North Dakota State University

Tests, Surveys, and Pools

In Blackboard 9.1 instructors have expanded question management capabilities available when creating Tests, Surveys, and Question Pools. These changes allow for more centralized control over question content and reduce the amount of time required to make global edits. 

New Features and Changes

Tests

Blackboard tests allow students to take quizzes and tests online. Instructors can create different types of questions and assign point values to each question on exams or quizzes. When a student completes a test it is automatically graded and the results are recorded in the Grade Center. Questions that require manual grading are marked in the Grade Center and can be graded later.

Surveys

Surveys are useful for polling, evaluations, and random checks of knowledge. They function in the same way as tests and offer most of the same options, but survey responses are completely anonymous and are not graded. The process of creating, editing, and deploying surveys, and the question types available are the same as for Blackboard tests.

Pools

Instructors can use pools to create a collection of questions to use in multiple tests or surveys. Pools group questions so that they can be imported and exported. Pools are also used to create Random Blocks and Question Sets for use in tests and surveys.

How-to Tutorials

• Creating a Test - Video Tutorial
• Create a Test and/or Survey - PDF
• Create a Test and/or Survey (Alternate Method) - PDF
• Available Question Types - PDF
  (contains links to tutorials for using each question type)
• Find and/or Edit Existing Tests, Surveys, or Pools - PDF
• Reusing Questions from Other Tests (The Question Finder) - Video Tutorial
• Uploading Test Questions from MS Excel - Video Tutorial
• Creating a Question Pool - Video Tutorial
• Creating a Random Block of Questions - Video Tutorial
• Exporting and Importing Tests or Surveys - Video Tutorial
• Grading Blackboard Tests or Quizzes
• Collecting Survey Responses - Video Tutorial
• Granting Credit for Survey Completion

New Features and Changes

• Question Finder - create assessments by reusing questions that have been collected in the Question Finder repository. The list of questions available under "Reuse Questions" can be filtered by Test, Survey, or Pool, or by attributes such as question type, category, topic, or level of difficulty. A search capability allows users to further refine the filtered list.
• Link to Questions - Instructors can choose to link to or copy questions from any test, survey, or pool within a course. Linking to a question ensures that any changes to the original question are reflected in all links. Copying a question creates a separate question that isn't affected by changes to the original question.
• Question Sets - In addition to Random Blocks, instructors can use Question Sets to randomly select a set number of questions that are pulled from a specific group of questions selected by the instructor. The specific questions displayed to students are chosen randomly each time the test is attempted.
• Batch Deletion and Point Updates - Instructors can perform basic actions such as question deletion and point updates as batch actions which can be targeted by question type.
• Reorder Questions - change the question order in a test or survey by dragging and dropping the questions using the mouse.
• Grade Test Attempts Anonymously - Student names are hidden from the grader during the grading process. Student grade information will still be visible in the Grade Center after the test grading is complete.
  
• Grade By Question - Allows instructors to grade all student answers to the same question at once - useful for grading those question types that require manual grading by the instructor.