Blackboard Tests and Assignments

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Tests and Quizzes

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Create online tests and quizzes using Blackboard’s Test tool. These tests can be used for evaluating learning (with grades) or to allow students to master concepts using self-assessment.

Watch a video on Creating Tests.

For more information about tests and quizzes, select from the following:

You can set accommodations for individual students to exempt them from assessment due dates or time limits. Use accommodations to help students progress in the course even though they may have difficulty with some requirements.

You can also give an individual student an exception on a specific test or assignment to provide additional attempts or extended access, even if the assessment is hidden from other students.

Add student accommodations from the Roster, or the Gradebook student list view by clicking the three dot menu (...) next to the student's name. A panel will open where you can set a due date or time limit accommodation:

Due date accommodation: Students with a due date accommodation may submit work any time after the due date for no penalty. Students with this accommodation will never have their work marked late.
Time limit accommodation: Students with a time limit accommodation have a 'percentage of extra time' that will automatically apply to all assessments with a time limit. Note that you should set the extra time amount only, i.e. 50% for time-and-a-half, or 100% for double time. For example, if the exam has a time limit of 30 minutes, a student with an accommodation of 50% extra time (aka time-and-a-half) will have 45 minutes to complete the assessment. A student with an accommodation of 100% extra time (aka double time) will have 60 minutes to complete the assessment.

A student with an accommodation(s) set will appear with a purple banner icon next to their names in both the roster and gradebook.

Other instructors and TAs can see the accommodations flag in the course roster. Students cannot see accommodations you have assigned.

In the roster list view, students with accommodations appear with an icon next to their name and the type of accommodation is clearly visible in the accommodations column. You can view/edit a student's accommodation information by clicking on the type of accommodation link. [view screenshot]

Watch a video on How to Grant Student Accommodations in Blackboard

For complete instructions on to Make Accommodations visit Blackboard Help.

In order to increase test security, faculty can use Blackboard’s enhanced test results and feedback options under Test Options to:

restrict when test results and feedback are shown to students immediately after test submission and later.
select which results (scores, correct responses, and submitted answers) and question-specific feedback are shown.

By default, students see the test results for any course in the My Grades tool (always available in the My Blackboard menu of the global navigation panel) unless you disable the test results in Test Options or hide the grade column from students. Always think through the timing of what students see when they submit the test and later through the My Grades tool. By default, most courses also have a My Grades link on the course menu.

Note: By default, Score per Question is selected in the Show Test Results and Feedback to Students section; any selection in this area will show students the questions’ text.

Possible scenarios for showing test results and feedback:

After Submission: Students can see their test results immediately after they have submitted their answers, if they still have access to the original test link, and in the My Grades tool.
One-time View: Students can view test results once, only after clicking the Save and Submit Answers button. If a student later clicks on the test link in the content area or in the My Grades tool, they will only see the results the instructor has set. If the instructor has turned off all the results, the students will not see any. This works well for tests being delivered at different locations and times around the state.
On Specific Date: Students can view test results only after the specified date and time fields.
After Due Date: If the instructor gives the test a Due Date, students can view the test after that date.
After Availability End Date: Students can view their results after the specified test availability end date.
After Attempts Are Graded: If tests include essay questions that must be manually graded by the instructor, students will see the results after all the attempts have been graded. All students in the class must submit an attempt and the attempt must be graded for this option to work.

Faculty can set up to two rules to show results and feedback. If conflicts in rules occur, the most permissive settings for that user or group are granted. For example, students would receive the greatest number of attempts or longest availability.

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Pools

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A question pool is a collection of questions that is stored for repeated use.

In the Ultra Course View, you can use pools to create tests and surveys. You can also export and import pools for use in tests in other courses.

Questions in a pool are almost identical to test questions. They can contain feedback, metadata, and all the other elements of a test question, but they don't contain point values.
Instructors typically use pools to create a database of questions they can reuse in multiple tests. For example, an instructor for a Sustainable Living course can create a question pool for each of the central topics taught: Diet, Housing, and Energy. The instructor can then use these pools in multiple tests and in other courses.

Watch a video about Using Pools in an Assessment

For more information about Pools, select from the following:

What is a question pool in Blackboard?

When you create a test or an assignment, you can use question pools to be sure each student receives a different version of the assessment. On the Add Question Pool page, you can browse, preview, filter, and select questions from other assessments and question banks in the course you’re currently in. Learn more about question pools in the video below, or by following this link to Anthology’s help page dedicated to question pools here.

On the Add Question Pool page, you can browse, preview, filter, and select questions from other assessments and question banks in the course you're currently in. You can view the questions but can't make edits until you add the question pool to your assessment.

You can use a keyword search to find questions to add.
You choose the number of questions from a pool to display to students. For example, you can show 3 questions out of 50. The questions are then randomly distributed, so each student sees a different set of 3 questions.
You can display all the questions in a pool. Questions appear in a random order for each student.
After making your selections, you set the same points for all questions in the pool.
You can delete questions in a pool. The question is removed from the pool but not deleted from your course.
In the student view, questions randomly selected from a pool appear like other questions. Students won't know the questions are from a pool.

Please note that You can’t add a question pool if:

You’ve added a rubric to your assessment.
You’ve chosen to collect submissions offline.
Your students have already opened the assessment.

Add a Question Pool

In an assessment, select the plus sign wherever you want to add a question pool.

Select Add question pool from the menu. [view screenshot]

On the Add Question Pool page, select the assessments, question banks, and question types you want to include in your pool. In the Filter Criteria panel, you can also perform a basic search by keyword.

Filter questions

In the active filter area on the right, select the questions you want to add. You can view how many items you've selected at the bottom of the screen.

Select Clear all to clear the Filter Criteria selections. Any questions your have selected will remain selected.

To remove selected questions, use Select all and Clear all to remove all questions at one time. [view screenshot]

View Questions

On the Add Question Pool page, you can expand questions to view them. You can't edit the questions or the points on the Add Question Pool page. [view screenshot]

Once you have selected all the questions, click Add Questions. This is to insert the question pool into your assessment. [view screenshot]

Select Add Questions. The question pool appears in your assessment. Type the points and the number of questions to display to students. The points are assigned to each question in the pool. You can't assign separate points for individual questions in the same pool.

Select Save to add the question pool to your assessment. [view screenshot]

Edit Question Pools

You can edit the points assigned to each question in the pool even after submissions. [view screenshot]

Before students open an assessment, you can add, remove, and edit individual questions in a question pool. When you remove a question in a pool, the question isn't deleted from your course. You can also delete a pool or move a pool to a new location in the assessment. [view screenshot]

After you save the question pool, press the Drag to reorder icon in a pool's row to move it to a new location. The question numbering updates automatically. Open the menu and select Edit to make changes to the pool, such as the questions' points. Select Delete to remove the pool from the assessment.
You can view the questions in a pool and add, remove, or edit questions.
1. To view questions in the pool, select View questions. On the Question Pool page, the number of questions in the pool is listed in the top-left area. The source assessment for each question in the pool is listed.
Select the plus sign wherever you want to add another question pool.

When you select Edit/Regrade, a notification states how many other assessments are affected. If you edit a question in a question pool, the edits appear everywhere the question is used. The same is true for edits you make in a source assessment's questions. Those edits affect all the question pools where the question appears. [view screenshot]

After students open an assessment or make submissions, you can't add or remove questions from a pool or delete a pool from an assessment. You also can't move the pool to a new location in the assessment. You can edit, regrade, and give full credit for questions when submissions exist. For example, if you change the correct answer, the question is regraded in all assessments where the question is used.

Give full credit option

You can give everyone full credit for a question you didn't explain clearly or doesn't accurately reflect your lecture or textbook material.

You can give full credit for a question from the View questions link in a pool or a student's submission page. If you apply full credit for a question in a source assessment or a question pool, full credit is applied to that question everywhere it appears.

After you select Edit/Regrade in a question's menu, you can select the check box for Give full credit for question. After you give full credit, you can clear the check box to revert to the automatic grade or a previously assigned manual grade. [view screenshot]

Your update affects existing attempts, attempts in progress, and subsequent submissions. Student grades are updated, but the new grades or reversal may not appear immediately.

You can't change student scores for an individual question when you give full credit. You can override each student's assessment score to adjust the points.

Student view of full credit

After grading is completed and you show students the correct answers, they can see which questions you've awarded full credit. Full credit given appears next to the grade pill and is also noted in the answers section. [view screenshot]

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Assignments

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Faculty members use Blackboard Assignments to manage the file upload of essays, papers or other documents submitted by students. Assignments allow students to type in a short answer or essay response and/or attach a document with their submission. Instructors can allow one or multiple attempts. Once student work is submitted, download the documents from the grade center one-by-one or as a “batch” per assignment. You can respond to each student separately with comments and attached files.

Like other assessment tools, you can provide instructions for your students and a point value for the assignment. Written assignments allow for the assessment of critical thinking, synthesis and other higher order skills.

For more information about Blackboard Assignments, select from the following:

Enable anonymous grading

You can enable anonymous grading for assignments and tests that don't contain the built-in question types. You may add only text and files to anonymously graded assignments and tests.

Student names are hidden while you grade and are revealed only after you post all grades.

You can't hide or show student names after students open an assignment or test or submit attempts. [view screenshot]

When you hide names, you can't add questions, reuse questions, or select these settings:

Allow class conversations
Collect submissions offline
Assign to groups

Enable parallel grading

You can have specific users in your courses grade sets of assignment submissions. Graders can't see other graders' grades, feedback, annotations on student files, and rubrics. They grade in parallel and provide provisional grades. The default grading roles include instructors, graders, and teaching assistants.

The instructor role is the default final grader or reconciler. The reconciler reviews the provisional grades and determines the final grades that students see. You can assign the ability to reconcile grades to one or more other users with grading privileges and remove your ability to reconcile.

More on parallel graders and reconcilers

You can enable parallel grading and assign graders when you create an assignment. You can also enable parallel grading even after students make submissions. The system randomly assigns graders you choose so each student has two graders for the assignment. The grading workload is distributed evenly among the graders. Graders can only open the submissions for the students assigned to them.

Students aren't notified that the assignment has more than one grader unless you inform them. Students see only the final grade and feedback the reconciler provides.

At this time, you can’t create groups or add questions when parallel grading is enabled. Graders, teaching assistants, and course builders can't enable or disable parallel grading.

In the Assignment Settings panel, select the check box for Two graders per student in the Parallel grading section.

Select the Assign graders link that appears. On the Assign Graders page, you can choose your graders and reconcilers. [view screenshot]

You can allow more than one attempt for an assignment. This is a way to permit students to send in drafts and earn credit on improvements. Allowing multiple attempts can also allow students to self-correct if they forget to attach their document or upload the wrong document initially. Be sure to inform students which of your assignments allow multiple attempts, and what the expectations and grading policies are for each attempt.

Example: Research Paper Assignments

In one assignment with four attempts, students can submit file attachments for the following items:

Outlines
Bibliographies
Rough drafts
Final papers

You can provide feedback at each stage. You can assign grades as each attempt is submitted, but only use the grade for the final paper as the assignment's grade.

Alternatively, if you want to provide four grades—one for each portion of the research paper process—you can create separate assignments for each. You can set up a calculated column in the Grade Center to add the points of each assignment to produce a final score for the research paper.

You can also allow groups to submit their assignments more than once, and receive feedback and a grade for each submission.

Multiple Attempts Options
When you create an assignment, you decide how many attempts to allow and which score to use in the Grade Center.

For example, if you allow three attempts, you can select which grade will be used for the assignment:

Last Graded Attempt—the default
Highest Grade
Lowest Grade
First Graded Attempt
Average of Graded Attempts

Grade Multiple Attempts
If you allowed multiple attempts for an assignment, and a student has submitted all attempts, they all appear in the grade cell's contextual menu.

If an attempt is ungraded, the exclamation mark remains in the cell along with the scores for attempts you graded.

Allow Additional Attempts
If a student has submitted the maximum number of attempts for an assignment, you can allow an additional attempt. In the Grade Center, access a cell's contextual menu and click View Grade Details.

Allow Additional Attempt only appears if a student has already submitted the maximum number of attempts allowed for that assignment. You can continue to offer opportunities to resubmit attempts each time a student reaches the maximum number. You do not have to grade previous attempts to allow a student to submit again.

Alternatively, click Ignore Attempt to ignore the attempt's score in grade calculations and not count it against the maximum number of attempts.

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