The Syllabus tool allows site administrators to add a syllabus in a text document, an uploaded file, or a link to a website. The Syllabus for a site may include one or more Syllabus items.
Creating/adding a syllabus item
To create/add a Syllabus item, follow the steps below:
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- Open the Syllabus tool in the left hand side of the course site.
- Select the “Add Item” button. The Add syllabus screen should open.
- Specify a Title for the Syllabus (required field).
- Specify the Content – You may compose a message to be displayed with the Syllabus using the embedded editor.
- Click “Add and Publish” and your post will be public. Click “Add” and your post will be saved as a draft.
- You may edit the privacy by clicking on the “eye” icon.
- Select the Add attachments button from the dashboard to add one or more attachments to the syllabus. This opens the Select item screen. The Syllabus tool offers several options for adding attachments:
- Upload local file
- Specify a URL (link to a website)
- Select an existing site Resource from either the current site or other sites by clicking “Attach a copy.”
- Select the Continue button to post the Syllabus to the site immediately.
Redirecting a Syllabus Item
As an alternative, site administrators may wish to redirect site participants to a website only. To do this, select the “Redirect” button in the Syllabus screen and paste the URL into the assigned text box. Then, select “Save.” Site participants will only see the contents of the designated web page when they open the Syllabus tool.
Note: Once the Syllabus is redirected to a URL, previously posted files will not be accessible. Eliminating the URL redirection reestablishes any attachments that may have been present prior to the redirection.
Deleting a Syllabus Item
To delete a Syllabus item, check the Remove box located on the far right of the Syllabus screen. Then select Update and the item will be deleted.
Reordering Syllabus Items
Syllabus items may be reordered by drag and dropping the items on Syllabus screen. Once they are reordered, the new arrangement will save automatically.
Resources
Resources is where folders, files and other materials can be posted to the site. Resource items can include:
- New folders
- Word processing documents
- Spreadsheets
- Slide presentations
- Links to web sites
- HTML documents
- Plain text documents
Once Resource items have been posted by site administrators, site participants may either open them for viewing or download them to their computers.
Resource items can be organized into folders to facilitate identification and retrieval. Site participants may find it beneficial to receive a brief overview of the Resources setup from site administrators.
You may create folders and add documents to them by clicking “Actions” in the Resources tool. In addition, site administrators can hide, unhide, and set release dates for the content available to users.
There is a quota of 600MB for each tab or site on QuestromTools and an individual file size limit of 50MB.
Viewing and/or downloading Resources
When you select the Resources tool in the menubar, the Resources page will open and you will see all the folders that you have uploaded to your site. By default, all sites have a top-most folder reflecting the site name (e.g. SM131 A2.) The added content will appear as a sub-item to the host. Sub-items may be folders, links to files, URLs, or a combination.
Note: To view a particular item within a folder, click the name of the item or the icon next to it. When you click on an item, a dialog box may open to give you the option of either opening it or downloading it and saving a copy to your computer.
Adding Resources
Site administrators can add, delete, copy or move Resource items. They can also edit Resource items. These functions are described below:
- Click “Actions” in the Resources tool. A drop-down list appears.
- In the Add drop-down list, choose the appropriate action (e.g., Upload Files, Create Folder, etc.).
- Click the Browse button to search for the file on your computer. Click Open. By default, the file title will be named after the name you have on your computer. You can overwrite the default title if you prefer an alternate title be displayed.
If you are adding detailed information for an item, you can do any of the following:
- After having uploaded the resource, click the “Actions” button.
- Select the “Edit Details” option and when prompted into the editing section you will be able to write a description and edit the following properties of the document.
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- Choose a Copyright Status. Decide (or not) to require viewers to acknowledge the copyright status when they view the item.
- Enter the appropriate Availability information.
Note: Resources may be posted to the site, but remain hidden from site participant view until an appropriate date and time. That date and time can be determined automatically (by setting the “Show this item”– Beginning date and time) or by revising the item and manually unchecking the “Hide” option at a future date.
- Choose Access options. Resources can be set to be publicly viewable or only available to site members (the latter is the default). If publicly viewable is selected, the file will be accessible on the QuestromTools login page when browsing for the site under “Sites”. Finally, if your site has groups or sections, a radio button entitled “Display to selected groups” will appear allowing you to choose an audience for the posted content.
- The “Optional Properties” and the “Learning Object Metadata” areas will allow you to add more detailed.
Copying Resources
Resources may be copied, either individually or as part of a folder copy. The procedures for copying individual resource items and folders are the same and are described below:
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- Check the box to the left of the resource items and/or folder that is to be copied. You may select multiple at the same time.
- Select the “Copy Checked” button at the top of the Resources screen.
- Select the “Pasted Copied Items” icon to the right of the destination folder and the selected items will be copied.
Note: Resources can be copied between your sites by exposing the content under the “Copy Content from My Other Sites” section at the bottom of the Resources Page.
Revising (Editing) the Content of Resources
Important Note: The actual content (text, graphics, etc.) of resources may not be edited within QuestromTools. It must be edited off-line and then reposted. Even though posted content can be opened using its native application software (e.g. Microsoft Word or PowerPoint), editing the content and selecting File-Save will not actually save the edited content to the site.
Deleting (Removing) Resources
Resources may be deleted, either individually or as part of a folder deletion. The procedures for deleting individual resources and complete folders are the same and are described below:
- Check the box to the left of the resource item and/or folder that is to be deleted. You may select multiple at the same time.
- Select the “Move to Trash” button at the top of the Resources screen.
- A red confirmation warning will be displayed. Select Remove to delete the checked items or “Cancel” to go back.
Reordering Resources
Resources may be reordered individually within a folder or collectively as part of a reordering of all folders. The steps are described below:
- Click the “Actions” button to the right of the folder containing items that need to be reordered.
- Click the “Reorder” button and the selected folder will open.
- Resources within the folder may be reordered by selecting the dragging up and down the items.
- When reordering of the folder is complete, select the “Save” button to make the new order take effect.
Email Notifications
When site administrators add new Resources to a site, they may choose (or not) to send email notifications to site participants. This choice is made by selecting the appropriate option from the “Email Notification” drop-down box on the “Add Item(s)” screen of the Resource tool. The choices are:
- High – All participants
- Low – Only participants who have opted in
- None – No notification (default)
If the Low priority setting is selected, only site participants who have not declined to receive low priority Resource announcements in the Preferences Tool of their My Workspace site will receive them. If the High priority setting is selected, the system will send an email notification to all site participants notifying them of the new content. Newly posted files will appear as links in the email notification so as not to count against site participant email quota.
Site Info
Site Info is an important tool for all site administrators. Within Site Info, a site administrator can publish the site for site student access, view a roster of site participants, change site participant roles, and add/remove site tools.
Manage Access to Publish Site
By default, new sites are created in an “unpublished” state and thus are not available to site participants (e.g., students). Follow these steps to publish the site for site participant access
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- Go to the “Site Info” left-hand side section and click on “Manage Access” at the top of the page.
- Check the “Publish site” bubble and then click the “Update” button.
- In the Gloal Access section, you may limit the access to course members or allow any Sakai user to join the site.
Add Participants
To add site participants, follow these steps:
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- Go to the “Site Info” left-hand side section and click on “Add Participants” at the top of the page.
- To add a member of the BU Community, type their username into the first text box. Use the second text box to add a guest to the BU Community. You may add multiple usernames at once.
- Select the appropriate Participant Role and Participant Status before clicking “Continue.”
- On the next screen, assign the appropriate role(s) and click “Continue.”
- When prompted to send an email message to the user notifying them of the site’s availability, be certain to select “Send Now” if you are inviting a non-BU member. The email notification will contain an auto-generated password that for the guest to log into QuestromTools and access your site.
- To remove site participants, go to Site Info and check the “Remove?” box at the far right of the page next to the appropriate site participant(s).
- Click “Update Participants” at the bottom of the page for the change(s) to take effect.
Changing Participant Roles
To change the role of a site participant (e.g., from student to teaching assistant), follow these steps.
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- Go to Site Info and scroll down to the Site Participant List.
- Use the drop-down box in the Role column, next to the site participant(s) to select a role.
- Click “Update Participants” at the bottom of the page to save your change(s).
Add/Remove Tools (buttons)
There may be tools (buttons) that you do not plan to use in your site, and you may want to remove them. Alternatively, you may wish to add some site tools that are not part of the standard site template. In either case, go to Site Info and click on “Manage Tools” to display a list of the site tools available. Check the boxes next to the tools you wish to add to the site and uncheck boxes for any tools you wish to remove from the site. When done, click “Continue,” and then “Finish” to confirm your site tool changes.
Announcements
Adding Announcements
Use the “Add” button to create a new announcement and complete the fields on the page that follows (e.g., Announcement title, Body, etc.). Your announcement will be posted to your site.
Adding Announcements with Attachments
Click the Attachments button at the bottom of the screen to browse for and attach a file to the announcement.
Display to Selected Groups/Sections
Follow the instructions for Adding Announcements above. Prior to clicking the “Add Announcement” button, click on the Display to Selected Groups” radio button and check the box next to the group or section intended to view the announcement. The announcement will appear only to those students in the selected group/section. NOTE: Groups and/or sections must already exist to use this feature.
Announcement Options
You can preview or save drafts of your announcements. The interface time-out is 60 minutes, which means if you take more than 60 minutes to compose or edit the announcement then your work will not be saved.
Email Notifications
When posting an announcement you can set an email notification option (high or low) so that students are alerted via email that an announcement has been posted. The message body of the announcement will be included in the email notification so that the student does not have to visit the site.
A high priority email notification will be sent by the system regardless of preferences set by each student. A low priority email notification could be blocked depending upon how the student has set his/her preferences on the system.
Assignments
Adding Assignments
To create a new assignment, click the Add button then provide the necessary information for the assignment:
- Title (required)
- Add assignment instructions
- Add honor pledge
- Click “Add Attachments” button to upload any files necessary for the assignment.
- Open Date (required) – the date when students will be able to see and access the assignment.
- Due Date (required)
- Accept Until (required) – by setting this date after the Due Date you allow students to submit late assignments.
- Add due date to calendar
- Announce the open date – posts an announcement to the site when the assignment opens
- Select Access (site or selected groups)
- Student Submissions (required) – “Inline” means the student must type the answer into the website directly. “Attachments” means the student can attach the answer in a file. You can accept one or the other or both.
- Select email notification options for students (high, Low)
- Select option to use Turnitin
- Grade Scale / Points (required)
- Add to Gradebook (adds the assignment as a line item to the Gradebook tool. NOTE that grading is done for each individual assignment within the Assignments tool and not within the Gradebook tool)
- Select grade release email option
- Additional assignment options (use peer assessment, group submission)
You can choose to preview the assignment if desired and from there you can choose to save the assignment as a draft, otherwise click the Post button when done preparing the assignment.
Viewing and Downloading Submissions
To view student submissions, go to the top level of the Assignments section by clicking the reset arrow next to the Assignments header. Then click the hyperlinked numbers that are divided by a slash (/) under the In/New column (e.g., 4/4. The first number represents how many students have submitted an assignment and the second number represents how many student submission you have not yet viewed.
After you click the link you will see a list of all the students in your class. You can view individual student submissions by clicking on the students name in this list or you can download all student submissions by clicking the Download All button at the top of the Assignment section. This will generate a ZIP file containing all of your students inline submissions as well as their attached files.
TIP: Be sure to have students include their full name as part of the filename for any attachments they will be
submitting so that you can associate the attachment to the proper student.
Replying to Submissions (Comments and Grading)
When you are viewing student submissions individually, you can also respond to that student’s submitted assignment by adding comments within their inline submission (use double curvy brackets for emphasis) and/or using the separate instructor comments area. There are also options at the bottom for you to grade the assignment, allow for resubmissions and provide attachments of your own as part of the response.
The Student View button lets you see how the assignment/instructions appear to students and even allows you to run through submitting the assignment as a student.
The Grade Report button shows submissions and grades for each student. Clicking the Download Spreadsheet button puts this information into an Excel file which you can save to your computer.
Test and Quizzes
How to Create Tests and Quizzes (Sakai 12)
Question Pools & Randomizing, Time Limits, and Exceptions (Sakai 12)
Step by Step User Guide (Sakai 20)
(Coming soon)
Creating New Assessments
The Tests & Quizzes tool allows you to create online assessments (i.e., tests, quizzes, exams, and surveys) for your students or other groups. It was designed primarily to administer tests, but you may also create assessments to gather survey information or informal course feedback. Grading for most question types is done automatically, and grades can be posted automatically to an online gradebook.
This lesson will show you how to create a simple assessment and add a single question.
Go to Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu of your course.
Create a new assessment.
Give your new assessment a title and click the Create button. The “Create using assessment builder” option (shown selected) asks you to write questions one by one, with a simple example given below. For the other methods of creating an assessment, see How do I create an assessment from markup text or cut and paste? and How do I import questions into a new assessment or question pool?
Note: You cannot have more than one assessment with the same title.
Add a question.
Select the type of question you would like to add from the Insert New Question drop-down menu.
Let’s add one of the more common question types. Select Multiple Choice from the drop-down menu.
Set the general question options.
Most question types allow you to specify:
- Answer Point Value
- Display the point value while student is taking the exam
- Question Text
- Attachments (optional)
For these general parameters, see How do I add a new question (with the assessment builder)? Other options regarding the answer and configuration are specific to the question type.
Note: The Rich Text Editor is available for use in composing your questions and answers. Click on the Show All Rich Text Editors link to display the editor.
Choose number of correct responses (for multiple choice).
You can choose to have a Single Correct response, Multiple Correct, Single Selection, or Multiple Correct, Multiple Selection.
If you select Single Correct (the default) you also have the option to Enable Negative Marking or Enable Partial Credit if desired. Negative marking deducts points from the student’s score if the student selects the wrong answer. Partial credit allows you to specify a percentage of the question points to be awarded for selecting an incorrect but still partially acceptable answer.
Choose the radio button for the correct response option you would like to use. For this example, we will keep the default.
Enter the answer choices (for multiple choice).
Enter all of the possible answer choices for this question. (Remember that you may use the editor to format your answer choices or add images, links, etc. if desired.)
There are four answer choices provided by default. If you need more choices, use the Insert Additional Answers drop-down menu to indicate the number of additional answer choices needed.
Be sure to indicate the correct answer by selecting the radio button for the correct response.
Choose whether or not to randomize answers (for multiple choice).
The default setting is No for randomizing answers. If you would like the answer choices to appear in a random order each time a student takes the assessment, select Yes.
Tip: Remember that if you answer choices contain items like “all of the above” or “A and B are correct” randomizing the order could cause confusion with the answer key.
Choose whether or not to require rationale.
The default setting is No for requiring rationale. If you want students to write an explanation for why they chose a particular response, select Yes.
Assign to part. (Optional)
If you have multiple parts in your assessment, you may assign the question to a different part.
Assign to pool. (Optional)
If you have an existing question pool and would like to copy this question to the pool, select the pool name here.
Provide answer feedback. (Optional)
If you would like to provide feedback for students based on if they answer the question correctly or incorrectly, enter your feedback here.
Save your question.
Once you have entered all of your question information, click Save to return to the edit assessment screen.
Continue adding questions.
Repeat the steps above to add additional questions to your assessment. As you add questions, note the following:
- The total number of questions in the assessment, as well as the total points will be displayed in the upper right corner of the content area.
- You may view your questions the assessment editing screen, along with the answer key shown below each question.
- If you would like to delete a question, click the Remove link to the right of the question.
- If you need to make a change to an existing question, click the Edit link to the right of the question.
Tip: An assessment must have at least one question, and the question must be worth greater than zero in order to add the assessment to the Gradebook.
Creating and Managing Parts
Assessments are subdivided into parts, but may consist of only one part that comprises all the questions. Parts allow you to create sections of an assessment, each with its own title, questions, question pool draws, attachments (for resources or directions), and question ordering.
When you create a new assessment, a part (i.e., section) called “Default” is created automatically. If you leave it named “Default”, that title will not appear on your assessment; to change the part’s name, click Edit. You can begin adding questions immediately to “Default”, or you can add your own parts.
New parts will be listed in the order you create them. You can re-order parts within an assessment, and edit each part individually.
Your assessment must contain at least one part, but you can remove any of the additional parts you create. You can also remove the “Default” part, as long as you’ve already created another part to replace it.
For more information on adding parts, see How do I add multiple parts to an assessment?
Go to Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu in your site.
Select an assessment.
Parts may be added to any assessment. Select an existing assessment or create a new one.
Create a New Assessment.
For more information on creating new assessments, see How do I create an assessment?
Or edit an existing assessment.
Edit a part.
In Tests & Quizzes, open the assessment and find the part. To edit the name and any of the information and settings associated with a part, next to that part’s name, click Edit.
Edit the Title.
Type a title into the text box provided.
Note: If the part title is marked as the Default, the title will not appear to assessment takers.
Edit Part Information. (Optional)
Use the text box provided to type Information about the created part.
Note: To edit with Rich-Text Editor, click the hyperlink to open the full menu.
Add attachment. (Optional)
Click Add Attachments to browse for and select a file attachment if desired.
Select Part Type.
Choose the option to author questions one-on-one or select random draw from question pool.
If “questions authored one-by-one” is selected, the following options will display.
Select the radio button to order the questions As listed on Assessment Questions page, or to order them Random within Part.
If “random draw from question pool” is selected, the following options will display.
- Enter the number of questions to draw from the selected question pool.
- Select the question pool from the drop-down menu.
- Choose to either randomize student questions each time an assessment is submitted or randomize student questions once for all submissions.
- Enter the point value for correct answers on each question. Note that all questions in this random draw must be worth the same amount of points.
- (Optional) For True/False and Multiple Choice, Single Correct questions, you may also enter a negative point value if a question is answered incorrectly.
Note: Point values entered here override any value that was specified for individual questions in the corresponding Question Pool.
Add Metadata. (Optional)
Enter Metadata, such as the objective, keyword, and rubric, into the text boxes provided.
Click Save.
Click Save to save the question (or Cancel to exit).
Arrange parts.
New parts will be listed in the order you create them. To switch the order of two parts, before a part’s name, change the number in the drop-down list next to “Part”. For example, if you have three parts, and you want the third part to appear first, use the drop-down list to change the 3 to 1. The third part will become the first part and the first part will become the third. The example illustrated will exchange the places of Parts 1 and 2.
Your assessment must contain at least one part, but you can remove any of the parts you create. You can also remove the “Default” part, as long as you’ve already created another part to replace it.
Remove parts.
You can remove the Part and its questions altogether or remove the Part as a section and retain its questions.
Note: The first part listed on the editing screen will not have the Remove option. To remove the first part, you must switch its order with another part (if you don’t have another part, you’ll have to create one), and then click Remove.
Choose to remove.
In the open assessment, find the part. Next to the part’s name, click Remove.
Choose to delete or combine the questions.
1. On the subsequent confirmation screen, choose between the following:
Remove part and all questions.
Remove part only and move question(s) to (use the accompanying drop-down list to choose another part).
2. Click Remove.
Randomized Question Sets
Go to Tests & Quizzes
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu in your site.
Select an assessment.
Random question sets may be added to any assessment. Select an existing assessment or create a new one to add a random question set.
Create a New Assessment.
For more information on creating new assessments, see How do I create an assessment?
Or edit an existing assessment.
Edit a part.
In Tests & Quizzes, open the assessment and find the part. To edit the name and any of the information and settings associated with a part, next to that part’s name, click Edit.
For the Type, choose Random draw from question pool.
Set the options for the random set.
- Enter the number of questions to draw from the selected question pool.
- Select the question pool from the drop-down menu.
- Choose to either randomize student questions each time an assessment is submitted or randomize student questions once for all submissions.
- Enter the point value for correct answers on each question. Note that all questions in this random draw must be worth the same amount of points.
- (Optional) For True/False and Multiple Choice, Single Correct questions, you may also enter a negative point value if a question is answered incorrectly.
Note: Point values entered here override any value that was specified for individual questions in the corresponding Question Pool.
Click Save.
View assessment.
You will be returned to the assessment editing screen with the random draw question set shown. You may add additional questions or question sets by adding more parts to the assessment.
Previewing your Assessment
You can preview an assessment either by using the Preview option in the Action menu, or by viewing the site as a student and submitting the assessment.
Note: If you use the Preview option to preview an assessment, you will not be able to submit the assessment or see how feedback displays for your students.
Go to Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu of your site.
Preview from the Action menu.
From the Tests & Quizzes tool home screen, choose the Preview option in the drop-down menu for the assessment you would like to preview.
Note: The Preview option is available in both the Working Copies and Published Copies tabs of Tests & Quizzes.
Preview the assessment.
You’ll be able to walk through a preview of your assessment, but you won’t be able to submit the assessment from this preview.
Note: The assessment preview will be identified with the following text in light grey: “Assessment Preview – This is an example student view of this assessment.”
OR View the site as a student.
You can view the Tests & Quizzes tool and submit your assessment as if you were a student using the View Site As… Student option OR by adding your non-university email address to your site as a Student and logging in to submit the assessment.
Select an assessment.
Note: If you submit your test using the View Site As… option, you won’t see your submission listed in the Scores screens for grading. Using View Site As…, you WILL be able to see all feedback you have made available to students that does not require manual grading.
Tip: If you’d like to be able to grade your own submission to the test as an instructor, you’ll need to submit the test after logging in with a different user account. Often, instructors will enroll a fake “demo student” account in the site so that they can log in as that user to submit items and practice grading them.
Viewing and Modifying Assessment Settings
The settings of a test or quiz are complex, and offer many options. The modification of a setting in one section will not change settings in other sections.
Go to Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu of your site.
Edit the settings.
From the Tests & Quizzes tool home screen, choose the Settings option in the drop-down menu for the quiz you would like to publish. Be sure that you are in the Working Copies tab; otherwise, you won’t see your unpublished items.
Note: You can review and edit settings on a published assessment by going to the Published Copies tab and selecting Settings in the drop-down menu for the assessment. It is not recommended to modify the settings of an assessment while testing is in progress, as it may cause loss of student submission data.
Alternatively, you can access assessment settings from the edit assessment screen.
If you are currently editing the Working Copy of the assessment, click the Settings link at the top of the assessment editing screen.
Settings options
There are five sections of assessment Settings:
- About this Assessment
- Availability and Submissions
- Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date
- Grading and Feedback
- Layout and Appearance
Click on the section title in the Settings screen to expand or collapse that section. Below is a summary of the options available to you in each of these sections, and a link to an article that describes the options in greater detail.
About this Assessment
In the About this Assessment section, you can edit the Title of your assessment or add a Description that displays before students begin taking the test. For more information on this section and its options, see How do I edit my assessment title or description?
Availability and Submissions
In Availability and Submissions, you can:
- Indicate who should submit the assessment (Anonymous Users, Entire Site, or Selected Group(s)).
- Select how many times each student or site member is allowed to submit the assessment.
- Select the dates when the assessment is available and due, and until when to accept late submissions, if allowed.
- Set a time limit for the assessment, if desired.
- Choose whether to have in progress assessments automatically submitted, if the students have not already submitted the assessment.
- Restrict the assessment by a range of IP Addresses (to require students to submit the assessment within a specific building), or require a Password that students will have to type in at the start of the assessment to take it. You may also require the use of a lockdown browser.
- Create a message that students see upon submitting their assignment.
For more information on this section and its options, see What are the Availability and Submissions options for an assessment?
Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date
In the Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date section, you can select users or groups within the site and specify a different availability window for the assessment as well as indicate the time limit allowed for that user/group. For more information on this section and its options, see How do I give specific students different date or time settings for an assessment?
Grading and Feedback
In Grading and Feedback, you can:
- Choose whether graders see the students’ names when grading.
- Select whether or not to send grades to the Gradebook tool.
- Choose which score is recorded, if a student is allowed to make more than one submission (also applies to allowing a retake).
- If and when students will receive feedback on the assessment, and what kinds of feedback you will make available to them (e.g. their answers, correct answers, assessment scores).
For more information on this section and its options, see What are the Grading and Feedback options for an assessment?
Layout and Appearance
Layout and Appearance options control the overall look and feel of the test for students, such as how they navigate from one question to another, and how the assessment questions are numbered if the assessment has multiple parts.
For more information on this section and its options, see How do I adjust the layout and appearance of an assessment?
Effects of settings
You can modify the settings, parts, and questions of any assessment listed under Working Copies. When you publish an assessment, a copy is created and listed under Published Copies. For the published copy, you can make changes to all the settings except Assessment Released To. To edit the settings, select Settings in the Action drop-down menu for that assessment. You cannot edit the questions in a published copy.
Note: After you’ve published an assessment, if you modify the unpublished version under Working Copies, you’ll have to alter the assessment’s Title before republishing it. When you publish it, you’ll be creating another publication under Published Copies, NOT replacing the existing published copy.
Note: It is not recommended to modify the settings of an assessment while testing is in progress, as it may cause loss of student submission data.
Save Settings and publish the assessment.
When the assessment settings are ready, and the questions are in place, click Save Settings and Publish to publish the assessment so that your students can take it. See the article How do I publish an assessment (i.e. test or quiz)?
Alternatively, if you’re not ready to publish the assessment, you can click Save to save your settings selections.
Note: If you’re modifying the settings of an assessment in Published Copies, you’ll only see the Save and Cancel buttons.
Exceptions for Students
Some students in your class may need different assessment settings from others. For example, a student could require extra time on a timed assessment, or multiple rosters or sections in the same course site could be administered the same assessment on different dates. The Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date settings allow instructors to create exceptions for specific students, without having to create separate copies of the assessment.
In the assessment Settings page, click Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date.
The Exceptions to Time Limit and Delivery Date section will expand to show the following options:
Select the user from the drop-down list of enrolled students.
Or, select the group from the drop-down list of groups in the site.
Note: You must have existing groups in your site in order to select a group.
Availability Dates Exception
The availability dates let you specify when your assessment can be accessed by the selected student or group. If you don’t specify any dates, the default dates will be the same as the existing assessment settings for all students. This setting will override the normal availability dates for the assessment for the selected student/group.
If you are only changing the amount of time allowed for the test, and not the test availability window, you may leave the dates unchanged.
Use the date-picker (calendar icon) to select a new date and time if desired.
- The available date is the start date of the exam window. Students will not be able to see the assessment before this date. Publishing an assessment with a blank available date will make it available immediately upon publishing.
- The due date is the end date for the exam window. Students will not be able to submit after this date unless you accept late submissions. If late submissions are allowed, any submissions after the due date will be marked as late.
- The Late submissions accepted until? date is the end date for late submissions on the assessment. If late submissions are not accepted, this date should be the same as the due date above.
Note: When you click on any date field, the date-picker (calendar window) will display. You can choose a date by clicking on it in the calendar, or by clicking Now. Select a time using the Hour and Minute sliders. When your date is selected, click Done.
Time limit exception
Select the desired time limit from the drop-down menu. This setting will override the normal time limit setting for the assessment for the selected student/group. If you don’t specify a time limit (i.e. time limit of 0), the student will have unlimited time.
Click Add Exception.
Existing exceptions will display.
Once saved, any exceptions for this assessment will be listed here. You may select Edit to make changes to the exception dates/time, or select Delete to remove the exception.
Grading
Most question types in Tests & Quizzes are automatically graded by the system. However, you will need to manually score short answer/essay questions, file uploads, and audio recordings. You may also adjust the auto-graded scores, add comments, or give partial credit.
If you would like to send your assessment scores to the Gradebook so that they can be included in the course grade calculation or allow students to see an answer key or other feedback in Tests & Quizzes, see What are the Grading and Feedback options for an assessment?
On the Total Scores screen for an assessment, you can see the total score each student received based on the points from auto-graded questions (such as multiple choice and true false). You may adjust the students’ scores and for students who submitted the assessment, you can add comments.
For more information on manually grading individual student submissions or questions, see the following articles:
- How do I give same score (e.g. 0) to all students with no submission to an assessment?
- How do I grade assessment submissions by student?
- How do I grade assessment submissions by question?
- How do I download assessment submissions for grading offline?
Note:
- Tests & Quizzes will NOT automatically grade students with no submission. If a student who did not submit an assessment should receive a grade of 0, you’ll need to enter a 0 for their grade.
- Comments cannot be added within the Tests & Quizzes tool for students with no submission and they do not have access to feedback for assessments they did not submit. If you’d like to print an answer key to an assessment to provide to students who did not submit, see How do I print an assessment (i.e. test or quiz)?
- Once a grade has been saved for a student in Tests & Quizzes, you cannot delete the grade to remove it from the student’s course grade. If you inadvertently assign a score to a student who should not have received one for an assessment, and the assessment score is being sent to the Gradebook, you may need to override the course grade in the Gradebook.
Go to Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu of your site.
Select the Published Copies tab.
Click on the Published Copies tab to view the assessments that have been released to students in your site.
Go to the assessment submissions.
Select the Scores option from the drop-down menu for the assessment you would like to grade.
Alternately, you may also click on the number of student submissions in the Submitted column to view the submissions.
Display multiple submissions for students. (Optional)
By default, the submission that displays for each student will be based on your assessment’s Recorded Score setting. For example, if you accept the highest score, the highest scoring submission will display. If you accept the average score, the average point value of all the student’s submissions will display.
If your assessment allows multiple submissions, or if a student has submitted an allowed retake, you can choose to view all student submissions by selecting All Submissions from the View drop-down menu.
Enter score adjustment and overall comments.
To make a grade adjustment to the overall assessment score:
- Enter a positive or negative score into the Adjustment column to add or subtract points from the student’s overall score.
- You may also enter comments in the Comments for Student column if you like. Students will see these comments when they view the assessment feedback. Optionally, you may also attach a file containing additional feedback. Click Add Attachments to attach a file.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list and click the Update button to save your changes.
Note: The Final Score column will display the adjusted score after you save your changes.
Sign-Up Tool
Step by Step User Guide
Sending Email
- Click on the Email tool for the site you are using.
- Within the “To:” area, select roles, sections or groups
- Use the “Add Other Recipients” field to enter email addresses of non-site participants.
- Fill in the Subject.
- Compose the body of the email message. A WYSIWYG editor lets you to choose from a variety of formatting options.
- Attach a file(s) to your email (optional).
- Check the “Send me a copy” box if you would like a copy of the message sent to your email address for record keeping.
- Check the “Add to Email Archive…” box to add your message to the site’s Email Archive, where it can be viewed by all site participants.
- Select “Append list of recipients” (optional)
- When you have finished composing your message and selecting optional items, click the “Send Mail” button to send the message.
Viewing Confirmations
When you click the “Send Mail” button to send your message, a confirmation page will display the names of all recipients.
Setting Default Options for the Site
Site owners or administrators will find an Options button at the top of the page, providing access to an Options page. Changes made on the Options page become the default settings for the site and apply to all site participants. The following options appear:
- Copies (send me a copy, append to email archive)
- Show Recipients
- Reply-to (sender, do not allow reply)
- Display invalid emails
- Display empty recipients group
Select “Update Defaults”
Email Archive
The Email Archive tool makes it possible for every site to have it’s own email address (e.g., sm555b1@questromtools.bu.edu). Site participants can send an email to this address and two things will occur:
1. All members of the site will receive a copy of the message sent to their individual email addresses (e.g., janedoe@bu.edu, johndoe@bu.edu, etc.).
2. A copy of the message will be archived under Email Archive where it can be viewed by all site participants.
Sending Email to the Site Address
- Click on the Email Archive tool for the site you are using.
- Note the email address for the site (e.g., sm555b1@questromtools.bu.edu).
- Open your email client (e.g., Outlook, gmail, etc.) .
- Compose a new message.
- Enter the email address for the site into the “To” field.
- Send your message.
- Check Email Archive on the site for an archived copy of the message.
Searching the Email Archive
Use the search field under Email Archive to search for archived messages. Search by sender, subject line text, or message body text.
Allowing Non-participants to Use the Site Address
Instructors can open up the use of the site email address to those outside of the site participant list. This is particularly useful for student team sites where faculty opt not to be members yet need a way to communicate with the team.
To open up use of the site email address beyond site participants:
- Click on the Email Archive tool for the site you are using.
- Click the Options button.
- Under Message settings, select the Anyone radio button.
- Click the Update Options button.
Gradebook
Instructors may use the Gradebook tool to assign points to individual assignments and to calculate/distribute overall course grades to students online. Using the tool, instructors add assignments and assign points to the assignments according to their relative weights in determining the overall course grade. The total of the assignment points may equal 100 points (but does not need to).
Adding Gradebook Items
To add an item, select the Gradebook tool from the site menu and perform the following steps:
- From the Overview screen, select the “Add Gradebook Item” button. The Add Gradebook Item screen opens.
- Specify the Title for the Item (required).
- Specify the Point Value for the Item (required). The Point Value is a number that will be used by the Gradebook tool to determine an Assignment’s relative weight in calculating the overall course grade for each student. Instructors may choose to configure Assignment Points in such a way that the total of all Assignment Points equals 100, but this is not a requirement. Whatever the total is, each assignment’s weight will be determined by the proportion of the total points that its Assignment Point Value represents.
- Specify if the assignment should be calculated as extra credit
- Specify the Due Date in mm/dd/yy format (optional). (Not assigning a due date might be appropriate for non-specific assignments such as “class participation”).
- You may choose to add the item to a category e.g. Assignments, exams (See the following section on creating categories for further instructions)
- Indicate in the check box if the assignment counts towards the overall course grade. (Instructors might wish to assign and grade assignments such as practice tests which will not count towards the overall course grade.)
- Indicate in the check box if the assignment is to be released and made visible to students in the course. (Instructors may wish to set up their course sites, in advance, with all of the assignments for the course and only release them when they are actually assigned.)
- Click the “Create” button to add the assignment to the Gradebook
Creating Categories in your Gradebook
To create a category:
- Select the “settings” tab within the Gradebook, then select “Categories & Weighting” from the list below
- You can choose to weight you categories with the radio button
- You can choose to drop or keep n number of items in a category with the check boxes
- Select “Add a Category”
- Enter a category name, weight and drop/keep specifications
Editing Gradebook Items
To edit an Item:
- Select the Gradebook tool from the site menu and hover over the dropdown arrow withing the title box of the item you wish to edit
- Select “Edit Item Details” from the dropdown. The Edit Gradebook Item screen will open.
- Make changes to the item’s settings, as required.
- Select “Save Changes” to make the changes take effect.
Deleting Gradebook Items
To delete an Item:
- Select the Gradebook tool from the site menu and hover over the dropdown arrow withing the title box of the item you wish to delete
- Select “Delete Item” from the dropdown. The Delete Item screen will open
- Select Delete. You will see a confirmation message indicating that the Item has been deleted.
Grading Items
To grade an Item:
- Select the Gradebook tool from the site menu and select the “Grades” tab
- To set a grade for the entire class hover over the dropdown arrow under the Item and select “Set Score for Empty Cells” this will open the Set Score for Empty Cells Window
- Enter a grade and select “Done”
- To input score for individual students double click the box under the Item in the same row as the students name and type in the value then press “Enter” on your keyboard
- Assign points for each student relative to the maximum number of points available for the assignment. (This is the number which was specified when the assignment was added to the gradebook and is shown opposite the Points heading in the Assignment Summary screen.)For example: If an assignment counted for 25 possible course points and a student got an 80% grade on the assignment, then they should be assigned 25 x 80% = 20 points for the assignment.
Grade Options (Releasing Grades to students)
The Gradebook tool provides options for when and how to release grades to students and for how to define the correspondence
between numeric grades and letter grades. These options are described below:
- Select the Gradebook tool from the site menu. The Overview screen will be displayed.
- Select the “Settings” tab at the top of the screen and then select “Grade Release Rules” from the options below
- There are two check boxes under the Grade Display heading (either or both of which may be checked):
- Choose (check) the first box if you wish grades to be made available to students as soon as the scores have been entered for any or all of them. This check box only applies to assignments that have been released (or assigned) to students.
- Choose (check) the second box if you wish to display to students how many cumulative points they have earned so far out of all of the possible points for the entire course and the course letter grade that represents.Note: If you choose to utilize the second check box, be sure to explain to students that assignments not yet completed or graded are counted as zero points in calculating the cumulative course letter grade to date. (This behavior can be overridden by utilizing the Gradebook Grade Override feature. See separate heading “Course
Grade Calculation ” below.)
- To change the grade type select “Grading Schema” from the options in the “Settings” tab
- Grade Type – Select one of three Grade Types from the drop-down box:
- Letter Grades
- Letter Grades with +/-
- Pass/Not Pass
Select the Change grade type button to finalize the selection and open the appropriate grade conversion table. Modify the grade conversion table (or reset to default values) to reflect the proper minimum % to qualify for each letter grade.
- Select Save to finalize your grade options for the course Gradebook.
Relationship of the Gradebook tool to the Assignments and Tests & Quizzes tools
Assignments may be added directly to the Gradebook using the editing features of the Gradebook tool itself (as described above). In addition, assignments created independently, using the features of either the Assignments tool or the Tests & Quizzes tool, may be added to the Gradebook. Please refer to the on-line documentation for those tools for details.
Course Grade Calculation
The Grade book tool will compute an overall course grade based on assignments that have been released to students and have been graded. To utilize this feature, open the Gradebook tool and click on “Grade” at the top of the screen. Individual course grades (based on assignment submissions/grading to date) will be shown for each student as well as an overall score for the class as a whole.
However, the calculated grade for any student may be overridden by hovering over the dropdown arrow in the Course Grade field and selecting”Course Grade Override”. If you enter a Grade Override you must select “Save Course Grade Override” . (Clear the Grade Override box and click Save to eliminate a Grade Override for a student.)
Uploading and Importing Items
As an alternative to adding Items to the Gradebook manually, instructors may wish to import assignments from an Excel .csv file.
Downloading and Exporting Course Scores
The Gradebook tool provides the ability to download course scores to either a standard Excel or a CSV file.
To do this, open the Gradebook and select “Import/Export” tab at the top of the screen. Under Export select “Export Gradebook” It is highly recommended that you elect to first open it as a spreadsheet and then save it with a user-friendly name (instead of the long complicated name that Questromtools assigns to it) and that you save it to a permanent location on your hard drive.
Viewing Scores (students)
Students may view their scores on assignments that have been released and graded by opening the Gradebook tool for Title, Due Date, Score, or Points.
Calendar
It gives the site administrator(s) the ability to create a calendar of events and/or deadlines (e.g. course assignment due dates, computer lab times, etc.). Once posted, events may be viewed by all site participants in a variety of formats.
Adding (Editing) Calendar Items
To add Calendar items, complete the following steps:
- Open the Calendar tool and select the “Add Event” tab
- On the Add Event page, complete the required fields (indicated by asterisks) – Title, Date and Start Time .
- Specify either the Duration or the End Time. (They are optional and specifying one will determine the other.)
- Specify other optional items:
- Message – You may add text to be displayed with the scheduled item using the embedded WYSIWYG editor.
- Display to Site – By default, all site participants will see the new event. If the site has groups and/or sections, a radio button will appear entitled “Display to Selected Groups.” This allows the site administrator to specify that the event be made viewable only to site participants within selected groups and/or sections. Choose groups and/or sections, as appropriate.
- Frequency – By default, the event will be displayed only once. By selecting the Frequency button, you may alter the frequency to be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
- Event Type – By default, the event is listed as an activity. However, you may choose any of the options presented in the drop-down box which will also change the icon displayed. A legend showing the various event types and associated icons is located at the bottom of the main Schedule page.
- Event Location – Type a description for the event location.
- Attachments – Add any attachments (files or website links) to be displayed with the event. Note, multiple files and/or website links may be attached to the event. Also, you may specify existing site Resources (either from the current site or other sites of which you are a participant) to be added to the Schedule event.
- Select Save Event to post it to the site calendar.To revise Schedule items, complete the following steps:
- Select the event from the Calendar “View” tab
- Click the “Edit” button for the event.
- Make changes to the event.
- Select Save Event which will post revisions to the site Calendar.
Viewing and Printing the Schedule
Views: Several views of the Schedule are available from the View drop-down box on the Schedule tool screen. They are:
- Calendar by Day
- Calendar by Week
- Calendar by Month
- Calendar by Year
- List of Events
Each view displays posted events as underlined items with an icon identifying the type of activity. A legend showing the various event types and associated icons is located at the bottom of the main Schedule page.
Details of posted events can be displayed by clicking the underlined event title.
The List of Events view in the View drop-down box displays a chronological list of Schedule events. This list can be toggled between “Sort by date ascending” and “Sort by date descending” by clicking on the heading for the date column.
Also, the List of Events view provides the ability to filter events by start/end dates. To use this feature, set the appropriate start/end dates and select Filter Events.
By default, the start and end dates for the List of Events view are set to coincide with whatever Calendar view was last selected (day, month, year). For example, if a user chose to view events by month and selected the month of March, then the start/end dates for the filter would be March 1/March 31 when they subsequently switched to the List of Events view.
Printable Versions: The Day, Week, Month and List of Events views of the Schedule provide an option for the user to view a printable version of the calendar using Adobe Reader. Once the calendar has been opened in the printable version, it may be viewed, printed, saved or otherwise managed as any standard PDF document.
Navigation Buttons: The Day Week, Month and Year views of the calendar provide navigation buttons (in the upper right part of the screen) to allow users to quickly go to the previous, next or current time period, as appropriate.
Merging Schedules
The Calendar tool allows site administrators to merge events from other sites into the current site’s Schedule.
Merging Schedules: In order to merge schedules from other sites, follow the steps below:
- Select the “Merge Internal Calendars” tab on the Calendar screen. This will open the Merging Calendars screen and display the calendars from sites that the current user had permission to view.
- In the Show Calendar column, check the boxes for the sites for which you wish to merge events.
- Select the Save button to effect the merge. (Merged calendars may be subsequently separated by unchecking the appropriate Show Calendar check box at a future time.
Adding or Deleting Fields (data) to an Event
In addition to the standard data fields that are available for all events, users with appropriate permissions may add additional data fields to further characterize site events (e.g. keynote speaker, readings due, etc.)
To add a field to an event, select the “Fields” tab on the Calendar screen and follow the steps below:
- On the Add/Edit Fields screen, enter the name for the new field in the Field Name box and select Create Field. The new field will be displayed in the Field Name list. Repeat this step for as many additional fields as are necessary.
- Select the Save Field Changes button to add the additional field(s) and return to the Calendar screen.
To delete a custom field from an event, select the Fields button on the Schedule screen and follow the steps below:
-
- Check the “Remove?” button for the field(s) you wish to delete.
- Select “Save Field Changes”. You will receive a warning asking you to confirm that you want to remove the field. If so, select Save Field Changes a second time.
- The checked field(s) will be removed.
Publish Your Site
You’re all set! All that’s left to do is Publish your site. Congratulations!
For future reference, you can use our Questrom course site setup checklist.