For best results use this document in conjunction with “Student Assessment Recommended Practices"

• Technical difficulties should be expected.*

• To avoid loss of grades, after assessment has been released to students, avoid any and all configuration changes (e.g.: changing point values, changing names of exam, changing names of exam in grade book, adding or subtracting questions, etc.).

• Give careful consideration to using proctors or testing centers for high stakes assessments.

• Consider all assessments in Blackboard as open book unless proctored.

• Use password protection to help maintain integrity of assessments.

• Be consistent in your design and deployment.

• At beginning of semester create a simple practice assessment containing question formats you will be using throughout the course. Allow your students to take it multiple times so they become acclimated to your deployment style. This should help them understand and overcome any technical problems and questions before taking a graded assessment.

• Give very clear instructions before each assessment.

• Avoid releasing an assessment to students until you have attempted it yourself.

• It is strongly suggested that you have a backup assessment delivery method.

• If possible, limit assessments to what can be accomplished in 55 minutes. If an assessment must be longer than 55 minutes, consider breaking it into two parts.

• Avoid requiring students to use other software or browse other websites to find assessment answers. Accessing other applications/websites often interferes with the correct functioning of the assessment area.

• By placing objective questions (e.g.: True and False, Multiple Choice, etc) in different assessment than essay/short answer questions, you decrease the likelihood of students encountering technical issues, with the added benefit of allowing them immediate feedback on the objective questions while subjective questions are being evaluated.     

• Avoid setting an assessment for Force Completion and Multiple Attempts at the same time. 

• The use of the Force Completion function will remind students to complete and submit the assessment.

• Avoid setting an assessment to open in a new window as this tends to introduce user navigation errors and browser setup issues.

• Use only All at Once presentation mode rather than One at a Time. All at Once allows the saving of the entire assessment compared to One at a Time, where the Save function saves only the single question on the screen. One at a Time also greatly reduces the opportunity for students to make navigation and interface errors.

• Choose Randomize Questions in Test Options OR in Test Manager but not in both, as this will often times lock a student out of an assessment.

* Due to the vast differences in user skill levels, workstation setups, web browsers, and Internet Service Providers you will experience some students having technical difficulties. These issues will require you to use the Clear Attempt function and deliver assessments in other methods from time to time. However, if you follow the recommendations in this document as well as having your students follow the Student Assessment Recommended Practices then most technical issues can be avoided.