When you are finished creating a test, it must be published to allow students to access it. You publish tests from Settings. To access settings, click on the middle choice at the top of your questions page, or choose Settings from the Core Assessments list.
There are five categories in Settings. Let's discuss them one-at-a-time. By the way, these settings can be set globally, along with others, when creating a template. We'll discuss templates in the next section.
Assessment Introduction |
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In this area you can change the title, but it will show what you already named it by default. The test creator is already filled in and can't be changed, although other author names can be added. This is where you put all instructions to the student about the test. Although this information is optional, it is very important to let students know what is expected of them and any other pertinent information you need to let them know before they take the test. |
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Delivery Dates |
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This is the area you set when the test should be open. Notice there is a little calendar to the right of the white box. Click on it to select a date. Although you can try to select a time, also, it doesn't appear to work too well yet. Instead, click on the calendar date to set it, and then edit the time in the white box. Be sure to set both starting (available) and stopping (due date) settings. |
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Assessment Released To |
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In general, you'll want to release your quiz/test to your class. If you're releasing a survey where you don't want to know who chooses which answers, click on the Anonymous Users box. |
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Submissions |
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If you accept late submissions, make your choice here. You can choose to not accept past the due date, or to have all late submissions marked but still accepted. | |
Feedback |
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Your choices are: immediate feedback - like, right now in the middle of the test; no feedback (ever); and feedback at a specific date selected by you. | |
After making your selections on these five areas, click Publish to make the test available to students. Click Cancel if you don't want to publish the test. It will remain in the Core Assessments for later activity. Remember, once a test/quiz has been published, it cannot be "unpublished!" It can only be made inactive. |
To inactivate a published assessment, return to the Assessment list page (click on Tests & Quizzes in left navigation bar, or click on the Assessment link at the top of an assessment page. |
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In the list of items, click on the settings link below the test/quiz you want to inactivate. |
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In the Delivery Dates area, you now see an option for Retract Date . Put in the date you want the test to be removed from student view here. Then click on the Save Settings box at the bottom of the window. Your assessment will then be removed from the "published" assessment, and it will be placed in another location of the software (it will lbe listed uner "inactive tests.") |
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The "retract" feature is great, but if used incorrectly, it can be a disaster.
RETRACTING is a way of making the assessment go _invisible_ on a scheduled basis (the retract date/time). The retract date is used to remove *all* access to an assessment from the respondents. This would be used to address term changeover issues where you do not want students from the fall semester sharing assessment data with students in the spring semester.
However, you don't want to remove an assessment too soon, and definitely, NOT before ALL students have taken it, and all resubmissions, if allowed, are complete. The retract date should NOT be BEFORE the due date, or you will NOT be able to bring the test back for the rest of the students to take it.
Here is a summary, as stated by an instructor:
"You publish the test and students take it and turn it in by the due date. You may have to allow other students take the exam again. Once the WHOLE process is complete, you go in and use the retract date to make the test inaccessible."
If you retract a test too soon, before all students have taken it, you will have to republish a new version. The problem with that is that you will be stuck with two versions of the same test in your gradebook (some students will have taken one and some the other).
Setting the retract date can be done in advance prior to publishing your test, if you know exactly when you want it removed from student access. Setting it in advance ensures that you don't forget to "remove" a test after use, if removal is desired, though doing it later ensures better timing. It is important to understand that if you retract an assessment, students cannot see how they did in each question (no feedback on their performance). The assessment is essentially removed from their view. They can only see their overall score in the gradebook. Furthermore, you can no longer adjust grades in retracted assessments, and you can't bring them back. .
Given that the Tests & Quizzes tool offers security, randomization, question pools, and the ability to show one question per page, cheating can be reduced greatly, and you may not have to use the "retract" a test feature. But, for for faculty who worry about high-stakes assessments being shared by students across terms, it is great.
2/22/05