MGCCC Distance Learning
 

How do I make an assessment available for students to complete after the specified end date restriction?

How do I reset a student’s test when they have been kicked out of the assessment?

Why does a student get kicked out of an assessment?

How will I know if a student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

How will I know what questions were answered after the student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

What grade should I give when a student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

What should I do if a student indicates that they cannot see the count-up timer while taking an assessment?

How can I define different point values for different difficulty level questions when generating a random block of questions?

How do I make an assessment available for students to complete after the specified end date restriction?

When making an assessment available, a link to the assessment is placed in the course site and an announcement is generated on the Announcements page provided this option was chosen. To re-display the links to the assessment complete the following steps:

1. Log into your course in Blackboard.
2. Click on the “Control Panel” button.
3. Click on the appropriate course content link (Assignments, Course Documents, Course Information, etc.) that contains the link to the assessment under the “Content Areas” section.
4. Click the “Modify” button for the assessment.
5. Update the date/time restrictions under the “Options” section of the “Modify Content” page and then click the “Submit” button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
6. Click the “OK” button on the Content Receipt screen.

NOTE: If you chose the option to generate an announcement when you originally made the assessment available, it is advisable to repeat steps 3 – 6 for the quiz announcement.

How do I reset a student’s test when they have been kicked out of the assessment?

1. Log into your course in Blackboard.
2. Click on the “Control Panel” button.
3. Click on the “Online Gradebook” link under the “Assessment” section.
4. Click the “Spreadsheet View” link on the “Online Gradebook” page.
5. Click the question mark or padlock for the appropriate student and assessment.

Note: The padlock will be displayed signaling the student is either currently taking the assessment or encountered a network problem prior to clicking the submit button. A question mark will be displayed if three or more days have passed since the student began the assessment, but never clicked the submit button.

6. Click the “Clear Attempt” button located in the upper right corner of the student’s assessment.

Why does a student get kicked out of an assessment?

A student can get kicked out of an assessment for any of the following reasons:

1. The student clicked the browser “Back” button while taking the assessment. Students often click the “Back” button believing this will take them to a prior location in the assessment. Blackboard treats assessments as one long page and clicking the “Back” button actually kicks the student out of the assessment and back to the screen prior to entering the assessment.
2. The student’s Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) activity timer terminated the connection.
3. Loss of power.
4. The student entered and exited the exam without completing the assessment.
5. The student inadvertently closes the browser window where the exam is located.

How will I know if a student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

The student will receive an exclamation point for their assessment grade in the Online Gradebook. Click the exclamation point to view the student’s assessment. The information on how long the student took to complete the assessment will be displayed at the top of the student’s assessment.

NOTE: If a student waits until the last few seconds of the set time limit to submit their assessment, their assessment will likely indicate that they exceeded the time limit. This is a normal occurrence as it can take up to 1 or 2 minutes for the Blackboard server to receive the signal across the Internet that the assessment has been completed.

How will I know what questions were answered after the student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

Unfortunately the Blackboard software does not mark which questions were completed after the set time limit as passed.

What grade should I give when a student exceeds the set time limit for an assessment?

The grade given is up to the instructor. It is highly recommended that you set a policy before the course starts on how you will handle this issue.

What should I do if a student indicates that they cannot see the count-up timer while taking an assessment?

If a student cannot see the count-up timer, they will need to click the “View” drop down menu of their browser and then click the “Status Bar” command. The timer should now be visible in the lower left corner of their screen on the status bar.

How can I define different point values for different difficulty level questions when generating a random block of questions?

Questions within a random block can only be assigned the same point value.

A question pool can only be used once for an assessment.

To overcome these limitations it is advisable that you generate three different question pools for each subject matter. The three separate question pools can be designated as easy, medium, and hard and contain questions with the appropriate difficulty levels. You can then generate three separate random blocks for the assessment and assign a different point value based on the difficulty level for each block.

NOTE: Using this method will also ensure that all students receive the same number of questions within each difficulty level.

Return to Creating Assessments in Blackboard

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Last Modified: April 20, 2007. Comments? Questions? Contact jennifer.leimer@mgccc.edu