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Respondus

Respondus is a tool for creating and managing quizzes or self-tests. You have the ability to create all questions, feedback and settings offline in a Windows environment and then publish directly to your WebCT course. Respondus allows importing questions including images from rich-text files. Six question types are supported along wih time-saving tools like equation editors, web links and spell check.

This is a limited Respondus tutorial that walks through importing questions and publishing a quiz in a WebCT course. This by no means covers everything that can be done using Respondus.

I. Import Questions

III. Settings

  1. Question Set
  2. Basic & Availability
  3. Security & Submissions
  4. Results

II. Edit Questions
  1. Spell Check
  2. Edit Question

IV. Preview & Publish

  1. Preview Quiz
  2. Publish to WebCT

 

I. Import Questions

Respondus allows you to import multiple choice, true-false, paragraph, short answer, matching, and multiple response questions from a file. The questions must be organized in what Respondus calls standard format and the file must be stored in text (.txt) or rich-text (.rtf) format. Respondus's "standard format" is fairly intuitive. Formatting questions into this "standard format" is beyond the scope of this tutorial but it is addressed very well in the Respondus help files.

Import questions from a text file

Verify that the Start tab is selected

  1. Verify that the Open or Create Option is selected
  2. Select WebCT 3.x - 4.x from the Current Personality: drop-down menu
  3. Select Import Questions button

Import Questions into Respondus

  1. Select the file to import by clicking the browse button beside the File name: field and locating the WebCT_Quiz.txt file.
  2. Select the image folder that contains the images needed for your quiz by clicking the browse button beside the Image Folder: field and locating the course_settings.gif file.
  3. Select the radio button beside the Create a new document, name: field and then click inside that field and type the name you would like to give this quiz.
  4. Click the Preview to see if there is any problems with your import file
    • Note: If Respondus detects any problems with your import file it will display them in the field below preview results. If need be, you can cancel the import, edit the import file and begin the import process again.
  5. Click the Finish button

Import Questions Window

File Saved window displays. Click the OK button.

File Saved Window

The File Saved and Import window disappear and Respondus moves to the edit tab.

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II. Edit Questions

Edit tab

The Edit area is where you can preview questions and perform any necessary edits. Following are the options available when the Edit tab is selected:

  • Create new questions
  • Modifying existing questions
    • Add/change text
    • Add/change point values
    • Change correct response
    • Add links
    • Add/change images
    • Add/change feedback
  • Change question order
  • Delete questions
  • Preview questions
  • Spell check questions

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A. Spell Check

Click the Spell Check icon in the toolbar.

Spell Check Icon

Spell Check window displays and highlights a word that is not found in the Respondus dictionary. You will decide to Change (All) or Ignore (All) the highlighted word in the document or Add the word to the Respondus dictionary. After making your selection Respondus will continue through your questions and continue to highlight words. Continue until Respondus indicates that it has completed checking the document.

Click the OK button.

Spell check is complete.

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B. Edit Questions

Click the link to the question you want to edit or preview.

Select Question to Edit

The question Properties window displays.

Select the Modify button

Question Properties Window

Question displays in the appropriate fields in the Respondus form.

Make appropriate edits to the question.

Click the Preview button to see how the question will display.

Click the Save Changes button to save your edits.

Respondus Question Form

Question with the saved edits is displayed in the Question List.

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III. Settings

Settings Tab

The settings area is where you will establish your quiz settings such as:

  • Question Sets
  • Question Delivery
  • Quiz Duration
  • Attempts
  • Availability
  • Security
  • Results/Feedback

Note: Setting for Selective Release must be changed on the WebCT server using your browser

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A. Question Sets

The question sets option is where you will establish a group of questions from which a random selection is presented to students during a quiz.

Note: You will want to organize your questions in Respondus so that the questions included in your questions sets are grouped together.

Verify that the Questions Sets option is selected.

Select the Question Sets button

Question Sets Button

Question Sets window displays.

Select appropriate options for your question set

Click the Add New Set button to save your question set

Click the OK button to save your selections

Question Set Window

Question Sets window disappears with your question sets saved.

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B. Basic & Availability

The Basic & Availability option is where you will establish question delivery, quiz duration, attempts allowed and quiz availability.

Verify that the Basic & Availability option is selected

Select appropriate settings for your quiz

Basic & Availability Options

Note: There is not a save or update for this option. These settings will be saved when the Respondus file is saved.

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C. Security & Submissions

The Security & Submissions option is where you will establish proctor password, IP mask and submission message .

Verify that the Security & Submissions option is selected

Select appropriate settings for your quiz

Security & Submissions Options

Note: There is not a save or update for this option. These settings will be saved when the Respondus file is saved.

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D. Results

The Results option is where you will establish when a students score will be released, if the quiz column will be released in the gradebook, and how the results and feedback will be displayed.

Verify that the Results option is selected

Select appropriate settings for your quiz

Note: There is not a save or update for this option. These settings will be saved when the Respondus file is saved.

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IV. Preview & Publish

The Preview & Publish area is where you will preview your quiz questions and feedback to verify that all edits have been made and then put it into your WebCT course.

A. Preview Quiz

Verify that the Preview option is selected.

Click the Preview the File button

Preview the File Button

The Preview window displays.

Preview your questions and feedback.

Used the Next and Previous buttons to scroll through your questions.

Click the Modify Item button to make changes to a question your are previewing.

Note: When you click Modify Item, Respondus will take you to the Edit area of Respondus with the question you were viewing in the question form so you can make modifications to your question. When you select Save Changes from the Edit area you will be returned to the Preview area. Changes you made in the Edit area will not appear until you save the Respondus file.

Click the Close button when you previewed all your questions and made all the necessary modifications.

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B. Publish to WebCT

Verify that the Publish to WebCT option is selected.

Click the drop-down arrow on the WebCT Server field and select - add new server

Note: You will only need to select the - add new server option once. After you complete the server information the first time you will save those settings. The next time you publish a quiz/survey from Respondus you will select the name that you give settings. You will then only have to enter your User Name and Password to publish to the WebCT server.

Publish to WebCT - Add a new Server

The WebCT Server Information window displays.

  1. Type in the MSU WebCT server URL in the WebCT Server URL field.
  2. Type in appropriate name in the What would you like to call the server? field
  3. Type your WebCT ID in the User Name field
  4. Type your WebCT password in the Password field
  5. Click the OK button

Note: You disregard the other setting in this window.

WebCT Server Information Window

If you have successfully entered a valid WebCT ID and password, the WebCT Server Information window disappears and you will see the name you gave the server displayed in the WebCT Server field.

Note: If you did not enter a valid WebCT ID and password you will get a warning message. Click the OK button and repeat the above steps again.
Wrong Password Warning Message

Click the drop-down arrow on the Course field and select the course you want to publish the quiz to.

Select Course to Publish  Quiz

  1. Verify that the name of the question database category is acceptable or change it.
  2. Select Add questions to the question database option.
  3. Select Create of update Exam option.
  4. Select the radio button beside the Create new exam field and type the name of the exam in the field.
  5. Select the appropriate options (Apply Question Sets to exam, Add point values to exam and Apply Settings to exam).
  6. Click the Publish button.

Steps 3 -5 of Publish to WebCT

Respondus indicates steps that are occurring and when the process is complete Completed successfully displays in the Status field.

Completed successful message

Your quiz is published to your WebCT course.

Note: You will need to add the quiz/survey tool to your course before you or the students can access the quiz.

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