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With Blackboard's Assessment Manager, you can create online assessments (quizzes and surveys) with an easy-to-use, online tool. The results of assessments are recorded in the Blackboard Grade Center (the instructor must manually grade Essay/Short Answer questions).

There are several important things to know about Blackboard Assessments:

Creating an Assessment

Deploying an Assessment

Viewing an Assessment

Grading an Assessment

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Tips for Creating Blackboard Assessments

Tips for Taking Blackboard Assessments

Creating an Assessment

1. Click Course Tools > Tests, Surveys, and Pools in the Control Panel menu of a course.
   
   
2. Click Tests.
   
3. Click Build Test.
   
   
4. Enter a name for the test in the Name box.
5. Optional: Enter a description in the Description box and/or enter instructions in the Instructions box.
   
6. Click Submit. The Test Canvas page appears.
7. Click Creation Settings to set your test defaults.
   
   
8. Choose Create Question, Reuse Question, or Upload Questions. To create new questions, choose a question type from the Create Question drop-down menu.
   
9. When the Create/Edit Question page appears, enter the question in the Question Text field (this area will vary depending on the question type selected).
10. Enter the number of points possible in the Point Value field.
11. Check the Extra credit only box if the question is an extra credit question.
12. Enter the answer(s) in the Answers field (this area will vary depending on the
    question type selected).
13. In the Feedback section, complete the Correct Response and Incorrect
    Response fields.
14. Click Submit.
15. Repeat for each question you wish to add to your assessment.

To make changes to a question, click Edit from the question menu.

To remove a question, click Delete from the question menu.

Note: If the Extra Credit option does not show, click Edit from the assessment menu next to the test. Click on the Creation Settings and make sure the box next to Provide option to assign questions as extra credit is checked.

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Deploying an Assessment

1. From the Course Menu, click on the Content Area (Course Documents, Assignments, etc.) where you wish to deploy the assessment.
2. Click Evaluate > Create Test.
   
3. Select the appropriate Assessment from the list and click Submit.
   
4. The Test Options page will open. On this screen, you will set up your test options including when the test will be available, feedback, and question presentation.
   
5. Set Test Availability:
   • Make the link available If you are setting start and stop dates, be sure you set this option to YES (the test will NOT be visible until your start date/time).
   • Allow multiple attempts Select either unlimited attempts or designate a Number of attempts.
   • Force Completion Students must complete the assessment the first time it is launched.
   • Set timer Set the amount of time students have to finish this test. If a student exceeds the time limit, they are not kicked out of the test. Instead, an exclamation point (!) will appear in the Grade Center for that student - indicating that the instructor will need to grade the test.
   • Display After / Display Until Set the start and end dates and times for the test. Please note that the test is not visible to the students unless you check YES for option #1 (Do you want to make the link visible?).
   • Password The instructor can set a password and only tell the students in the testing environment what the password is.
6. Set Self-assessment Options Select the box next to Include this test in Grade Center score calculations to deploy the assessment with grading. To deploy the assessment as a self-assessment, uncheck the box next to Include this test in Grade Center score calculations.
7. Set Test Feedback:
   These options allow you to decide how much information is given to the students immediately after completing the test.
   • Score : Only the final score is presented.
   • Submitted Answers : The student's answers are presented.
   • Correct Answers : The correct answers are presented.
   • Feedback : The assessment feedback is presented.
8. Set Test Presentation:
   • All at Once The entire assessment is presented on one screen.
   • One at a Time The student is presented only one question at a time.
   • Prohibit Backtracking Prevent students from returning to questions they've already answered.
   • Randomize Questions Randomize the assessment questions for each assessment attempt (each student will see the same questions, but in a different order)
9. Click Submit.

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Viewing an Assessment

Once students have completed an assessment, the instructor may review the assessment attempt from the Grade Center for the course. The instructor may also view assessment statistics for the attempts from the Grade Center.

To view an individual student's assessment attempt:

1. Click Evaluation > Grade Center from the Control Panel menu.
   
2. Click the options menu icon in the student's row for the assessment column (may be a score, an exclamation point, etc.).
   
3. Click View Grade Details.
   
4. Click the Open Attempt button.
   
   On this page the instructor may view the student's score, time elapsed, and questions, answers, and correct answers. The instructor may also make changes to the scoring of answers and score short answer and essay items.
5. Click Submit to save any changes.

To view assessment statistics for a particular assessment:

1. Click Evaluation > Grade Center from the Control Panel menu of a course.
   
   
2. Click the menu icon for an assessment column in the Grade Center.
   
3. Click Attempts Statistics. The Test Statistics page will open.
   
   
   
4. Click OK to return to the Item Options view.

To Download Assessment Results:

1. Click Evaluation > Grade Center from the Control Panel menu of a course.
   
   
2. Click the menu icon for an assessment column in the Grade Center.
   
3. Click Download Results.
   
4. Select By User or By Question and User, Only Valid Attempts or All Attempts.
5. Click Click to download results.
   
   
6. Save or Open the file.
   

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Grading an Assessment

Most of the time, Blackboard Assessments are automatically graded once they are completed, with the exception of short answer and essay questions. However, sometimes, it is necessary for the instructor to manually grade an assessment in Blackboard.

To grade an Assessment for an individual student:

1. Click Evaluation > Grade Center from the Control Panel menu of a course.
   
   
2. Mouse over the student's cell in the assessment column; click the menu icon that appears.
3. Click View Grade Details.
   
4. Click Open Attempt.
   
5. Review each question and input the points received. Click Submit at the bottom of
   the page to save changes.

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