Respondus 4.0 Respondus is a Windows application that enhances the functions and features of Blackboard s exam and survey tools. Respondus allows instructors to author exams offline, import existing questions from a word processing file, and publish the quizzes directly to Blackboard course(s). The Office of Educational Technology & Support has a campus license of Respondus. Our license permits instructors to install the Respondus software on both office and home computers. Instructions for downloading, installing, and using Respondus are located in a protected Blackboard Content Collection folder. Note: You will need to be logged into your faculty or staff JSU Blackboard account in order to view this file. If you are not already logged in, you will be prompted to log in. General Instructions To start the Respondus application: 1. Navigate to the desktop and locate the Respondus 4.0 icon. 2. Double-click the icon to launch the program. Note: Alternatively, click Start, Programs, Respondus, and then select Respondus 4.0 Campus Wide. To set exam preferences: Note: Some preferences may need to be edited each time prior to creating a test. 1. Click on the File menu and choose Preferences. 2. Select the Edit & Publish tab. 3. The following selections should be made on the General tab: a. Automatically check for program updates b. Blackboard 6.3-9.x 4. The following selections should be made on the Edit & Publish tab: a. Paste, discard font changes b. Define a point value for each question. The value defined here is the default. c. Display ALT tag edit when adding graphics d. 150.00 is recommended for scaling of equations for web pages. e. Use default font for each Course Management System f. Yes for Randomize answers in Multiple Choice/Response 5. Accept all default selections on the Conversions tab. 6. Click OK.
To create a test by importing questions from other formats: Note: To create random blocks of questions using the Respondus interface, please also read the To define Blackboard settings prior to publishing an exam to Blackboard section on page 13 of this Feature in Focus. Additionally, all imported files must be formatted according to Respondus standards. To determine the required format, open the Respondus program, press the F1 key, click the Search tab, and type in Standard Format for Importing Questions. Click the List Topics button. Select the Standard Format for Importing Questions topic. 1. On the Start tab, click the Import Questions button. 2. Select the desired file type from the Type of file dropdown list. Note: The default selection is Plain Text. 3. To the right of the File name field, click Browse to navigate to the storage device that contains the exam file. 4. At this time, we recommend against browsing for an Image Folder; instead upload graphics to questions/answer choices using the Test Manager in Blackboard. 5. Choose to Append the questions to the current document or Create a new document (if creating a new document, provide the document name. Be sure to include a meaningful document name (include course id, term, and exam name, such as CJ456 Spring 2010 Midterm). 6. Optional: Select the Use stem plus question number to create unique question titles for each question. 7. Click the Preview button to view any potential problems with the exam questions format. Review any errors or warnings and make corrections/modifications as needed. Note: If the original exam file must be edited to rectify errors, cancel the Import Questions screen, make changes to the file, and start over with step 1 for the import process. 8. Click Finish. 9. You are now on the Edit tab. If desired, proceed to the To add or modify questions to a test section. To create a new test using the Respondus interface: Note: To create random blocks of questions using the Respondus interface, please also read the To define Blackboard settings prior to publishing an exam to Blackboard section on page 13 of this Feature in Focus. 1. On the Start tab, click the Create button. 2. Enter a meaningful file name in the Name of File box (include course id, term, and exam name, such as CJ456 Spring 2010 Midterm). 3. Enter a meaningful description as desired. 4. Select the Type of File to create: Exam or Survey. 5. Click OK. 6. You are now on the Edit tab. Proceed to the next section to add or modify test questions. To add questions to a test: Create new questions in the exam file by selecting from the 15 different Respondus question types or copy questions from another Respondus file. A description for adding each question type follows: Creating and Adding Multiple Choice Questions to the Exam 1. If necessary, click Multiple Choice in the left vertical navigation.
2. It is not important to include a Title of Question for each question at this time. A question title will be generated or if desired, this step can be completed after all questions have been entered into the test. The Entering Question Titles section on page 13 explains how to complete this process. 3. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question (feedback for correct/incorrect response). 5. Select the Feedback checkbox to specify feedback for each answer choice provided. 6. A-Z multiple choices are permitted. Type one choice per letter (row) in the Answers section. 7. Select the correct letter choice from the Select Correct Answer drop-down box. 8. Define the Point Value for this question. 9. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding True and False Questions to the Exam 1. Click True and False in the left vertical navigation. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Select True or False for the correct answer.
4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question (feedback for correct/incorrect response). 5. Define a Point Value. 6. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Essay/Short Answer Questions to the Exam 1. Click Essay in the left vertical navigation. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Select Publish as Short Answer instead of Essay as desired. 4. Include correct answer feedback if desired. 5. Define Point Value. 6. When are finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Matching Questions to the Exam 1. Click Matching in the left vertical navigation.
2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Enter the matching pair on each row. Additional choices or distracters are not permitted. The choices (A-Z) are randomized automatically by Respondus. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 5. Define Point Value. 6. For Credit Given, select from Proportional to # Correct or All Points or None. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Ordering Questions to the Exam 1. Click Ordering in the left vertical navigation. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Type choices in the correct order and enter display order as shown above. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 5. Define Point Value. 6. For Credit Given, select from Proportional to # Correct or All Points or None. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Fill in the Blank Questions to the Exam 1. Click Fill in the Blank in the left vertical navigation.
2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Include all acceptable answers and spellings in the box with rows A-Z. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 5. Define Point Value. 6. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Multiple Answer Questions to the Exam 1. Click Multiple Answer in the left vertical navigation. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box.
3. Enter all the possible answers in the rows marked A-Z. Mark all of the correct answer choices with an X in the first column. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 5. Select the Randomize answers option as desired. 6. Define Point Value. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Calculated Questions to the Exam 1. Click Calculated in the left vertical navigation. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. Be sure to enclose all variables in [square brackets]. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. Type or create the formula (see example above). 5. Variable Properties allows the definition of minimum and maximum values as well as a scale (number of decimal points) for each variable included in the formula. 6. Answer Properties allows for the requirement of a unit name for the answer response given. A percentage of the points possible can be given for the unit name if desired. Case sensitivity can be defined as well as scale (decimal places) and tolerance. 7. Click Value/Answer Sets to generate sets of variable values and the calculated associated answers based on the formula entered. When the question is presented to students, one of these value sets are chosen at random to populate the variables in the question wording and in the formula. The associated answer is used to grade the student response. 8. Define Point Value. 9. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Jumbled Sentence to the Exam 1. Click Jumbled Sentence in the left vertical navigation.
2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. Be sure to enclose all variables or words/phrases to jumble in [square brackets]. 3. Enter all distractor answers in rows A-Z. 4. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 5. Define Point Value. 6. For Credit Given, select from Proportional to # Correct or All Points or None. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Either/Or Questions to the Exam 1. Click Either/Or in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options). 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. Select Answer Options (Yes/No, Agree/Disagree, Right/Wrong, True/False).
5. Define the Correct Answer. 6. Define Point Value. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding File Response Questions to the Exam 1. Click File Response in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options). 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. The Answer Key Wording field is option and should only be used when administering a printed test generated from Respondus. 4. Define Point Value. 5. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Opinion Scale Questions to the Exam 1. Click Opinion Scale in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options). Keep in mind that this question type is nothing more than a Multiple Choice question type with pre-populated answer choices. The nature of this question will typically not specify a correct answer and would likely only be used when creating a survey.
2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. Select the Feedback checkbox to specify feedback for each answer choice provided. 5. Select the correct letter choice from the Select Correct Answer drop-down box. 6. Define the Point Value for this question. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Numeric Questions to the Exam 1. Click Numeric in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options). 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. Enter the Correct Answer along with +/- Answer Range for the student response. 5. Define the Point Value for this question. 6. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List.
Creating and Adding Quiz Bowl Questions to the Exam 1. Click Quiz Bowl in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options). The Quiz Bowl question type is similar to the approach used in the television game show Jeopardy where the answer is displayed to the user and the question must be entered in a text box. 2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. By default four interrogatives (who, what, when, where) appear in the left column. Select one or more interrogatives in the left column and complete the answer phrase in the right column. Remove unused interrogatives as shown above. 5. Define the Point Value for this question. 6. Define Partial Credit for missing interrogative as desired. 7. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Creating and Adding Fill in Multiple Blanks Questions to the Exam 1. Click Fill in Multiple Blanks in the left vertical navigation (if necessary, click the More button in order to see more question options).
2. Type the actual test question in the Question Wording text box. Square brackets [x] indicate where the blanks will appear in the question. If more than one answer is placed within a set of brackets, each alternative answer should be separated with a comma. 3. Click the General Feedback button to provide general feedback for this test question. 4. Define the Point Value for this question. 5. For Credit Given, select from Proportional to # Correct or All Points or None. 6. When finished creating the question, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. Copy Questions from Another Respondus File 1. Add questions to a Respondus test file by clicking the Copy from Another File button -or- by clicking the Action Link beside the question title in the Question List and selecting Copy Items From Another File from the contextual menu. 2. Click the name of an existing Respondus file and click Open. 3. Select all questions by clicking the Select All button, or select individual questions by clicking in the first column next to the question #. 4. When finished, click Add to End of List or Insert into List. To modify a question: 1. In the Question List, click the Action Link beside the question title. 2. Select Edit from the contextual menu. 3. Make desired changes. Click the Save Changes button. To delete a question: 1. In the Question List, click the Action Link beside the question title. 2. Select Delete from the contextual menu. 3. Click the OK button. To move a question: 1. In the Question List, click the Action Link beside the question title.
2. Select Move to # from the contextual menu. 3. Specify the new question number. 4. Click OK. To use a question as a basis for a new question: 1. In the Question List, click the Action Link beside the question title. 2. Select Use As Basis For New Item from the contextual menu. 3. Edit the question as desired. 4. Select Add to End of List or Insert into List to determine the placement of the new question. To enter question titles for sets of questions: 1. After entering test questions, click the File menu and select Question Title Tool. 2. Enter the range of questions to apply the question title. 3. Specify STEM text as desired. 4. Select the minimum number of digits to be used after the stem. 5. Click OK. To define Blackboard settings prior to publishing an exam to Blackboard: 1. Click on the Settings tab. 2. If necessary, click the Random Blocks option in the left vertical navigation. 3. Optional: Define random blocks of test questions in the test file which has been imported or created in the Respondus interface. a. Click the Random Blocks button. b. Follow all instructions on screen. c. Select Add New Set or Modify or Delete Existing Set. If modifying or deleting an existing set, select the set from the drop down box. d. Enter the number of the first and last question to be used in the set in the appropriate boxes. e. Select All or specify a Select Number of questions to randomly be included in the question set. f. Enter the point value for each question in the set. g. Click Add New Set.
4. Optional: Define exam availability settings. Note: A benefit of defining settings in Respondus is that default settings can be defined and saved. a. Click Availability in the left vertical navigation. b. Define all availability settings as desired (if settings are defined here, the settings are applied in the same manner as if they were defined in the Blackboard interface). c. To set selection as default, click Use as New Defaults. 5. Optional: Define other settings. Note: A benefit of defining settings in Respondus is that default settings can be defined and saved. a. Click Other Settings in the left vertical navigation. b. Define Feedback and Presentation settings as desired (if settings are defined here, the settings are applied in the same manner as if they were defined in the Blackboard interface). Caution: DO NOT select either of the Self-Assessment options unless creating a self-assessment. Specifically, DO NOT select the Hide the score of this test from the Gradebook in an attempt to hide the score of the exam from students. This setting converts the test into a self-assessment and the instructor is not able to see the results of the test (other than a green checkmark in the grade column that indicates the assessment was completed). c. To set selection as default, click Use as New Defaults. To preview an exam prior to publishing the exam to Blackboard: 1. Click the Preview & Publish tab. 2. If necessary, click the Preview option in the left vertical navigation. 3. Click Preview the File. 4. Navigate the test questions using the Prev. and Next buttons or jump to a specific question by typing the question number in the box to the left of the Go To button (then click Go To). 5. To edit a test question click Modify Item. 6. Click Close when finished with the preview. To publish an exam to Blackboard: 1. Click the Preview & Publish tab. 2. Click the Publish to Blackboard option in the left vertical navigation. 3. Click Publish Wizard. 4. Select the Type of Publish. 5. Select an existing server (previously created servers are listed in the dropdown list) or select the -add new server- option from the dropdown list. If adding a new server, complete these steps. Once a server has been added, these steps will not have to be completed again. a. Accept the default selection of Yes, check for preconfigured server settings and click Next. b. Follow directions on the Preconfigured Server Settings Screen. Click Next. c. Click Next. d. Click Finish. 6. Click Next.
Note: If the remember my user name option was not selected during the server set up, a prompt to enter the Blackboard user name and password will be presented. Click OK. 7. Select a course to publish to from the drop down list. 8. Select to create a new exam/pool (specify name as desired) or select to replace an existing exam/pool (select exam/pool name from drop down list). 9. Select or deselect Apply Random Blocks to Exam, Apply Settings to Exam, and Link Exam to Content area and make available. 10. Click Next. Note: If the Link Exam option is selected, click on the area or folder to link to. Click Next. Other informational prompts may appear on the screen depending on selections made on the Settings tab. 11. Click Finish. To update setting for an exam that already exists in Blackboard: 1. Click the Preview & Publish tab. 2. Click the Update Settings option in the left vertical navigation. 3. Select a server from the drop down list. Note: Use the default selection, Use current settings for server name and click Next. Enter the Blackboard user name and password. Click OK. 4. Select the course where the exam already exists. 5. Select the exam or survey option and select the exam/survey name from the drop down list. 6. Click the Settings button. 7. Make desired changes. Click OK. 8. Click the Publish New Settings button. To print or save a Respondus exam for editing in a word processor: 1. Click the Preview & Publish tab. 2. Click Print Options in the left vertical navigation. 3. Select the format of choice. Be sure to click the Settings button to review and define the settings available for each format, as additional print options are set here. 4. Optional: Click the Edit Headers button to add a page header (instructions for test, name of course/exam, student name field blank, etc.). 5. Optional: Select randomization options from the drop down list, select to randomize all or by type, and apply random blocks. 6. Optional: Define a range of questions to be included in the printed or saved exam. 7. Click Print Preview, Save to File, or Send to Printer. To retrieve reports: 1. Click the Retrieval & Reports tab. 2. If necessary, click Retrieve Reports in the left vertical navigation. 3. Select a server from the drop down list. Note: Use the default selection, Use current settings for server name and click Next. Enter the Blackboard user name and password. Click OK. 4. Select the course. 5. Select which assessment(s) to include in the report. 6. Select which items to include in the report. 7. Select paging options for the report. 8. Click the Retrieve button.
9. When the process is complete, the Status is Successfully completed and a File Saved prompt is presented. Note: As desired, select the Edit, Settings, or Preview & Publish tab to proceed. To retrieve questions from Blackboard that can be used to create a new Respondus file: 1. Click the Retrieval & Reports tab. 2. If necessary, click Download Data in the left vertical navigation. 3. Select a server from the drop down list. Note: Use the default selection, Use current settings for server name and click Next. Enter the Blackboard user name and password. Click OK. 4. Select the course. 5. Select the Exam, Survey, or Pool option and select the related assessment from the drop down list. 6. Enter a name of the new file. 7. Click the Retrieve button. To download test results for an test that has been completed in Blackboard: 1. Click the Retrieval & Reports tab. 2. If necessary, click Retrieve Questions in the left vertical navigation. 3. Select a server from the drop down list. Note: Use the default selection, Use current settings for server name and click Next. Enter the Blackboard user name and password. Click OK. 4. Select the course. 5. Select download settings as desired. 6. Select the assessments for which results will be retrieved. 7. Click the Retrieve button. Note: As explained on the screen, the results are saved as a comma-separated-values (csv) file that can be opened by Excel or imported into an Access table. Each file is named for the associated test file and is automatically downloaded to the My Documents folder. For Additional Help If additional help is required after using these instructions, or those available from the Help menu inside Respondus, please contact the Office of Educational Technology & Support at online@jsu.edu.