Creating exams online using WebCT 3.x involves 3 succesives steps:

1. Create a database of questions

2. Create the exam and add the questions

3. Define the exam settings

Note that in WebCT, the information entered during any of these 3 steps (creation of questions, creation of the exam and finally setting the quiz) can be modified as needed. A detailed protocol for each step can be found below:

1. Creation of a question database.

    Starting in the WebCT homepage for the course of interest:

    1.1. Create a new database

- click on the quiz/survey icon
- click on the button designer options in the black bar near the top of the browser
- click on Add questions to database in the upper right side, in Questions Database
- click the bullet left to Add a category in the Manage categories column
- type a name in the box at the right tof Add a category
- clicking the box Go immediately below the Manage Categories column
- the database should display in the left frame (no questions in category right now)

    1.2. To enter questions in an existing database

- click on the pull-down menu (little black triangle in the gray box after all categories), under Manage Categories on the upper right
- choose the category just created (or of interest)
- click on the box Go immediately below the Manage Categories column.
- click on the bullet on the left of Add a new question to the database to add a new question
-click on the pull-down menu (little black triangle in the gray box on the right of Multiple Choice)under Manage Questions to choose the type of question to add
- click the box Go immediately under Manage Questions
- enter information in the default box (note that the instructor should use the defaults set in this template as they are, at least until experience is gained).

    1.3. Entering information for a multiple-choice question:

- Title: enter there the name of the question
- Question: enter the question as it should appear to the students during the exam
- Format: keep HTML as a default
- Image: by clicking on the Browse gray button on right side, an image (.gif or .jpg format only) can be added if present in the WebCT file manager
- Settings: keep all default settings
- Answers: enter the answers in the 5 boxes provided (including the right answer!).
- click on the gray box More Answers (at the bottom and at the top of the template) to add more answers.
- enter feedback for each answer (if desired).
- mark the box situated next to the correct answer in the left margin of the template
- enter the value of 100% in the box Values (%) after the correct answer.
- click on Save to save the question.
- click on the name of the question (in blue in the "Title" column) to edit the question
- click on Save as new to save the edited question
- start another completely new question by repeating the process described above
- questions can be edited, move to another category or deleted by using the Manage Questions menu, visible in the right frame of the screen.

Note that to save time, text can be cut and pasted in the cells from a document in Word if the exam already exist in a written form.
 

    1.4. Entering information for a matching question:

- Category: type/pick the right one
- Title: type the name of the question
- Question: enter your question (cut and paste from word)
- Format: keep HTML for online
- Image: browse and pick image if needed
- Settings: keep default
- Choose :short or long answer for the match
- Enter: the matches
- Enter: feedback as needed
- Click: on “More answers” as needed
- Save the question as needed

    1.5. Entering information for a calculation question:

- Category: type/pick the right one
- Title: type the name of the question
- Question: enter your question (cut and paste from word)
- Format: keep HTML for online
- Image: browse and pick image if needed
- Enter: feedback as needed
- Enter: the formula
- Define: the ranges of the variables
- Set decimal places
- Generate x sets of numbers
- Set the tolerance
- Determine the units if you wish
- Define settings (required, space, case)
- Enter feedback as needed
- Save the question as needed

    1.6. Entering information for a short-answer question:

- Category: type/pick the right one
- Title: type the name of the question
- Question: enter your question
- Format: keep HTML for online
- Image: browse and pick image if needed
- Define settings:  number of answerboxes and case sensitive
- Enter answers, the value, the width, the grading options and allowed in answerbox
- Enter feedback as needed
- Save the question as needed

    1.7. Entering information for a short-answer question:

- Category: type/pick the right one
- Title: type the name of the question
- Question: enter your question
- Format: keep HTML for online
- Image: browse and pick image if needed
- Define answerbox size (long and wide)
- Enter prompting in pre-fill box
- Enter feedbackas neededr
- Save the question as needed

2. Creating the quiz and adding the questions.

- click on the quiz/survey icon
- click on the button designer options in the black bar near the top of the browse
- click on Quiz and Survey Management, under Quiz/Survey and Database Management Index
- click on Add quizzes/survey to course
- mark the bullet Add Quiz, in the right frame, under Options
- click  then on the Go button
- enter the name of the quiz  in the appropriate box
- clcik on the Add button
- click on the name of the exam created
- click on add questions under Options
- click on the proper category on the pull-down menu
- click on the Go button
- mark the questions that need to be added to the quiz (in the left frame)
- click on the bullet add the questions
- click on the Go button under Manage Questions (in the right frame)
- enter a point value for each question showed in the left frame of the window
- click on the gray button Update Total on the bottom of that table

        3. Settings of the exam.

- click on the bullet quiz settings
- click on the Go button, under the Options, in the right frame.
- Quiz title: the title can be modified here, if needed
- Question titles: allows the instructor to let the students view the name of the question
- Question delivery: important instructional tool; allows the instructor to deliver all the questions at once, one-by-one with ability to go back to the previous question or one-by-one with impossibility to go back to the previous one, as in a case-study type exam
- Quiz duration: determines the time allowed to take the quiz
- Attempts allowed: can be set to let the student take the exam up 5 times or an unlimited number of times
- Attempts separation: set a minimum time between exams if several attempts are allowed
- Available after and until features: allow the timing delivery of the exam (exact + 5 minutes)
- Selective releases features: allow experimented instructor to release the exam to sub-groups
- Security: allow instructor to control exam by a password as well as confining the exam to specific computers labs by using the IP numbers (first 3 groups of IP numbers)
- Submission: the message entered here will appear at the end of the exam, when the student submit their exam. Also, exams submitted can be sent to an e-mail at the choice of the instructor
- Results section: allows to control the grading and the release of the score. If multiple attempts were allowed, allows the instructor to decide which score should be kept. In this section, the instructor must decide the timing of the release of the score by checking the choices available (self-explanatery).

Note: that the button Update at the bottom must be checked for the above settings to take effects. The instructor can return to the main exam page by clicking on Quizzes and Surveys, under Options on the upper right frame.

Additional information regarding how to set and grade exams using WebCT 3.x can be found at :
http://www.musc.edu/~bacrotr/webct_exams_online/

© 2001 Thierry Bacro.