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Home  FAQ  Tip Sheets  NUWiki/NUBlog  Attend a Workshop  Tutorial  Faculty Surveys  Policies   FAQ: Assessment and Grade Center 1. Assessments: Test and Survey What is an assessment? How do I create a Test? How do I create a Survey? How do I upload questions to an Assessment? How do I make a Test available to my students? How do I make a Survey available to my students? How do I prevent my students from printing a Test and(or) Survey? How do I reset a student's exam? How do I enable the timer feature on a Test or Survey? I have enabled the timer feature on a Test or Survey, but my students cannot see the timer. Is there a solution to this problem? 2. Grade Center What is the Grade Center? How do I set weighted grades? What are categories? How do I drop the lowest grade for each student? How do I download the Grade Center? 3. Pool Manager What is the Pool Manager? How do I create a Question Pool? How do I use questions from the Pool Manager to create an assessment? Can I reuse an assessment created for one course in a different course site? Back to "FAQ" What is an Assessment? Instructors use Assessments to test student knowledge, measure student progress, and gather information from students. There are two types of Assessments: Tests – Tests are created to check the knowledge and skill level of users enrolled in the course. Tests permit instructors to assign point values to each question on exams or quizzes. When a Student completes a Test, it is submitted for grading and the results are recorded in the Grade Center. Surveys – Surveys are useful for polling purposes, evaluations, and random checks of knowledge. They function in the same way as Tests and offer most of the same options. Questions on Surveys are not assigned a point value, and Surveys are not graded. Self and Peer Assessments – These assignments are designed so that students can constructively critique each other's work, guided by criteria set by the instructor.  Self and Peer Evaluations allow students greater insight to their own effort and that of their peers by giving and receiving thoughtful feedback.   [Back to top] How do I create a Test? To create a Test, 1. Open Test Manager Go to the Control Panel Click Test Manager under Assessment 2. Create a Test Select Add Test in the Test Manager page Enter a name, description, instructions, and click Submit 3. Test Creation Settings In the Test Canvas, click Creation Settings Check the boxes next to the options you would like to have displayed every time you add a question Click Submit, then OK 4. Add Questions Select a question type on the Test Canvas and click GO Complete the form Repeat these two steps until finished adding questions Note: Creating a test does not automatically make your test available to students. To make your test available, please click here.     [Back to top] How do I create a Survey? To create a Survey, 1. Open Survey Manager Go to the Control Panel Click Survey Manager under Assessment 2. Create a Survey Select Add Survey in the Survey Manager page Enter a name, description, instructions and click Submit 3. Survey Creation Settings In the Survey Canvas, click Creation Settings Check the boxes next to the options you would like to have displayed every time you add a question Click Submit, then OK 4. Add Questions Select a question type on the Survey Canvas and click Go Complete the form Repeat these two steps until finished adding questions Note: Creating a Survey does not automatically make your Survey available to students. To make your survey available, please click here.     [Back to top] How do I upload questions to an Assessment? The questions in the uploaded file must match a specific file structure, like in the template you have to download below. The file may include Essay, Ordering, Matching, Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer and True/False questions, or any combination of these. View text file template here and click File > Save Page As... within your browser to download it to your computer. To upload questions to an Assessment, Go to the Control Panel Click Test Manager under Assessment Click Modify next to the Test you would like to upload questions to In the Add Question pull-down menu, select Upload Questions and click Go Click Browse... Select the text file containing your questions and click Open Click Submit Your uploaded questions will appear in the Test Canvas Note: When questions are imported they automatically default to the point value set in Creation Settings. If a default value has not been chosen in Creation Settings questions will automatically have a point value of ‘0’ and Instructors must enter a point value for each question.     [Back to top] How do I make a Test available to my students? To make a Test available, 1. Add the Test to a content area Go to the Control Panel of your course site Click on the Content Area where you would like to add the Test Click the button Select the test you would like to make available. Click Submit, then OK 2. Make Test available Click Modify the test options Under Test Availability click Yes next to Make the link available Click Submit, then OK   [Back to top] How do I make a Survey available to my students? To make a Survey available, 1. Add a Survey to a content area Go to the Control Panel of your course site Click on the Content Area where you would like to add the Survey In the drop-down menu on the right side, select Survey and click Go Select the survey you would like to make available. Click Submit, then OK 2. Make Survey available Click Modify the survey options Under Survey Availability click Yes next to Make the link available Click Submit, then OK   [Back to top] How do I prevent my students from printing a Test and/or Survey? To prevent students from printing a Test and/or Survey, insert the following code into the first question of the Test or Survey: <style type="text/css">@media print {BODY {display:none}}</style> This code will result in printing a blank page.   [Back to top] How do I reset a student's exam? To reset a student's exam, Go to the Control Panel of your course site. Click on Grade Center and locate the column associated with the exam. Find the row associated with the student. Click on the icon where the row and column meet (generally a padlock). A new page will appear with a View button on the far right. Click on View. This page will show the answers the student provided before they were locked out. When you clear the student's attempt, these answers will be removed. At this point, it may be helpful to copy the current set of answers into a new document. Click Clear Attempt in the upper right hand side of the page. The student will now be able to take the exam again.   [Back to top] How do I enable the timer feature on a Test or Survey? To enable the timer feature, Go to the Control Panel of your course site Click on the Content Area where you added the Test or Survey Click the Modify button next to the Test or Survey Click on Modify the Test/Survey options Scroll down to the Test/Survey Availability section and check the box next to Set Timer. Set the desired completion time. Click Submit, then OK   [Back to top] I have enabled the timer feature on a Test or Survey, but my students cannot see the timer. Is there a solution to this problem? Yes. Your students will need to modify their web browser settings: Internet Explorer 7: Click the Tools button in the toolbar Click Internet Options Select the Security tab Click on Internet or Restricted sites Click the Custom level... button Scroll down to Scripting and enable Allow status bar updates via script Firefox 2.0 (PC): Click the Tools button in the toolbar Click Options Make sure the checkbox next to Enable Javascript is selected, and click on the Advanced button next to Enable Javascript Enable Change status bar text Firefox 2.0 (Mac): Click the Preferences button in the toolbar Click Options Make sure the checkbox next to Enable Javascript is selected, and click on the Advanced button next to Enable Javascript Enable Change status bar text   [Back to top] What is the Grade Center? The Grade Center is a spreadsheet that allows instructors and TAs to manage each student's grades.  Some items, like tests, assignments, surveys and assessments are automatically created in the Grade Center after the instructor creates them in the content area.  Grades can be added, sorted, weighted, dropped, and tallied in the Grade Center.   [Back to top] How do I set weighted grades? To weight grades, go to the Grade Center and Click Add Calculated Column Pull down to Weighted Enter a name for the column Select the columns or categories that you would like to include in the column Click the arrow button to move each item into the Selected Columns box Enter the percentage you would like each item to hold Click Submit   [Back to top] What are categories? Categories are useful ways to group like items together in the Grade Center.  Categories can then be further organized in Smart Views and Reports. Categories also allow the instructor to easily drop a grade.  To create a category, go to the Grade Center and Click Manage Pull down to Categories Click Add Category Enter the Category name Click Submit After the Category is created, you can put items in it: Click Manage Pull down to Organize Grade Center Select all the assessments to be included in the category by clicking the appropriate boxes Click Modify Category and select the desired category Click Submit   [Back to top] How do I drop the lowest grade for each student? To drop a grade, instructors must first create a category.  Then, from the Grade Center Click Add Calculated Column Pull down to Weighted Enter a name for the column Select the category that you would like to include in the column Click the arrow button to move each item into the Selected Columns box Enter the percentage you would like each item to hold Enter the number of grades you would like to drop for each student for that item Click Submit   [Back to top] How do I download the Grade Center? Select the Grade Center view you would like to download (Full Grade Center or a Smart View): Click Manage Pull down to Download Select the data you wish to download Select the type of file you wish to save Click Submit Click Download Follow your computer's download instructions to either open the file or save it to a disk on your machine   [Back to top] What is the Pool Manager? The Pool Manager allows instructors to store questions for repeated use. Instructors can create new questions to include in Pools and add questions that have been created in other Tests, Surveys and Pools. Pools are course-specific although Pools from other courses can be imported through the Pool Manager.     [Back to top] How do I create a Question Pool? A Question Pool allows instructors to store questions for repeated use. To create a Question Pool, Step 1: Add a Pool Go to the Control Panel Click on Pool Manager under Assessment Click Add Pool Enter a name and description for your pool Click Submit Step 2: Add Questions You can either manually enter a question into the pool or select questions from another pool assessment. To enter a new question, From the Question Type pull-down menu, select the type of question to add to the pool and click GO Enter question text, answer(s) and responses Click Submit To add an existing question from a pool or assessment, From the Question Type pull-down menu, select From Question Pool or Assessment. Click GO Select which assessment or pool you wish to draw questions from and check the boxes for the question types you wish to search for Check the questions that you would like to add to this pool. Click Submit When you are finished adding questions to this pool, click OK   [Back to top] How do I use questions from the Pool Manager to create an assessment? To use questions from the Pool Manager, Step 1: Add a New Test Click Test Manager from the Control Panel of your course site Click Add Test Enter a name and description for your new test and click Submit Step 2: Add Question(s) Using the pull-down "Question Type" menu, select From Question Pool or Assessment and click GO Use the pull-down menu to specify whether you want to select specific questions or random questions from the Question Pool. Click Submit Select which assessment or pool you wish to draw questions from and check the boxes for the question types you wish to search for Check the questions that you would like to add to this pool. Click Submit   [Back to top] Can I reuse an assessment created for one course in a different course site? Yes. To do this you have to use the Pool Manager. To export an assessment from one course site to another, Step 1: Create a pool Create a pool of all the questions you would like to export to another course site. To learn how to do this, click here Step 2: Export your question pool Go to the Control Panel of the course site where the pool you would like to export is located Click on Pool Manager under Assessment Click Export next to the pool you wish to export Click save and select where to store the question pool on your local computer Step 3: Import pool Go to the Control Panel of the course site you wish to import the pool to Click on Pool Manager under Assessment Click Import Pool Click Browse... and select the .zip file that you exported from the other course site Click Submit   [Back to top] Information Technology Northwestern Home | Calendar: Plan-It Purple | Sites A-Z | Search Academic Technologies  NU Library 2East  1970 Campus Drive  Evanston, IL  60208-2300 Phone: (847)491-4044      E-mail: course-management@northwestern.edu Last updated   World Wide Web Disclaimer and University Policy Statements  2005 Northwestern University