Creating Exam Assessments

Objectives are clear statements that outline what learners should achieve after completing their training. They help define the knowledge and skills needed to answer questions correctly. You can create objectives before adding questions to the Question Library or at any point afterward. Once created, you can associate these objectives with specific questions, allowing you to group related questions together.

Once you have added the objective to the exam, you can set the point value for each question, determine how many questions to include from the objective, and specify the passing percentage for that objective. Randomization works effectively if there are more questions in the objective than the number selected for the exam. For instance, if an objective contains 50 questions, you can include it in the exam and randomly select 25 of those questions.

When creating objectives, it is recommended to use action verbs, such as: define, describe, list, or create. This makes your objectives clear and measurable, guiding learners toward their goals effectively.

Steps to create an objective:

1. Navigate to Learning Administration → Content → Objectives.
2. Select Add New.
3. Fill in required field in the Add New window.
4. Select the Online checkbox if you want to associate an objective with an online item.

The Question Library allows you to create and associate questions with an exam assessment. The questions created in the Question Library have a unique ID and can be reused in multiple exams.

Steps to Create Questions in the Question Library:

1. Navigate to Learning Administration → Content → Question Library → Add New.
2. Complete the required fields:
   • Question Type: This field determines how users select answers by choosing one of the available question types:
     • True/False: Users select one of the two possible answers of True or False.
     • Single Answer (also known as Multiple Choice/Single Answer -- MCSA): Users select one of a list of possible answers as the only correct answer to the question.
     • Multiple Answer (also known as Multiple Choice/Multiple Answer -- MCMA): Users select one or more answers from a list of possible answers. Users receive credit only when all correct answer choices are selected.
     • Ordering (also known as an Ordered List): Users move answers around until they are all listed in the correct order using drag and drop.
     • Fill-in-the-blank: Users type in the correct answer that should be entered in place of the blank indicated in the question. Alternate answers can be created and subsequently accepted for this question type. Only one blank is allowed per question.
   • Points field: Enter a number to assign a relative value to each question based on a scoring system. Points can be assigned directly to questions without rounding.

     By default, individual question variants are assigned a point value of 1, while the objectives of questions have a value of 5. You can edit these values directly in the Question Library or modify them within the Assessment entity.

   • Objective field: In this section, you can link a question to a specific objective. By connecting questions to objectives, you can gain better insights into how effectively users are mastering those objectives. Additionally, by incorporating multiple objectives, we can randomize the exam experience for each user, ensuring that different users encounter varying questions from each objective.
   
3. Configure the question by configuring the following functionalities:
   • Randomize Answers: By default, the randomization button is enabled. If you want the answers to always appear in the specific order you entered them, ensure the Randomize Answers slider is not set. It is also necessary to turn this off if you are using answer choices such as All of the above when you want it to appear as the last answer all the time.
   • Add Variant: Use the plus icon to add variants to a question. A question variant is a different way to ask the same questions. Each question can have multiple variants of different question types.
   • Variant Dropdown: When you first create a question, the system adds it as Variant 1. The Variant dropdown contains all variants of a question. To edit a variant, from the dropdown, select the desired variant.
     • All variants share the same question ID. Only one variant of a question will appear to the same user on the same exam.
   • Question Settings: Select the settings icon to edit the description, security domain, point value, or associated objective.

An exam consists of questions that are displayed to users when they launch a learning activity from their Learning Plan. All exams are graded, and the score can be retrieved from the administrator side with the reporting tools or by drilling into the object details of the item.

To create an exam assessment, navigate to Learning Administration → Content → Assessments → Add New → Add New Exam and fill in the required fields.

Once you have created the Exam Record, on the next screen, you will add the exam questions.

From the Menu dropdown, select the Questions option.

There are two ways to add questions:

1. Add New Question: Select one question type (true/false, multiple-choice) to create a new question directly on the exam. Questions created directly on the exam become available automatically in the Question Library, and they can be reused in multiple exams.
2. Add Existing: Search for and add questions from a pool previously created in the Question Library. You can also add objective to an exam.

In addition, you can add existing objectives that you previously created. After adding an objective to the exam, you can adjust the availability of the questions. This allows you to specify whether a particular question is always selected, never selected, or randomly selected for exams.

Once you have added questions you can use the left Navigation menu and the Variant dropdown to toggle between the questions and possible variants and make edits if needed.

Exam assessment settings control how users interact with the assessment. You can configure various exam settings from Menu → Settings → Global Settings.

Global Settings are divided into four large areas:

• General: When Active is set to YES, the exam is available for assignment to online items, for reports, and for revision.
• Exam Behavior: Several settings can be configured, including the choice to make the exam sequential or free-form, limiting the number of attempts students can take, and setting the time duration. Note that timed exams are only available if the Resumable option is set to No. The duration you set here will serve as the default when the exam assessment is included in an item, but it can be edited at the item level.
• Proctor Settings: When you check this box, the instructor must enter a proctor code for a student to begin the exam. However, previewing an exam that has proctoring enabled does not require a legitimate code. The best way to test this functionality is by adding the assessment to an item and assigning it to your test user.
• Post Exam Behavior: Multiple settings can be configured here, including results, reviews, and passing percentages. Administrators have the option to lock the exam or to lock and exit an item once the exam is passed or failed. Additionally, objective flags can be set or cleared based on whether the exam is completed successfully or not.

The Localized Settings tab enables the administrator to modify the exam name, description, and the messages displayed to users. Administrators can create messages that appear before and after users complete the exam. Additionally, there is an option to include a specific message for Proctored Exams.

Once an exam assessment has been created, you can add an exam to a new or existing Online item or Instructor-Led item with Online Content. If the existing item has already been completed by users, you may need to revise the item first and then add the assessment to the new revision.

These are the steps to add an exam assessment to an existing item:

1. Select the Online Content tab within the item entity.
2. Choose the Add Content Object dropdown and select Add Assessment.
3. Search and select the exam assessment and give it a title.
4. Save your work.

If the item has been assigned to a user, you will get a pop-up message informing you that users will be re-assigned the item, and their progress will be lost. You can opt out, ensuring that users assigned the item retain their progress, but they will not have access to the exam.

To configure the Online Content settings, select the gear icon on the Online Content tab of the item. The settings are organized into three tabs: Launch, Course Progression, and Completion. Each tab offers various settings, including the following key options:

• Launch tab: You can enable Content is available for launch.
• Course Progression tab: You can customize the exam duration.
• Completion tab: You can activate Add to History on Completion of All Content.