Creating an exam paper or assignment
- Claudia Cox
IMPORTANT: Creating exam papers in WISEflow is an academic responsibility. Content should be added by users with expertise in the subject matter to ensure that any risk of error is minimised.
Creating | FLOWmulti | |
All other flow types | ||
Sharing | FLOWmulti | |
Adding or removing | FLOWmulti | |
All other flow types | ||
All flow types |
The guidance below refers to creating exams and assignments in the new assignments area. While it is still possible to create material using the legacy assignments area, it is not recommended as this will prevent access to new features such as the ability to rescore exams and change correct answers.
Creating a FLOWmulti exam paper
There are a number of different question types to choose from when creating a FLOWmulti exam. The question editor is provided by Learnosity, who have extensive documentation on all the different options available. Access Learnosity’s Author Guide on all question types.
In the Author Overview, click +New assignment.
Give your assignment a title and optionally add a description and/ or labels. Labels can be especially useful to help differentiate a number of assignments. You can also choose whether to add any pre-existing questions or material from the content bank underneath the Assignment outset section of this menu.
Click Create to finish.You will now be taken to the assignment setup page, where you can see the shell of your assignment and content can be added.
1. The total number of questions and the maximum score of the assignment
2. Add or edit an author group (enables collaboration with multiple users on an assignment)
3. Create a new version of the assignment, suitable to be attached to a flow, or access existing versions
4. Edit the assignment title/ description/ labels, change the assignment configuration, create a copy of the assignment or preview the assignment
5. Manage or reorder assignment items
6. Add a new item
Click Add an item and select New item. Items act as new pages in your exam paper. Optionally give the item a title and/ or description and click Save.
You will now be taken to your newly created item, where questions and other content can be added. Click Add new.
This reveals the question editor, where a number of different question types can be selected and features such as embedded videos or separate text instructions can be included.
Click on your selected question type to add it to the item. A multiple choice question will be used as an example in this written guidance.Your chosen question will be displayed in edit mode. Add your question text to the question text box (1). Under Options (2), define the answer choices. Potential answers can be dragged and reordered if needed and you can click +ADD (3) to provide additional options.
Below the options, you can set the correct answer for the question and its points value (1), add alternative answers (2), allow multiple responses (3) and shuffle options (4), which will present the answers in a random order for each student.
Underneath More options there are a number of additional settings, including the ability to set the question as an unscored/ practice question, enable a penalty if the question is answered incorrectly, allow the student to check whether their answer is correct and change the scoring method (e.g. to award points for partially correct answers).
Scroll back up to the top of your question. It is strongly recommended that you switch to Preview mode to check that your question is behaving and scoring as expected. You can interact with different answers to check how points are being awarded and/ or show the correct answers and any distractor rationale you have added.
When you’re satisfied, click Save to finish.Continue adding questions to the item (page), or add a new item and question as needed. In this example, a new item called Section B has been added to the exam paper and this will contain essay questions.
When editing the essay type question, the question text can be entered in the question text field as normal. Instead of defining a correct answer, text formatting options can be set below.
You can also set a word limit and choose whether to display the word count to students.Essay type questions are manually scored. Under More options, define the Max score for the question. You also have options to define a minimum score if the question is attempted, allow answers that exceed the word limit to be submitted, and enable a spellchecker.
Scroll back up to the top of the editor. As before, you can switch to Preview mode to see how your question will appear to students. Click Save to finish.
At the top of the page, you can use the Item drop-down or arrow keys to navigate between different items (pages) in your exam paper. Click To the assignment setup to return to the setup page.
Back on the assignment setup page, you can now see all sections of your exam paper. It is recommended that you check the
Configuration settings of your assignment if needed and
Preview the assignment.
Once you are satisfied with your exam paper, click Flow versions and then click Create flow version.
You will now be taken to the newly created flow version of your exam paper. This will need to be attached to a flow (assessment) in order for students to see it and answer the questions. Each flow version has a unique reference code which can be copied for this purpose. See Attaching a FLOWmulti exam paper for more information.
You can also:
Open the Version list to view and access different versions of this assignment
Return To the original assignment to make further edits and create a new flow version
Understanding Flow Versions
Terminology
Original assignment
A fully editable assignment/ exam paper, you can make significant changes to an original assignment at any time.
Editing an original assignment will not impact any existing flow versions.
One original assignment can be used to create many different flow versions.
Flow version
A published version of your assignment/ exam paper which can be attached to a flow and released to students.
Each flow version has a unique reference code.
You cannot add or remove any content from a flow version of an assignment, although you can adjust the scoring of existing questions.
Once you have created a flow version of your FLOWmulti assignment/ exam paper for the first time, the Flow versions button on the assignment setup page splits into two different sections.
1. Access the reference code for the latest flow version of the assignment and/ or create a new flow version of the assignment (note: the option to create a new flow version will only be available if new changes have been made to the assignment).
See the Version list containing all versions of this assignment (and access any flow versions).
If you are looking at your original, editable assignment, this will be denoted by the assignment header in the upper left corner and the To the assignments list button on the right hand side of the page:
If you are looking at a flow version of the assignment, this information will also be clearly displayed at the top of the page:
Editing questions: More options
Different scoring types
Scoring type | Behaviour |
|---|---|
Exact match | The student must enter the exact correct answer in order to be awarded the point(s). Example: the correct answer is worth 3 points. The student’s answer must match the correct answer to be awarded 3 points, otherwise they will receive 0 points. |
Partial match per response | The student will be awarded the defined number of points for each element of the question that is answered correctly. Example: there are 3 correct answers worth 3 points. For every correct answer the student chooses, they will be awarded 3 points (up to a maximum of 9 points). |
Partial match | The student will be awarded a portion of the defined number of points, depending on how many correct responses are present. Example: there are 2 correct answers worth 3 points. If a student chooses 1 correct answer, they will be awarded half of the total points (1.5 points). |
Unscored/ Practice usage: points will not be awarded for this question.
Match all possible responses: this allows responses in alternative answers to be mixed and matched. See Learnosity’s article on Using the Match All Possible Responses Validation Option for more information. (Note: this option is only available for certain question types, e.g. Fill in the blanks.)
Penalty points: will subtract points if the question is answered incorrectly. The total score for the exam paper cannot go below 0 unless the separate Negative scores setting has been configured. Penalty points can behave differently depending on which scoring type is in use, see Learnosity’s article on Using Penalty Points with Different Scoring Types.
Answer verification
When the “Allow verification of the answer” option is ticked, students will have a “Check Answer” button underneath the question that will show them whether their response is correct or not.
Adding a distractor rationale (answer explanations)
You can add one distractor rationale per question (not per specific answer). The distractor rationale will be shown on a FLOWmulti assignment if a student is permitted to access this after submitting, or it can be shown while the assignment is underway if answer verification has been enabled on the question.
Assignment configuration options
Additional settings for the overall assignment can be set by clicking the Wrench icon on the assignment setup page.
Shuffle Items
Enabling this setting will randomise the order of all items/ pages in the exam. This tends to be most useful when the exam has been organised to have 1 question per item.
Negative Marking
Can be used in combination with the penalty points option on individual questions. This will allow the overall score for the assignment to go below 0, if enough penalty points are applied.
Reading Mode
Allows students to have read-only access to the exam paper for a set period of time before being allowed to answer questions.
No Backward Navigation
Prevents the student from returning to a previous item/ page in the assignment. If there are any unanswered questions on the item, students will receive a warning message notifying them that they will be unable to return if they choose to proceed to the next item.
Staff can use the invigilator password to help a student navigate back to a previous section if needed. (Note: DO NOT give the invigilator password to students while an exam is underway in any circumstances. This will compromise the security of the exam. Instead, you should type this in for them and assist directly.)
Information Page
This setting can be used to provide information on a separate start page before students access the exam questions. Unless you are using the Shuffle items setting, it is recommended that you add a passage to the first item in your exam/ assignment and write any important information there instead of using this setting.
Creating a FLOWlock exam paper or an assignment (FLOWassign, FLOWhandin, FLOWattend)
If you are not creating a multiple choice exam or an exam which features interactive questions (i.e. a FLOWmulti exam), you should write your exam paper or assignment brief using your word processor of choice and save it as a PDF so that it can be viewed directly in WISEflow.
The PDF can be provided to a user with Manager access to the flow (i.e. a programme administrator) and they will attach this for you.
Sharing your FLOWmulti exam paper
You can share a FLOWmulti exam paper/ assignment with other Authors to collaborate by creating an Author group and adding this in. See Using Author Groups for more information.
Attaching an exam paper or assignment to a flow
Attaching a FLOWmulti exam paper
Provide the code to a Manager
You can provide the code for the version of the exam paper you wish to use to a users with Manager access to the flow (assessment) and they will be able to attach this for you. To get the code:
Open the relevant assignment in the Authoring role
Click on the version of the assignment you wish to use
Click on the reference code to copy it to your clipboard
Attach the paper by yourself (Author access required)
Copy the appropriate reference code for your exam paper.
From the Author overview, click on Go to associated flows.
If you have Author access to the flow, it should be visible here under Active flows. Click on the flow to expand it. Under Assignments, paste the reference code into the text field and click Attach.
Once you have successfully attached the exam paper, you can preview it, or delete it and replace with a new version as needed.
Attaching a FLOWlock exam paper or an assignment (FLOWassign, FLOWhandin, FLOWattend)
The easiest way to attach a FLOWlock exam paper or an assignment for a FLOWassign, FLOWhandin or FLOWattend type flow is to provide a PDF file to a user with Manager access to the flow so that they can attach it for you.
Replacing an existing exam paper or assignment
The steps below are for a FLOWmulti exam paper or assignment and assume that you have Author access to the flow that the exam or assignment has been attached to.
If you do not have Author access to the flow or you need to replace the assignment on another flow type, provide the reference code or PDF file for the replacement exam or assignment to a user with Manager access and ask them to do this for you.
From the Author overview, click on Go to associated flows.
If you have Author access to the flow, it should be visible here under Active flows. Click on the flow to expand it. Under Assignments, click on the Delete button and confirm the deletion.
The FLOWmulti exam paper or assignment can now be replaced with a new version.