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WebCT Information for Instructors

Instructions for Creating Quizzes in WebCT
 

Adding Quiz Tool
First, add the quiz to your course.

  1. Click Control Panel. The Basic Control Panel appears.

  2. Click Add Page or Tool. The Add Page or Tool screen appears.

  3. If the Use a wizard when available check box is selected, clear it. You won’t use a wizard to add the Quizzes/Surveys tool for this function.

  4. Under Evaluation and Activity Tools, click Quizzes/Surveys. The Add Quizzes/Surveys screen appears.

  5. For the title, enter the title you wish to use such as Quizzes

  6. Select where to add links to Quizzes:

    1. Select On the Course Menu.

    2. Select On an Organizer Page: Homepage.

    Notice that Link shows item title, Link shows icon, and Use default icons are selected by default. Leave these items selected so that the link on the Homepage displays the title and a default icon.

  7. Click Add. The Homepage appears. Notice that there are now links to Quizzes on both the Homepage and the Course Menu.

To Add a Quiz Title and Link
Now, create an empty quiz and name it. You’ll add questions from the Question Database later.
 

  1. From the Question Database screen, under the breadcrumbs, click Quizzes/Surveys. The Quizzes/Surveys screen appears.
  2. In the Actions frame, under Options, click Create quiz. The Create Quiz screen appears.
  3. In the Title text box, enter the title you wish to use such as Quiz 1.
  4. Click Create. The Quizzes/Surveys screen appears displaying Quiz 1.

Creating/Modifying Quiz Content for WebCT
 1.        Create the test/quiz.  It must be in the following format--exactly and precisely in this format;

  • Each question must begin with a question number, followed by either a period . or a parenthesis ).
  • The questions wording must follow the question number. (Note: at least one space should be between the question number and question wording.)
  • Each answer must begin with a letter (A-Z) followed by a period . or a parenthesis ).
  • Correct answers can be indicated in two ways. First, you may place an asterisk (*) directly in the front of the answer choice (do not put a space between the asterisk and the answer choice).
    1. The second option is to place a list of correct answers at the end of the file. The list must begin with the word Answers: and must be positioned at the end of the file. (Note: Any text after the answer list will be ignored.)
  • True/False questions must have the required elements of a question number, question wording, answers, and correct answer as listed above.
    1. Each question must begin with a letter (A-Z) followed by a . or parenthesis 0.
    2. The correct answer is indicated by placing an asterisk (*) directly in front of the answer choice.

Optional Elements

  • The Category can be imported with each question. This will help distinguish one set of questions in the quiz database from another. The Category must be placed at the beginning of a question before the Title.
  • The Title can be imported with each question. If a title is not provided for a question, the first 17 characters from the question wording will be used as the question title. Titles must be placed after the Category, before the question, and begin with Title: followed by the actual text for the title. If the title exceeds 17 characters, the remaining characters will be dropped during the import.
  • Feedback for individual answer choices can be imported by placing it immediately after the related answer choice and by beginning the line with the @ symbol. There must be at least one space between the @ symbol and the feedback text.

Here are two questions from a mid-term test Larry Timbs just gave in his Feature Writing (MCOM 343) class:

Category: Feature Writing
Title: Question1 What is The Name Given to a Kind of Lighthearted (use the first part of the question as the title)
1. What is the name given to a kind of lighthearted feature story, sometimes written in a whimsical manner or having a whimsical tone, that may have a surprise or unexpected ending?
*A. bright
B.  brief
C. nugget
D.  sidebar

Category: Feature Writing
Title: Question2 You As a Feature Writer Would Never Include
2. You as a feature writer would never include "First Time Rights in Your Circulation Area" in a query letter to an editor that you were trying to win over to accepting your idea for a feature story.
A.  True
*B.  False

2.        Save your test as a plain text file.

Convert Your Quiz to the Proper Format

  1. Download MakeQuiz from the Net: http://www.csus.edu/uccs/webct/makequiz

  2. Open MakeQuiz program and run your saved text file (your quiz) through MakeQuiz.

    1. Double click MakeQuiz icon

    2. Click Browse to locate your text file

    3. Then just hit Do It.

    4. The new file that you have now will be something along the lines of midtermtest.txt.out (It will always end in "out" after being run or parsed through/in MakeQuiz).

Uploading Files
Before you can import questions to the Question Database, you must upload the file containing your questions into the My Files folder. Follow the instructions below to upload the file to the Question Database.

  1. From the Control Panel, click Manage Files. The Manage Files screen appears.

  2. Create a folder for your file by going to Options: Folders and clicking on Create Folder.

  3. Name the folder and click Create

  4. Select the new folder as destination folder.

  5. Under Options: Files, click Upload. The Upload File screen appears.

  6.  To select the file, do one of the following:
    a.        If you want to search for the file, click Browse. Your computer's file manager appears.
    b.        If you know the filename, enter it in the Filename text box.

  7.  Click Upload. The Manage Files screen appears.
    a.        To view the contents of a folder, click the folder name.
    b.       To view the file, click the preview icon next to the filename.

Importing Questions to the Question Database

  1. From the Course Menu, click the name of your quiz tool, such as Quizzes. The Quizzes/Surveys screen appears.

  2. Click Question Database. The Question Database screen appears.

  3. Under Options: Question, click Import questions from file. The Import From File screen appears.

  4. Click Browse. The File Browser pop-up window appears.

  5. Scroll down if necessary to locate your folder.

  6. Click the file and folder will expand.

  7. Select the file and click Add Selected. The Import From File screen appears with the filename in the Filename text box.

  8. Click Import. The Import From File screen updates to display the questions.

  9. Click Continue. The Question Database screen appears and the questions are added to the specified categories.

To Add Questions from Database to the Quiz
Now, add the questions from the Question Database to the quiz you have created, for example Quiz 1.

  1. From the Quizzes/Surveys screen, click the name of the quiz you wish to add questions to, such as Quiz 1. The Quiz Editor screen appears.
  2. In the Actions frame, under Options, click Add questions. The Question Browser window appears.
  3. In the table under Name, click the folder corresponding to the category your questions had be designated with. The questions you created appear.
  4. To select all questions in the category, select the folder. To select individual questions, select the box next to the title that corresponds to the desired question.
  5. Click Add selected at the bottom of the screen. The Quiz Editor screen appears and the questions are added to Quiz 1.

Next, assign points to each question.

Allocating Points
 You assign point values to questions once they’re added to a quiz. This means that you can assign different point values to a question in different quizzes.

  1. From the Quiz Editor screen, in the Points column, in each of the text boxes, enter the number of points you wish to have for that question.
  2. Click Update total. The Total now shows the total for all the questions combined.

The quiz is created. Next, select how and when the quiz is presented to your students.

Selecting Quiz Settings
Using Quiz Settings, you can specify, for example, which students receive the quiz, how long they have to complete it, how many attempts are allowed, and how the results are released to them. There are numerous settings available on the Quiz Settings screen.

To access the Quiz Settings screen:

  1. Click on the quiz
  2. From the Quiz Editor screen, in the Actions frame, under Options, click Edit quiz settings. The Quiz Settings screen appears.
  3. Once you have made your selections, click Update. The Quiz Editor screen appears and the quiz is now available for your students to complete.

Next, see how the quiz appears to your students. 

Previewing the Quiz
Now that you’re finished creating the quiz, you can preview it from the Quiz Editor screen.

  1. In the Actions frame, under Options, click Preview quiz. A new browser window opens and the quiz appears as it would to a student.
  2. Close the browser window. The Quiz Editor screen appears.

You’ve finished the Quiz activities.

To add My Grades

  1. Click Control Panel. The Basic Control Panel appears.
  2. Click Add Page or Tool. The Add Page or Tool screen appears.
  3. Under Student Tools, click My Grades. The Add My Grades screen appears.
  4. For the title, enter: My Grades
  5. Select where to add links to My Grades:
    1. Select On the Course Menu.
    2. Select On an Organizer Page: Homepage.

Notice that Link shows item title, Link shows icon, and Use default icon are selected by default. Leave these items selected so that the link on the Homepage displays the title and a default icon.

  1. Click Add. The Homepage appears. Notice that there are now links to My Grades on both the Homepage and the Course Menu.

To grade the quiz
Use Submissions, from the Quizzes/Surveys screen or the Quiz Editor screen, to generate the quiz results.

  1. Select Submissions Click Grade
  2. From the Submissions screen, select the submissions that you want to grade
  3. In the Actions frame, under Options, click Grade.
  4. The quiz results are then automatically added to My Grades. At that time, students can access Quizzes/Surveys or My Grades to view their results.

Click on this link for a printable version of this page.

If you have problems or questions about uploading files into WebCT, contact Suzanne Sprouse (sprouses@winthrop.edu) 
 
WebCT Contact Information
Suzanne Sprouse, E-Learning & Project Coordinator
Distance Learning and AV Services | 803.323.2551 | sprouses@winthrop.edu
Last updated: 02/05/07