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Respondus Step-by-Step

Creating and adding questions to an assessment

1. In Respondus, click the Create button.
   
   
   
   
2. Enter a name for you assessment and an optional description.
   • Example: Midterm Exam; Covers chapters 1-10.
3. Select Exam.
4. Click OK.
5. On the left side of the screen, select the type of question you wish to insert into your assessment. Click More to see all types.
   
   
6. Regardless of which question type you choose, fields for Title and Question Wording will appear. 
   • Title: Blackboard does not use titles, but they are still helpful in Respondus. Titles help to more easily search question banks if you want to recycle old questions in future assessments.
   • Question Wording: The question itself goes here.
     
     
7. To add a picture or movie clip to your question, select the Insert Picture or File button.
   
   
8. To create a hyperlink to an external website in your question, select the Web Link button.
   
   
9. Enter all potential answers (if applicable) in the boxes provided.
   
   
10. Check the box next to Randomize answers if you want the order of the potential answers to be different for every student. 
    • Example: Student 1 sees A, B, C, D; Student 2 sees D, B, C, A; etc.
      
      
11. Click the General Feedback button if you want students to receive feedback upon completion of the test.
    
    
12. Select the correct answer from the drop-down list.
    
    
13. Point Value: Enter how many points the question is worth.
    
    
14. Click Preview to see how your question will look in Beachboard.
    
    
15. Make sure the question, answers, and feedback are correct. Click OK when finished.
    
    
16. Click Add to End of List to place the question in your assessment.
    
    
17. The Title, Format, and Question Wording will appear in a table at the bottom of the screen.
    
    
18. Repeats steps 5 – 17 until all questions have been inserted into your assessment. 
19. Select File, then Save to your assessment.

Modifying questions once they’ve been added to an assessment

1. To edit a question after it’s been inserted into the list, click on its Title at the bottom of the screen.
   
2. In the Properties window, click the Modify button.
   
   
3. Make any necessary changes, then click Save Changes.

Creating a random block of questions

A random block is a predetermined number of questions selected at random from a larger list (or “bank”) of questions.

Example: Professor Smith has created a list of 50 questions in Respondus. Her test will contain 5 questions. Creating more questions and applying a random block means that each student will receive a different set of 5 questions pulled from the larger list of 50.

1. After all questions have been entered into Respondus, select the Settings tab at the top of the screen.
   
   
2. Select the Random Blocks button.
   
   
3. Select Add New Set.
   • If you want the random block to pull from all questions in your list, enter “1” for the number of the first question, then the number of your last question.
   • Example: Professor Smith has 50 questions in her list, so she would enter “1,” then “50.”
     
     
   • If your test will contain as many questions as there are in your list, select All. If the number of questions in the test is smaller than the number in the list, select Select Number, then type in the smaller number in the box.
   • Example: Professor Smith would enter “5.”
     
     
   • Click the Add New Set button. A’s will appear in the Set column between the first and last question selected above.
     
     
   • Click OK.

Availability settings for you assessment

1. Under the Settings tab, select Availability on the left side of the screen.
   
   
2. Type in any instructions you wish to give your students in the box provided.
3. Check boxes next to all desired settings.
   • Make exam visible to students: Makes the test available to students immediately upon publishing to Beachboard.
   • Allow multiple attempts: Check the box to allow students to take the test or survey more than once. Enter a number to limit their attempts.
   • Force completion: Test must be completed once opened.
   • Set time limit: Enter the number of hours and minutes you wish to give students to complete the test or survey.
     • NOTE: If a student goes over the designated time limit, he will not be kicked out, but BeachBoard will record how long it took him to finish.
   • Display (make visible) after: Enter a future date and time in which the assessment will automatically become visible to students (must be in MM/DD/YYYY and HH:MM format).
     • NOTE: If you select this, you must also check the Make exam visible to students box.
   • Display until: Enter a future date in which the assessment will automatically become invisible to students students (must be in MM/DD/YYYY and HH:MM format).
   • Password protect: Unnecessary, because BeachBoard is already password-protected.
   • Respondus LockDown Browser: DO NOT check this box, as CSULB does not have this software available at this time.

Other settings

1. Under the Settings tab, select Other Settings on the left side of the screen.
   
   
2. Check boxes next to desired Self-Assessment options.
   • Include this test in Gradebook score calculations: Will incorporate assessment score into the student’s overall grade in the Gradebook.
   • Hide the score of this test from the Gradbook: Students can see their scores upon completion of the test, but instructors cannot. Instead, a checkmark will appear in the Gradebook denoting that a student has completed the test. Do not select this if this is a graded test.
3. Check boxes next to desired Feedback Options, which will display to the student upon completion of assessment. You may select any combination of the four feedback options.
   • Score: Numeric grade
   • Submitted answers: What the student answered
   • Correct answers
   • Feedback: Anything you typed in the feedback boxes while creating the questions.
4. Select desired Questions Presentation.
   • All at once: All questions appear on the same page.
   • One at a time:
     • Prohibit backtracking: Does not allow students to change their answers to previously submitted questions. This feature is only available if One at a time is selected.
5. Select whether to Randomize Questions. Doing so changes the order of questions for each student. This can help deter cheating.
6. Answer Numbering: For Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, and several other question types, you may select how potential answers are numbered (Example: A, B, C, D; 1, 2, 3, 4; a, b, c, d; etc.) The default is A, B, C, D. 

Printing, previewing, and publishing to Beachboard

1. Select the Preview & Publish tab at the top of the screen.
   
   
2. To print, select Print Options on the left side of the screen.
   
   
3. Select from the options provided, then select Print Preview.
4. Once you’ve previewed the assessment, select Send to Printer.
5. To see how your assessment will look in Beachboard, select Preview on the left side of the screen, then Preview the File.
   
   
6. The Preview will open in a new window, and will display:
   • The question
   • Answer choices
   • Correct and incorrect replies (if included)
   • The correct answer
7. To navigate to other questions, you may either type its number in the box provided and click Go To, or click the Prev and Next buttons.
   • To edit a question, click the Modify Item button.
   • To exit the Preview, click Close.
     
     
8. Select Publish to Blackboard on the left side of the screen.
   
   
9. Click the Publish Wizard button.
10. The Publish Wizard will open. Select where to publish your assessment.
    • Pubish to single course: Publishes to one course in Beachboard
    • Batch Publish to multiple courses: Publish to several courses in Beachboard
    • Save pool to local file for manual uploading: Saves as a ZIP file that you can upload to BeachBoard yourself.
11. Enter server information for Beachboard.
    • Blackboard server: If nothing appears in this box, select add a new server. If you’ve already entered server information, skip to Step 12.
      
      
      
      Select No, I want to enter the server settings manually and click Next.
      
      
      
      
      
    • Enter a name for your settings, so you may easily refer to it later (example: csulb).
    • Enter your campus ID and BeachBoard password under login information. You may save this information on your computer so you don’t have to enter it every time you use Respondus. 
    • Select Run connection test, then click Next.
12. A message stating “Success! The server settings have been downloaded for: CSULB” will appear.
13. A status window will appear. After a few moments, a message stating that the connection test was either successful or unsuccessful will appear at the bottom of the status window. If it was successful, click Next.
14. Click Finish.
15. Select your Blackboard (Beachboard) Server from the list, then click Next.
16. If you elected not to store your login information, type your Campus ID and BeachBoard password into the prompt and click OK. 
17. Select the course you wish to publish to form the drop-down menu.
    
    
18. Select whether to:
    • Create a new test 
    • Replace existing test 
    • Create new pool
    • Replace existing pool
19. Check the boxes next to any desired additional options.
    • Apply Random Blocks to Exam: If you created any random clocks, check this box. 
    • Apply Settings to Exam: If you applied any settings like availability dates and timers, check this box. (create link back to Availability Settings).
    • Link Exam to Content Area and make available: If you want the test deployed to your course immediately, check this box.
      • NOTE: If you don’t check this box, the test will publish to your Test Manager. You will have to place it in a Content Area and make it available to students.
    • Click Next.
20. If you selected Link [assessment]to Content Area and make available, select the area or folder in your course to place the test in, then click Next.
    
    
21. The status window will update after each step in the publishing process. When it says, “Completed successfully,” click Finish.
22. Log into BeachBoard and make sure your assessment is there. Click Modify to check its options.
    
    

 

Retrieving summary reports from BeachBoard assessments

1. Select the Retrieval & Reports tab at the top of the screen.
   
   
2. Select Retrieve Reports on the left side of the screen.
   
   
3. Select your server name from the list.
   
   
4. When prompted to edit your server settings, select Use current settings and click Next.
5. If you elected not to store your login information, type your Campus ID and BeachBoard password into the prompt and click OK.
6. Select your course from the list provided.
   
   
7. A list of all assessments will appear. Check the box or boxes next to the ones you wish to download reports for. You can do as many as you wish.
   
   
8. Check the boxes if you would like to also download:
   • Your course’s Gradebook
   • An extra page that just lists student scores
   • Question statistics, which show what percentage of the class answered A, B, C, etc.
9. If you are downloading reports for multiple assessments, select whether to:
   • Display all reports on one page, or
   • Display each assessment’s report on a separate page.
10. Click Retrieve. When the Status box says “Completed successfully,” your reports are ready.
11. The reports and gradebooks (if selected) will all open on one long page in your Internet browser. 
    • NOTE: If the report does not open automatically, find the Reports folder, located in the Respondus Projects folder on your computer. The report will be timestamped in its title, “Report – MM-DD-YYYY HH-MM.htm.” Double-click it to open it in your browser.
12. The report looks similar to what you would see in Beachboard, but none of the buttons or links will work.

 

Retrieving assessments from BeachBoard for use in Respondus

Assessments my be downloaded for use in Respondus, even if they weren’t originally created with Respondus! This may be helpful if you want to edit an assignment given in Bechboard in a previous semester, or if you need to deliver a paper and pencil class to one or more students.

1. Under the Retrieval & Reports tab, select Retrieve Questions on the left side of the screen.
   
   
2. Select your server name from the list.
   
   
3. When prompted to edit your server settings, select Use current settings and click Next.
4. If you elected not to store your login information, type your Campus ID and BeachBoard password into the prompt and click OK.
5. Select your course from the list provided.
   
   
6. Select either an Exam or Pool from your course to import into Respondus. 
7. Enter a name for your imported file.
8. Click Retrieve. When the Status box says “Completed successfully,” a “File Saved” prompt will appear. Click OK.
9. Select the Edit tab at the top of the screen. Your imported questions will appear in a list at the bottom of the screen. Select any question Title, then click the Modify button to edit it.
10. To add new questions, select any question type from the left side of the screen.
11. To save your updated assessment, select File, then Save.
12. To publish your updated assessment to Beachboard, please follow the instructions in the Previewing and Publishing to Blackboard section. (create link here)
    • NOTE: If you wish to replace an existing assessment in Beachboard, you will first need to remove the old assessment from Beachboard.
      • Go to the Control Panel in your course.
      • Select Test Manager from the Assessment box.
      • Click the Remove button next to the assessment you wish to delete.

• Feedback
•   Last Updated 2/7/11