In last week's post we explored several options for building a test within Blackboard. Once a test is built, it exists for you as an instructor to be able to view or edit it, but it will not be visible to students until you deploy it within the course.
To deploy a test or quiz within a Blackboard course, you need to first determine the content area where students should be able to access it. For some it works best to have a separate button on your Blackboard course navigation menu called "Tests" or "Tests & Quizzes." For others, the content for each chapter/module/unit is organized into subfolders of a content area, and each test or quiz should be placed within the appropriate subfolder. Organizing a course in this way is helpful to students so that they can find everything related to a particular chapter or unit of study in one place, rather than having to visit several different areas within a Blackboard course.
To deploy a test that has already been built within a Blackboard course:
- Navigate to the course area where you wish to deploy it
- From the action bar on top, select Assessments
- Click the Test option under the Assessment drop-down
- Select a test from the available list (only those not yet deployed will appear)
- Click Submit
This will take you to the Test Options page, where you can customize all of the following test settings for your students:
- Make the Link Available
This will make the test visible to students within the content area you have selected. You can make it available only after or until a certain date using the date options below.
- Add a New Announcement for this Test/Survey
The announcement lets students know that a new assessment has been made available within the course and provides a link to that assessment.
- Multiple Attempts
You can choose how many attempts students may take for each test, as well as which attempt's score will be used. The Feedback options (see below) allow you to customize what scores and feedback students are able to view following each attempt or the due date.
- Force Completion
Selecting this option forces students to complete the test in one sitting. If it is not selected, students may save their responses and come back to finish the test at a later time. The disadvantage to using this is that students can get locked out of a test (accidentally closing their browsers, losing an Internet connection) and will not be able to continue it unless you, as the instructor, clears an attempt (if you are only allowing one attempt). This setting would best be used when students are on campus taking a proctored exam via a wired Internet connection so that instructors are available to clear an attempt if necessary.
- Set Timer
This gives students a set amount of time to work on a test within Blackboard. It is often a better choice to use the Set Timer option rather than the Force Completion option. During the test the amount of time elapsed will display to students, and a one-minute warning will appear near the end.
Checking the box to Auto Submit will not allow students to continue working on the test once the timer runs out. Without this box selected, students are allowed to continue to the test once the time has expired; instructors will notice a late submission in the grade center and have the option of adjusting points accordingly if they wish to do so.
- Display After / Display Until
These are options for making the test available and unavailable before/after certain dates but do not need to be checked if you are making it immediately available via the first option on the page.
- Password
Passwords to access the test would best be used for an in-class setting so that students have to be present to get the password and be able to access the test. They are limited to 15 characters and are case-sensitive.
- Test Availability Exceptions
This area allow you to make exceptions from the general test settings for specific individuals. Exemptions can be made for number of attempts, timer, availability dates, and force completion.
- Due Date
Setting a due date will allow the test to appear on the Blackboard course calendar. It will also indicate to the instructor that a test attempt was submitted late. Instructors also have the option of not allowing students to start a test once the due date has passed.
- Self Assessment Options
These options are best left set to the default. Checking the second option will never allow you, as the instructor, to see a student's test score or performance. This would only be used in the case of a pretest/self-assessment if the instructor does not need to see or calculate the test results.
- Show Test Results and Feedback to Students
There are a variety of options available for choosing which results and feedback are visible to students following a test attempt (or multiple attempts). Students will always be able to see their test score (in the My Grades area), unless you hide that column from student view. For a full explanation of the various options, see the Feedback Options section on Blackboard Help's office Test and Survey Options page.
- Test Presentation
Test questions can be presented either all at once (on the same screen) or one question at-a-time. If presented one-at-a-time, instructors can choose whether to allow students to move back and forth between questions. The randomize questions option will display questions for each test attempt in a different order.
Click Submit to deploy the test to students with the settings you have selected. One the test is deployed and there is at least one attempt made, you are limited in terms of making changes to the test.
Visit us again next week when we present options for viewing test results and test access logs.
