About Assessments

Overview

Instructors use Assessments to test Student knowledge, measure Student progress, and gather information from Students. When creating an Assessment there are a number of things the Instructor should consider before creating the Assessment:

• The structure of the Assessment and the types of questions that will be included
• Deployment and setting options, such as test presentation and feedback
• How the Assessment will be graded and the availability of multiple attempts

Assessment Creation

Before creating an Assessment, the Instructor should consider what type of knowledge is being tested and select question types tailored to the subject matter.  For example, on an English test a series of Short Answer questions may be the best format, while for a Science test  a mix of Multiple Choice, Matching and Fill in the Blank questions would better test Student's knowledge.

It is also helpful to consider flexibility when scoring questions. Will partial credit be acceptable for some or all questions? Are some questions very difficult and may count as extra credit?

Note that questions on the Test Canvas may be reorganized or re-arranged - so the order in which questions are added is not too important.

Assessment Deployment and Settings

Before creating an Assessment it is important to ask how the Assessment will be deployed and what settings will be added. This section discusses some use cases and examples for different options available.

 practice exercise Instructors may want to make multiple attempts available, or they may decide to give Students a specific number of available attempts. If it is a practice exercise for a standardized test, the option for enforce a time limit may be helpful.

Self Assessment options allow the Instructor to determine how the Assessments are treated in the Grade Center. The Do not include this test in Grade Center score calculations options allows the Instructor to view the Grade, but the score does not count towards the Grade. This would allow the Instructor to see the areas where additional instruction is needed and direct Students towards specific topics to review. The Hide the score of this test from the Grade Center option encourages self discovery by Students and encourages Students to work on their own.

Options in the Test Presentation section determine how the Test is viewed by Students. There are different benefits to each option. The All at Once option may be useful for short quizzes, for example a ten question Multiple Choice quiz. Is an Assessment includes over 25 questions, the One Question at a Time option should be selected. This option automatically saves the answers to questions as Students move through the Assessment. Students may focus on one question at a time and, if necessary, Instructors may enable backtracking, so Students may revisit previously answered questions.

Grading Assessments

Instructors have a lot of flexibility when grading Assessments. Grading within Blackboard provides an automated system, but allows for the flexibility of real life scenarios.

When multiple attempts are permitted for an Assessment the Instructor can customize grading; the option to include the average score may be selected, but if the Instructor changes his or her min, this may be changed. For example, if the Instructor would like to give Students a bonus this could be switched so the highest score on the Assessment is included.

The override and clear attempts options are helpful in dealing with real-life scenarios. Clear attempts allow Instructors to erase a Grade from the Grade Center. For example, the Instructor could give Students a trial run of the Assessment in class; then clear the attempts before they take the Assessment.  Or, if there is a technical failure at the Institution, all attempts for the Assessment taken on that date may be removed. This option also enables the Instructor to allow a Student to retake a test if the situation arises.

The Override option allows the Instructor to enter a Grade that supplants the existing Grade or Grades (in the case of multiple attempts) in the Grade Center. For example, in the case of extenuating circumstances, the Instructor could use Override to make a Student's Grade higher or lower. This score is used when calculating the Grade.