The Create Assessments screen is used to set up assessments, or as it is also called on this screen, activities. An activity is a group of items that are presented to the student as a single assessment. Individual items set up on the Create Questions screen are added to the activity.
A new activity (assessment) can be set up using the Default Item Bank, which contains items created by you and items created by other users that were shared with you. You can include a welcome and exit screen on the activity, and select the items that display on those screens.
Depending on your district's setup and your profile's permissions, you may have access to the Standards bank. The Standards bank contains thousands of items that have already been set up and are ready to use on assessments.
When creating an answer key only assessment, only give the assessment a Title; do not add any items to the assessment. In the Answer Key tab of the District Assessments screen, the number of questions, answer range, and correct answers will be set, and the file of the assessment questions uploaded.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Create Assessments.
This screen will be blank if you have not yet created any activities and no activities have been shared with you by other administrators and teachers.
If you have previously created activities or activities have been shared with you, those activities will be listed on this screen.
The search options along the top of the screen allow you to search for activities by title, reference, description, status, and tags. See Searching for an Activity for more information.
2. To create a new activity, click Create at the top-right corner of the screen.
On this screen, the activity will be set up. The activity will be given a title, items will be added to the activity, the activity can be previewed, and the player settings, details settings, tags, test options, sharing options, and print options can be set.
3. To start, enter a Title for the activity.
The Welcome screen and Exit screen options are automatically enabled. If you do not want to include a Welcome screen or Exit screen, deselect those options.
4. To customize the Welcome screen or Exit screen, click the customize link next to the option. On the next screen, you will select an existing item or passage to use on the Welcome or Exit screen.
When the Welcome screen is enabled but not customized, the Welcome screen displays the default message "Please click Start when you are ready to begin the activity." When the Exit screen is enabled but not customized, the Exit screen displays the default message "Activity successfully submitted."
After clicking customize, the available items are listed. This includes items you have previously created on the Create Questions screen and items other administrators and teachers have shared with you.
See Searching for an Item from the Default Item Bank or Standards Bank for more information on using the search features to find items to add to the activity.
5. To preview a item, click the Preview icon.
The item is expanded to display a preview.
6. Click the X to close the preview.
7. Click Select next to the item to add to the Welcome or Exit screen.
8. To reset the Welcome screen or Exit screen and remove the items added, click reset.
9. Next, items will be added to the main part of the activity. To add an existing item to the activity, click Find items.
See Creating a New Item to Add to an Activity for information on creating a new item to add to the activity.
The available items are listed, including items that you have created and items that were shared with you. If items were added to the Welcome and Exit screens, those items are automatically checked.
See Searching for an Item from the Default Item Bank or Standards Bank for more information on using the search features to find items to add to the activity.
10. To preview a item, click the Preview icon.
The item is expanded to display a preview.
11. Click the X to close the preview.
12. Select the check box next to each item to add to the activity, or select the check box in the header to select all items in the list.
13. Click Add X Items to add the selected item(s) to the activity.
14. Click Save at the top of the screen.
After clicking Save, the Save button turns green.
15. Click Back at the top-left of the screen to return to the activity screen.
The items that were added to the activity are listed.
You can search for items created by you or items created by other users that were shared with you in the Default Item Bank.
Depending on your district's setup and your profile's permissions, you may also have access to the Standards bank, which provides thousands of preconfigured items that can be added to activities (assessments).
You can search for items by title, reference number, content, question/feature type, tags, or standards.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. If adding an item to the Welcome or Exit screen, click the appropriate customize link. If adding items to the activity, click Find items.
3. In the Item Bank pull-down, select Default item bank or Standards.
4. To search by item title, enter the full or partial item title in the Find by title box and click Search.
5. To search by title, reference number, content, and/or question/feature type, click the down arrow on the Find by title search box.
6. Enter search criteria in the Title, Reference, Content, and/or Question/Feature Type field. These search fields can be used together or separately.
7. Click the Search icon.
8. To search by tags, enter the full or partial tag title in the Find by tags search box.
Tag suggestions will pop-up.
9. Click the tag and click Search.
10. Click the down arrow on the Find by tags search box for more tag search options.
11. To find items that match all tags entered, select multiple tags in the Match all tags search box.
12. To find items that match at least one tag, select one or multiple tags in the Match at least one tag search box.
13. Click the Search icon.
14. To search by standards attached to an item, click Standards.
In the pop-up window, the standards for all courses at all schools are listed.
When searching the Default Item Bank, the number displayed next to the standard title indicates the number of items in the item bank that have been attached to this standard this school year. When searching the Standards Bank, the number indicates the number of predetermined items attached to this standard. The "Import Assessment Question Count" standard job determines how many items are attached to the standard.
15. If desired, click a course on the left side of the window to narrow down the list of standards.
16. Begin entering the standard title or description in the Filter box to filter the list standards.
17. Click the standard to search by.
18. To remove a search criterion, click the X to the criterion.
19. To clear all the search criteria and return to the full list of items, click Clear.
When a search is conducted, items matching the search criteria are listed. Select the item(s) to add to the assessment.
Items can be rearranged within an activity as needed.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click and drag an item using the icon to the left of the item.
3. Click Save at the top of the screen.
Items included on the activity (assessment) can be previewed. If an item needs to be edited, edits can be made directly from this screen. Edits to an item will affect all activities it is included on. Edits cannot be made to items from the Standards bank.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Preview icon next to the item to view.
The item is expanded to display the preview.
3. Click the X to close the preview.
4. To view the item on its own screen and make edits to the item, click the item title.
The item is displayed, with all the options to edit, delete, rearrange, change settings, add features, etc. See Create Questions for more information on using these options. Any changes made to the item will affect all activities it is included on.
5. After saving the changes to the item, click Back to return to the assessment.
Items can be removed from the activity (assessment) as needed.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Select the check box next to each item to remove, or select the check box in the header to select all items in the activity.
3. Click Remove.
4. Click Save at the top of the screen.
A new item can be created for an activity (assessment) directly from the Create Assessments screen instead of returning to the Create Questions screen.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click Create Item.
The screen displays to add a new item. Once saved, this item will be automatically added to the activity. See Create Questions for more information on creating a new item.
3. After saving the item, click Back.
The item is added to the activity.
The Player tab allows you to select the activity (assessment) layout, select options to include on the activity (including annotation tools), customize the title and subtitle of the activity that displays to students, set the activity and reading times, among other options.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Player tab.
3. Click a preconfigured template for the player, Standard, Long content, or Long content with sticky footer.
The selected template will display in blue font.
Example of activity using the Standard template:
The Standard template lists the items in the activity along the right side of the screen. The student can click the item to jump to that item (or can click the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through items).
Example of activity using the Long content template:
The Long content template displays the item numbers along the bottom of the screen. The student can click the item to jump to that item (or can click the Next and Previous buttons).
The Long content with sticky footer template is the same as the Long content template, except students will have to scroll down to the bottom of the window to see the footer with the items numbers and Next/Previous buttons.
4. To select the options to include in the template, hover over the template and click Show options.
5. Deselect any options you do not want to include.
6. To include annotation tools, scroll down and select the Annotation tools check box.
The annotation tools options become available.
7. Deselect the annotation options you do not want to include.
8. When finished setting the template options, scroll up, hover over the template and click Hide options.
9. To customize the labels of the buttons, icons, messages, and options that display on the activity, click Customize text labels.
10. Click a category to view.
11. To customize a label, delete the text and replace it with your custom text.
12. When finished, click Apply at the bottom of the screen.
13. Enter the Title of the activity that will display to students on the actual assessment. Leave blank to display no title on the assessment.
14. Enter a Subtitle for the activity that will display to students, if desired.
15. To limit the amount of time the student has to take the activity, enter the Hours and Minutes under Activity time.
16. To require students to read through the activity before answering questions, enter the Hours and Minutes under Reading time.
During the reading time, students will be able to view all the items included in the activity but will not be able to answer any of the questions.
17. To force the activity to submit after the activity time expires, select Force submit after time expires.
18. To display a warning to the student when 60 seconds remains of the activity time, select Warn on 60 seconds remaining.
19. To shuffle the items on the activity each time the activity is accessed, select Shuffle Items.
20. Click Save at the top of the screen.
21. To preview the activity to review the player options you have set, click Preview at the top of the screen.
The Details tab allows you to view the reference ID code for the activity (assessment), edit the activity title, set the status, and enter a description of the activity.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Details tab.
The Reference is automatically generated, and is a unique identifying code for the activity. Do not edit this code.
3. Edit the Title, if needed.
4. Select the Status for the activity.
Published means the activity is available for use.
Unpublished means the activity is not available for use.
Archived means a soft delete. The activity will still exist but will no longer be present in the activity list or in any searches unless archived activities have been searched for. There is no way to remove an activity completely.
If a shared activity is archived by a user, it becomes archived for all users.
5. If desired, enter a brief Description of the activity. This is useful when sharing the activity with other users.
6. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Tags tab allows you to tag the activity (assessment) for cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge. This helps when searching for activities.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Tags tab.
3. Begin typing the name of the tag. Tags that are currently supported are cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge.
Tag suggestions will display.
4. Click the tag to add.
5. Continue adding additional tags as needed.
7. To remove a tag, click the X.
8. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Source tab displays the JSON from the player template.
This tab is for use by technical users. No changes should be made.
In Users > Profiles, the profile permission "Hide Source Tab" for Create Assessments can be enabled to hide this tab from users.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Source tab.
The JSON from the player template is displayed.
The Test Options allow you to designate an assessment as a "District Assessment." Only assessments marked as "District Assessment" are available on the District Assessments screen for teachers and administrators. The Test Options also allow you to set the retake options for the assessment, assign a password that students must enter to access the assessment, and enable the lockdown browser.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Test Options.
3. Select District Assessment to designate the activity as a district assessment available to teachers and administrators on the District Assessments screen.
4. To allow retakes, select Allow retakes of the activity.
5. Select whether to Insert Highest Activity Score into Gradebook or Average Activity Scores into Gradebook, or select None.
6. Enter the Retake Interval, in minutes. This is the number of minutes that must elapse between retakes. Entering the Retake Interval is required when "Allow retakes of the activity" is selected.
7. If desired, enter the Password for the activity.
8. To enable the lockdown browser, which prevents students from accessing other programs while taking the assessment, select Lockdown Browser.
The student will need to download the Lockdown Browser OEM when prompted the first time they access an assessment with the lockdown browser enabled. The lockdown browser will not allow the student to minimize or move the browser window. Other programs may need to be closed before the lockdown browser allows the student to begin the assessment.
9. Click Save at the top of the screen.
If your profile has the "Share Assessment" permission enabled for the Create Assessments screen, you can share an activity (assessment) you have created with other teachers, administrators, specific users, and specific courses at your school.
When an activity is shared, any user who has access to the activity can make changes to that activity. These changes will affect the activity for all users.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Sharing Options.
3. Select All Admins to share the activity with all administrators at your school(s). Select All Teachers to share the activity with all teachers at your school(s).
4. To only share the activity with specific users or teachers of specific courses, select Custom.
5. In the Users pull-down, select the specific users to share this assessment with. Only users at your school(s) are available for selection.
6. In the Courses pull-down, select the specific courses to share this assessment with. The teachers of these courses will have access to this assessment. Only courses at your school(s) are available for selection.
7. To share all the items within the activity with the selected profiles/users/courses, click Mass Assign Items.
This option allows all the items within the activity to be shared with the selected profiles/users/courses without having to individually share the items from the Create Questions screen.
8. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Print Options allow you to print a paper version of the activity (assessment). There is also an option to print an answer key for the activity.
When printing an activity that has multiple questions tied to the same passage, the passage will only print once. If the questions are spread throughout the activity, the passage still only prints once. This does not apply for activities taken online (the passage will display on each page of the activity where the questions are present).
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Print Options, and then scroll down to view the Print options.
3. To print the activity, click Print Activity and follow your printer's prompts.
4. To print an answer key, click Print Answer Key and follow your printer's prompts.
On the answer key, the correct responses are indicated with a check mark.
Previewing an activity (assessment) allows you to view the activity how students will experience it.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click Preview at the top-right corner of the screen.
The Player tab is opened. This displays the activity using the player template that was selected.
3. Click Start to begin the activity. Review the items and player template options.
4. Click the List tab to just view the list of items included in the activity.
5. Click Edit at the top-right corner of the screen to return to the edit mode.
You can search for activities (assessments) created by you or activities created by other users that were shared with you. You can search for activities by title, reference ID, description, status, or tags.
1. At the top of the Create Assessments screen, enter a full or partial activity title, reference ID, or description in the Find by content search box and click Search.
2. To search by status, click the down arrow next to the Find by content search box.
3. Select a Status and click the search icon.
You can also use the Status pull-down in conjunction with the Title/Reference/Description search box.
4. To search by tags, enter the full or partial tag title in the Find by tags search box.
Tag suggestions will pop up.
5. Click the tag and click Search.
6. Click the down arrow on the Find by tags search box for more tag search options.
7. To find items that match all tags entered, select multiple tags in the Match all tags search box.
8. To find items that match at least one tag, select one or multiple tags in the Match at least one tag search box.
9. Click the Search icon.
10. To remove a search criterion, click the X to the criterion.
11. To clear all the search criteria and return to the full list of items, click Clear.
When a search is conducted, activities matching the search criteria are listed. Click the desired activity to view the activity.
An activity can be duplicated. The new activity can then be edited as needed.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the down arrow at the top-right corner of the screen and click Duplicate activity.
3. Click Duplicate to confirm.
The new activity is displayed. You can edit the activity as needed by updating settings and adding, moving, or removing items.
See the Online Assessments article for information on how students complete an online assessment.