Test & Quizzes Tool

With the Tests & Quizzes tool you can create online exams for your students, which are generically called assessments. You can customize these assessments to make tests, quizzes, and even surveys. Students can complete the exam online, and it will be submitted for grading. You can supply answers for objective questions, and OWL-Space will automatically grade them. Answers to subjective questions will be available for the instructor and TAs to grade online.

On the main page of the tool are three tabs: Assessments, Assessment Types, and Question Pools. Assessment Types, such as tests, quizzes, and surveys, are a set of standard options for an assessment. Selecting an assessment type speeds the process of creating a new assessment. You can modify existing types, and also create new types. Question Pools are groups of related questions. When creating an assessment, you can pick each individual question yourself, or you can choose for questions to be drawn randomly from question pools, or some combination thereof. Lastly, Assessments shows a list of all assessments you have created, and which ones have been published for students to take (and of those, which are currently active and which are not).

The Assessment Types tab shows a list of all assessment types available on your site, along with a box where you can enter a title for a new type and create it by pressing the Create button. You can click on any type in the list to edit that assessment type, or click on the Remove link under a type to delete that assessment type. The Default Assessment Type is what will be used when you create a new assessment and do not select any assessment type.

When creating or editing an assessment type, you are taken to a page with all the assessment options. The options are grouped into sets, each with a black arrow to the left which you can click on to expand/collapse the options in that set. You can expand or collapse all the options by clicking on the Open and Close links at the top.

Assessment Type Information has spaces for you to enter a title, author, and description of this assessment. If the Can be viewed? box is checked, then the assessment type will be visible in the options when creating a new assessment of this type; otherwise, it will not be visible.

Assessment Introduction allows you to choose whether the author and description fields can be changed when creating a new assessment of this type.

Assessment Released to: allows you to choose whether only site members will be able to take the assessment, or if it will be available to the public.

High Security allows you to determine whether or not the security options can be edited when creating this type of assessment.

Timed Assessment allows you to choose whether or not the timed assessment options can be edited when creating an assessment of this type.

Assessment Organization allows you to choose the default values for the navigation, question layout, and numbering options, and determine whether those options can be changed or not when creating the assessment. Navigation can be either linear, where users can only take the questions in order and not return to previous questions, or random, where the questions can be accessed in any order. Question layout determines how many questions appear on a single web page of the assessment. Numbering determines whether questions are numbered from the beginning of the assessment, or from the beginning of each section of the assessment.

The Submissions section allows you to choose how many times a student is allowed to submit this assessment type (ie, can they take the assessment more than once), and also decide whether or not late submissions are accepted. You can also decide if these options should be changeable or not when creating a new assessment of this type.

Submission Message lets you choose whether the submission message and the final page for the assessment can be changed or not when creating a new assessment of this type.

Feedback lets you choose the default options for feedback for this assessment type, and whether or not they can be changed when you create a new assessment of this type. You can decide whether feedback is given for each question, for each section of the assessment, or both. You can also decide if feedback is given immediately or at a later time. Finally, you can determine what kinds of feedback are available for students to view.

Grading allows you to choose the default grading options, and decide if they can be edited when a new assessment of this type is created. You can choose whether graders can see students names or not, if the grades are sent to the gradebook or not, and how to grade when there are multiple submissions allowed.

Graphics lets you decide if the background color or image can be changed when creating a new assessment of this type.

Metadata lets you choose if you want to record metadata for assessments, questions, or both.

The Question Pools tab allows you to create pools of questions that you can automatically draw from when creating an assessment. On the Question Pools page, you will see Add New Pool and Import tabs at the top, and a table listing all your question pools below. Each question pool may contain subgroups of questions within it, called subpools. If a pool has a subpool, it will have a folder icon to the left of its name in the list, as well as a black arrow. Click on the black arrow to expand and collapse the view to show the subpools. Pools that have no subpools have a page icon instead.

Beneath the name of each pool or subpool in the table are three links: Add, Copy, and Move. Add lets you create a new subpool under that question pool (subpools may have their own subpools as well). Copy creates a new copy of the question pool which can be placed directly into the table at the TOP level by choosing that option, or as a subpool of another question pool by choosing the option next to any question pool in the list. The original pool that was copied is not removed. Move does essentially the same thing as Copy, but the pool that you are moving will be removed from its original location.

The Add New Pool tab allows you to create a new question pool which will be inserted into the TOP level of your table of question pools. The Add page that appears allows you to enter a Title for the new pool, department name, Description, Objectives for the question pool, and Keywords if desired. The only required detail is the title. Press the Save button when finished. The same interface appears when you add a subpool as well.

Once your question pool is created, you can click on its name in the table to add questions. You will be taken to the detail page for the pool, which will allow you to edit any of the details for that pool as on the add page. You will also see a table of all subpools, which you can use to manage those subpools just as you would the main question pool table. You can add new subpools by clicking on the Add link at the upper right of the subpool table. Below that table is table of all the questions in your pool. You can add new questions by clicking on the Add link at the upper right of the question table. Questions that are in subpools are not shown.

You can click on one of the links below a question name to perform that action on it. Copy will create a new copy of the question which you can place in any of your other question pools through the same interface as when copying a question pool. Move works similarly as well. Export allows you to save a copy of the question in a file on your computer. This file can then be imported in other OWL-Space sites to create a copy of your question there. Preview shows you what your question will look like when added to an assessment.

When adding or editing a question, you first must choose what kind of question you want to create, then customize the details. The available question types are: Multiple Choice, Survey, Short Answer/Essay, Fill in the Blank, Numeric Response, Matching, True/False, Audio Recording, and File Upload. When creating questions you can click on the link Show/Hide Rich-Text Editor above any of the text boxes to access all of the text editing options, including the ability to embed images and links if needed for your questions. Most question types also give you a button for Add Attachments, for another way to include materials with your questions.

For a Multiple Choice question, you first enter the point value, then the text of the question itself. Below the question box is the Add Attachments button, and then the answer boxes. Below Answer, you must select either to have a single correct answer or multiple correct answer. If multiple, then if a student picks any of the correct choices then that question will be graded as correct. Below these options are the spaces to enter four answers, A through D. If you want to have fewer choices, click on the Remove link just below the answer letter (A - D). This will remove that answer and renumber the answers if necessary. If you want to have more choices, there is a selection box just below the answer boxes called Insert Additional Answers. Choose 1 through 6 to add that many more answers (you can do this multiple times to add more than six choices).

There are two boxes for each answer. The top box, to the right of the answer letter, is where you enter the text for that answer. The bottom box, next to Feedback (optional), is where you can enter feedback for that answer if desired. You can use this space to explain why an answer is wrong, or confirm why it is right. The ability of students to see the feedback, and what time they see it, is determined by the settings of the assessment in which the question appears.

To set which answer is the correct one (or multiple correct answers), mark the radio button or check box next to the letter(s) of the correct answer(s).

Below the answer section, there is a choice for Randomize Answers. Pick Yes if you want that answers you entered above to appear in a random order when students take the test. OWL-Space will be able to correctly grade the question automatically. The next choice, Require Rationale, allows you to require the student to explain the rationale for their multiple choice answer. A text box will appear with the question for this purpose.

Next you can choose to provide feedback for the question as a whole, one box for a correct response and one for an incorrect response, as opposed to the feedback above which could be different for each individual answer. Choose and combine the best feedback options for your needs.

Lastly, you have the option to provide metadata about your question (objective, keywords, and rubric). This data will be used with future improvements to OWL-Space search features. It is not currently used.

Press the Save button to save your question when you are finished.

Survey questions are never worth points. You can enter question text and add attachments if you wish. The Answer section lets you choose from a number of different answer options. The option you select defines what answers students will be able to choose from when answering the question. Yes,No allows either a yes or no answer, while 1->5 allows 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 as possible answers, and so on. Lastly you can provide feedback for the question, add metadata, and press Save when done.

Short Answer/Essay questions will provide students with a text box in which to compose their answer. You can assign a point value, question text, and attachments, but there is no way to select a correct answer for a subjective question. You can, however, provide a Model answer to assist graders, and for students to see after the test has been submitted/graded. You can also provide feedback and metadata for the question.

For Fill in the Blank questions, you may set the point value for the question, and then enter the question text itself. Within the question text enclose the word or phrase that you want to appear as a blank within curly braces ({ }). The word or phrase within the braces is the correct answer for that blank. You can allow multiple possibilities by separating them with pipe characters (|, just above the enter key). By default, OWL-Space accepts any capitalization of the answer as long as the characters match. If you want it to only accept exact matches, then check the Case Sensitive? box just below the question text box.

You can have multiple blanks in your question if you desire; simply enclose each one in curly braces. If more than one blank has the same possible answer, you may want to check the Mutually exclusive? check box as well. This makes it possible to use any given correct answer in only one blank (ie, if there are two blanks, and each accepts both "apples" or "oranges", checking the box means that the correct answer is "apples" and "oranges", or "oranges" and "apples", but not two "apples" or two "oranges").

Lastly, you can add attachments, feedback for both a correct and incorrect answer, and metadata.

Numeric Response questions work much like Fill in the Blank questions, but take numbers for answers. In the question text, you again enclose the correct answer in curly braces, which will appear as a blank when the student views the question. If you use two values separated by a pipe character with the braces, then OWL-Space will accept any number that equal to or between those two values.

Matching questions allow you to enter a point value, question text, and add attachments as normal. To create the answers, you enter Choice/Match pairs, where Choices appear on one side of the matching question and Matches appear on the other. When you create each pair, enter the choice and match that go together. You can also enter feedback for when the correct match for this choice is chosen, and when the incorrect match is chosen. When you are done with this choice/match pair, press the Save Pairing button. Your saved pair will then appear in the table above the choice/match entry boxes.

You can edit or remove any of your saved pairings by clicking on those links in the table. When viewed by students, the choices and matches will appear in a different order, and they will have to match them correctly.

Below the pairings, you have the option to enter correct/incorrect answer feedback, given for the question as a whole. You may also enter metadata if desired.

True/False questions allow you to enter a point value and the text for the question. You may also add attachments. Under the Answer choice, pick whether the correct answer is True or False. You can choose to require rationale just as in the multiple choice questions if desired. Lastly you can provide feedback and metadata.

Audio Recording questions require students to speak their answer into a microphone on their computer. In addition to point value, question text, and attachments, you determine how long (in seconds) the student's recording can be, and how many times the student can start over with a new recording. You can also provide feedback and metadata.

For a File Upload, the student must upload a file for their answer. You can determine the point value, question text, any attachments, and feedback and metadata.

The Assessments tab is the main page of the Tests & Quizzes tool. There are three main sections on this page: New, Core, and Published Assessments. New Assessments is where you can create a new test, quiz, etc.. Core Assessments shows a list of all the assessments you have created or imported into your site. Published Assessments shows a list of all assessments that have been made available for students to take, separating the list into Active assessments which are still available to take, and inactive assessments which have already passed their retract date.

To create a new assessment, select the type of assessment you want to create from the selection box in the New Assessment section. If you do not, then the Default assessment type will be used. Enter the name for your assessment in the Title box. Then, press either the Quick Create or Create button. The Create button will take you to a step by step process of adding questions through the same interface as used in the Question Pools tab. Quick Create allows you to enter all your questions in a text box, and OWL-Space will then convert the questions into its own format.

Quick Create works well if you like to compose your assessment in another text editor, and then paste it into OWL-Space. On the Quick Create page, you will see boxes to enter the Name and Description of the assessment, and then a large box at the bottom in which to enter your questions. All questions are entered in this one box. The format for questions is given in the links under Instructions & Examples to the right of the question entry box. Clicking on the links will expand the instructions; click again to collapse them. Note that only some question types are available, and there is no way to create different sections in your assessment. These things can be added later by editing the saved assessment. Press the Next button when you are finished.

You will be taken to a second page where you can verify your work. You can fix any problems by pressing the Back button, or press Create Assessment to save your work. Once your assessment has been created, it will appear in the Core Assessments. You can click on its name there, or the Settings link below it, to make any further customizations.

The Create Button creates and saves your assessment without any questions, then takes you to an Edit Assessment page where you can add sections and questions to your assessment. Your assessment begins with one section, or part, called Default (when a part is named Default, that name does not show up within the assessment itself). All questions in your assessment are organized under a Part; if you don't want your assessment to have different parts, simply add all your questions to the Default part.

If you would like to create a new part, click on the Add Part link. This will take you to a page where you can set all the details for this part. You can also access these details for any existing part by clicking on the Edit link to the right of the part in the list on the Edit Assessment page. At the top, you can give a Title for this part, as well as a description. You can also add attachments if desired.

Under Type, you can elect either to create all questions in this part manually, or to draw them from one of your Question Pools. If drawing from a question pool, you can pick which pool from the selection box, and then enter how many questions to take from that pool (the total number of questions in the pool is listed in parentheses following its name in the selection box). Under Type of randomization, you can choose either to have new questions picked each time the student takes the assessment (if allowed to submit more than once) or to have questions picked the first time the student takes the assessment, and then have the same questions appear on any subsequent submissions.

If you did not take questions from a pool, you can still elect to randomize the order of the questions in this part, using the options under Question ordering.

Lastly, you can add metadata for this part of the assessment. Press Save to save this part and return to the Edit Assessment page.

When viewing the list of parts in your assessment, you can change their ordering by select the position you want a part to be in from the selection box to the left of its title. You can change the details of a part by clicking on the Edit link to the right. You can remove any part except for that in position 1 by clicking on the Remove link to the right (switch the part in position 1 to a new position if you want to remove it).

You can add a new question to any part by selecting a question type from the selection box below each part. This will take you to a question editing page just like that used in the Question Pools tab. If you select the Copy from question pool option instead, you will be taken to the list of question pools. Browse to and click on the question pool you wish to draw from. Check the box in the Copy column for each question you wish to copy into your assessment. You can verify and change which part the question will be assigned to by using the selection box at the bottom. Press Copy when you are ready to add your questions to the assessment.

As you add questions to your parts, the questions will appear in the Edit Assessment page (except for those that will be randomly drawn from a pool). You can Edit or Remove any of the questions by clicking on the Edit / Remove links to their right.

You can click on Settings at the top of the page to view and edit all of the settings for your assessment (the available settings may depend upon the assessment type). Most of them are the same settings that appear when creating an Assessment Type.

The Delivery Dates settings allow you to specify when your assignment will become available to students, when it is due, and when you want to retract it (remove it from view; between due and retract dates, students will be able to review their answers, etc.). In the High Security section, you can allow access to only certain computers or subnets by entering IP addresses in the text box, and/or you can add a username and password for your assessment (only those with the name and password can access it).

Under Timed Assessment, you can give a time limit for taking the test. Students will have the amount of time specified to work on the assessment from the time they open it. Under Submission Message, you can enter some text that will appear to students when they submit the assessment. You can also enter a URL where students will be taken when they finish the assessment. Under Graphics, you can enter a background color (click on the palette icon to choose one from a display) or the URL of a background image. This color/image appears on all the assessment pages.

When you are finished, you can either just save your settings, or press Save Settings and Publish to move a copy of your assessment to the Active list. Once an assessment is Active, you can no longer make changes to the content (though you may still change some settings; and you can still fully edit the copy in Core Assessments). Note that even if your delivery date is set, you still need to publish the assessment for it to become visible to students.

Lastly on the Edit Assessment page, you can click on Preview Assessment to see how it appears to students. You can move through the pages of the assessment, but not answer questions. Click on the Done button at the top or bottom of any page to exit the preview mode.

To publish your assessment, go into the Settings either from the Edit Assessment page or the list of assessments on the Tests & Quizzes tool main page. Click the Save Settings and Publish button at the bottom to publish your assessment.

You can also create a new assessment by importing a saved assessment from your computer. Press the Import button in the New Assessments section to do this.

In the Core Assessments section, you can click on the name of any assessment to go to the Edit Assessment page for that assessment. You can also go directly to the assessment settings by clicking on the Settings link below each assessment in the list. There is also a Remove link to delete the assessment, and an Export link to save a copy of the assessment on your computer. Any of these assessments can be published and made available to students by pressing the appropriate button in the assessment Settings.

Published Assessments lists all Active assessments, which have been published and not yet retracted (some may have yet to be released to students, some may be currently available to take, and others may have already passed the due date but not yet been retracted). Inactive assessments have already passed their retract date. For any assessments in the Published section, you can view the settings by clicking on Settings below the assessment name (and are able to edit some settings). You can view Scores if any students have submitted the assessment by clicking on that link (if their are subjective questions that have not yet been graded, the scores may appear lower than their eventual tally).

When viewing scores, you will see three tabs, where you begin on Total Scores, the middle tab. There is a list of all students, showing their submission date for this assessment and score if any. You can sort and filter the list of students using the selection boxes and search feature above the list. You can click on the name of a student to see their submitted assessment, with a comment box and score adjustment box for each question. You can use the adjustment boxes to grade subjective questions, fix errors, or even add extra credit. Press the Update button when finished. Back on the Total Scores tab, you can adjust the assessment scores overall for each student, and also add overall comments for each student. Press the Update button to save any changes.

The Submission Status tab shows a list of all students, with their submission date for this assessment. Below the name of each student is an Allow Retake? link, which you can click on if you wish to allow that student to retake the assessment (assuming they have already used up all their submissions).

The Questions tab shows links for all questions in the exam at the top. Below this shows the text of the currently selected question (with correct answers marked by a green checkmark, if applicable), and below that is a list of all students, showing their score for the question, what they answered for that question, and any comments you have entered for that question. You can click on any of the question links to view the data for that question. You can make changes to scores and comments if desired, and use the Update button to save your changes.

When on the Questions tab, a new Statistics tab appears. Go to this tab to view statistics (mean, median, high score, low score, etc.) for this assessment.