
- Click the View Attempt button.
- For each test question, there will be a box that allows you to specify
the points given for that question. It is possible to give more points
than the stated maximum.
- When you are finished, scroll down the page, and click the Submit button.
Instructors have the ability to override what score a student receives on a test without changing the actual point value for the test taken.
For example, if a student failed to take an online assessment on time but the instructor still wanted the student to take the test but not receive all points for it, the instructor could:
- allow the student to take the test,
- let the student see the score they would have received had the assessment be taken on time,
- and then enter a point value that reflects that the test was taken late without wiping out the original scores.
To override a grade:
- Click the Control Panel.
- Click Grade Center.
- Click the dropdown arrow to the right of the student's score, and choose Grade Details.
- Click the Override button, type an adjusted score, and click Save.