WebCT Information for Instructors

Using TestGen 5.0 to Construct a WebCT Quiz

If you are a TestGen user, you can use TestGen 5.0 to construct on-line quizzes/tests for WebCT.  This action consists of three steps: (1) Construct the test as usual in TestGen 5.0(TG5), (2) EXPORT it (creates a ZIP file with WebCT path information), and (3) upload and install the exported file in the WebCT question database.

Let us look specifically at steps (2) and (3).
                                                                                     

Path Considerations: There are two important points that must be made. (1) Once you enter a path in the first block you have established a permanent path in WebCT.  When the file is uploaded to WebCT and then unzipped, it will be placed where you indicated with the pathname.  At that point, if you attempt to move it elsewhere, the test will usually not run.
(2) In addition each file you export has two parts:  the questions, in a text file, and a folder containing any image files that are necessary for the test—equations, pictures, graphs, etc.  The image file always has the same name.  Therefore if you give two tests the same path, the second will overwrite the image folder for the first test and the first test will no longer work correctly.
To avoid both of these problems, you might consider using some standard path technique.  For example you might always use “questions/categoryname” (without quotes) for the pathname.  Although you can do so, you should not use a “dot”, i.e. “.”, in the category name.

Installing the questions in the WebCT database:
Enter WebCT and perform the following actions:

1. Control Panel—Manage Files—Upload—Browse (select your zipped file)—Open—Upload
2. When the file completes its upload to WebCT, place a check in the box for the file and choose Unzip.  (WebCT will now place the file where you stated in the pathname, creating any necessary folders)
3. Check to see that the file is at the intended location and then select the zipped file once again and choose Delete.
4. Now select Control Panel—Quizzes/Surveys—when this page opens select Question Database (near the top, center of the page).
5. At the middle-right side of the Question Database page, select import questions.
6. When the Import from File page opens, use the Browse button to locate the test file.  The location was established by the pathname and the test question file will have a “.txt” extension.  Select the radio button next to the file name and choose import.  These questions are now available in the question database and may be used in any quiz you create using normal WebCT methods.

Additional Comments: 
One might want to create quizzes that randomly select a few questions from a large group.  Since TG5 usually has several objectives for a given chapter and section, it might be possible to load 50 questions for a specific objective and randomly select 3 of those 50 questions to test the objective.  Thus, an instructor could create a section quiz that contains 8 groups of 50 questions (assuming there are 8 objectives, one group for each of those objectives).  When students access the quiz, each will receive a different selection from each of the eight groups.

To check the number of variations available for a specific question in TG5:

• Ensure that the BOOK (not the test) is selected. 
• Go to SETUP—DISPLAY. 
• In the resulting Dialog box, check the selection  “# of variations”
• Choose APPLY, then OK. 

Now when you view the available problems, the number of variations of that problem will appear below each problem.

If this approach appeals to you, consider doing the following:

1. For each objective in a specific chapter and section (pretend there are eight objectives), make up a separate test that consists of every question (or some selection of them) available in the test bank for testing that objective.  
2. Now export each test, upload each one to WebCT, and then import each into the WebCT database for the course.  
3. Using the usual technique, construct a WebCT quiz. 
4. Enter the newly constructed quiz and choose ADD A QUESTION SET. 
5. Using the dialog box find, and select, the first of the eight tests you created for this particular chapter and section and add it to the quiz. 
6. Now, repeat this process for each of the other seven tests previously imported.  Be careful NOT to select all eight tests simultaneously.  If you do so, you will have only a single, very large, question set. 

When all eight question sets are entered into the quiz you are constructing, you can then choose how many questions you wish to select from each of the specific question sets and how many points each question in a specific set will count.  If there are fifty questions for a specific set, you might only wish to have three on the test.  WebCT will randomly select three of the fifty questions individually for each student.  The same would be true for each of the other seven objectives.  If you feel there are enough questions in each of the sets, you could allow a student to perform the quiz several times. With each fresh beginning, the student will receive a new random selection of questions. 

Click on this link for a printable version of this page.

If you have problems or questions about uploading files into WebCT, contact Suzanne Sprouse (sprouses@winthrop.edu) 
 

WebCT Contact Information
Suzanne Sprouse, E-Learning & Project Coordinator
Distance Learning and AV Services | 803.323.2551 | sprouses@winthrop.edu
Last updated: 02/05/07