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Help for Tests and Exercises
| HELP Main Menu | About the Tests and Exercise module Overview of the process Old module vs new module General notes, guidelines, and tips Levels and hierarchies Vanishing options The Feedback system Getting it ready to go Self-evaluation Logging Drawbacks to online testing Recurring page elements Top Navigation Bar Red warning Help Link Information and buttons Confirm button Footer Tests and Exercises menu Create new test Clone someone else's test Delete tests Convert Import Export Deadlines Folders Take a test View/Edit/Clone/Delete selected test Clone someone else's test Delete tests Convert old-style test to new format Import uploaded file as test/exercise Export CATE test to Moodle Edit deadlines and accessibility dates of tests Folders Create new test The Test page Main test buttons Menu of Tests To Folder Prev test Next test Clone test Delete test Add test Inspect Tally Change Folder Nav Bar Configurations for test Sets of questions Edit sequence of sets Add set Edit/delete set/questions Feedback for the test Add feedback Edit/delete feedback Edit test configurations Name of test Gradebook for test Accessibility dates Clonability Student name, ID, email Password zone Options for presenting sets of questions Scoring/grading options Time limit Results and destinations Email address of destination Post results to Message List archive page Inspection Page Tally page Purge tally Pick Nav Bar page Feedback page Main feedback buttons Test page Prev feedback Next feedback Clone feedback Delete feedback Add Feedback This feedback Edit Feedback Create new feedback Edit feedback Threshold Feedback text Feedback link Clone feedback Delete feedback Set page Take test Main set buttons Test page Prev set Next set Clone set Move set Delete set Add set Configurations for set Questions in this set Edit sequence Quick entry Quick Editing Add question Edit/Delete Q&A |
Add set Edit sequence of sets Clone set Move set Delete set Edit configurations of set Name of set Presentation of questions Directions for set Q&A page Main Q&A buttons Set page Prev Q&A Next Q&A Clone Q&A Move Q&A Delete Q&A Add question The question Image for question Edit question The answer(s) Edit sequence of answers Edit all answers Add answer Edit/delete answer Clone Q&A Move Q&A Delete Q&A Edit sequence of questions Types of questions Add question Quick entry of questions Quick entry settings Number of blanks for questions Type of questions Number of blanks for answers Options Quick entry form Note / description / explanation Multiple choice / true-false / yes-no Numeric answer Exact word(s) short answer -- case sensitive Exact word(s) short answer -- not case sensitive Inexact word(s) short answer Short essay answer Quick editing of questions and answers Image for question Edit question Type of question Text of question Options Feedback for question Feedback link Answer page Main answer buttons Q&A page Prev answer Next answer Clone answer Delete answer Add answer The answer Image for the answer Feedback for the answer Clone answer Delete answer Edit sequence of answers Edit all answers Add answer Edit answer The answer Correct Points for this answer HTML Image for answer Feedback for answer Feedback text Feedback link |
This module allows you to create and modify tests, quizzes, exams, exercises, surveys, and other interactive materials for online delivery. (For simplicity, these are usually just referred to as "tests and exercises" or even just "tests.") Although a wide variety of options are available for more complex and sophisticated uses, typical tests and exercises can be created very quickly and efficiently for rapid deployment on the Web.
You can create an unlimited number of tests and exercises with this module, and you can always edit or delete anything you create.
To begin the process, click the button labeled "Create new test" or "Add test." After naming the test, you'll be automatically taken to the main page of the test. From there you should edit the overall test configurations to suit your needs. If necessary, you can always change them. After setting the test configurations, then you'll want to create a set of questions by clicking on the button labeled "Add set." Depending on the needs and complexity of your test, you'll probably only need a single set of questions, but you can create as many as you want.
After creating an empty set, then you'll want to adjust the set configurations, then start adding questions. Most of the time you can use the "Quick Entry" button to enter batches of similar questions. You can also create questions and answers one at a time by using the "Add question" button. Either way, you'll be able to specify the answer (or answers) for each question. You can repeat the process of entering batches of questions and answers, and/or you can keep entering them one at a time, until you have all the questions and answers desired for this set of questions.
As you go along, you an create feedback at various levels to provide customized responses to students who take the test. You can also decide if you want the system to automatically grade the test, and what you want done with the results of the test when it is submitted.
After you've built and configured the test to your satisfaction, then you can put links on other webpages to point to the test, or you can embed the test directly onto pages built with the Presentation module. Either way, the test will then be available for students to take online.
If you have tests which were created in the old Tests and Exercises module, they will remain available in that module but they cannot be accessed in this new module. However, you can easily convert them to the new file format—and edit them—if you want to take advantage of new features. Note that if you do so, the new version of the file will have a URL different from the old version, so you'll need to change links which pointed to the old test so that those links now point to the new version of the test.
Levels and hierarchies
It's important to remember that each test comprises multiple levels. At the top is the test itself: a name and a set of configurations. At the next level, each test can also have one or more overall feedback responses, and each of those responses will have its own set of configurations. On the same level, each test will have at least one set of questions, and each set will have its own configurations. At the next level, each set will have one or more questions, and each questions can have its own answer(s), its own feedback, and its own configurations. Finally, at the bottom level, is each answer for each question, and of course each answer will have its own individual configurations.
When working in the Tests and Exercises module, keep in mind that you can only edit the properties of one specific item at one specific level of the hierarchy at a time. If you edit a test configuration, it affects every part of the entire test. But if you edit an answer configuration, it only affects that one answer, and nothing else.
Vanishing options
This module contains many, many options in order to allow you the most flexibility to create many different kinds of tests and exercises and surveys for a wide variety of uses. Sometimes it might seem like there are too many choices. Actually, the system is also designed to hide as many inapplicable choices from you as possible. For example, if you configure an exercise not to automatically score submissions, then when you're creating questions and answers the system will not ask you (or allow you) to identify the correct answer. Likewise, if you create a new "question" but designate it as a "note/description/explanation," then the system will not allow you to enter an answer at all (since this isn't a question and therefore doesn't require an answer). If you know you're in the right place, but the option you want isn't there, it's almost certainly because that option is no applicable given the choices and configurations you've already made.
The Feedback system
Feedback is additional information from you which is automatically provided to the student after he or she submits a test.
The system is designed to allow multiple levels of feedback. You can set the system so that every student will automatically get the same feedback (text plus an onward link to another page) after submitting a test. You can set the system so that each student will get customized feedback (text plus an onward link to another page) based on his or her score on the test. (You can arrange this, for example, so that only a student who scores high enough and demonstrates a command of the previous material will be able to move on to the next section of material.) You can set a question so that the student will always get standard feedback (text plus an onward link to another page) for that particular question. You can set a question so that the student will get specific feedback (text plus an onward link to another page) based on what answer was given for that question, or if that answer was correct or incorrect. This allows you, for example, to provide remedial help—and a link to more information—when students make certain kinds of errors.
The feedback system is one of the most important aspects of online testing. While it's a bit tougher and more time-consuming to create all the feedback information in addition to the usual questions and answers, the learning experience will be much enriched for your students if you do so.
Getting it ready to go
Creating a good test is already a hard job. Doing it online is even tougher. For example, if you build a test and create a question and indicate the correct answer is "twelve," what happens if the student enters an answer of "12" or "one dozen?" The system grades it as wrong, that's what. Given these kinds of issues, you need to be very careful about how you phrase your questions and how you decide which answer is correct. In addition, you always need to give your test at least two trial runs before you unleash it on your students. First, make sure you can take the test and get every answer correct. Then make sure you can take the test and get every answer wrong. You can't consider your test ready for prime time until you've successfully concluded both those experiments.
Self-evaluation
Perhaps the very best aspect of online testing is its use for self-evaluation purposes. In this role, the instructor constructs exercises which students can use to assess their progress in class and their command of specific material, such as in preparation for a test or exam. When configured correctly, and coupled with ample feedback, this approach can instantly apprise students of their overall performance, pinpoint the mistakes they made, offer assistance with questions which were answered incorrectly, and provide links to material in areas where further study is required. These kinds of self-evaluation exercises are just as valuable in traditional classroom sections as they are in online or hybrid sections, and they are very highly recommended to anyone looking for ways of improving student performance.
Logging
As with many student activities within the CATE system, the online test-taking process is logged to individual student files which can be reviewed in the Student module so that instructors can keep track of student progress. This logging system has evolved considerably over the years. As of March 2001, logging of the test-taking process works like this:
When the student accesses the test, if the test itself is password-protected:
-- "Loaded Test: name_of_test"
Depending on the configuration settings of the test and whether or not it is "embedded" in a presentation page, in many cases the system will be unable to create a log entry when a student loads that test. This doesn't affect other logging of the test-taking process.When the student tries to submit the test, but it is rejected because of data entry errors (such as failing to provide all required information):
-- "Rejected test, student entry error code error_code_goes_here: name_of_test"
Note that if the student enters an invalid username/password for a test which requires username and password, the submission will be rejected for correction, but the system will not be able to identify the student, so the incident cannot be logged.When the student successfully submits the test, if the test itself is password-protected but it is NOT being added to a gradebook:
-- "Submitted Test: name_of_test [no gradebook]"When the student successfully submits the test, if it is being added to a gradebook:
-- "Submitted Test to gradebook: name_of_test"
Note that even a successful submission for a gradebook can have further information appended to the log, such as "Assignment deadline already passed" or "Exceeds permitted submissions."When the test is successfully added to a gradebook:
-- "Submission added to gradebook: name_of_test"
Note that this can have further information appended to the log, such as "Assignment deadline already passed" or "Exceeds permitted submissions."
For all its many advantages, online testing also undeniably has its drawbacks. Here are some problems to keep in mind.
The open-book syndrome
If students are allowed to take online tests on their own from the privacy of their workplaces or their homes, then the experience is equivalent to an open-book test, because students can and will use whatever resources are available to them. If this does not fit into your pedagogical philosophy, then you will need to hold your tests and exams in a campus computer lab where you can control the test-taking environment.
The phantom save
Many students are under the impression that they can complete half a test, save it, turn off the computer, and come back to finish it later. Wrong! You can't save your answers in this fashion, and they will all be permanently lost if you quit your browser or shut down your computer.
The deadly return
Some browsers on some platforms are engineered so that pressing the "return" or "enter" key on the keyboard is the same as clicking on the "submit" button at the bottom of an online test. This is browser behavior which can't be controlled by the test or test configurations, but that knowledge will be of little solace to students who accidentally hit the wrong key and see their test submitted even though they've entered few answers or none at all.
The resizing nightmare
There are still a few old versions of browsers around which have very unpleasant side-effects when resizing a window. If you answer some or all of the questions, then resize the browser window, all the answers will be immediately and permanently lost. Fortunately, most folks have newer versions of browsers which don't exhibit this behavior.
Literal-mindedness
If you build a test and create a question and indicate the correct answer is "twelve," what happens if the student enters an answer of "12" or "one dozen?" The system grades it as wrong, that's what. The testing and grading program is very literal in this regard, so you need to be on guard for questions that are posed in a fashion that invite more than one correct answer when the system can recognize only one correct answer. Although this might not fit into your plans, the best way to prevent this kind of issue is to ask questions in multiple-choice format.
Time-outs
Many ISPs impose time limits on idle connections and automatically disconnect the user if no activity is detected within a certain period. This can have a major impact on your students—especially if you're giving a lengthy test—because the clicking and typing required to answer questions will not be recognized by the ISP, so the student could easily be disconnected in the middle of a test. Web-savvy students will be able to re-establish their connection without losing their work, but many students will not be able to do so and all their effort will need to be done all over again.
The modem ate my homework
In most cases, online testing technology works just fine. However, it relies on hardware and software and networks which are fallible anywhere along the line from the student's computer, across the Internet, to CATE's server, and in some cases on to your computer. Problems do occur. Systems do go down. Any one of a number of glitches can prevent your student from submitting an online test, or prevent you from receiving it. Or, in some cases, can cause the student to submit it many times in succession....
When building or editing a test, all the pages of the Tests and Exercises module contain the same basic recurring features:
Top Navigation Bar
The buttons in the top nav bar allow you to move quickly back to the CATE Main Menu or directly into other modules of the CATE system. They are always available at the top of every page of the Tests and Exercises module.
Red warning
"DO NOT USE THE BROWSER'S "BACK" OR "FORWARD" BUTTONS WHILE ON THIS PAGE" means exactly what it says! Using the browser's built-in "back" or "forward" button in some circumstances can lead you, confusingly, to see old versions of the page which you have already edited. So be sure to restrict your navigation to the buttons provided for you within the page itself.
Help Link
The colored horizontal bar at the top of the page contains the link to this help page. The help button at the top of each of the different Tests and Exercises module pages is configured to lead directly to the appropriate area of this help document.
Information and buttons
Below the Help link, each page contains all the information and buttons needed to reach, to see, and to edit specific elements of a test.
Confirm button
If you enter or edit any information on a page, don't forget to hit the "Confirm" button (located at the top and bottom of most entry/editing pages) or your changes will not be saved.
Footer
The footer of every page displays a current date and time stamp and email link for contacting the webmaster.
Upon arriving at the Tests and Exercises module from the CATE main menu, a variety of options are immediately available.
"Back to main menu" -- This button returns you to the CATE main menu.
"Create new test" -- This buttons allows you to begin the process of creating a new test. See below for details.
"Clone someone else's test" -- If you want to make a copy for yourself of a test originally created by someone else, this is the button to use. See below for details.
"Convert" -- If you have a test which was created with the old Tests and Exercises module, you can convert a copy for use with all the features of the new module. See below for details.
"Import" -- If you have created a structured text file on your local computer with a word processor, you can import it into the system and automatically turn it into a fully functional online test. See below for details.
"Export" -- This feature allows you to export a CATE test in GIFT format for automated import into the Moodle CMS. See below for details.
"Deadlines" -- If you have already created at least two tests, this button will allow you to edit the accessibility dates for all of them on a single page, and will also allow you to edit assignment deadlines for each. See below for details.
"Take a test" -- If you have already created one or more online tests, they will be listed inside a gray-shaded area on this page. You can click on the name of the test to see the test and take it. See below for details.
"View/Edit/Clone/Delete selected test" -- If you have already created one or more online tests, they will be listed inside a gray-shaded area on this page. Select it with the matching radio button, then click on the button below if you want to work on that test. See below for details.
The Tests and Exercises module allows you and your colleagues to specify which tests, if any, are available to be cloned. On this page you see a list, sorted by owner, of all the tests which have been designated as available for cloning. (Note that you don't see your own tests on this list, even if you've made them available for cloning.) In order to clone one of these tests, just click on the radio button to the left of the name of the test, then click on the button labeled "Confirm Cloning Test." Within a couple of seconds, the system will make an exact copy of the original test and add it to your own directory of tests and exercises, and you'll be automatically taken to the main test page (see below for details) of the new file. If necessary, you can now edit the new test to suit your needs.
If you have any tests or exercises created with the old-style Tests and Exercises module, they are listed on this page. By clicking on the radio button next to the name of a test, then clicking on the button labeled "Convert Selected File," you can instantly create a new version of the original. (Note that the original test remains intact and unchanged in the old module.) After this process, you are immediately delivered to the main test page (see below for details) of the new file. If necessary, you can now edit the new test to take advantage of features found in the new Tests and Exercises module.
There is one important point to keep in mind about this process. If your original test is in use in your online class or on other webpages or in other fashion on the Web, the conversion process does not replace the original test with the new one. Instead, you'll need to identify all the locations where the old test is used, and all the links that point to that old version of the test, and replace them with links to the new version of the test.
In addition to manually entering the questions and answers for a test into the input screens in this module, it's also possible to import a structured text file which has been created on your desktop with a word processor. The basic process is quite simple. Create the text file on your computer. Use the File Upload module to send it up to the server. Then use this "Import" utility of the Tests and Exercises module to transform the text file into a fully functional online test or exercise.
Of course, you need to create the original text file with just the right structure in order to make this work. Complete details on the text format and the remainder of the process are available on the "Import" utility page.
At the menu of your Tests and Exercises Module, click the "Export" button to initiate this process.
On the first screen you'll be prompted to pick a directory to hold the exported file(s). (If you haven't already done so, you might want to go to the File Management module and create a suitable directory before proceeding.)
The second screen shows all of your tests and exercises, and you can use the corresponding checkboxes to select the one(s) you want exported. The selected test(s) will be automatically converted to GIFT format and saved as text file(s) in the directory you specified. (Note that your original CATE test remains in place unscathed.)
You can download the exported file(s) to your local computer, upload the file(s) to Moodle, and import the questions into your testbank there using the GIFT option.
For more information, see "How to...Export Tests to Moodle."
If you have already created at least two tests, this routine will allow you to edit the accessibility settings for all of them on a single page, and will also allow you to edit assignment deadlines for each. This can be a convenience at the end or beginning of a semester when you need to revise accessibility dates for all your tests and quizzes for the new semester.
While this page is generally used for editing accessibility, it also allows you to edit the name of each test as well as the time limit for each test if desired.
For each test, use the radio buttons to indicate if the test should be inaccessible, accessible, or accessible only between chosen dates. If the test is being used as an assignment in one or more gradebooks, the submission deadlines can also be adjusted here.
Because almost inevitably all deadlines and accessibility dates fall within the same year, you can set the year with the option near the top of the page, and that year will take precedence over the years shown in all the dates elsewhere on the page, which makes for speedier editing. (Note that for any accessibility setting NOT configured to open between specific dates, the corresponding date setting—and the optional year—are ignored.)
It's important to remember that the test itself has configurations which control its accessibility: always accessible, never accessibility, accessible only between certain dates. The accessibility of the test is strictly enforced, and it is completely different from the gradebook's assignment deadline which is much less stringent. However, no matter what deadline you set for the assignment in the gradebook, if the test itself is not accessible, then students won't even be able to see it, let alone take it and submit the results to the gradebook. Thus, you need to make sure that the accessibility configurations for the test itself are suitable for allowing students to meet the gradebook's assignment deadline, and vice versa.
Note that this same information can be edited in other places. In this module, the test-level configurations for each test allow you to adjust the accessibility settings (and the deadline if the test is being used as a gradebook assignment). In the Gradebook module, the assignment-level configurations for each assignment allow you to adjust its submission deadline as well as the accessibility dates of the test itself. Finally, the "Deadlines" routine in the Gradebook module provides an editing page where you can simultaneously change the deadline for every assignment in the gradebook, plus the accessibility settings for each test being used in that gradebook.
WARNING! If you have created a significant number of tests, versions of Internet Explorer (at least through 5.5) on a PC might be unable to deal with the volume of HTML code required by this form. In that case, the page will appear garbled and you'll be unable to edit any dates. This problem has not arisen on IE on the Macintosh, nor on Netscape Navigator on the Mac or PC. If you have problems, try switching to Navigator or to a Mac.
This option can be reached via the "Delete Tests" button on the menu of all your tests. It allows you to delete multiple tests simultaneously (as opposed to the "Delete Test" button, which only allows you to delete one at a time). The button will only be available if you have more than one test on file in your account.
After clicking the "Delete Tests" button, you'll see a list of all your tests, each with a corresponding checkbox. (Any test currently in use as a gradebook assignment won't have a checkbox and can't be deleted via this routine; you'll need to remove the test from your gradebook(s) before you can do so.)
Select the corresponding checkbox for each test you want to delete, then click the "Delete Selected Tests" button at the top or bottom of the page.
The next page will show you all the tests you selected and let you confirm or cancel the deletion.
If you choose to confirm, all those tests (along with all their questions, answers, etc) will be irretrievably deleted, so don't do it unless you really mean it! If you choose to cancel, you'll be returned to the menu of all your tests with no changes.
Folders are not required, but they can be very useful for sorting and organizing your tests, especially if you have a large number of them. The folder routines allow you to create and name folders, determine the sequence in which the folders will appear, and store your tests within folders. Even if you create folders and assign some tests to folders, you might prefer to leave one or more tests outside of your folders.
From the Menu of Tests, click the "Folders" button to reach the "Menu of Folders for Tests." There you'll find the "Add Folder" button which will allow you to create as many folders as you want.
The "Menu of Folders for Tests" will also provide the "Folder Sequence" button and "Organize Tests" button if you have already created folders for your tests. The same page will additionally show a list of all the folders you've created, if any.
"Add Test" -- Enter a name for the new folder. You can optionally adjust the sequence. The name and sequence can also be edited at any time.
"Folder Sequence" -- Adjust the sequence of folders by editing the sequence number(s). By default, folders appear in the order in which the are created, but this allows you to mandate your own sequence for the folders, alphabetical or otherwise.
"Organize Tests" -- Select test(s) from column on the left to move into one folder selected from column on the right. This allows you to quickly move tests into or out of any folder.
"Edit Folder" -- This button leads to a menu for the selected folder.
On the menu page for any individual folder, you'll find "Rename Folder" button, the "Delete Folder" button, and the "Organize Tests" button. The same page will additionally show a list of all the tests currently assigned to that folder (if any), each with a link to view, edit, clone, or delete the selected the test as usual.
"Back to Folders" -- This button returns you to the menu of all your folders.
"Rename Folder" -- Edit the name of the folder and/or adjust the number to control the sequence of folders.
"Delete Folder" -- Any tests in a deleted folder will be transferred to "No Folder."
"Organize Tests" -- This leads to the same routine as the button with the same name found on the "Menu of Folders." This allows you to quickly move tests into or out of any folder.
"View/Edit/Clone/Delete Selected Test" -- If the folder contains one or more tests, each will have a radio button. Select the corresponding radio button, then click this button in order to reach the usual editing routines for that test and its sets, feedback, questions, and answers.
The main page for any test also provides buttons for dealing with folders. If the test is assigned to a folder, the "To Folder" button will take you directly to the menu for that folder. If you have created one or more folders, the "Change Folder" button will allow you to quickly specify the folder to which you want this test assigned.
You can arrive at this page either by clicking on the button labeled "Create new test" on the Tests and Exercises Menu page, or by clicking on the button labeled "Add Test" on the main editing page of any test. Either way, all you need to do to create a new test is to enter the name of the new test (or else by default it will be named "new test;" the name of the test will appear at the top of the page when it's being taken, so you probably want to give it a suitable name), and then click on the button labeled "Confirm new test." Doing so will create a blank test with default settings and with no questions, answers, feedback, etc. Upon creating the new test, you'll be immediately taken to the main editing page of the new test where you can begin to configure and build the test as needed.
The main Test page is the location from which you begin to create a new test or you edit an existing test. No actual editing can be done on the Test page itself, but the following information and buttons to further editing pages are available to you.
"Take Test" -- This button leads to an online copy of the test which looks exactly as your students will see it. You can enter your answers and take the test exactly as you students will be able to do.
Main test buttons
The first horizontal gray bar on the page contains the main test buttons:
"Menu of Tests" -- This button takes you back to the Test and Exercises menu so you can select another test.
"To Folder" -- If the test is assigned to a folder, this button appears and allows you to move directly to the menu of folders.
"Prev test" -- This button takes you to the previous test (alphabetically by test name).
"Next test" -- This button takes you to the next test (alphabetically by test name).
"Clone test" -- This button allows you to make an exact duplicate of this test, which you can then edit as necessary. See below for details.
"Delete test" -- This button allows you to completely and permanently delete this test and all its sets, questions, answers, and feedback. See below for details.
"Add test" -- This button takes you to the page where you can begin the creation of an entirely new test or exercise.
Configurations for test
The second horizontal gray bar on the main Test page is labeled "Configurations for this test." Below the bar is a partial synopsis of the current settings of the main configurations for this test: title, URL, update, accessibility, etc. You can see more of the configurations for this test, and you can edit them, by clicking on the button labeled "Edit Test Configurations" which is found in the gray bar. See below for details about editing the configs.
In this horizontal gray bar you also find the "Inspect" button, "Tally" button, "Change Folder" button (if you've created one or more buttons), and the "Nav Bar" button which will allow you to specify a nav bar (if you have already created it using the Nav Bar module) to be available to students for navigational purposes after they submit the test. See below for details.
Nav Bar
The second horizontal gray bar also contains a "Nav Bar" button which allows you to select a row of navigational buttons (created with the Nav Bar module) which will appear at the top of the results page after the user submits the test, thus presenting easy navigational choices See below for details about picking a Nav Bar.
Sets of questions
The third horizontal gray bar on the main Test page is labeled "Sets of questions for this test." In the bar itself are two buttons, and below the bar—assuming they have already been created—is a list of all the sets of questions for this test, each with its own "Edit/Delete" button. Here is an explanation of all these buttons:
"Edit sequence of sets" -- This button leads to a page on which you can edit the sequence in which sets of questions (not the questions themselves) appear in a test. See below for details. Note that this button only appears if you have more than one set of questions in the test.
"Add set" -- This button leads to a page where you can begin the creation of a set of questions for this test. See below for details.
"Edit/delete set/questions" -- For each set, if any, in the test, a matching button labeled "Edit/Delete Set/Questions" takes you to a page where you can edit the configurations of the set itself and/or create, edit, and/or delete the questions and answers in the set. See below for details.
Feedback for the test
The next gray bar is labeled "Feedback for this test."
There are several different levels of feedback available for you to provide information to students when they submit a test. At this level, you can serve one default feedback message to everyone who takes the test, or—if this test is configured to be scored—you can create a variety of conditional feedback responses, one of which will be served to the student based on his or her overall score on the test as a whole. You can create a new feedback response by clicking on the button labeled "Add Feedback." (Note that this button will not be available if you have already created a feedback response for a test which is not being graded, since an ungraded test or exercise or survey can have only a single generic feedback response).
If you already have one or more feedback responses for this test, they will be listed below the gray bar. Each feedback response will show its threshold (for example "if user's score is equal to or greater than 90 points...." and will provide a button labeled "Edit/Delete Feedback."
"Add feedback" -- This button allows you to add a new feedback response. See below for details.
"Edit/delete feedback" -- For each existing feedback response, you can edit or delete that response: its threshold, text, and the link it provides. The button leads to the feedback page for making those changes. See below for details.
Cloning a test will make an exact duplicate while leaving the original intact. The new copy will have all the configurations, feedback, sets, questions, and answers as the original, and you can then edit the new copy as needed. Note that changes made to the original after it has been cloned will in no way affect the clone.
To clone a test, just click on the button labeled "Clone Test," then click on "Confirm Cloning Test" to complete the process and you'll be taken to the main editing page of the new test.
Deleting a test completely and permanently will nuke the test and all its configurations, feedback, sets, questions, and answers. When you click on the "Delete Test" button, you'll be warned that this is a permanent deletion; in addition, if the test is part of a gradebook, and if there are any test results on hand in the gradebook, you'll be further warned that deleting the test will automatically remove the test from the gradebook and delete those gradebook results. If you click on the button labeled "Confirm Deleting Test," everything will be nuked and you'll be delivered back to the Tests and Exercises menu page.
Clicking the "Inspect" button on the main page of any test automatically launches the inspection routine. This routine quickly looks through all the questions (and their answers) in that test in an effort to locate any problems, such as multiple choice questions which have only one answer. The inspection page shows the results of the review.
If a problem is identified for a particular question, that question is listed here and the problem is described in red. Questions with problems are also flagged within the list of questions on the set page, as well as on the individual Q&A page.
However, this routine can only identify certain kinds of problems, so you need to be responsible for ensuring your tests function properly. You should always experiment to guarantee your tests can yield 100% (or maximum number of points) and 0% (or zero points) before unleashing them on your students.
After viewing the results of the inspection, you can click the "Back to Test Page" button to return to the main page for the test.
This page displays tallied results of a particular test. Separate tallies are maintained for each gradebook using this test (also available via the Gradebook module) and results of this test which do not flow into a gradebook.
Each tally displays the following information in the tally header:
-- Number of submissions on file for this tally
-- Highest score on file for this tally
-- Lowest score on file for this tally
-- Average score for this tally
-- Date and time of first submission on file for this tally
-- Date and time of most recent submission on file for this tally
Beneath the header data, information for each tally is presented in a table. The exact nature of the data in the table will vary depending on a variety of factors. Most importantly, the data will vary depending on how/if the test is configured to be scored.
Normally the table contains the following columns:
-- The question and the answer (Depending on test configs and type of question, the answer doesn't always appear)
-- "No." Number of times the question was asked (Note that in many cases tests are configured so that all students see different versions, so in many instances different questions will be asked a different number of times.)
-- "Cor" The number of times the question was answered correctly (Note that in some configs, such as for a survey, a test configured not to be graded, or an ungradable question, this column won't appear or a particular cell might be empty.)
-- "Incor" The number of times the question was answered incorrectly (Note that in some configs, such as for a survey, a test configured not to be graded, or an ungradable question, this column won't appear or a particular cell might be empty.)
(Note that if the sum of "Cor" and "Incor" is less than "No." that means in some cases the question wasn't answered at all.)
-- "Pct" The percentage of correct answers based on "Cor" divided by "No." (Note that in some configs, such as for a survey, a test configured not to be graded, or an ungradable question, this column won't appear or a particular cell might be empty.)
Where a number appears in the "Pct" column, it is color coded to help make it easy to scan through the table and determine how well students performed on each question:
-- Black: 90% or more of answers submitted for that question were correct
-- Blue: Between 80% and 89.99% of answers submitted for that question were correct
-- Purple: Between 70% and 79.99% of answers submitted for that question were correct
-- Green: Between 60% and 69.99% of answers submitted for that question were correct
-- Red: Less than 60% of answers submitted for that question were correct
In addition to those columns, each table is also comprised of varying numbers of rows. Each question asked appears in a row with a light gray background to make it readily identifiable. Depending on the kind of question, immediately below it will be one row with the correct answer, multiple rows with multiple choice answers, or no row at all for the answer. If a question can be machine-graded, then -- depending on the type of question (such as multiple choice) and whether the test is configured to be scored by points or percentages -- the answer(s) will be marked to indicate which is correct or how many points each is worth.
Note that some kinds of data are NOT included in these tabulations. For example, for an exact word/short answer question, all the various answers submitted are not saved or displayed; the system only tallies how many times the question was asked, how many times answered correctly, and how many times incorrectly. Similarly, for a short essay question, the system never saves or displays the various answers submitted, and of course those answers can't be tallied as correct or incorrect.
In general you don't need to manually deal with purging tallies, because this will happen as a matter of course as you finish teaching a class and prepare your materials to use them again for the next class. The portion of the tabulation for a test which flowed into a particular grade will be deleted when the gradebook is purged at the end of the class, when the gradebook is deleted, or when the test is removed as an assignment for that gradebook. Otherwise, tabulated data for a test are retained on file until manually deleted (use the "Purge This Tally" button) or until the test itself is deleted.
This option allows you to purge aggregated results for a particular tally of a particular test. Afterwards, a new tally automatically begins and all additional results are aggregated. The option is accessed via the "Purge This Tally" button on the appropriate tally page.
Purging tallied results will NOT affect students, tests, scores, or gradebooks in any manner whatsoever!
Only the aggregated data will be deleted. Once deleted, it can't be recovered.
After purging, the aggregating process begins again and as each new submission arrives the results will be added to the new batch of tallied data.
Note that when students are deleted from a gradebook at the end of a class, all tallied data for that gradebook is also automatically purged at that time.
This option can be accessed via the "Nav Bar" button found in the dark gray horizontal bar labeled "Configurations for this test" on the main Test page.
If you have already created one or more nav bars using the Nav Bar module, they will appear here and you can select one by clicking the corresponding radio button and then clicking "Confirm Picking Nav Bar." If you select a nav bar in this manner, then it will appear at the top of the Feedback page which the student sees after submitting a test. In that manner, the student will have navigational options available to continue moving through your webpages after taking the test.
There are configurations which can be set for every level: the test as a whole, each set of questions, each question, each individual answer, etc. On this page you can edit the configurations which control the test as a whole, so in some ways these are the most important.
Name of test
By default the name of each new test is simply "New Test." You can enter or edit the name of the test, but you can't leave it blank. The name of the test will appear at the top of the page when it's being taken, so you probably want to give it a suitable name
Gradebook for test
If this test has been selected as an assignment for any gradebooks, those gradebooks will be listed here. (To add this test to a gradebook as an assignment, use the Gradebook module.) This also shows the assignment submission deadline for this test for each gradebook; if it's shown in red, the deadline has already passed. Remember, a test can be used as an assignment in more than one gradebook, so there could be more than one entry here, and each entry could have a different submission deadline.
It's important to remember that the test itself has configurations which control its accessibility: always accessible, never accessibility, accessible only between certain dates. (See below.) The accessibility of the test is strictly enforced, and it is completely different from the gradebook's assignment deadline which is much less stringent. However, no matter what deadline you set for the assignment in the gradebook, if the test itself is not accessible, then students won't even be able to see it, let alone take it and submit the results to the gradebook. Thus, you need to make sure that the accessibility configurations for the test itself are suitable for allowing students to meet the gradebook's assignment deadline, and vice versa.
The assignment deadline is normally set in the Gradebook module, but for convenience you can also adjust it right here to ensure that the assignment deadline and the test accessibility are synchronized. If a student submits this test as an assignment any time AFTER the deadline date for this gradebook, the submission will be flagged as unaccepted and the student will be warned that it will only be accepted for the gradebook with the instructor's explicit permission.
Note also that for any particular gradebook, you can use the "Deadlines" routine in the Gradebook module to do bulk editing of all deadlines and all test accessibility for all assignments.
Accessibility
You might not want your students—or anyone else—to have permanent, full-time access to your test. In that case, you can use this configuration to control that accessibility:
"Make this test inaccessible" -- When this option is selected, no one can see or take the test, except that you can do so when logged into the editing routines in your CATE account.
"Make this test accessible" -- When this option is selected, your test can be freely seen and taken (although of course password-protection might be applied).
"Make this test accessible only between these dates" -- When this option is selected, you must specify the date on which students can begin accessing the test, and the date after which they can no longer access the test. This is usually the best option for this configuration, since it allows you to set the accessibility beforehand and automatically open and close the test on the correct dates. Sorry, the exact times can't be set, just the dates. Note that password-protection might further apply to the accessibility of the test.
If you're using this test as an assignment in one or more gradebooks, remember that the overall accessibility of the test itself—which can be adjusted right here—is different from the assignment submission deadline for a particular gradebook. For example, you might set the test to be permanently accessible, but for a particular gradebook assignment you might set a specific deadline by which this test must be submitted.
To sum up, the accessibility configuration determines if and when your students can see and take the test at all; the assignment submission deadline determines the date by which it must be submitted for a specific gradebook. Thus, you'll need to coordinate the assignment submission deadline within the gradebook(s) with the overall accessibility of the test itself.
Clonability
If you check the checkbox, other instructors will be able to make their copies of this test. If you uncheck the checkbox, they won't. In general, you should leave this off (unchecked). Note that you can selectively turn on clonability just long enough for a colleague to make a copy, then turn it off.
Student name, ID, email
Depending on whether you're making a test, a self-help exercise, an online survey, or what have you, you will have different needs in regard to identifying the student. For example, you'll usually want surveys to be submitted anonymously. This option allows you to determine exactly what information the student must provide when submitting the test.
"Name" -- If checked, the student must enter his or her name. Actually, the system has no way of knowing if this is the student's real name, or if this is even a name at all. The student must enter something, however, even if it is just "xxx." If you configure this test to be protected by a password zone (see below), then the student will automatically be identified (with the name in the roster database) based on the username and password that must be entered, so requiring the name here is really superfluous in that case.
"SRJC student ID number" -- If you want further proof of the student's identify, you can ask for the ID. Again, keep in mind that the system can't enforce entry of a valid student ID ("xxx" will be accepted) and in any event some students might be reluctant to provide it in an online test. If the test is protected by a password zone (see below), the requisite username and password will provide full identification, so the ID number would really be superfluous.
"Email account" -- You can force the student to enter an email account. Again, the system can't guarantee this is the correct account, but it will ensure that at least it has been entered in the proper name@domain.com format. If you configure this test so that results will be automatically emailed to the student by the system, then the test will automatically insist on getting an email address from the student, even if you don't check this box. (Of course, we can never guarantee that the student will enter the email address completely and correctly.)
If you don't require the student to enter an email account, but you have the test results emailed to you, then the email arrives in your in-box as though from "webmaster@online.santarosa.edu." That also means, if you just hit the "reply to" button in your email application, any responses you send will go to "webmaster@online.santarosa.edu" unless you manually change it each time. If you do require the student to enter an email account when taking the test, then the test result will arrive in your email in-box from that address, and when you hit "reply to," it will also automatically go to that address.
Password zone
In many if not most cases, you will want to protect your online tests and exams (although probably not your self-help exercises and surveys) from visitors who should not see them or submit them. You can do so by protecting the test with a password zone. Password zones are created, as you might expect, in the Password module. If you have created any, they will appear here under the heading "Password zone for this test" so that you have the option of selecting one with which to protect the test.
You can leave the setting at "Not assigned to a zone"—in which case no password is required to see or submit the test—or you can select a radio button to specify which password zone will protect the test. if you protect the test, then visitors must enter a username and password valid for that zone before they will be able to see the test. Note that the procedure is slightly different if the test is embedded on a presentation page—see the Presentation module for more on that option—in which case the password protection of the presentation page, rather than the test itself, is enforced. In both cases, if the test itself is password protected, then the student still must enter a username and password—valid for the zone which has been selected to protect the test—before the submission will be accepted.
Note that even if you do not select a password zone to protect the test, the user still must enter a valid username and password if this test has been selected as an assignment as a gradebook. In that case, the username and password are used by the system to determine to which student in which gradebook the results are credited. In this manner, the same test can be used in multiple gradebooks because the system will be able to deduce the correct destination for the submission.
However, be aware that if a test has been selected as a gradebook assignment, then everyone who attempts to submit the test must enter a username and password, even if they are not in a section with a gradebook. Obviously, this can be a problem to those students who aren't in a gradebook, because their username and password won't work! In such cases, you would need to have two copies of the test: one for the gradebook, and one for non-gradebook use (which therefore would not require a username and password).
If you ever need to change more than one or two tests from one password zone (or no zone at all) to another password zone, you can do so in this module by dealing with each test one at a time. Or you can go to the Password module where there is a routine for quickly changing password zones for multiple tests in bulk.
Options for presenting sets of questions
"Present sets in random sequence" -- If you have more than one set of questions in the test, you can present the sets in random sequence. For example, if you have a set of true/false questions and a set of multiple choice questions, checking this option means that sometimes all the t/f questions would be presented before the multiple choice questions, while sometimes the t/f questions would be presented after the multiple choice questions. Note that this is different than the option at the set level which allows for presenting questions within a set in random sequence. See below for details.
AUTO-NUMBERING
If you want, you can let the system automatically number the questions on your test for you.
"Do not auto-number" -- The system will not add numbers.
"Automatically number questions, straight through test" -- This option will automatically number each question sequentially throughout your test.
"Automatically number questions within each set (if there is more than one set)" -- If you have more than one set of questions in your test, this option will automatically number each questions sequentially, but it will start again at "1" for each new set. This way, for example, you might true/false questions numbered 1 through 10, then have multiple choice questions numbered 1 through 10 on the same test.
Scoring/grading options
One of the most important decisions you need to make is about scoring the test. There are three possibilities.
"Do not score this test" -- In this case, the system will make no effort to indicate which answers are correct and which are incorrect. In addition, you will be able to create only one generic feedback result for the test as a whole (since the system won't be able to divine any threshold levels from ungraded results for providing conditional feedback), you won't be able to indicate which answer is the correct one for a question, you won't be able to provide conditional feedback at the answer level for correct answer vs incorrect answer, etc. This option is most suited for surveys, registration forms, and other non-testing materials.
"Score each question/answer as correct/incorrect, with total results as percentage" -- This option instructs the system to determine if each answer is correct or incorrect based on the way you've constructed the question and answer(s), then to calculate a final score as a percentage, such as 95%, based on the ratio of correctly answered questions.
"Score each question/answer with a point value, with total results as accumulated points" -- In this option, the system will determine the point value of each answer given based on the way you've constructed the question and answer(s), then it will calculate a final score as a total, such as 40 points, based on the sum of the point values of the answers given. (Points awarded for a particular answer can range from 0 to 999.99, with a maximum of two decimal places.)
Note that if this test is going to be selected as a gradebook assignment, you will want the scoring of this test and the scoring of the gradebook to match.
Addendum: As of September 2009, the following applies. If you have an existing test (one you've created or cloned) configured to score by percentages but you switch the scoring to points, the system will look to see if point values have previously been assigned to any answers for that test. If it finds no point values, then the system will automatically treat each correct answer as being worth one point. Note this might or might not be what you want, because you might, for example, want each answer that was previously flagged as correct to be worth a half point or two points when scoring by points.
Time limit
If desired, you can set a time limit for a test. The time limit must be denominated in minutes. For example, setting the value at "60" indicates a time limit of one hour.
The default value for the time limit is zero. That means there is no time limit.
If the time limit setting is greater than zero, it will be displayed at the top of the test page (under the name of the test).
If a student exceeds the limit while taking the test, the following will occur upon submission:
The timer shows no mercy. If the student goes one second over the time limit, that's flagged as a violation.
Note that the student will NEVER be prevented from submitting the test, even if the time limit has been exceeded. The student will simply be warned of the problem and the submission will be flagged accordingly.
Results and destinations
This can be the most confusing and complicated decision to make when setting test configurations. To make it a little easier, the first thing you need to think about is what you're actually creating: a test or quiz or exam or something similar which will be used as a grade in a class; a self-help exercise which will not be used for grading; or a survey or registration form which is just used to gather information.
Once you have that distinction firmly in mind, then you need to realize that each test/exercise/survey is composed of some or all of these components:
Then, think about your ability to send each of those seven components to four different destinations:
Putting it all together, it means that you have the opportunity to determine exactly what information goes where by simply checking off the box of each component in each of the columns provided. (To send the results to a gradebook, simply go to that gradebook and select this test as an online assignment; in that case, all the components of the test result will automatically flow into that gradebook.) Thus, each of the seven components could go to as few as zero or as many as four destinations.
Some examples:
If this is a survey (see Figure 1), under the "Email Instr" column you would probably check all the boxes (even though some of them, such as "disclose if the given answer was correct or incorrect," won't really appear in a survey) so that you will get a complete copy of the submission, but under the "On Web" column you might just check "Overall Feedback" so that you can provide a "thank you" message of some kind to the user. You'd probably leave all the boxes blank under "Email User."
Figure 1
If this is a self-help exercise (see Figure 2), then under "On Web" you would probably check all the boxes, but leave everything else unchecked. That would allow the student to get instantaneous results and feedbacks on his or her performance and progress in mastering the material. You might also decide to check the "Total points/score/percentage" box under "Email Instr" just so you know that the student took the exercise and how well he or she performed.
Figure 2
If this is a test or quiz or exam which is being counted toward the class grade (see Figure 3), then you would probably use the Gradebook module to select this test as an assignment in the appropriate gradebook(s). It's also a good idea to check all the "Email Instr" buttons so you'll have a backup copy available via email for emergencies. (You should be able to use your email client to automatically route those emails into a storage folder.) You might also check the "Overall feedback" boxes under "On Web" and/or "Email User" just so the student can get a generic feedback message for a clue about how well he or she did.
Figure 3
Would you check all the boxes under "On Web" or "Email User" is this is a test being used for class grades? Almost certainly not! This would be the equivalent of giving back a fully marked test, replete with corrected answers, to a student in a classroom, and then leaving the room while everyone else is still taking the test. You probably don't want to reveal that much about the test results while others are still taking the test. Instead, you would let the student see the results in the gradebook, but configure the assignment (in the Gradebook module) to withhold results until the appropriate date for releasing them to all students.
The bottom line is that you have complete control over what components of the result go where, but you need to think about what you're doing so you don't give away too much too soon.
By the way, if you accidentally set these configurations so that the results are being sent nowhere at all, when a test is submitted under those circumstances the module's fail-safe system will kick in and automatically email everything directly to you (but nowhere else) with a loud warning.
Email address of destination
If you are having any part of the test result emailed to you (see above), then ordinarily that will go to the email address you have specified on your CATE homepage. (If you don't have a CATE homepage, or it shows no email address, then the default is the email address we have for you in the database of CATE accounts.)
If you want this material to be emailed to an alternative email address—perhaps to a reader or assistant or colleague—then you can enter that email address here for the alternative recipient.
Post results to Message List archive page
In addition to configuring a test so that results are sent to you by email, to the user by email, to a temporary webpage, and/or to a gradebook, you can also configure tests so that results are sent directly to one or more Message List archive pages. This allows you to create structured forms which force your students to answer certain questions in a certain order and in a certain manner (such as with multiple choice answers) while also making the output available for all other to access.
If you have already created one or more Message Lists and configured them to save messages to an archive page (see Communications module for details), then each of those Lists will appear here. Test results will only be posted to an archive page if the Message List is configured to save messages to such a page, and if the test itself is configured to do so. You can select one or more Lists by clicking on the appropriate checkbox, then clicking on the element(s) of the test you want to appear on the archive page. Note that these elements are exactly the same as the ones you can choose when sending results by email, to gradebooks, etc as discussed above. If you choose a List to receive test results, you must also select at least one element of the test to be delivered there, or else you will receive an error message and you'll be forced to pick again.
If you configure your test in this fashion, then when the user submits the test, the appropriate results will be automatically saved on the archive page(s) for the Message List(s) you've chosen. (However, no matter what the Message List configurations, such submissions are NOT dispatched via email to all List recipients.) As with any message sent to a List, you retain the ability to edit or delete any material that appears on your archive page (by using the Communications module.)
Note than unless the test, or the page on which the test is embedded, is password-protected, then this option opens your Message List to submissions from anyone who can find the test, not just your students.
This option is reached by clicking the "Nav Bar" button on the main test page, and it allows you to select a Nav Bar (a row of navigational buttons created with the Nav Bar module) to appear at the top of the results page after the user submits the test, thus presenting the user with easy navigational choices.
The "Pick Nav Bar" page will show you a list of all the Nav Bars you've created. To select one, just click on the corresponding radio button, then click on the "Confirm Picking Nav Bar" button.
If you have no Nav Bars in your Nav Bar module, you won't be able to place one on the results page.
Whenever a user submits a test, a results page appears in the browser, replacing the test itself. The results page displays information to the user based on configurations you've chosen. If you've selected a Nav Bar, then it will appear at the top of the results page.
Note that this will NOT put a Nav Bar at the top of the test page itself. However, you can always use the Presentation module to embed a test into a Presentation page, and you can also use the Presentation module to put a Nav Bar at the top of that page, so you can get the same effect.
Feedback is used to give students more information after they've submitted a test.
The main Feedback page is the location from which you begin to create a new feedback response for the test as a whole, or you edit an existing feedback response for the test as a whole.
When creating feedback for the student at the level of the test as a whole (remember, elsewhere in the module you can also create feedback for individual questions and for individual answers), you have the ability to provide the user with text and with an onward link (that is, a link which can be clicked to take the user to another webpage). In some cases you can have only one feedback response; in other cases, you can have multiple conditional responses, each one based on the scoring threshold. Either way, only one feedback response will be delivered to a student with each submission of the test.
If this test is being scored, then you can make feedback conditional by setting the threshold. If it is being scored as percentage, then you can enter a percentage value from 0% to 100%; if it is being scored as points, then you can enter a point value from 0 to 999.99 with a maximum of two decimal places; if it is being scored as the numeric equivalent of a letter grade, then you can enter a numeric value from 0 to 4.
If the test is being scored, you have the ability to create as many different feedback responses as you wish, each with a different threshold. This enables you, for example, to construct the feedback system at the level of the test as a whole so that students who get 90-100 on the test will get one particular feedback response, those who get 80-89 will get a different feedback response, those who get 70-79 will get yet another feedback response, and so on.
Here's a simple example of thresholds and text for creating five conditional feedback responses based on how each student performs on the test:
Note that in this example you could provide the onward link to the online material for the next chapter only for the 90, 80, and 70 responses, and not to the two responses with lower thresholds.
If the test is not being scored, you can create only one single feedback response for all users. In addition, if the test is being scored, but you want to create only one single feedback response for all users, you can set the threshold at 0 to ensure everyone will get that feedback.
If you create feedback for the test, then it will be delivered to the student according to configurations you set at the test level for "Overall feedback for the test as a whole (if any)." That is, you can choose one, some, or all of these options for execution after the test is submitted: immediately display the feedback on the webpage for the user to see, send the feedback to the user by email, send the feedback to yourself by email, place the feedback in the gradebook for the student for display as you direct in the gradebook configurations.
You can't actually add or edit a feedback response on the Feedback page itself, but the following information and buttons to reach adding and editing pages are available to you.
"Take Test" -- This button leads to an online copy of the test which looks exactly as your students will see it. You can enter your answers and take the test exactly as you students will be able to do.
Main test buttons
The first horizontal gray bar on the page contains the main feedback buttons:
"Test page" -- This button takes you back to the main page of this Test.
"Prev feedback" -- This button takes you to the previous feedback response for this test (numerically according to threshold).
"Next feedback" -- This button takes you to the next feedback response for this test (numerically according to threshold).
"Clone feedback" -- This button allows you to make an exact duplicate of this feedback response, which you can then edit as necessary. See below for details.
"Delete feedback" -- This button allows you to completely and permanently delete this feedback response. See below for details.
"Add Feedback" -- This button takes you to the page where you can begin to create an entirely new feedback response. See above for details.
This feedback response
Below the second horizontal gray bar on the feedback page you'll see the threshold for this feedback, the text which will be presented to the user, and the link which will be provided.
"Edit Feedback" -- If you want to edit the threshold, text, and/or link for this feedback response, you can click on this button to reach the feedback editing page. See below for details.
When creating feedback for the student at the level of the test as a whole (remember, you can also create feedback for individual questions and for individual answers), you have the ability to provide the user with text and with an onward link (that is, a link which can be clicked to take the user to another webpage). In addition, if the test is being scored you can also set the threshold at which a particular feedback response will be triggered. This is the page where you can enter all that information.
For general information about feedback at the level of the test as a whole, see above.
For details about entering feedback data—threshold, text, and/or the onward link—see below.
When editing feedback for the student at the level of the test as a whole (remember, you can also have feedback for individual questions and for individual answers), you have the ability to provide the user with text and with an onward link (that is, a link which can be clicked to take the user to another webpage). In addition, if the test is being scored you can also set the threshold at which a particular feedback response will be triggered. This is the page where you can edit all that information.
For general information about feedback at the level of the test as a whole, see above.
Threshold
If this test is being scored, then you can make feedback conditional by setting the threshold. If it is being scored as percentage, then you can enter a percentage value from 0% to 100%; if it is being scored as points, then you can enter a point value from 0 to 999.99 with a maximum of two decimal places; if it is being scored as the numeric equivalent of a letter grade, then you can enter a numeric value from 0 to 4. See "Feedback Page" above for details.
Feedback text
For this response, you can enter the feedback text you want the student to read upon submission of the test.
Link
In addition to the text you can provide to the user as part of the feedback response, you can select a link to be given to the user to lead him or her onward to the webpage of your choice following submission of the test or exercise. When creating a link as part of a feedback response, you simply click on the radio button (and, if it is a presentation with more than one page, use the accompanying pull-down menu to choose the specific page) to select a page you have already created in the CATE system (all of which are presented to you), or you enter the URL of any page on the Web.
Whether or not you specify a link as part of your feedback, the system will always attempt to provide a "Back" link for returning the student to the page from which the test was originally accessed. This actually opens a very ugly can of worms, so sometimes the system is more successful than others! In particular, note that if you (the instructor) are accessing your test directly from one of your editing pages, then the system will NOT put a "Back" link on the feedback page. That's because the editing page from which you accessed the test is password protected in a manner making it impossible for you to jump directly back to that page via a hyperlink; instead, you'll need to click the browser's built-in "Back" button a couple of times in order to return.
You can use the cloning page to make an exact copy of an existing feedback response, including its threshold (if any), text, and link. Just click on the button labeled "Confirm Cloning Feedback." Note that after doing so you will need to adjust the threshold level of the new feedback response, because you won't want to have two responses with the same threshold level.
On the "Delete Feedback" page, clicking the button labeled "Confirm Deleting Feedback" will permanently delete that feedback response for that test.
What is a set, and why the heck would anyone need one?
A "set" is really a "set of questions." Each test or exercise or survey must have at least one set of questions. In fact, most will have only one set. However, for more complicated uses, multiple sets will be needed.
If your test has, for example, some multiple choice questions, some true/false questions, and some short essay questions, then you might find it useful to put each type of question in its own set.
Similarly, if your test is all multiple choice, but some questions cover Chapter One in the text, some cover Chapter Two, and yet other questions cover Chapter Three, then you might find it useful to put each chapter in its own set.
In particular, you will find sets handy if not indispensable if you decide to use the option which will randomly present the student with a given number of questions from a larger pool of questions. Suppose you have created 20 multiple choice questions and 10 short essay questions and you want the system to randomly generate a test for each student (so that no two students are likely to get exactly the same test) comprising 15 multiple choice and 5 essay for a total of 20 questions. If you have all your multiple choice questions and all your short essay questions in the same set, then some student could conceivably get 20 multiple choice questions but no short essay, while another student could conceivably get 10 multiple choice and 10 short essay. Hardly fair!
However, if you put the 20 multiple choice questions into one set, and the 10 short essay questions into another set, then tell the system to pick 15 from the first set and 5 from the second, you can be assured that each student will take a slightly different test, but every student will get 15 multiple choice and 5 short essay.
The logic is very similar in the event that you're scoring by points and some questions have answers worth more points. In this case, by sorting the questions by point values into separate sets, you can ensure that every student takes a test which guarantees that he or she will have the same maximum number of points possible as every other student.
Again, however, this is for more advanced uses. In general, you need only create one single set to hold all your questions for a test.
No matter how many or how few sets you have in your test, each set has its own "set page." That's the page that allows you to control the configurations of that particular set of questions and to reach all the other pages for entering and editing elements of the set, including questions and their answers. While you can't actually do any editing on the set page itself, that page displays all the buttons you need to reach all the editing pages:
"Take test" -- This button leads to an online copy of the test which looks exactly as your students will see it. You can enter your answers and take the test exactly as you students will be able to do.
Main set buttons
The first horizontal gray bar on the page contains the main set buttons:
"Test page" -- This button takes you back to the main page of this Test.
"Prev set" -- This button takes you to the previous set of questions for this test (according to the sequence you've created for the sets).
"Next set" -- This button takes you to the next set of questions for this test (according to the sequence you've created for the sets).
"Clone set" -- This button allows you to make an exact duplicate of this set (including all questions, answers, etc), which you can then edit as necessary. See below for details.
"Move set" -- This button allows you to move the entire set from one test to another one of your tests. If you want this set to exist in two tests, clone this set and then move either the clone or the original to the other test. See below for details.
"Delete set" -- This button will permanently and completely delete this set and all of its questions, answers, etc. See below for details.
"Add set" -- This button takes you to the page where you can begin to create another set for this test. See below for details.
Configurations for set
The second horizontal gray bar on the page is labeled "Configurations for this set." Below the bar is a synopsis of the current configuration. In the bar itself is a button labeled "Edit Set Configurations" which will take you to a page where the configs for this set can be edited. See below for details of the editing process.
Questions in this set
The third horizontal gray bar on this page is labeled "Questions in this set." Below the bar is a list of each question (if any) you have already created for this particular set, and each question has a button labeled "Edit/Delete Q&A" which leads to the pages on which you can enter, edit, and/or delete specific questions and/or answers for those questions. See below for details.
Note that in the list of all the questions in the set, if the system identifies a potential error within a particular question (and/or its answers), a bold red "PROBLEM" is shown to the left of the question. You can click the corresponding "Edit/Delete Q&A" button (at the right) for more information about the potential error as well as to reach the controls for fixing the problem.
Within the gray bar itself will be as many as four buttons:
"Edit sequence" -- If you have more than one question in the set, then this option will become available so you can go to a page which allows you to edit the sequence in which the questions of this set appear. See below for details.
"Quick entry" -- You always have the option to use "Quick Entry of Questions," and it can be used as often as you like. See below for details.
"Quick Editing" -- If you have more than one question in the set, then this option will become available so you can quickly access all the questions and all the answers in your test and edit as many of them as you want all at once on the same page. See below for details.
"Add question" -- This button leads you to the page where you can begin to create another question and its answers for this set of questions. See below for details.
You're allowed to have as many sets of questions in your test as you want, but you must have at least one. For general information about sets of questions, see "Set page" above. For details about the options when adding a set, see "Edit configurations of a set" below.
This option will only be available if you have already created more than one set of questions for this test.
Each set in the test has a three-digit sequencing number. When a new test is created, it is automatically assigned a sequencing number which is calculated by adding 10 to the highest sequencing number already on file for that test. This means that, by default, each new set you add to a test becomes the last set of questions.
If you want to change the order of sets, just go to this page. Every set in the test will be listed, in order, along with its sequencing number. You need only change the sequencing number(s) to create the preferred order, and then click on the button labeled "Confirm Editing Set Sequence."
Note that you can use any sequencing numbers you want, but usually it's best to try to spread them out a little bit (such as 100, 110, 120 rather than 100, 101, 102) so that it will be easier to insert questions into the sequence later if it becomes necessary to do so.
Also note that you can override this sequence by using the option to present sets in random sequence when a student is taking the test.
Cloning a set will create an exact duplicate of that set (with all its questions, answers, etc) within the same test, after which you can edit it as necessary. Just click on the button labeled "Confirm Cloning Set."
This option allows you to move the entire set (along with its questions, answers, etc) from the existing test to another test.
Below the horizontal gray bar you'll see a list of all your tests, each with a matching radio button. Just select the radio button of the appropriate test, then click on the button labeled "Confirm Moving Set." The set will then disappear from the original test and reappear as a set of questions within the test you selected.
If you want this set of questions to be part of this test and the new test, then clone this set and then move either the original set or the cloned set to the other test, so that the other set remains with the original test.
Deleting a set will permanently and completely delete the set along with all its questions, answers, etc. Just click on the button labeled "Confirm Deleting Set" and it will be nuked.
Just as there are configurations which control the test as a whole, there are also configurations which are specific to an individual set. These set configurations can be adjusted at any time.
Name of set of questions
When you initially create a new set of questions, by default the set is called "Newly created set." You can probably come up with a better name for it. Just enter the name you want to assign to the set.
Presentation of questions
This is the configuration which controls how the questions of a specific set are presented in the test as the student sees it. You have three choices:
"Present every question from this set in specified sequence" -- If you select this option, then the student will see every question you've created for the test, and he or she will see them in the exact sequence you've specified. This means all your students will see all the same questions in exactly the same sequence.
"Present every question from this set in randomized sequence" -- With this option, your students will still see every question in the set, but the sequence of questions will be randomized, which means the test will look different for each student even though it contains exactly the same thing.
"Randomly select and present this number of questions from this set:" -- With the third option for presenting questions, you are still ordering the test questions randomly so that each student sees a different sequence. In addition, the system will present the number of questions specified. This allows you to create a bank of questions and randomly select a subset of questions for each student, so that no two students will be asked exactly the same questions.
For example, if you have 20 questions in the set and you configure the system to present 10 questions on each test, you can pretty much guarantee that every student will see a completely different list of questions in a different sequence.
Note that no matter how many questions you tell the system to present, it can never present more questions than exist within the set. In this example, setting the number to 25 would still only produce 20 questions, because that's all you have.
Also note that if you randomize the sequence of questions, and you have configured the test to automatically number the questions for you, then the system will always automatically adjust the numbering accordingly. However, if you have numbered your questions manually (by typing in the number at the beginning of every question), then random presentation of the questions will ruin your hand numbering.
Directions for set of questions
This configuration allows you to write directions for this set of questions. These directions will always appear above the questions for this set.
Note that you can create "questions" which are really notes or directions, but if you randomize the sequence of your questions, then you can't guarantee that the note will show up above the questions (or at any other particular spot). Putting your directions in the configurations for the set avoids this problem.
The term "Q&A" in this module refers to a particular question along with its associated answer(s), feedback for the question, image for the question, feedback for the answer(s), and image(s) for the answer(s). Note that some questions will have one answer, some will have multiple answers, and some will have no answer at all.
There are two methods for entering questions. The first method is one at a time, using the button labeled "Add Question." This can be a bit tedious if you have a lot of questions and answers, but gives you immediate access to every configuration option while you're doing the entry and works fine for a relatively few questions. The second method is the "Quick Entry" screen. This limits your options a little (for example, you can't enter question-level or answer-level feedback text during this process) but allows for more rapid data entry when you have a larger number of questions. Either way, you can always go back and edit the questions and their answers if needed.
Each question can have its own feedback, which is additional information provided to the student after the test has been submitted. Question-level feedback is given regardless of how the question is answered, and regardless of the overall results of the test as a whole. This kind of feedback is separate from the test-level feedback (see above) and the answer-level feedback (see below).
Just as each test has a main test page, and each set has a set page, so each Q&A has its own page. That Q&A page is reached by clicking the appropriate "Edit/Delete Q&A" button on the set page of the set to which the question belongs.
You can't do any actual editing on the Q&A page itself, but the page offers a profusion of buttons which lead you to the pages where you can enter and edit all the information for the question and/or any and all of the answers associated with that question:
"Take test" -- This button leads to an online copy of the test which looks exactly as your students will see it. You can enter your answers and take the test exactly as you students will be able to do.
Main Q&A buttons
The first horizontal gray bar on the page contains the main Q&A buttons:
"Set page" -- This button takes you back to the set page for the set to which the question belongs, and from there you can return to the main test page.
"Prev Q&A" -- This button takes you to the previous question in this set of questions (according to the order you've specified for the questions of this set).
"Next Q&A" -- This button takes you to the next question in this set of questions (according to the order you've specified for the questions of this set).
"Clone Q&A" -- This button allows you to make an exact copy of this question (along with its answers, feedback, image, etc) which you can then edit as needed. See below for details.
"Move Q&A" -- This button allows you to move the question (and its associated answer(s), feedback, image, etc) to another set of questions within this particular test. If you want this question to exist in two sets of this test, first clone the Q&A and then move either the original or the clone to the other set. See below for details.
"Delete Q&A" -- This button will completely and permanently delete the question and its associated answer(s), feedback, image, etc. See below for details.
"Add question" -- This button allows you to begin the process of creating a new question along with its answer(s), feedback, image, etc. See below for details.
The question
The second horizontal gray bar on the page is labeled "Question." Under the bar is a synopsis of the settings for the question itself: the type of question (of course, it could be a note rather than a question), the wording of the question or note, the image selected for the question, etc.
Within the gray bar itself are two buttons:
"Image for this question" -- Each question can include an image, and this button takes you to the page where you can select that image. See below for details.
"Edit question" -- This button takes you to the configuration page for the question where you can edit its wording and other settings. See below for details.
The answer(s)
For most types of questions, a third horizontal gray bar, labeled "Answers," will appear on the page. Below the bar is a list of all the answers for the question. (Remember, a question can have one, none, or many answers depending on what type of question it is.) If the test is configured to be scored by percentages, then the correct answer is flagged with an asterisk if this is a multiple choice question. If the test is configured to be scored by points, then the point value of each answer is shown if this is a multiple choice question. Each question has its own button labeled "Edit/Delete Answer" which leads to the page where that answer (and its feedback, image, etc) can be entered or edited.
Depending on the question, how many (if any) answers have already been entered for the question, and the settings of the test as a whole, there can also be one or more buttons in the third horizontal gray bar.
"Edit sequence of answers" -- If there is more than one answer entered for this question (which means it is a multiple choice question), then this button will be available for editing the sequence of answers for this question. See below for details.
"Edit all answers" -- If there is more than one answer entered for this question (which means it is a multiple choice question), then this button will be available for editing data for all answers of the question: the answer itself, correct/incorrect or points, and the HTML flag. See below for details.
"Add answer" -- If an answer can be added to the question, this button will be available to take you to the page where you can do so. See below for details.
You can make an exact duplicate of a Q&A (a question plus its image and feedback as well as any associated answer(s) and its image and feedback) simply by clicking on the button labeled "Clone Q&A." The cloned copy can then be edited as needed.
You can easily move a Q&A (a question plus its image and feedback as well as any associated answer(s) and its image and feedback) from one set of questions to another set. The "Move Q&A" page lists every set in every one of your tests, and you need only select the matching radio button and then click on the button labeled "Confirm Moving Q&A." If you want to keep a copy of the Q&A in the original set as well as having a copy in another set, then you should first clone the Q&A and then move either the original or the clone to the other set of questions.
Deleting a Q&A permanently and completely remove the question, its image, its feedback, and any/all of its answers and their images and feedback.
This option will only be available if you have already created more than one question for this set.
Each question for the set has a five-digit sequencing number. When a new question is created, it is automatically assigned a sequencing number which is calculated by adding 10 to the highest sequencing number already on file for that set. This means that, by default, each new question you add to a set becomes the last question.
If you want to change the order of questions, just go to this page. Every question for the set will be listed, in order, along with its sequencing number. You need only change the sequencing number(s) to create the preferred order, and then click on the button labeled "Confirm Editing Sequence of Questions."
Note that you can use any sequencing numbers you want, but usually it's best to try to spread them out a little bit (such as 10010, 10020, 10030 rather than 10000, 10001, 10002) so that it will be easier to insert questions into the sequence later if it becomes necessary to do so.
Also note that you can override this sequence by using the option to present questions in random sequence within a set when a student is taking the test.
There are several different types of questions available to you. You can freely use all types, and you can mix them and match them in the same test and/or in the same set as you see fit. (However, when creating a Quick Entry batch of questions, all the questions in that particular batch—not in other batches, not in that set, and not in that test as a whole—must be of the same type.)
When creating questions for a test, it's important to remember that you should use the appropriate type of question for your purpose. Here are the different types of questions along with some notes about each type.
Note / description / explanation
This type of question is not a question at all, but it allows you to include a note, description, directions, or explanation as part of your test. A note cannot have an answer and it cannot be graded. Also keep in mind that if you've configured the set to randomize the presentation of questions, you'll never know exactly where the note will appear on the page. (In that case, you might need to isolate the note in its own set, or use the "Directions" option of the set itself.)
Multiple choice / true-false / yes-no
This type of question can have as many possible answers as you want, and the user indicates the best answer by clicking on the radio button beside that answer. If the test is configured to grade by percentages, then you can flag one answer as the correct one. If the test is configured to grade by points, then you can assign a point value to each answer, and that value will be used if that answer is selected.
The user can only select one answer for a particular multiple choice question, so you might need to include answers such as "both A and B" or "all of the above" if there is more than one correct answer. Note that true/false and yes/no questions are just multiple choice questions with those specific answers. You can configure the question to randomize the order of answers for multiple choice questions if you wish.
For a multiple choice question, you can also specify a separate answer-level feedback response for each answer, and the user will see the response based on the answer selected. (This is in addition to any question-level feedback provided, which is displayed regardless of the answer selected.)
Numeric
For this type of question, you can specify one numeric answer which can consist of the numerals 0-9 only. Minus sign and decimal are optional. No other characters can be used for the answer. For the user, one short line is provided for the answer. When the test is submitted, for this type of question the system automatically discards all characters entered by the user for the answer other than 0-9, minus sign, and decimal. To be graded as correct, the answer given by the student must be the exact numeric equivalent of the answer you've specified. For example, if the correct answer is 1, students could enter 0001, 1, 01.0, 1.000, etc and still be correct. Even X1X, +1, and 1abc would be graded as correct, because the system strips away everything except 0-9, minus sign, and decimal, leaving just the "1" in these three cases. However, entering the word "one" would be graded as incorrect.
If the test is configured to be graded, you can specify one answer-level feedback response if the question is answered correctly, and a different answer-level feedback response if the question is answered incorrectly, and the user will see one or the other based on the correctness (or lack thereof) of his or her answer. (This is in addition to any question-level feedback provided, which is displayed regardless of the answer selected.) If the test is configured not to be graded, then no answer-level feedback can be created. (But you can still create question-level feedback.)
Exact word(s), case sensitive
For this type of question, you can specify one text answer up to 250 characters in length. The correct answer can contain any combination of letters, numbers, and punctuation. For the user, one short line is provided for the answer. When the test is submitted, the answer as entered by the user is compared to the answer you've specified. If the strings match exactly, including capitalization, then the answer is graded as correct; otherwise it is graded as incorrect. For example, if the correct answer is "one," the following submissions would be marked as incorrect: One, 1, 1.0, uno, etc.
If the test is configured to be graded, you can specify one answer-level feedback response if the question is answered correctly, and a different answer-level feedback response if the question is answered incorrectly, and the user will see one or the other based on the correctness (or lack thereof) of his or her answer. (This is in addition to any question-level feedback provided, which is displayed regardless of the answer selected.) If the test is configured not to be graded, then no answer-level feedback can be created. (But you can still create question-level feedback.)
Exact word(s), case insensitive
This type of questions works exactly the same as the one above, except that the grading function is case insensitive, so capitalization doesn't matter.
Inexact word(s)
For this type of question, you cannot specify an answer and the system cannot grade the student's answer as correct or incorrect. For the user, one short line is provided for the answer of up to 250 characters. No answer-level feedback can be provided for this type of question, but you can create question-level feedback.
Short essay
For this type of question, you cannot specify an answer and the system cannot grade the student's answer as correct or incorrect. Otherwise, it is the same as the "Inexact Words" type, except that the user is given a larger area in which to type the answer, with the maximum number of characters limited only by system memory (approximately one page). No answer-level feedback can be provided for this type of question, but you can create question-level feedback.
You can add a question to a set of questions by clicking on the button labeled "Add Question" which appears on the set page and on Q&A pages.
Either way, the button leads to the page where you can begin entering the information for the question part of the larger Q&A. On that page you can select the type of question (see above for details), you can enter the actual wording of the questions itself, and you can set the basic configurations for the question.
Entering questions and their answers in this fashion can be a bit tedious if you have a large number of questions, because the system forces you to go through all the configuration possibilities for each and every question (and its answers), even if you don't need those options. Depending on the quantity and variety of questions you need to enter for the test, you might find it easier to use the Quick Entry option for rapidly entering batches. (See below for details.) In addition, if you already have your test questions and answers created in word processing format (for example, in Microsoft Word), you might find it easiest to simply import your test into the system rather than entering it all over again. (See above for details.)
Anything you enter on this page can be revised on the editing page for the question (see below for details) where other configurations are also available, and from which you can also add one or more answers for the question.
"Quick Entry" allows you to do rapid, bulk entry of questions and their answers. When you use the Quick Entry option, every question in that batch must be of the same type (for example, all multiple choice). However, you can do as many Quick Entry batches as you want for a set of questions, and each batch can be of a different type.
When you enter a question manually, as you do so you are presented with every possible option for configuring that question, its image, its feedback, its answer(s), and the image and feedback for the answer(s). When you use the Quick Entry option, your choices during data entry are limited, but the entry is much faster and—if necessary—you can always go back and edit individual questions (and their answers) as needed.
The choice of using the one-by-one manual entry option or the Quick Entry option (or using a combination of the two, which is perfectly acceptable) will depend on how many questions you need to enter, of what kind, and with what configurations.
When using the Quick Entry option, you first enter your settings for the batch you're going to do (remember, all the questions in a batch will use the same settings, but you can enter different batches with different settings), then you do the actual data entry of questions and answers.
Before actually using the Quick Entry option for creating questions and answers, you need to make some choices for the page where you'll be typing in the text.
Number of blanks for entering questions
The number selected here will be the maximum number of questions you can enter on the Quick Entry page for this batch. (You can always do more batches.) If you leave any of these empty, then they will be discarded.
Select type for all these questions
For each Quick Entry batch, every question must be of the same type. (You can always do more batches for other types.) Choose the type here. For more information on types of questions, see above.
If these are Multiple Choice questions, how many blank answers per question?
In general you can have as many possible answers as you want for a multiple choice question. For Quick Entry purposes, you need to specify the maximum number of answers for each one of the questions. If you leave any of the answer slots empty, they'll be automatically discarded.
Options
"User must answer each question, they may not be left blank" -- If you check this box, the user will not be able to submit the test until he has answered every question created with this Quick Entry batch.
"If HTML tags used in these questions, just display them; do not apply tags" -- If you are teaching an HTML class, this will enable you to show HTML tags rather than having them applied. Unless you're teaching an HTML class, you will almost certainly want to leave this unchecked!
"If HTML tags used in these answers, just display them; do not apply tags" -- If you are teaching an HTML class, this will enable you to show HTML tags rather than having them applied. Unless you're teaching an HTML class, you will almost certainly want to leave this unchecked!
"If these are multiple choice questions, randomize sequence of answers for each question" -- Just like you can randomize the sequence in which your questions will appear on a test, so you can also randomize the sequence in which answers will appear for each multiple choice question.
Once you've selected and confirmed the settings for your batch of Quick Entry questions and answers, then the system presents the page on which you actually do your data entry. This page reiterates the configurations you've set for this batch of questions and answers, then offers a series of blocks (as many as you've specified) for entering the data.
Depending on your configurations, you'll probably see a block for the text of the each question followed by one or more slots for answers for that question, along with either a radio button to flag the correct answer or a space to enter the point value to be awarded for selecting each particular answer.
At this point, just enter the questions and answers. When finished, click on the button labeled "Confirm Quick Entries."
Remember, any questions or answers left empty will simply disappear.
This option will only be available if you have already created more than one question for this set.
When you click on the "Quick Editing" button on the Set page, you will arrive at the Quick Editing page. This page displays every question of this set, and every answer for every question of the set. (If you have a long set, this can be a very long page.) You can then scroll down the page and edit and/or delete as many questions and answers as you want. Depending on the overall configurations of the test as a whole (scoring by percentages, scoring by points, or not scoring at all) and depending on the type of question, your editing options will include some of the following:
For questions
The questions itself -- You can change the wording of the question.
Delete the question and its answer(s) -- If you check this box, then the Q&A will be deleted from the test without further ado. Remember, there is no confirmation dialog for this deletion in the Quick (!) Editing routine, so be careful.
Must answer -- You can specify if the question must be answered before the test can be submitted, or if the answer can be left blank.
HTML -- If you are teaching HTML to your students, you might want your HTML tags in the question to be displayed rather than applied. (Most instructors can safely ignore this option!)
Random answers -- If this is a multiple choice question, you can specify that the possible answers will be presented to the student in random order.
For answers
Delete the answer -- If you check this box, the answer will be deleted. Remember, there is no confirmation dialog for this deletion in the Quick (!) Editing routine, so be careful. Also, it's not necessary to delete individual answers if you check "Delete the question and its answer(s)."
The answer itself -- You can change the wording of the answer.
The correct answer -- If this is a multiple choice question and the test is being graded by percentages, you can mark which answer is the correct one.
Points -- If the test is being graded by points, you can assign point values to answers.
HTML -- If you are teaching HTML to your students, you might want your HTML tags in the answer to be displayed rather than applied. (Most instructors can safely ignore this option!)
If you need to edit other aspects of questions or answers (such as feedback or images), you can do so in the usual editing routines (see below) where you can also individually edit all of the same elements listed here.
Each question can optionally include an image. Thus, a question might be posed as "Who is this person?" with an image displayed for the student to identify.
You have three options for displaying an image with the question:
No image
This is the default, and it means what it says.
Select an image you have uploaded to the server
If you have used the File Upload module to place images in your directory on the CATE server, then under this heading you'll find a list of all those images. Beside each is a radio button. To select one, first click the radio button beside the heading, then click the radio button beside the image you want to select, then click on the button labeled "Confirm Picking Image for This Question" and the image will automatically appear.
Enter URL of any image on the Web
If you select the radio button for this option, then you can enter the full URL of an image which resides anywhere on the Web, such as http://online.santarosa.edu/cateart/images/photo.jpg.
"Alt Tag" -- Whenever/wherever you specify an image will appear on a webpage, you should also include a brief description of the image for visitors who rely on special screen-reader software.
Each question can have its own configurations set independently of every other question on the test. Different types of questions, however, will have slightly different options available, and the overall configurations of the test as a whole will also affect what options are available for questions configurations.
After a question has been created, its configurations can be edited at any time. Of course, don't forget that it's possible students might be actually taking the test while you're working on it, so be careful when you make changes. Also, some revisions—such as changing the question from one type to another type—might cause you to lose some of the other parts of the Q&A. For example, if you change from a multiple choice question to a note, all the answers will disappear (because a note can't have answers).
Type of question
You can use the radio buttons to specify exactly which type of question you want to use. See "Types of Questions" for details about each type and its properties.
Text of question
This is the actual wording of the question itself.
Options
"User must answer this question, it may not be left blank" -- If this option is selected, the system will refuse to allow the student to submit the test until the question has been answered.
"If this is a multiple choice question, randomize sequence of answers" -- If this option is selected, and this is a multiple choice question, the possible answers for the question will be presented to the student in random order, so that each student sees them in a different order.
"If HTML tags used in this question, just display them; do not apply tags" -- If you're teaching an HTML class, you can use this option to have HTML tags appear in the question so students can see them, rather than having them applied to the text.
Feedback for question
There are several levels of feedback—that is, additional information given to the user after the test is submitted—which can be created: test-level feedback, question-level feedback, and answer-level feedback. At this level you can create a different feedback response for each question, and the response for each question will be given to the student, regardless of what answer the student enters, after the test is submitted. This allows you to provide further material such as "For more information on this topic, see page 100 in your text." Providing feedback at this level is a great way to help your students learn, especially when they're taking a self-help exercise, but the feedback is entirely optional.
If you create feedback for the question, then it will be delivered to the student according to configurations you set at the test level for "The question and its feedback (if any)." That is, you can choose one, some, or all of these options for execution after the test is submitted: immediately display the feedback on the webpage for the user to see, send the feedback to the user by email, send the feedback to yourself by email, place the feedback in the gradebook for the student for display as you direct in the gradebook configurations.
If you create feedback, however you elect to deliver it, the feedback response itself has two components:
Feedback text
The first component of the feedback response is text, and you can enter and edit the wording for the question-level feedback.
Feedback link
The second component of the feedback response is a link which will be presented to the user so he or she can click on it. The student will then be taken to a webpage which, for example, can provide more information about the answer, why it was correct or incorrect, and so on. When creating a link as part of a feedback response, you simply click on the radio button (and, if it is a presentation with more than one page, use the accompanying pull-down menu to choose the specific page) to select a page you have already created in the CATE system (all of which are presented to you), or you enter the URL of any page on the Web.
Each individual answer for each question of each set in the test has its own page. Reaching a particular answer page is a matter of working down through the various levels of the test/set/question/answer hierarchy. The answer page displays the answer's configurations and provides buttons for entering and editing various aspects of the answer. You can't do any actual entry or editing on this page, but the buttons here will take you to all the places where you can perform those activities.
Main answer buttons
The first horizontal gray bar on the page contains the main answer buttons. Immediately below the bar is a synopsis of the question and its configurations. Note that, depending on the overall test configurations, the type of question, and other circumstances, many of these buttons could be unavailable on any particular answer page.
"Q&A page" -- This button takes you back to the question page for the Q&A to which this answer belongs, and from there you can move back to the set page and the main test page.
"Prev answer" -- This button takes you to the previous answer for this Q&A (according to the order you've specified for the possible answers to this question).
"Next answer" -- This button takes you to the next answer for this Q&A (according to the order you've specified for the possible answers to this question).
"Clone answer" -- This button allows you to make an exact copy of this answer (along with its image, feedback, etc) which can then be edited as needed. See below for details.
"Delete answer" -- This button will completely and permanently delete the answer and its associated image, feedback, etc. See below for details.
"Add answer" -- This button takes you to the page where you can create another answer for this question. See below for details.
The answer
Immediately below the second horizontal gray bar on the page is a synopsis of this particular answer and its configurations. In the bar itself is a button labeled "Edit Answer" which leads to a page which allows you to edit the wording of the answer and adjust its configurations.
If this is a multiple-choice question, then the next item on the page is information about an image for this answer, with a button labeled "Edit Image for Answer" which allows you to add, change, or delete an image to accompany this answer.
The next area on the page shows answer-level feedback. Depending on the overall configurations of the test as a whole and they type of question for which this is an answer, there could be two, one, or zero feedback responses indicated here. Each one shows the text and link of that response, and has a button labeled with some variation of "Edit Feedback for Answer." The button leads to a page where you can do just that.
Cloning an answer will add an exact duplicate of it—including its associated feedback and image, if any—to the same question. It can then be edited as needed.
This button will completely and permanently delete the answer and its associated feedback and image.
If this is a multiple choice question, then you can (in fact, must) have at least two answers.
Each answer for the question has a three-digit sequencing number. When a new answer is created, it is automatically assigned a sequencing number which is calculated by adding 10 to the highest sequencing number already on file for that question. This means that, by default, each new answer you add to a question becomes the last answer.
If you want to change the order of answers, just go to this page. Every answer for the question will be listed, in order, along with its sequencing number. You need only change the sequencing number(s) to create the preferred order, and then click the button labeled "Confirm Editing Answer Sequence."
Note that you can use any sequencing numbers you want, but usually it's best to try to spread them out a little bit (such as 110, 120, 130 rather than 100, 101, 102) so that it will be easier to insert answers into the sequence later if it becomes necessary to do so.
Also note that you can override this sequence by using the option to present multiple choice answers in random sequence for a question when a student is taking the test.
If this is a multiple choice question which currently has more than one answer (which it should), then at the Q&A level for that question you'll find the "Edit All Answers" button.
Clicking that button brings up a page where you can edit the following data for each answer of that question:
After making the edits, click the button labeled "Confirm Editing All Answers" to save your changes and you'll be returned to the Q&A page for that question.
Depending on the type of question, and whether or not it already has an answer, you can add an answer to a question by clicking on the button labeled "Add Answer" on the Q&A page or on the page of another answer of that question.
Either way, the button leads to a page where you can begin entering the text of the answer and its configurations. Anything you enter here can be altered on the editing page for the answer. See below for details.
When editing an answer, there are several options available, but these can be limited by the overall configurations for the test as a whole as well as the type of question for which this is an answer.
The answer
This is the actual wording of the answer. If this is a multiple choice question, then this is one of the answers which will be available for the student to select. If this is not a multiple choice question, then this is the correct answer for the question.
If this is a numeric question, then the system will only allow you to enter numerals 0-9, minus sign, and decimal in the answer.
If this is not a multiple choice question and the test is not being graded, then you won't be allowed to specify an answer. Likewise, if this is a non-gradable question (inexact text or short essay) then you won't be able to specify an answer.
Correct
If this is a multiple choice question, and the test is being graded, then you can specify if this is the correct answer.
Points for this answer
If this test is being scored as points, and this question can be graded, then you can specify the number of points to be awarded if the student submits this answer for this question. Points awarded for an answer can range from 0 to 999.99, with a maximum of two decimal places.
HTML
If you're teaching an HTML class (there's really no other reason to use this option), then you can set this option so that any HTML tags will be displayed rather than applied to the text.
If this is a multiple choice question, then you can specify an image for the answer. This permits you, for example, to pose a question such as "Who gave the Gettysburg Address" and have the student select the appropriate president from a number of photographic portraits.
You have three options for displaying an image with the answer, and they're exactly the same as when choosing an image for a question:
No image
This is the default, and it means what it says.
Select an image you have uploaded to the server
If you have used the File Upload module to place images in your directory on the CATE server, then under this heading you'll find a list of all those images. Beside each is a radio button. To select one, first click the radio button beside the heading, then click the radio button beside the image you want to select, then click on the button labeled "Confirm Picking Image for This Answer" and the image will automatically appear.
Enter URL of any image on the Web
If you select the radio button for this option, then you can enter the full URL of an image which resides anywhere on the Web, such as http://online.santarosa.edu/cateart/images/photo.jpg.
"Alt Tag" -- Whenever/wherever you specify an image will appear on a webpage, you should also include a brief description of the image for visitors who rely on special screen-reader software.
In addition to test-level feedback and question-level feedback, in many cases it is also possible to create answer-level feedback which can provide extra information to the student after the test has been submitted. The ability to provide answer-level feedback depends on how the test as a whole is configured as well as the specific type of question for which this is an answer.
If this is a multiple choice question, then each individual answer can have its own separate feedback response.
If this is a numeric question or a question which must be answered with exact word(s), and the test is configured to be graded, then you can create one feedback response to be delivered if the question is answered correctly, and another feedback response to be delivered if the question is answered incorrectly.
Otherwise, you cannot create answer-level feedback (although you can still create question-level feedback).
If you create feedback for the answer, then it will be delivered to the student according to configurations you set at the test level for "The answer given by the user and its feedback (if any)." That is, you can choose one, some, or all of these options for execution after the test is submitted: immediately display the feedback on the webpage for the user to see, send the feedback to the user by email, send the feedback to yourself by email, place the feedback in the gradebook for the student for display as you direct in the gradebook configurations.
If you create feedback, however you elect to deliver it, the feedback response itself has two components:
Feedback text
The first component of the feedback response is text, and you can enter and edit the wording on the feedback page for the answer.
Feedback link
The second component of the feedback response is a link which will be presented to the user so he or she can click on it. The student will then be taken to a webpage which, for example, can provide more information about the answer, why it was correct or incorrect, and so on. When creating a link as part of a feedback response, you simply click on the radio button (and, if it is a presentation with more than one page, use the accompanying pull-down menu to choose the specific page) to select a page you have already created in the CATE system (all of which are presented to you), or you enter the URL of any page on the Web.
| CATE: The Center for Advanced Technology in Education Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA USA Last Modified: Thursday, 12-Jun-2003 13:22:03 PDT |
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