Creating Tests & Learning Exercises: Bb Test Tool - Spring 2014 By Karen Korstad – MiraCosta College

Your Workshop Presenter – Karen Korstad Faculty Technology Specialist & Learning Systems System Administrator E-mail: kkorstad@miracosta.edu Phone: (760) 795-6787 Physical Location Office #1255 Second Floor of the Library Information Hub on the Oceanside Campus Mailing Address: 1 Barnard Drive MS #11 Oceanside, CA 92056

Workshop Description Would you like to create online practice exercises that can be automatically scored? Do you still require scantrons for exams in your class? The Blackboard Test tool provides an alternative to machine-scored exams, as well as a way to enrich student learning with practice exercises that automatically provide feedback. In this workshop you will learn the basics of the Blackboard Test tool. After this workshop, instructors will be able to: Create a Blackboard test. Add images and links to questions. Identify appropriate question types for various learning objectives. Deploy a Blackboard test within a content area in Bb. Obtain the results of a Blackboard test within the Blackboard Gradebook.

Workshop Description Review the Test Options to select the appropriate settings for your test and/or learning exercise. Make a change after a test has been graded, and regrade the test for all students. Review Attempt Statistics to see how effective your test or exercise is. Export / import a test to share with colleagues. Use basic strategies to reduce problems that can occur with Blackboard tests.

What can the test tool be used for? Some examples are: Checking Prerequisite Knowledge Checking Weekly reading Completion & Comprehension Quizzing students Low Stakes Teaching Tool – creation of Learning Exercises High Stakes Assessment (when approached with a level of caution) High Stakes or Low Stakes -- Depends on your class type (Online, Hybrid, on Campus) ? Test location (proctor center, student at home/computer lab/work) ? Course content & materials….

What can the Survey Tool be used for? Anonymous Feedback Some examples are: Checking Prerequisite Knowledge Formative analysis of course in progress or completed Can contain prefabricated Opinion or Liker Scales

Updates to the Bb Test Tool Test Availability Exceptions Test availability exceptions are a set of new settings on the Test Options page, available only after the test is added to a content area. Select one or more groups of students and make a number of exceptions to the already established availability settings. Exceptions can be used to provide an accommodation to a disabled student, or provide accommodations for technology and language differences. Website on all new Bb test features |  Video (5:49) on new test features | PDF on test availability exceptions   Exceptions can be created for: Attempts , Timer, Availability, & Force Completion

Test Results & Feedback Options Test Results and Feedback Display Options Instructors can set the release of progressive feedback to keep test results secure and prevent cheating by setting up rules. Rules occur in the order they appear. You can select : After Submission, One Time View, on Specific Date, After Due Date, After Attempts are Graded, & After Availability End Date.

Test Due Date Options Test Due Date & Late Submissions A new setting allows the instructor to decide whether to allow a student to take a test after the due date has passed. If students are not allowed to take a test after the due date has passed they will receive an messaging telling them the test cannot be completed because the due date has passed. When late submissions are allowed, they are clearly marked on the Needs Grading page, the View All Attempts page, the Review Test Submission page, and the Grade Details page.

Updates to Exporting a Test • Exporting Test Questions All questions are now retained in exported and imported tests, including questions that originate outside the exported test, such as Question Sets, Random Blocks, and Question Links. When the user exports a test and imports it back into a different course, all questions are now present irrespective of their origin.

New Test Access Log Test Access Log Teachers and proctors can verify student activity or lack of activity during a test using the new Access Log. The Access Log is available from the Attempts page of a test and provides detailed information on student's test attempt interactions. Video (4:22) | Website  

Test Question Item Analysis Item Analysis Item analysis tools to examine the effectiveness of your test questions (video (5:00) |website)

Next up – Live Bb Demo Via App Sharing

Tips to mitigate cheating on Tests Cheating can be a problem with online exams. For example, students working from remote locations could use two computers at once (one for taking the exam, the other for accessing other applications). Students could use digital cameras to capture the screen content, send text messages on mobile phones, or simply refer to printed notes. Students may also provide credentials to others to log in and take an exam on their behalf.   Additional methods can be employed that further reduce the risk of cheating and ensure that students know the course material. Each approach below provides another “layer of security.” Other methods of assessment – Combine or replace objective tests with other methods of assessment, such as projects, writing assignments, and personal reflections. Multiple choice and essay questions requiring application of skills and knowledge rather than simple factual recall are harder to cheat on. Consider designing tests as open note/open resource so that you do not get caught in an “arms race” with students.

Tips to mitigate cheating on Tests Proctors - Having students take an exam in a room monitored by a proctor is a major deterrent to most forms of cheating. Enhance this method by having the proctor check the identification of the student prior to the start the exam, placing web cameras throughout the room, or using a “test password” (see next item). For distance courses, proctored settings can be established in other locations with the help of the MiraCosta proctoring center. Because of the time and expense required for a proctored setting, proctors are generally used only with high-stakes assessments.   Assessment Passwords (Bb setting) - An assessment password prevents students from accessing the exam until a password has been supplied. Assessment passwords can be typed by proctors or conveyed to students at the start of the assessment. Disallow Multiple Attempts (Bb setting) - By only allowing one attempt for an assessment, students won’t be able to determine the questions in the assessment, look up the answers at a later time, and then retake the assessment. Limit Initial Feedback to “Score Only” (Bb setting) - Select Score Only for the initial Feedback Mode. This will prevent students from viewing, printing or copying questions after they have completed the exam. Once all students have completed the exam, the Feedback Mode can be changed so that more detailed feedback can be seen by the student. To protect questions for future terms, only the Score Only setting should be used.

Tips to mitigate cheating on Tests Answer Randomization (Bb setting) - Answer choices to multiple choice questions can easily be randomized. This setting is selected at the time a question is created.   Randomize Questions (Bb setting) - Question randomization is a good deterrent for assessments delivered in a classroom setting. Some versions of Blackboard allow question randomization for an entire assessment to be turned on with a single checkbox. An alternative approach is to create a “random block” which will also display questions in random order. Random Blocks (Bb setting) - “Random Blocks” are pools of questions that generally assess similar content. During an assessment, the questions are randomly drawn from the pool so that each student sees a different set of questions. For example, the first question in an exam might be drawn from a pool of 5 questions, making the odds only 1 in 5 that students will see the same question. Random Blocks are ideal for creating alternate forms of the same question.

Tips to mitigate cheating on Tests Calculated questions (Bb Calculated Formula question type) - Calculated questions, typically used in math and science courses, include variables in the question wording. The values for these variables are randomly generated, so students encountering the same question must give unique answers.   Time Limits (Bb setting) - By limiting the time a student can spend on an assessment, students can be discouraged from consulting other sources since they won’t have time to do so. Availability Dates and Times (Bb setting) - This setting restricts the availability of the assessment to a specific date/time range.

Uploading Questions to a Bb Exam Many Faculty are often interested in how to upload questions to Bb Tests from a file rather then typing them in manually. This can save you an extensive amount of time when creating your tests and learning exercises. I have created the following tutorial to show you how you can create the text file necessary to upload, and where to upload it to a test in BB. http://www.screencast.com/t/RrbwZwFyL Also.... Behind the Blackboard also has a tutorial you may be interested in as well. -- Uploading Test Questions from Microsoft Excel http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_tests_surveys_upload_test _questions_excel.htm

Uploading Questions to a Bb Exam On this webpage -- http://www.miracosta.edu/instruction/ais/tic/workshops.html Along with the archive to this workshop, I have posted an example file of questions I used during this workshop that you can download and use to practice uploading to a Bb test, plus review the proper format. I have also posted a document on the type of question formats that are available for uploading. ----- http://www.miracosta.edu/instruction/ais/tic/workshops.html

Respondus Respondus is a Windows application that enhances the functionality and usability of Blackboard's exam and survey tools. MiraCosta College has a campus-wide license for the Respondus software. Our campus-wide license allows installation of the software on any on campus computer. Faculty may also install the Respondus software on a personal computer. Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be published directly to learning management systems or printed to paper. http://www.miracosta.edu/instruction/ais/tic/respondus.html Online Workshop – Thursday January 30th at 10:30am. Not on Flex yet – Sign up soon. Will e-mail this group when that is available to sign up for on My Flex

Thank you all for joining me for this online flex workshop. The End Thank you all for joining me for this online flex workshop. Please be sure to fill out an online evaluation form this workshop. Link will be posted in the Chat area here in our Bb Collaborate room.