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Assessments
Strategies for Successfully
Completing Online
Assessments
Save vs. Submit
Timer & One Minute
Warning
Locked out of an Assessment?
Warning that some questions
may be incomplete
See Blackboard Videos
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Strategies for Successfully
Completing Online Assessments
Assessments are usually configured to allow each student
one attempt. When a link is clicked to take an assessment the next screen
will prompt "Click Begin to begin ... Click Cancel to return."
If you are not ready to take the assessment then click on Cancel. If
you click on Begin then you are committed. There is no going
back. The assessment must be completed.
It may take a moment for the assessment page to down load
on your screen. Do not answer any questions until the page has fully loaded.
How do you know if the page has fully loaded? Scroll down and look for
the Save and Submit button after the last question. If you can see the Save and Submit button
then it is okay to scroll up and begin the assessment. After answering
the last question, click on Save and Submit to finalize the assessment and send
the results to your instructor.
Once an assessment is started DO
NOT click on links in the Course Menu. DO NOT use the buttons
in the toolbar to reload a page or back up to a prior web page. Do not open up another window. It is a good idea to close all other windows before starting the assessment. If you
exit the assessment web page then you will be locked out of it.
Try not to take an assessment on a wireless connection. Wireless connections are more prone to interference and you stand more of a chance of being locked out of it.
It is a good idea to select the Save All Answers button after you have completed 5 or 6 questions. Blackboard will automatically save all answers periodically throughout the course of the assessment, but selecting Save All Answers will confirm that the answers you have completed so far are saved.
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Save vs. Submit
Blackboard has a Save Answer button for each question in an
Assessment and a Save All Answers button before and after the questions for Assessments that
show all of the questions at one time. As you answer questions,you can click
the Save Answer button next to a question to save the answer for that particular
question. We suggest that you do not do this on every question because it has been known to cause issues. Look at the Question Completion Status bar to view the answer being saved. Also, you can click on this bar to see the status of all saved answers.
The Save All Answers button at the beginning and end of the Assessment will save answers
to all of the questions answered so far.This is recommended after answering about 5 or 6 questions. This will refresh your window.
If you change an answer just
click the Save Answer button next to the question or one of the Save All Answers buttons
to record the change. You must still click Save and Submit at the end of
the Assessment to finish.
Assessments that show questions one at a time also have
a Save Answer button. Clicking the arrow to advance to the next question automatically
saves the answer to the current question. It is extremely important that
you DO NOT click on a link in the Course Menu or Reload during an Assessment.
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Timer
A timer will display above the Question Completion Status bar, designated by Remaining Time and displayed right before the questions in the assessment. There are two types of Timers that instructors can set, one that will let a student keep working past the designated time and one that will force the assessment to submit once the time has expired..
The one that will let a student keep working will count down and if the assessment is submitted late, the instructor will see an exclamation in the gradebook which lets them know you have gone over the time. Look at the syllabus for your course as to penalties for going over the time limit on an assessment.
The second type will force the submission of an assessment. This prevents students from working past the designated time and will prevent late penalties. Be sure to read the assessment instructions about which type of assessment is being given.
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Locked Out of the Assessment?
You can also be booted out of an assessment if you lose
your Internet connection. This can be due to many reasons, but the most
common is that your Internet connection "timed out" while you were taking
the assessment. Many ISPs automatically log users off after twenty or
so minutes of "inactivity," which is usually defined as not opening new
web pages every five minutes or so.
Most ISPs open a warning dialog box to tell you that your
connection is about to be terminated, but some do not (including AOL and
many of the free ISPs like Freei.net and NetZero). If your Internet connection
has gone dead suddenly in the past, a solution to the problem is to open
a second Internet browser window while you are taking assessments. Click
on Internet Explorer twice to open 2 windows. In the first window go to
Blackboard and in the second window go another web site. While you are
taking the assessment, choose the other window periodically (every five
minutes or so), and click on any link that will load a new page. This
way, your ISP thinks that you are actively browsing and your connection
to the Internet will remain live.
If you do get bumped out of an assessment, contact your
instructor IMMEDIATELY. It is up to your instructor to allow you to retake
an assessment online or to ask that you retake the test in person in a
proctored setting. ONLY your instructor can reset an assessment for you. WCCC Blackboard Support CANNOT reset assessments.
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Warning that some questions
may be incomplete
If you receive a warning that some questions may be incomplete
click on Cancel to return to the assessment.
Check that each question has an answer and then click on
Submit again.
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