WebCT Quiz Tool and Question Database

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NOTE: Using the Quiz Tool and Question Database correctly can make the WebCT courses more successful for your students and you. Fixing things after the fact can be time-consuming and frustrating.

Tasks Overview

  1. Create question categories. It is helpful if they reflect the organization of the Course Contents. Examples: Chapter 1, or Revolutionary War.
  2. Add questions to the Questions Database.
  3. Create a Quiz.
  4. Edit the Quiz Settings for availability.

Downloading Questions to Your PC

  1. Open the Quiz Tool from the Course Menu or the Homepage icon.
  2. Click Questions Database near the top of the window.
  3. Under Options: Category, select the category that contains the questions you want to download.
  4. Click Go.
  5. Select checkboxes next to individual questions you want to download, or select the checkbox in the gray or colored  strip to the left of the Title above the question titles to select all questions in the category .
  6. Under Options: Question, click Download questions. Click Save to Disk.

The questions are saved as a .txt file in the folder you selected as your default download folder (in your browser). You can edit the questions in WordPad, Word or Notepad. There will be codes in the questions that WebCT has inserted.

Importing Questions into the Question Database

NOTE: Imported questions must be in plain text format with a file extension of .txt. Search on Question Format in the online WebCT Help.

  1. Open the Quiz Tool.
  2. Select the Question Database.
  3. Under Options: Question, select Import questions from file.
  4. Select Browse.
  5. Select My-Files (if you have uploaded the question file to WebCT).
  6. Select the file by clicking the check box next to the file name and clicking the Add Selected button at the bottom of the dialog box. The file name appears in the Filename: blank.
  7. Click the Import button. The questions and answers are displayed in the browser for you to review.
  8. Click the Continue button at the bottom of the window. You may have to scroll down if your file contains several questions.
  9. Questions will be added to the category specified in your file.

NOTE: It's a good idea to upload files containing questions in a single category.

It's important to know how to use the Quiz Editor and the Question Database to enter and edit questions, create and edit quizzes, and manage the Quiz Tool.

Once you are comfortable with how they work, you may choose to use an offline quiz editor to create questions to upload. MakeQuiz (http://www.csus.edu/uccs/webct/makequiz/) and QuizParser (http://chef.perrydigm.net/parse.htm) are free tools that are readily available. You must understand how to use the Quiz Tool, Quiz Editor and the Question Database before trying to use other tools. Knowing the built-in tools will help you avoid making mistakes that will require painful fixes during the semester.

A commercial tool that allows for quiz management and printing or publishing quizzes is Respondus. ENMU Roswell has a campus license. E-mail me for the license information.

Quiz not visible to students

Two things you can check are whether or not the column is released, and the links selected to display in the Quiz tool.

Plan A

Once the quiz is made it can only be viewed by the designer at first. To change this so that the students can view it, the designer must do the following:
1. Go to the Manage Course link on the Navigation Bar.
2. In this page click the Add or Modify columns link.
3. In the columns below locate the quiz that was made.
4. On the left-hand column locate the Released row.
5. Now locate the drop-down that is in the column of the quiz and in the Released row on the left. Change from No to Yes.
6. Then click Update above the columns.

This releases the quiz to the students so that now they can take the quiz.

Check the View mode to see whether the Quiz shows up. If it doesn't, here's the other thing to check.

Plan B

1. In Designer mode, select the radio button for Quizzes (or Exams--whatever you call it) on the Homepage.
2. Click Edit in the Action Panel on the right.
3. Under Quiz Listing, there’s a Select button. Click it.
4. Select all the quizzes you want the students to see in the Quiz list. Make sure the new quiz is included.
5. Click Continue, and all the quizzes, including the new one should be listed.
6. Click Update at the bottom of the screen. The new quiz should show up in View mode.