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Pools, Tests, and Surveys

· Overview

· Pool, Test, and Survey Managers

· Create a pool

· Add a test or survey

· Deploy a test or survey

Pools and tests work together to create exams and quizzes for students. A pool is a versatile, expandable set of questions from which you can select to create a test. A test is the actual arrangement of questions that a student will see. You can create a test drawing from multiple pools, selecting specific types of questions from a pool, or allowing BlackBoard to randomly pick questions.

Figure 1. Assessment area of Control Panel

While you can create a test and load it with questions directly, we highly recommend creating a pool of questions first, and then creating tests from that pool. This gives you a lot more flexibility to mix and match questions from different quizzes, create multiple versions of a test, and export questions for use in multiple courses.

Creating a test on BlackBoard is a four step process:

· Create a question pool

· Create questions to fill the pool

· Create a test from the question pool

· Deploy the test

Create a Pool

From the Control Panel, select Pool Manager (see fig. 1). Click on the “Add Pool” button and fill out the form to name, and optionally, add a description and instructions. Click “OK.”

(Note: you can create a pool from an existing test or pool. This is a way to convert a test that you made directly to a pool, so as to take advantage of the pool’s portability and potential as a place to continue building items.)

Create Questions

Once you have created a pool, you will be taken to the Pool Canvas, where you will add items to populate your pool.

To add a question to your pool:

1. Select a question type from the Add dropdown menu, and click "Go."
2. Add the question text, select the number of answers, and type in the answers for the question.
3. Choose the correct answer.
4. Type in feedback for correct and incorrect answers.
5. Click Submit.
6. To add another question, go to the top of the page, and repeat these steps.
• To insert a question between two existing questions, click on the "Add Question Here" link. This will insert a question of the type showing on the Add menu.
7. When you have finished adding questions, click on the “Submit” button at the bottom of the screen. This will return you to the Pool Manager.

Figure 2. Drop-down menu for adding questions to a pool. Note the “Go” button.

 Screen capture movie: Creating a pool (6 min.)

Add a Test

Build your test from one or more question pools.

o In the course view, navigate to the page where you want the student to take the test and click on “Edit View” to toggle into the authoring view. (You can also open the content page from Control Panel view.)

o Click on the “+Test” button on the Add toolbar. Name the test (sometimes the name might be the same as the pool from which you will populate the test) and post a description and instructions.

o Click “Submit.” This will take you to the Test Canvas.

o From the “Add” dropdown menu, scroll to the bottom and select “From a Question Pool or Assessment” and click the “Go” button (see fig. 3).

o Select the pool you want from the “Pools” list (note that it follows the “Tests” list, so you may have to scroll down for it. Search for the question types you want to use, or choose “All.” (See fig. 4)

o Create the Test Canvas from pool items, modify them, add new items, and reorder items as desired.

o Select the type of questions you would like to add to your test, or select “All.” Click “Search.”

o Modify your test canvas as desired. You can add new questions, delete unwanted ones, modify questions, and reorder them.

o Click “OK.” See below to make the test available.

Figure 3. Test canvas, showing “Add” dropdown menu

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Figure 4. Pool list and question types

 Screen capture movie: Add a test from a pool (3.36 min.)

 Deploy a test

You can deploy tests in any content area, using Edit view. Tests cannot be deployed from the Test Manager.

• Open a content area and click on Edit View.
• Click on the Add: "Test" button.
• Choose the test you want to add and click Submit.
• Back in the content area, find the test and click on Modify.
• Click on Modify Test Options to set availability, presentation, and feedback options.

Figure 5. Deploying a test: Modify the Test Options

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you change a test after some students have taken it, you will need to go into the gradebook and manually grade their tests.

 Screen capture movie: Deploy a test from a content area (3.55 min.)

Test Manager

o Go into the Test Manager in the Control Panel to modify or remove tests.

o Create a pool in Pool Manager rather than creating a test here. The Pool affords much greater flexibility of use in future.

o You must deploy a test from the content page in the course view (see “Add a Test” above). You cannot deploy a test from Test Manager.

Survey Manager

A survey is an unscored test. Create survey pools here in a similar way to how you create a pool, then deploy on the content page you choose in a similar way to how you add a test (see above).

Add a survey

o In the course view, navigate to the page where you want the student to take the survey and click on “Edit View” to toggle into the authoring view.

o From the dropdown menu on the Add toolbar, select “Survey.” Name the survey (sometimes the name might be the same as the pool from which you will populate the survey) and post a description and instructions.

o Deploy the survey using the “Modify Survey Options” link to set availability, presentation, and feedback options.