Common Quiz Problems

The online quizzes in Blackboard present several potential problems.

1. Dial-up
   If a student dials in from home using an ISP such as AOL, the ISP may kick her off for inactivity. In AOL, use the keyword "smile4u" to prevent this. For other ISPs, the student should contact her customer service to find out if a setting can be changed. The problem is that when taking a quiz or exam, the students are simply viewing one web page, so it appears that they are inactive. The student can also have another browser window open with a long download or another site on which she selects a link every so often (search engines work well). (By the way, we do not recommend using the AOL browser. Use a browser installed on your hard drive instead.)
2. Quitting by Accident
   The quiz software is designed so that once a student begins taking a quiz, he can never take it again -- unless you clear the attempt (see below). For example, if the student closes the quiz window, then he can not take that exam again. This feature has unfortunate consequences for some students who make an honest mistake. For example, a student loses the right to retake an exam if he accidentally closes the window or if the browser crashes or if the electricity to the computer is shut off for any reason. Consequently, students should be warned to take quizzes carefully. To avoid losing a quiz, they should first close down the other programs running on the computer. Avoiding distraction, they should focus only on the quiz until it is finished. They should be careful not to close or even resize the window.
3. Resizing Erases Data
   In Netscape, resizing the quiz window will cause all information entered by the student up to that point to be erased. All answers will need to be reentered. For this reason, we do not recommend using Netscape to take quizzes.
4. Retaking a Quiz
   An instructor can choose to let a quiz be taken multiple times. Students should be aware that when they retake a quiz, all of the previous answers will be wiped out. The score for the first attempt in your Online Gradebook will be erased, as well.
5. Clearing a Failed Attempt
   If a student runs into technical difficulties and is prevented from finishing a quiz, it is possible for you to clear the student's attempt, so that she can take the quiz again.
• Go to the Control Panel: Gradebook.
• Select on padlock, which indicates a failed attempt.
• Click on the "View" button on the right side of the page that appears.
• Near the upper right is a button to "Clear Attempt." If you select this, any answers and score will be erased and the student can take the exam again.
6. Recommended Instructions
   If you offer a quiz in your Blackboard site, we recommend that you give your students instructions along these lines: When you take the quiz, you need to focus your attention and the attention of your computer on the quiz. Before you select on the link to the quiz, exit any competing applications on your computer. Size the window comfortably. Then select on the link to the quiz.

 

Adapted from a document was created by Dr. AnnMarie Johnson at University of WI Oshkosh