Tuesday Tech Tip: Socrative

As a classroom teacher, I was always looking for ways to get formative feedback from my students.  Pop quizzes were fine, but I still had to grade them overnight and wait until the next day to give students their feedback.  Exit tickets were a better option, but I often struggled to grade them quickly in class so that I could use the data immediately.  At best, I was able to modify my plans for the next day’s lesson.  Then, I found Socrative.

Can't see the above video? Click here to open it in a new tab: Socrative introduction video (new) from Socrative Inc. on Vimeo (This may require a filter bypass).

Socrative is a great student-response system designed for teachers looking to tap into real-time questioning, analyzing student responses, and data visualization.  I am a visual learner and always understand material better with graphs and charts.  Socrative allows me to visualize my students’ response data quickly.  I can then use my class time more effectively based on the results from quizzes, quick questions, or exit tickets.  I receive instant feedback that I use to personalize my lesson’s content “on-the-fly.”  

Socrative, as a student-response system, is different from a Schoology assessment.  I am huge proponent of creating quizzes and tests in Schoology, however, sometimes you need a quick way to get formative feedback from students during a lesson. I suggest Socrative.  Although you cannot embed a Socrative exit ticket or quiz into a website, blog, or Learning Management System (LMS), it is quick and easy to have students navigate to Socrative from their device.  Students do not need to create an account; they simply go to https://b.socrative.com/login/student/.  Oftentimes, I have students just Google “Socrative” and choose the student link.  Once there, they enter their Teacher’s Room Code, and they are in!  

In terms of collecting student responses, I use different options depending on my need.  For example, I use Schoology assessments for summative tests at the end of a unit of study.  I use Google Forms when students are pacing themselves in Schoology, instead of a traditional lecture-style lesson.  I then embed a form that students must complete before moving on to the next online activity in Schoology (e.g.: discussion, page with embedded pictures or videos, or assignment).  

Dashboard Overview in Socrative:

Aside from offering students a chance to interact with the content of a lesson throughout the lesson, you can "dipstick" students to check for understanding.  Students can use any device to enter their teacher's Room Code.  For example, as I teach a lesson on Primary versus Secondary source documents in Social Studies, I want to make sure my students understand the difference between to two.  Below, is an example of what the quiz looks like as a PDF.  

Students see the questions on their screen.

When students answer, they get immediate feedback.

As a teacher, you can set the pace of the quiz.  For example, you can have students answer at their own pace, receiving feedback as they progress.  You can have students self-pace, but with no feedback given until the end, or you, as the teacher, can control the pace of the quiz.  

You can disable student names, randomize the order of the questions and the answers, and disable student feedback.  It all depends on how you want to structure the quiz or exit ticket.  

Questions can also be short answer.  As a teacher, I tend to use multiple choice as formative quizzes throughout the lesson, and use short answers for exit tickets.  Multiple choice answers are quick to answer in the middle of a lesson.  Short answers may require more reflection or synthesis of the lesson's content.

When you are ready to view the results, you can display them in a grid-like matrix to immediately see how students did per question.  If, for instance, you notice that many students missed Question #3, then you can re-teach that question.  

One of the my favorite features of Socrative is the fact that when creating questions, I can embed pictures and explanations for each question.  The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than regular text, and 90% of the information that comes to brain is visual (Burmack, 2004).  Therefore, it makes sense that, as teachers, we should be incorporating more images into our lessons and assessments.  

So, whether you are a teacher looking to flip the delivery of your content, just want a better way to engage your students, or want a quicker way check for student understanding, I suggest looking at Socrative.

More Resources:

Socrative User Guide

Socrative Resources

Tuesday Tech Tip: Pear Deck

Pear Deck is a fantastic interactive tool for teaching and learning.  Check out the guide below for all the details:

Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Schoology for Formative Assessment (Part 3)

Our previous two blog posts focused on the questions "Where am I going" and "Where am I now?"  Today's blog post focuses on the last question: "How do I close the gap?"  As teachers, we can help address this question by providing effective feedback and giving students the opportunity to continue their learning based on the feedback.

According to Chappius and Chappius, "Effective descriptive feedback focuses on the intended learning, identifies specific strengths, points to areas needing improvement, suggests a route of action students can take to close the gap between where they are now and where they need to be, takes into account the amount of corrective feedback the learner can act on at one time, and models the kind of thinking students will engage in when they self-assess." And, it must happen during the learning process, "while there is still time to take action."

Leveraging Rubrics for Learning
As mentioned in an earlier blog post, having assignments or assessment questions tied to specific learning outcomes helps students determine "Where am I going?"  And because those learning outcomes can be used to create rubrics in Schoology, rubrics can help "identify specific strengths" and "point to areas needing improvement."  However, for the rubric to be descriptive, it needs to have more information than default generic headings, like "Excellent" or "Not Proficient."

1. Be sure to add detailed criteria to your rubric descriptors so that learners understand what "Excellent" means vs. "Good" as neither of these terms are particularly descriptive.  (If you are sharing rubrics with other teachers, remember that you can now share those in Resources.)
2. You can provide individualized and specific feedback using the comment feature within rubrics (to provide focused feedback about a specific learning target or outcome).

Giving Feedback with Comments Assessments

In addition to giving comments within rubrics, teachers can also give feedback within assignment or assessment submissions.

Student View: Question Comments Available

When grading assessment questions (like in a test or quiz), teachers can see an "Add Comment" icon for each question.  This lets the teacher give feedback specific to the question itself.  On the student side, a comment icon appears next to their submission score, indicating that comments have been given for the questions.  Remember, if it's formative, students need the chance to make improvements.  That means the assessment needs to either be given a "zero" factor or set to allow for retakes.

Giving Feedback with Comments in Assignments
In an assignment, you have even more flexibility.  As the teacher, you can add text comments, record audio or webcam comments, and you can attach files (like models or exemplars to clarify the comment).   The student then add their own comment back to you. These comments are organized by "revision."  Since formative assessment happens before the end of the learning, let students can use your feedback and resubmit an assignment to help "close the gap."

If the student has submitted written work into the assignment, there are also options in the grading window to highight, annotate, draw, and strike-out on the submission.  This lets you give feedback on the writing itself, much like you would with pen & paper.

Finally, remember that "[t]he greatest value in formative assessment lies in teachers and students making use of results to improve real-time teaching and learning at every turn" (Chappius & Chappius).  Letting students know where they are going, where they are  now, and how to close the gap both empowers and gives ownership to students for their own learning.

References

Atkin, J. M., Black, P., & Coffey, J. (2001). Classroom assessment and the national science standards. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Granada Learning, 1998.

Chappius, Steven, and Chappius, Jan. "The Best Value in Formative Assessment - ASCD." 2010. 14 Apr. 2015 <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/The-Best-Value-in-Formative-Assessment.aspx>

Moss, Connie M., and Susan M. Brookhart. "Lay of the Land." Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom a Guide for Instructional Leaders. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2009.

Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Schoology for Formative Assessment (Part 2)

Last week's blog post focused on the first critical learner question with formative assessments: where am I going?  Schoology's custom learning objectives and options for sharing exemplars are ways in which we can address that first question.  This week, we'll focus on the second critical question:  where am I now?

 According to Stephen & Jan Chappius, "[w]hen teachers assess student learning for purely formative purposes, there is no final mark on the paper and no summative grade in the grade book. Rather, assessment serves as practice for students . . ."  So how can you help students know (and reflect on) where they are without a potentially punitive "grade in the grade book"?

1.  Give assessments or assignments a zero factor.  

One way you can use Schoology to provide information without assigning a grade is to give the test/quiz or assignment a "zero" factor.  When selecting "Grading options" in an assessment or assignment, you have the option to give it a "0.00" factor.  That means that whatever is assigned has zero impact on the grade in the gradebook, but students will still see feedback and items that are correct and incorrect.

Tip: to help clarify what this means for both students and parents, name or title the assignment something that indicates its weight, like "Practice" or "Feedback Only."  If you are using weighted categories, you could also create a category in your Schoology gradebook that has a "0%" weight and put any formative work into that category so that it won't figure into the final grade.

2.  Have students self-assess using a test/quiz in Schoology.

From Lucy Calkins Writing Pathways Student Checklists

If you have a rubric or a checklist that you want students to use for self-assessment, you can create a quiz with the rubric or checklist descriptors as separate questions (either  multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank).  As students decide where they are in relation to the checklist or rubric, the information is tracked for you in the "results" tab.  And, if students are allowed to resubmit, you can see their answers for each revision.

Tip: make all options in the multiple choice questions "correct" so that students aren't "wrong" for whatever they choose or use the word bank option for fill in the blank. For multiple choice, set each answer to be worth 0 points to avoid point penalities.  You can either give this a completion grade with a bulk override or use the "zero" factor to keep this from affecting the overall grade.

3.  Use Mastery to help students see their progress on specific learning targets or outcomes.

If you tie assignments or assessments to your learning objectives or standards, the mastery view will provide the learner with information about whether or not they are meeting the objective.  One of the best things about mastery in Schoology is that it helps students see multiple assignments that are tied to the same target.  If you are using several pieces of work to support standards, students (and you) can see a cumulative achievement for that standard as well as achievement for each item assessed.

4. Use Backchannel Chat or a Discussion Board for student reflection.

If you would like students to reflect on where they are, you can use something like Backchannel Chat (an app you can add to your course in Schoology) and do a quick poll.  Or, use a Discussion Board to have students reflect on their learning.  Want it to be private?  Use an assignment instead of a Discussion Board -- this gives you "journal-like" options for reflection.  Either way, the student has space to reflect on where they are with learning goals.

5.  Embed or link other tools for self-paced quizzes or checks for understanding.

You can always create a zero factor quiz or exit ticket assignment in Schoology, but if you want to use something else, there are quite a few web-based options for letting students know where they are with learning.  The following can all be linked or embedded in Schoology.

• Using video?  Think about embedding EduCanon, EdPuzzle, or Zaption.  All of these tools allow you to insert questions in a video to help students track their own understanding.  
• Using polling?  Use Schoology's poll feature in an update, use the Backchannel Chat app to poll students, or use something like PollEverywhere.  
• Focusing on vocabulary?  Embed Quizlet's test or game mode to help students recognize where they are with understanding terms and definitions.  
• Want to give quizzes or collect exit tickets that aren't in Schoology?  Try linking to Socrative quizzes, Kahoot, or ExitTicket.

As students are engaging in the learning process, knowing where they are without fear of a wrong answer or a bad grade helps keep them focused on where they are going -- and ultimately, helps lead to the next question: how can I close the gap?  We'll take a look at that question in next week's blog post.

References

"5 Fantastic, Fast, Formative Assessment Tools." Edutopia. Edutopia.org, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-fast-formative-assessment-tools-vicki-davis>.

Atkin, J. M., Black, P., & Coffey, J. (2001). Classroom assessment and the national science standards. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Granada Learning, 1998.

Chappius, Steven, and Chappius, Jan. "The Best Value in Formative Assessment - ASCD." 2010. 14 Apr. 2015 <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/The-Best-Value-in-Formative-Assessment.aspx>

Moss, Connie M., and Susan M. Brookhart. "Lay of the Land." Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom a Guide for Instructional Leaders. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2009.

Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Schoology for Formative Assessment (Part 1)

We're hearing quite a bit of assessment talk these days, and with PARCC and SBAC happening across the nation, almost all of that talk surrounds summative assessment.  While summative assessment has its place (especially in the area of school, district, or state accountability), formative assessment is one of the most powerful tools teachers have when it comes to impacting student learning (Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Granada Learning, 1998).

Much of what we do in the classroom can be used either formatively or summatively, but according to Atkin, Black, & Coffey (2001), formative assessments specifically help address 3 questions for learners:

1. Where am I going? 
2. Where am I now? 
3. How can I close the gap?  

In today's blog post, we're going to look at how Schoology can help us with that first question (subsequent blog posts will focus on the other two questions).

Where Am I Going?  Using Custom Learning Objectives

Critical to the formative assessment process is a clear understanding of learning targets -- and "clear" means in student-friendly language. Your best bet for student-friendly objectives or targets is to create your own in Schoology. (See Schoology's help article on how to create custom learning outcomes).

Once you have created your own (or used existing standards), you can tie those to rubrics, assignments, discussion board responses, and assessment questions,   You can also create criteria on the fly in rubrics, but those won't be tracked for student progress.  

Additionally, if you have an existing document with learning objectives in something like a Google Doc, a PDF in Google Drive, or a Word document, you can always embed the document or upload the file for students to access.

Where Am I Going?  Providing Exemplars

In addition to providing students with clear learning targets, providing examples of high level work also helps students understand where they are going.  Schoology is very flexible in terms of what you can upload and embed, and remember that something doesn't have to exist digitally to be shared digitally.  If you have something 3 dimensional or in hard copy, use a mobile device to capture it.  Anything captured can then be shared for students to access.

Here are just a few suggestions for sharing exemplars:

• Create a Collection in Personal resources to save student exemplars from year to year (and share that Collection with your PLC or grade level team if you are all contributing examples or use a folder in a Group).  You can then add those to any course or course folder to show students.
• Create a Media Album in your course or group for sharing student exemplars (this is especially effective for images or video content).  Add notes or captions about each exemplar to give more detail (or ask students to add their own comments about the examples).
• Create a page in a course or group to embed multiple web-based projects or examples (e.g. Prezi, ThingLink, WeVideo, etc.).  This allows you to put several examples on a single page with space for commentary, if needed.
• Grab a snippet or a paragraph via screen cap of submitted assignments in Schoology's Document Viewer.  You can either take a screen cap with annotations included or turn them off.  Either way, taking a screen cap means that you can grab the part you want without also revealing a student name.
• Create a Discussion Board for exemplars (which can contain embedded content or uploaded files) and encourage student reflection on what makes something an exemplar.

When using formative assessments with students, regardless of the medium, be sure to start with that first question: where are they going?  Schoology can help both you and your students address that question for learning.

References

Atkin, J. M., Black, P., & Coffey, J. (2001). Classroom assessment and the national science standards. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Granada Learning, 1998.

Chappius, Steven, and Chappius, Jan. "The Best Value in Formative Assessment - ASCD." 2010. 14 Apr. 2015 <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/The-Best-Value-in-Formative-Assessment.aspx>

Moss, Connie M., and Susan M. Brookhart. "Lay of the Land." Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom a Guide for Instructional Leaders. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2009.

Think Outside the Cart: Covering Your Bases When Testing Impacts Technology

cc photo courtesy of Max & Dee Bernt

For baseball fans (like me),  March typically means that Spring Training is in full swing and the MLB season is getting closer.  This year, however, March also marked the beginning of our online testing season.  We're hearing concerns about online testing taking classroom technology out of the lineup.  So, to both honor the imminent baseball season and to address those concerns, here are some ideas about keeping the ball in play (apologies for the foul puns).

cc photo courtesy of  Jamie Campbell

Make a Call to the Bullpen.  In baseball, your "bullpen" is your pitching relief  (pitchers who come in to "relieve" or take over for other pitchers). Maybe a Chromebook cart is like your starting pitcher, but if it's not available, you might want to remember other technology at your building,  In our case, Chromebook carts supplemented any existing technology at a school.  That means that school labs, other laptop carts, M&A's, iPads & iPods & other tablets could come back into the game.  Even if you can only bring in a few, you could use them creatively for learning.

The Double or Triple Play.  If you get two or three players taken care of in one play, that's a double or triple play.  It's possible that not every machine is being used for assessment. While people tend to think of needing the whole cart, remember that great stuff can happen when kids collaborate together when sharing a device.  If you can get your hands on 10 devices instead of 30, it might actually be more effective than 1:1, depending on your learning goals.

Put the Shift On.  Sometimes, players in the field will move from their traditional spots and "shift" to specific areas, based on where they think the ball will go.  In a classroom, you can think about this like using learning centers or stations.  If you have as few as 4 or 5 devices, you can "shift" students to different centers/stations in the room, based on the activities you want them to do.  Using centers or stations is good practice anyway, but when faced with limited technology, it can be a game-changer.

The Hidden Ball Trick.  Sometimes, a player will "hide" the ball and deceive the runner into thinking s/he can step off the base, but the ball is still live.  We often ask kids to hide their own technology (mobile devices) or put it away so we don't see it.  But, cell phones are incredibly powerful devices.  If you set some ground rules about using them for learning, you might be surprised at how well students behave when given the chance.  If you teach younger students who don't have cell phones, you may want to ask your parent community if they have any "old" phones to donate.  If you take away the phone functionality, smart phones are just mini tablets with WiFi capability.

The Pinch Hitter.  A pinch hitter is basically a substitute batter -- a player not in your game day lineup who steps into the box.  If testing means that school-provided technology isn't an option, maybe it's time to explore substituting what you have with BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device). Parents are probably well aware that testing is affecting student access to devices, and explaining your need for student-provided technology, even temporarily, could be a way to keep you on your game.

cc photo courtesy of Scott Ableman

The Play at Home Plate (and Instant Replay).  Sometimes, the most exciting plays happen at home plate.  More and more teachers are trying out the concept of the flipped classroom or flipped learning (see our blog posts this month for more about flipped learning).  That term refers to students getting some part of their instruction on a device, often at home or outside of the classroom (maybe from a site like Khan Academy or teacher-created videos).   Besides leveraging time in an efficient way, this also provides students with the option for instant replay if it's video-based.  Didn't quite get the concept?  Just replay the part you need.  And since our district has Schoology, we already have digital spaces that can be used for learning outside of the classroom.

Finally, if you're worried about access at home for students during testing windows, remember that local libraries have computers for student access (and many schools have drop-in locations available during the school day).  Also, remember that anyone with a smart phone has access to the Internet.  If a family doesn't have a desktop or laptop at home, a smart phone is another access point.

Testing doesn't have to mean that technology for learning is benched during our assessment windows.  If you are creative and think outside the cart, you can continue to hit home runs for learning with your students.

In Case You Missed It...Schoology Assessments

We've got you covered! The Office of Instructional Technology provides Tuesday Tech Tips aimed at providing teachers ideas and support to thoughtfully integrate and utilize technology in their instruction to maximize student learning. So, in case you missed these past posts, here are the essentials on features and innovative uses with Schoology assessments.

(In addition, our Literacy Coordinator, Amanda Wahlborg, published "Do I Really Have to Teach Tech? ELA Tech Skills That Matter."  If you haven't done any tutorials on PARCC or are curious about how the tech side of the ELA assessment works, this is definitely worth a look.)

Office of Instructional Technology Assessments in Schoology Blog Posts:

1. 5 Tips for Online Assessments in Schoology
   This is a great starting place.  This blog post focuses on creating & using online assessments by highlighting five fantastic features.
   
2. Embedding Google Presentations into Schoology Assessments
   Are you wanting to provide your students with opportunities to analyze multiple sources from diverse media and formats?  If so, check out this blog and the templates provided.
   
3. Embedding Scrolling Text or Longer Multiple Sources for Synthesis Tasks
   Check out this blog if you are looking for solutions on adding longer passages of text that will allow students to scroll and annotate (using tools like Scrible Toolbar).
   
4. Aligning Work Digitally to Track Student Mastery
   This blog post this could be very powerful as we think about measuring what we value in our students' work and looking for growth on specific standards.
   
5. Grading Assessments in Schoology
   You have created an amazing assessment, now what?  This blog will show how to grade and provide some tips and tricks along the way.
   
6. Providing Feedback Digitally to Help Track Mastery
   Feedback is one of the most important tools we can use to impact student learning.  Check out this blog post for support on maximizing feedback features within Schoology.

Tuesday Tech Tip: Involving Students in Building Assessments

We have posted previously about creating digital assessments as teachers, but having students actively involved in creating questions can be a great way to engage them (and each other) in content.  When students create their own quiz questions, for example, they have to both review the material and think about what makes a good question.   Basically, it can encourage a metacognitive approach to learning.

For this type of activity, one option we have is to use a Group in Schoology (in CCSD, school-based admins and district level technology support can create groups).  Because a Group is a place designed for collaborating and building learning materials, it's a great spot to have students engage in similar work.  Students can join a Group using an access code (or they can be added manually in the Members area).  They can add test questions -- in additon to uploading files or adding links -- as long as they are co-admins in the Group (they have the crown).

To add questions into an existing test/quiz template, students can use the settings wheel to edit questions.  Encourage them to be thoughtful about different question types for quizzes, consider having them include multimedia or images that support concepts, and perhaps have them think about aligning resources to learning outcomes.  As with any learning activity, be clear about your expectations and how you expect them to complete the task.

Once the students have added items, they can be previewed and edited by the teacher & other group members. In a group, members can view what an item looks like, but actual interaction for something like a quiz happens in a course.  This lets the teacher decide what items to bring into a course for student interaction.

So what can students do as admins?  In our system, we have it set so that they can add things like updates and resources, but they cannot (even as admins) change group settings, message anyone other than teachers, and delete the group.  While they can delete items in a group (like links or files), anything deleted goes into the Recycle Bin for the Group which can be restored by the teacher.

While Schoology is one way for students to generate questions, there are many other options to accomplish this, including Google Forms.  If you need help or have questions about how you  might do this with students, please contact your school's technology coordinator or your Technology & Learning Coach.

In Case You Missed It...

We've got you covered! The Office of Instructional Technology provides Tuesday Tech Tips aimed at providing teachers with ideas and support to thoughtfully integrate and utilize technology in their instruction to maximize student learning. So, in case you missed these past posts, we wanted to share our top 5 favorite blog posts (in no particular order):

Office of Instructional Technology Top 5 Blogs:

1. Creating Thinking Maps in Google Drawings
   Check out the Google Template Gallery for access to Thinking Maps for you and your students.  This could be a great link to include in Schoology as well.

2. Using Schoology with Google Drive
   Did you know that students can create content right inside of Schoology that also lives in their Google Drive?  This blog post is all about working smarter, not harder.

3. Embedding Quizlet into Schoology Quizlet is a fantastic site for your students to interact with vocabulary and content. Check out this blog to see how you can create a deck of flashcards and embed them right into Schoology.
   

4. Embedding Google Presentations into Schoology Assessments
   Are you wanting to provide your students with opportunities to analyze multiple sources from diverse media and formats?  If so, check out this blog and the templates provided.
   

5. Differentiation using grading groups in COLE 3.0/Schoology
   Are you looking for a way to differentiate your content, the process or product? Schoology makes it pretty easy set up grading groups to meet the needs of your diverse learners.

   

Grading Assessments in Schoology

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tuesday Tech Tip: Grading Assessments in Schoology

This week we will explore grading assessments in Schoology.

Now that you have administered an assessment in Schoology you may think that you are done, but did you know you have options? Yes, options.

Some of those options include:

You might need to grade some subjective questions or you may want to review the submissions in the event you need to offer partial credit.  
To do this:

• Choose VIEW BY STUDENT
• Click VIEW ATTEMPTS

Here you can review and score questions and offer comments if you would like to provide that level of feedback.

What about grading all submissions for a particular question? You can do that too.

• Choose VIEW BY QUESTION.

This is also a good place to analyze how your class performed as a whole on each question.

Wondering why all of your students did so poorly on question 5? Surely, you wrote a great question and selected the correct answer. But in the event that you need to adjust the answer and regrade, no problem. To change the answer for all, go to your test and change the answer. This will adjust the scores in the gradebook accordingly. If you need to dig deeper into a particular student's response and override a score, you can do that too by reviewing the question in question.

Another consideration is analyzing mastery.  For more information about Mastery in Schoology, please visit our post from March 25th or a section from the Schoology Help Guide.

Yes, Schoology is amazing for a variety of things. Grading assessments after the assessment is complete will help you with monitoring student progress and thus assist in the PLAN-TEACH-MONITOR-ADJUST cycle.

If you need additional assistance for this or any other instructional technology topic, please contact us!

Using Question Banks in Schoology

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Question Banks in Schoology

As summer quickly approaches, many of you are shifting your thinking to get ready for fall.  Part of this preparation can include adding tests and quizzes for next year into your Schoology resources.  Whether you are working as part of a team, department, or just by yourself, test banks can be a great way to store test/quiz questions for future courses. This week’s post uses information from Schoology’s Help Center and will help support you in effectively managing question banks in Schoology.

Creating Question Banks in Resources

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Question banks allow you to create a repository of test questions in your Resources. You can create Question Banks in Personal and Group Resources.

To create a question bank, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Resources area on the top menu, and select the option for Personal or Group resources.
2. Click into the collection or group in which you'd like to add a question bank.
3. Click on the Add Resources button.
4. Select the option to Add Question Bank.
5. Enter a name for the Question Bank, and click Create to complete.

To add questions from Resources, follow these steps:

1. Click on a Question Bank in your Resources.
2. Click the button to Add Question.
3. Select from the following question types in Schoology:
• True/False
• Multiple Choice
• Short-Answer/Essay Questions
• Fill in the Blank
• Matching
4. Fill out the question form.
5. Click Create Question to complete.

Creating Question Banks and adding questions from within a Course

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If you already have a test/quiz with questions in a course, you can add these questions to Question Banks.

To create Question banks from within a course, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Courses area on the top menu, and select a course with tests/quizzes.
2. Click on a test/quiz whose questions you'd like to save in a question bank.
3. To add all questions to a question bank, click on the Options button in the Questions tab.
4. Select the option to Add Questions to Bank.
5. To add a select question to a question bank, click on the gear to the right of the question.
6. Select the option to Add to Bank.
7. To create a new question bank to house the question(s), choose the option to create a New Question Bank.
8. To add the question to an existing question bank, find the bank from within the options available in the menu.
9. Click Add Questions to complete.

 

Adding questions from a Question Bank to a Test/Quiz

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Once you have a Question Bank in Schoology, you can build tests/quizzes with questions from the banks.

To add questions to a test/quiz, follow these steps:

1. Create a test/quiz, or click on the name of test/quiz into which you'd like to add questions.
2. In the Questions tab of the test/quiz, click on the Add Question button.
3. Select the option to import From Question Banks.
4. Click on the Question Bank from which you'd like to import questions.
5. Select the box next to the question(s) you'd like to import. To import all questions, select the box next to the Auto-select button.
6. To randomly select questions from the bank, click on the Auto-select button.
• Enter the number of questions you'd like to add to the test. This number cannot exceed the number of questions available in the bank.
• Click on the Randomize Questions button to complete.
• This feature adds a set number of questions to the test/quiz, and each student in the course will see the same set of questions.
7. Enter a value in the field to the right to set a value for each question. To set a point value of each question in bulk, click the Set Points button.
8. Click Add Questions to complete.

As always, if you will be building assessments and need some assistance with question banks or anything else within Schoology, please contact the Office of Instructional Technology.