Blackboard Test Quick Start Guide

Introduction

Ultra Course View

According to Blackboard Help: Create Tests

  • Assignments and Tests (grouped under Assessments in the Course Content Items panel) share the same user interface and options. Many options in the settings are enabled or disabled based on whether at least one question is included in the assessment.
  • In practice, instructors use these assessments differently. For example, you might create an assignment with instructions for students to submit a file for a grade. In a test, students may answer a series of questions you’ve added to the assessment.

Original Course View

You can use tests and surveys* to measure student knowledge, gauge progress, and gather information from students.

*Survey questions aren't graded, and student responses are anonymous ⚠️


Create tests

Ultra Course View

Original Course View

  1. Access Blackboard Course > “Control Panel” > “Course Tools” > “Tests, Surveys, and Pools”. Click “Test”. 
  2. Click “Build Test”. 
  3. On the Test Information page, type a name. Click “Submit”.
  4. On the Test Canvas, click “Question Settings” to check and modify the settings. 
  5. Rollover “Create Question”, select the question type (e.g. Multiple Choice, True/False, Essay...). 
    • If you would like to randomly draw questions from Pool (e.g. draw 30 questions out of 50) so that different students answer different sets of questions, please refer to the below.
    • If a test consists of both automatically graded questions (e.g. MC) and manually graded questions (e.g. Essay), the grade would be shown as “Needs Grading” after the submission, as the manually graded questions do not have grades.
  6. On the Create/Edit page, fill in the information. Select “Submit”.
  7. Questions are created. Check the questions before deploying the test. Questions cannot be deleted when there are attempts in progress . 

Deploy tests and test options

Ultra Course View

Please refer to Blackboard Help: Create Tests

Original Course View

  1. Access a Content Area (e.g. Course Contents). Select “Assessments” > “Test”.
  2. Select the test under “Add an Existing Test”. Click “Submit”. 
  3. Then select “Test Options” on the next page. Please refer to CUHK EdTech Help Center: Blackboard Online Test Best Practices for teachers and supporting staff and Blackboard Help: Test and Survey Options for more about test options. Click “Submit” to deploy the Test for student access.

Grade tests and test results

Ultra Course View

Original Course View

  1. Click "Grade Center", select "Full Grade Center", then select the column you want to grade.
  2. You can also ignore an attempt to keep it but omit the score from Grade Center calculations. The attempt isn't counted toward the number of allowed attempts.

Additional tips: Checking before starting tests

  • If you don’t want to show grades to students after they submit their attempts,
    • Ultra Course View: Carefully check the assessment settings.
    • Original Course View: Check the test options > Results and feedback options. Also, hide the grade columns (including the “Total” column) in Full Grade Center.
  • If the test is copied from another Blackboard Course using “Course Copy” feature:
  • If the test is available, you can also access and check the test using “Student Preview”. Click here to learn more about “Student Preview”.

Contact us: elearning@cuhk.edu.hk / ITSC Service Desk (https://servicedesk.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk)