Blackboard – Test and Question Pools in Blackboard –November 2010

Learning Technology Workshop

Tests and Question Pools in Blackboard

Creating a Test

Tests can be created very quickly in Blackboard. They can be added via the Course Tools menu
in the control panel or directly into a content area. The instructor can see the test results in the
grade centre. Students can view their results via the ‘my grades’ tool.

This handout includes

 Basic steps to creating a test
 Creating a Question Pool
 Creating a Test from a Question Pool
 Questions Types

Basic steps to creating a test

Step 1: With edit mode on go to

the content area where you want to
add a test. Click on the ‘Create
Assessment’ drop down menu and
choose Test.

Step 2: The Create Test screen

now appears. Tests in your site that
haven’t been deployed (made
available to students) will be listed in
the add test menu. Click on ‘Create’
to start making your new test.

Step 3: The Test Information

screen appears. Give the test a
name (required field), a description
and some instructions (optional)

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Step 4: The Test Canvas now

appears. This is where you add the
questions either by creating new
questions, reusing questions from a
Question Pool or uploading
questions from a word file. Click on
the Create Question menu and
choose a question type.

Step 5: The Create/Edit screen now

appears. Enter your question text,
answers and feedback. Click on
Submit.

Step 6: The Test Canvas from step

4 reappears with your new
questions. You can edit the points
assigned to each question on this
screen. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to add
more questions. Click on Ok at the
bottom of the Test Canvas once you
have added all your questions.

Step 7: You are now directed back

to the Create Test screen. Your
new test will appear in the ‘add test’
list, Select your test and click ‘
Submit.

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Step 8: The Test Options Screen:

Ensure that you click yes next to the
'make the link available' option. If
you don't do this your students will
not be able to access this test.

Other options allow you to control

the presentation of the test and its
feedback as well as how many
attempts a student can have.

You can also specify dates that the

test will available between. If you
set a 'display until' date you must
make sure that you set a 'display
from' date.

Creating a Question Pool

The Pool Manager allows instructors to store questions for repeated use. Generally, it will
contain more questions than you would include on any one assessment. For example, you
could have 30 questions in the pool, and you could then create an assessment in Blackboard
that would randomly select 20 questions for each student.

Step 1: From the Control Panel of

your course select Tests, Surveys &
pools

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Step 2: Click on Pools

Step 3: The Pool manager screen

now appears . Click on Build Pool.

Step 4: The Pool Information

screen now appears; give the Pool a
name, a description and instructions.
Then click Submit.

Step 5: The Pool Canvas now

opens( figure 10). You can now start
adding questions to your pool. From
this point on, the process of creating
the questions is exactly the same as
the process for creating a stand-
alone test.

You can either create new questions

to include in the Pool or add
questions that have been created in
other Tests or Pools by using the
‘Find Questions’ option.

After you have created the last

question, click OK at the bottom of
the Pool Canvas. You can additional
questions later.

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Creating a Test from a Question Pool

Step 1 + 2: Create a test and then

name it in the test options screen.

Step 3: In the Test Canvas Screen

click on the Reuse Question menu
and select Create Random Block.
This option will allow you to
randomly select questions from a
Question Pool.

Step 4: The Create Random Block

screen now appears. Select the
Pool and Question types you want
to include. Click on Submit.

Step 5: Fill in the number of

questions to display and the points
per question.

Question Types
No matter what question type you choose, you must set a point value for each question. The
total points for a test do not have to equal 100. Blackboard will calculate a % based on the
correct responses and the total possible points.

Multiple Choice – Students select 1 correct answer from a list of choices.

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Multiple Answer – Identical to Multiple Choice except there can be more than 1 correct answer.
Students are not told now many correct answers there are.

Fill in the Blank – With this question you type a sentence where you put a “_______” in the text
of the question. You can only have 1 blank per question. You are allowed to have multiple right
answers. The students are not given a choice of answers but must type their answer.

Fill in Multiple Blanks – Allows you to have a sentence with multiple blanks in it. Type the text
of the question and in the places you want a blank type a new variable name. Each blank can
have multiple right answers. When taking the test students are not presented with choices for
the blank, they must type in the answer themselves.

Jumbled Sentence – Students are given choices of words to put in each blank. Put a new
variable in the question text where you want the blanks to appear. Students will get to pick from
a list of choices for each blank. All of the answers appear as options for each blank. Not all of
the answer options have to be correct.

True/False – The student must respond either true or false to a statement.

Either /Or – Instead of a simple true/false answer, the answer can take the following forms:
 Yes/No
 Agree/Disagree
 Right/Wrong
 True/False

Essay – Allows students to give longer typed responses to questions. Blackboard will not
automatically grade these answers for you so you must grade them through the Gradebook.

Short Answer – Is similar to the Essay question type. It allows students to type a short
response to a question. The length of the response is limited to 4000. Again Blackboard will
not automatically grade these answers.

Matching – Students match up an item in the left hand column with an item in the right hand
column. Each item on the left can only have 1 match on the right. The right column can contain
answers with no corresponding match in the left column.

File Response – Students answer this question by uploading a file.

Hot Spot – The students select an answer to the question by clicking somewhere on an image
that you upload. JPEG and GIF files are the preferred formats for image uploads. Only 1 hot
spot on the image can be chosen per question.

Calculated Formula – allows you to enter a formula for students to solve.

Calculated Numeric – allows you to enter a question that students must give a numeric
response to.

Ordering – Allows you to place a list of items in order. The students must place a 1,2,3 etc by
each item indicating its correct order.

Quiz Bowl – The response a student gives must be in the form of a question.

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Opinion Scale /Likert – allows you to ask a question where the answer will lie somewhere on a
scale that you provide.

Random Block – Blackboard will randomly choose a question from a pool of questions that you
specify. You can specify how many questions you want Blackboard to insert from the random
pool. To use this question type you must have questions already in a question pool.

From a Question Pool or Assessment – Allows you to pick a question you have already
written, either in a question pool or in another test.

Once the test has been created, it needs to be deployed into a content area and then made
available for students.

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