Assessment Authoring

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Assessment Authoring is the process of developing an assessment task. aXcelerate’s Online Assessments feature enables you to create a range of assessment tasks to incorporate with your courses or deliver as standalone assessments. Students can undertake assessment tasks such as quizzes, marking criteria assessments, observation checklists or RPL evidence assessments. Students can then submit their assessment responses and assessors can mark the task and provide feedback to the student.

Assessments

 
Assessment Authoring
 

Note: We recommend only having one tab open to the Assessment Authoring page at once or refreshing your page when going between tabs. This will ensure that there are no errors caused by editing already saved and published data.

Create a new assessment task

Creating your assessment task is the first step in using the Online Assessments Feature. It is at this step that you will select your assessment type, select or enter your default values, and enter Overview, Student, and Assessor information.

  1. Click Create New Assessment
  2. Enter your assessment Task Name
  3. Select your assessment Type
  4. Enter your default Max Attempts
  5. Enter your default Passing Percentage
  6. Enter any other applicable information
  7. Click the Save icon
Overview
Student Information
Assessor Information

The assessment Overview is typically information about the assessment that is provided to students ahead of time and will be made available to students via the learner portal based on the Access Overview date that has been set up for the assessment.

Student information is displayed to the student at the time that they are undertaking the online assessment (i.e. this relies on the Access Start Date).

Assessor information is only shown to assessors when they are marking the assessment (or, in the case of an observation checklist being marked submitted via the trainer app). This information will be displayed to assessors as additional instructions that are not visible to the student.

 

Tip: The fields in this step can all be changed once you have created your assessment while your assessment in the draft state.

 

Note: Assessment task names must not exceed 100 Characters.

Edit your assessment

Once you have created your assessment task, you will then be able to edit this while it is in the draft state. The editing view will allow you to add and manage assessment items and your assessment information.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Make any applicable changes
  4. Click the Save icon
 

Tip: Click the Task Mapping icon to go back to the Assessment Authoring and Mapping area.

Save changes to your assessment

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Save button
 

Note: After making changes to an assessment, you must complete this step.

Previewing your assessment

Previewing your assessment allows you to see what the student will see prior to publishing the assessment. This negates some of the need to publish and test your assessment manually.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Preview button
 

Tip: Although this is a very useful tool, it is a simulation of what the student will see. As such, we recommend testing your final 'draft' manually by enrolling a test student prior to enrolling your students.

 

Note: You can currently only preview QTI Quiz assessments.

Duplicate your assessment

The ability to duplicate your assessment allows you to quickly and easily create a copy of an existing assessment to modify. This tool is particularly useful when you have published an assessment, but would like to change it.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Duplicate icon
  3. Enter a new Assessment Name
  4. Click Submit
 

Tip: If you would like to keep the same mapping for the new 'version' of your assessment, tick the Copy Mapping checkbox prior to clicking submit. This is particularly useful if you are duplicating an assessment as a form of version control.

Delete your assessments

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Delete icon
  3. Click Ok
 

Warning: An assessment task with instances (enrolments or linkages to other areas of the system) cannot be deleted. In these instances, we recommend archiving your assessment to ensure data hygiene.

Publish your assessment

Publishing an assessment will allow you to enrol students into this assessment and link it to your class or workshop instances.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Publish button
 

Tip: You can still make changes to a published assessment, however, for any major changes you must duplicate the assessment and create a new 'version'.

Edit a published assessment

Once you have published an assessment, you have the option to force this back to a draft state to make changes. If your assessment does not have any instances created (eg, standalone assessments), you will be able to completely force the assessment back to a draft state. However, if your assessment is linked to an instance, you will still be able to make updates to the assessment, however, this will be limited. You will not be able to add new items, rearrange items, change the score/marking scale or change the question type (if a Quiz assessment).

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Draft button
    OR
    Click the Edit Override button
  4. Edit and make any applicable changes
  5. Click Save
 

Tips: If using the draft button, after saving, click the publish button again to republish the assessment.

The Edit Override button will only appear for assessments linked to an instance. This will only allow you to make minor changes for this reason.

 

Note: If using the Edit Override option, after step 3, click Confirm to proceed.

 

Warning: We do not recommend using the Edit Override option for any large changes. This is intended to fix spelling mistakes and to make minor adjustments. Any changes made with this tool will affect all enrolments linked to the assessment.

Create a New Assessment Version

After an Assessment is published, the changes that can be made to it in the authoring area are limited. Creating a new version of an assessment allows you to have full editing control and make substantial changes without needing to create a new Assessment.

  1. View a Published Assessment
  2. Click Open in Authoring
  3. Click on the Version Number
  4. Click Create New Version
  5. Set the New Version Number
  6. Click Create
 

Tip: Enabling Copy Assessment Mapping will ensure that all of the Assessment Mapping configuration that was created for this Assessment is applied to the new version of the Assessment.

 

Note: At the point of publishing a new Assessment Version, the system will check for all Classes using the old version and move their instance to the new version. However, in order for class enrolments to be moved to the new version, that class must have an instance where none of the learners have started their attempts. If any learners have started the assessment, it will result in the whole instance for that class not being moved to the new version. This is for data integrity purposes so that the class is not split into two.

View Assessment Version History

When viewing an Assessment in the Authoring interface, you are able to view earlier versions of the Assessment and a history of the changes. This includes when they were created, who created them and some high-level information on changes made to the assessment.

  1. View a Published Assessment
  2. Click Open in Authoring
  3. Click on the Version Number
  4. Click on Version History

Archive your assessment

Archiving an assessment allows you to manage your assessment and maintain data hygiene. It also allows you to retain an assessment history, which is useful in audit situations.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Archive button
 

Tip: To view your archived assessments, click the Archived checkbox from the assessment authoring page.

Restore an archived assessment

Once you have archived an assessment, you have the option to restore this to a published state again if required.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Restore button

Add a section

Assessment sections allow you to group assessment questions. This can be particularly useful with a larger assessment or an observation style assessment where there are different sections/areas to observe.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Add Section button
  4. Enter a Section Name
  5. Enter a section description if applicable
  6. Click Submit
 

Note: The section name and description will display for the student when they are undertaking the assessment if the assessment type is QTI Quiz or RPL Evidence.

Delete a section

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click on the Section you would like to delete
  4. Click the Delete icon
 

Note: If you delete a section containing questions, this will delete all of the questions contained in the section.

 

Warnings: Once you have deleted a section it cannot be retrieved.

Add a question

The questions in your assessment are what your students will have to respond to or what your trainer will have to mark your students on.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Add Question button
  4. Enter your Question
  5. Enter your applicable Answers or Marking Scale
  6. Enter any other applicable fields if applicable
  7. Click Save Question
 

Note: The question title will display for the student when they are undertaking the assessment if the assessment type is QTI Quiz or RPL Evidence.

Select a question type

Quizes have a number of different types of questions that you can utilise. When authoring your assessment you will be able to select a question type each time you create a new question or item. The question type that you select will determine, the marking style, answer style, and layout provided to the student.

Single Choice
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
Fill in the Blank
Marking Criteria
Basic
Hot Spot
Ordering
Matching Lists
File Upload
Multi Short Answer
Content

Single choice questions allow the student to only select one correct answer from the radio select buttons. These questions have a minimum of two answers and are auto-marked depending on the correct answer you indicate.

 

Note: The character limit on the answer you can provide is 5000.

Multiple choice questions allow the student to select multiple correct answers from the checkboxes provided. These questions have a minimum of two answer options and are auto-marked dependant on the correct answer/s you indicate.

 

Note: The character limit on the answer you can provide is 5000.

Short answer questions allow the student a long text response in the text box they are provided. These questions provide you with an area to indicate a model answer for the trainer to use when marking.

 

Note: Students have a 5120 character response limit.

Fill in the Blank questions allow the student a 'fill-in-the-blanks' type answer, where they can fill in a small text field with the assumed missing word. These questions have an additional button in the editor and require a solution to be entered. Optionally, these items can also have a placeholder, alternative correct answer, custom gap size, and the option for it to be case sensitive. These questions are also auto-marked dependant on the solution you indicate.

 

Note: We do not recommend using Fill in the Blank for more than one or two-word responses.

Marking Criteria questions allow students to respond to a question or criteria with a free text response. Students can also optionally upload files if you have turned on the Allow File Upload setting for the Assessment Type. The question/criteria is graded against a marking scale. 

 

Note: Students have a 50,000 character response limit.

A Basic question allows students to respond to a question or criteria with a free text response. The question is graded against a set number of points, the default being 1. 

 

Note: Students have a 50,000 character response limit.

A Hot Spot (or Hotspot) question will require students to identify or identify and label specific areas within an image. When creating a Hot Spot question you will need to shift-click (hold the shift key while clicking) to add region points. Once three or more region points have been added a region will be created between the three-points that will mark the area that the student needs to identify. Continue adding region points to adjust the shape of the region. Click on a region point and drag it to reposition the region point. You can also remove particular region points by clicking the backspace key.

We recommend using an image 300x300 pixels, but the system will attempt to resize images to fit.

 

Note: Students will not see the regions when they are undertaking the questions. The regions will only be shown to the student when they are viewing their assessment results.

 

Note: Label the regions requires students to correctly identify and label regions in the image. Mark the regions just requires the student to identify regions in the image but not label them. When using label the regions, make sure to correctly label each of the regions so that the student knows where to place each marker.

An Ordering question requires students to arrange a series of items into the correct order. When creating the question, arrange the items in the correct order. The order will be randomised when the student attempts the question in the Learner Portal. 

Matching Lists requires students to correctly pair labels to images or terms to descriptions. Students will be shown each of the images or descriptions that they will need to identify with a dropdown list of the available labels/terms. 

 

Note: Each value can only be used once as a label or definition

File upload is used to allow students to provide a file related to their training that is assessed against a marking scale. Students are also able to provide a free text response if they would like to. 

Multi Short Answer is used to create multiple text areas that the student will need to answer within the one question. This can be useful for creating scenario-based questions or example forms for students to complete (e.g a risk assessment). A maximum and minimum response size can be set for each text area. The text area can also be set to span several lines or be set as a single line response. This question type uses marking criteria for determining the student's score.

Content is not a question type and is instead commonly referred to as an ‘item’. A content item will not require students to answer a question or provide any sort of response. Instead, this is used to provide information to a student within the assessment. This can be useful for when you would like to have a student read some information or watch a video and then answer questions about the content.

Add a gap text question

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click on your Question
    OR
    Click the Add Question button
  4. Ensure you have selected the question type for Gap Text
  5. Click the Gap Text icon
  6. Click the Gap to insert your text
  7. Click the Gap Text button to enter any other applicable fields
  8. Click Submit
 

Tip: You can also enter your text > highlight it > and then click the Gap Text icon instead of completing steps 5 & 6.

 

Notes: Your assessment must be a QTI Quiz type to have this question style.

For more information on what a Gap Text question is, please see the above section on Gap Text.

 

Warning: We do not recommend using Gap text for more than one or two-word responses.

Add an image to an assessment question

  1. Copy the Image Address of your image
  2. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  3. Click the Edit icon
  4. Click on your Question
    OR
    Click the Add Question button
  5. Click the Image option from the question editor
  6. Paste your Image Address in the source field
  7. Enter any other applicable fields as required
  8. Click Ok
 

Tip: To improve mobile responsiveness, the Assessment window is limited to 800 pixels in width. We recommend any tables or media remain below this threshold.

 

Tip: An image address can be copied from any images online. For example, this could be from your aXcelerate Images library or a Google Images search. To copy an image address, simply right-click the image and select Copy Image Address.

Add a hyperlink to your question

Adding a hyperlink to your assessment allows your students to download documents, or view any other external source. This is particularly useful when you need to provide the student with a supporting document or linking to other external resources.

  1. Copy the URL of the page or item you want to link to
  2. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  3. Click the Edit icon
  4. Click on your Question
    OR
    Click the Add Question button
  5. Highlight the text that you want to link to
  6. Click the Link option from the question editor
  7. Paste the URL into the URL field
  8. Enter any other applicable fields as required
  9. Click Ok
 

Tip: You can also use the keyboard shortcut Control + K (Command + K on Mac) to insert a hyperlink.

 

Note: If you would like a recipient to download a resource stored in your resource library, and they are not an aXcelerate user, the resource permissions must be set to public.

Add a video to your question

This option allows you to insert or embed videos into your assessments. This is particularly useful if you have a 'watch and respond' style question or assessment.

  1. Copy the URL of your video
  2. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  3. Click the Edit icon
  4. Click on your Question
    OR
    Click the Add Question button
  5. Click the Media option from the question editor
  6. Paste your URL in the Source field
  7. Enter any other applicable fields
  8. Click Ok
 

Tip: To improve mobile responsiveness, the Assessment window is limited to 800 pixels in width. We recommend any tables or media remain below this threshold.

 

Tip: If you would prefer to embed your video, you are able to do this by clicking the embed tab (after step 5) and pasting your HTML in.

 

Warning: aXcelerate does not host videos and these must be hosted externally.

Add a table to your question

This option allows you to insert a table into your assessment.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click on your Question
    OR
    Click the Add Question button
  4. Click the Table option from the question editor and select the number of rows and columns you would like the table to be
  5. Enter any other applicable fields
  6. Click Ok
 

Tip: To improve mobile responsiveness, the Assessment window is limited to 800 pixels in width. We recommend any tables or media remain below this threshold.

Embed a Google Drive file in your Assessment

This option allows you to embed documents stored in Google Drive in your Online Assessment. This article will describe the steps to follow for Google Slides, however any Google Drive file that may be embedded as an iframe should work.

  1. Open the Google Slides presentation you'd like to embed.
  2. In the top left corner, click File and choose Publish to the web.
  3. In the box that appears, choose the Embed tab.
  4. Copy the entire iframe embed code that appears.
  5. In an Online Assessment item, click the Media button
  6. Click the Embed option, paste the Iframe code, and then click Save.
 

Tip: To improve mobile responsiveness, the Assessment window is limited to 800 pixels in width. We recommend keeping media below this threshold.

 

Note: You can Import common Microsoft documents into Google (such as .pptx), and then embed them in your Assessments.

Add next question from your question

This option allows you to easily create your next question from your existing question. This is useful when you are editing and authoring a large assessment, particularly if it contains sections.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click on a Question
  4. Click the Add Question icon
 

Tip: You can also hover between two questions and click the plus icon to add a question in the middle of a list.

Edit a question

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Hover over the Question you would like to edit
  4. Click the Edit icon

Duplicate a question

The ability to duplicate questions allows you to quickly and easily create a copy of an existing question to modify. This tool is particularly useful when you have multiple questions that have a similar structure.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Hover over the Question you would like to duplicate
  4. Click the Duplicate icon

Delete a question

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Hover over the Question you would like to delete
  4. Click the Delete icon
 

Warning: Once you have deleted a question it cannot be retrieved.

Update assessment task information

If you do not set your assessment task level information (eg, assessment overview) upon creation, this can still be accessed once you have created the assessment.

  1. Locate and hover over your Assessment Task
  2. Click the Edit icon
  3. Click the Settings Cog icon
  4. Make any applicable changes
  5. Click Save Settings

Creating Online Assessments Webinar

This webinar demonstrates:

  • Assessment Types
  • Assessment Authoring
  • Assessment Mapping
  • Assessment Plans
  • Creating a Class with Assessment Plans
  • Viewing and launching Assessments in the Student Portal
  • Viewing and marking Assessments in the new Trainer App (for iOS and Android)

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