Original vs Ultra Course View Blackboard Test Comparison - Staff Guide
The Test tool in Ultra Course View has been rebuilt. The tool has a more modern user experience compared to the Test tool in Original modules (used for 21/22 modules and earlier). The majority of functionality has been kept but there are some differences. Review the tables below to understand what is new and the functions from Original modules which are no longer available.
This guide is broken down into sections and contains comparison tables for:
Terminology changes
Some of the features/settings in the Test tool have new names in response to user feedback and to bring the product in line with current industry standards.
| In Original | In Ultra Course View |
|---|---|
| Item analysis | Question analysis |
| Password | Access code |
| Question pool | Question bank |
| Random block and question set | Question pool |
Building a Test
Ultra Course View has the following question types:
- Calculated Formula
- Calculated Numeric
- Essay
- Fill in the Blank
- Matching
- Multiple Choice
- True/False
Surveys are no longer available in Ultra Course View, as a result, question types that were more suitable for surveys have been discontinued. The Blue Explorance survey tool is currently being trialled for module evaluation and other survey systems are available at Leeds for surveys (online surveys/Microsoft Forms). See survey tools on the IT website for more information.
| Question Types in Original | Available in Ultra Course View | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Calculated Formula | Yes | |
| Calculated Numeric | Yes | |
| Either/Or | No | Multiple choice can be used instead |
| Essay | Yes | |
| File Response | No | Other solutions are more suitable for submission of files (e.g. Turnitin/Assignment).* |
| Fill in the Blank | Yes | |
| Fill in Multiple Blanks | Yes | Use the Fill in the Blank question which allows for multiple blanks. |
| Hot Spot | Yes | There are more options in Ultra Course View e.g. you can draw different shaped hot spots and have multiple hot spots. |
| Jumbled Sentence | No | |
| Matching | Yes | |
| Multiple Answer | Yes | Use the Multiple Choice question which allows for multiple answer. |
| Multiple Choice | Yes | |
| Opinion Scale/Likert | No | |
| Ordering | No | |
| Quiz Bowl | No | |
| Short Answer | Use Essay | The essay question can be used. |
| True/False | Yes |
*If a file needs to be submitted as part of the test, there is the option to allow students to submit a file at the end of the test or the essay question could be utilised with students advised to submit a file rather than type in an answer.
Test Presentation/Question Options
| Feature | Availability in Ultra Course View |
|---|---|
| Automatic feedback for correct/incorrect answers | Yes – all question types (apart from Essay) have the option to include automated feedback for correct/incorrect answers. |
| Automatic feedback for each individual answer a student can select e.g. in an MCQ | No – you can only have one piece of feedback for incorrect answers and one piece of feedback for correct answers. |
| Manually entered feedback for each student attempt | You can manually add feedback for each student but at the Test level rather than the question level. |
| Pools (named Question Banks in Ultra Course View) | You can create new Question Banks/edit questions within Question Banks in Ultra Course View. You can also copy Pools from your 21/22 modules as Question Banks in Ultra Course View. If you have Tests with questions linked to a Question Pool, the associated Pool will copy automatically when you copy the Test. However, if you have multiple Tests linked to one Pool, make sure you copy them all at the same time. If you copy multiple Tests linked to one Pool separately this will result in multiple copies of the Pool in your destination module with each Test linked to a different copy of the Pool. When building a new Test: - Use the ‘reuse question’ option to include a copy of a question from a Question Bank in your test. Editing questions will not update the same question if used in another test. - Use Question Pool to include questions from a Question Bank. Editing questions will update the same question if used in another test. |
| Question Sets | You can use Question Pools or the Reuse Question functionality to cover similar use cases. |
| Random Block (named Pools in Ultra Course View) | Yes. You can have a Pool of questions (of which a number can be displayed randomly). Pools can be created from questions in Question Banks/or other tests in the module. Editing questions will update the same question if used in another test. |
| Reuse Question | Yes. Editing questions will not update the same question if used in another test. |
| Display questions one at a time | Yes. |
| Prevent Backtracking | Yes. |
| Randomise Questions | The entire test can have questions presented in a random order. Pools (Random Block in original) can present questions drawn from a Question Bank/another test randomly. |
| Randomise Answers | You can choose to randomise answers for multiple choice/multiple answer questions. |
| Manual Page Breaks to allow grouping of questions | Yes. |
| Negative Marking | Negative marking is available in some question types. - For Multiple Answers, you can have negative marking but the total score for the question cannot be lower than 0. - Multiple Answer/ Matching questions allow negative marking and the total score for the question can be lower than 0. |
| Partial Credit | Partial credit options are available for questions where there is more than one answer. For fill in the blanks, scores for all answers will be weighted evenly. For multiple answer and matching, partial credit is auto-distributed across the correct answer choices. This can be amended by the Instructor. |
Test Options
| Feature | Availability in Ultra Course View |
|---|---|
| Force completion | This function does not exist in Ultra Course View. This setting often causes problems in Original Course View, where if a student had technical issues/shut their browser in error, they could not get back into a test. |
| Multiple attempts/set number of attempts | Yes - up to 10 attempts can be specified or you can have unlimited attempts. |
| Password (named Access Code in Ultra Course View) | Yes - students can be asked to enter a password/code to start test. |
| Timer/auto submit | Yes - instructor can select whether to have students answers auto-submit after a specific time/allow students to have extra time to work after the time limit expires. |
| Enhanced feedback controls e.g. prevent student accessing their test after submission/seeing results | Various options are available to specify when students are allowed to see their submission, feedback, overall score, and question score. You can also choose whether to allow them to see the correct answers. |
| Prevent option to begin test after due date | Yes - you can either prevent students starting a test after the due date and time, but allow full time for the test, or you can set in progress attempts to submit automatically at the due date and time, meaning some students may not have the full time for the test if they begin too late. |
| Availability exceptions | Students can be given extra time individually (but this is applied at the module level so they would have extra time for all Blackboard Tests/Assignments in the module). An individual student can have a different due date/additional attempt(s) on a specific test. |
Student View
| Feature | Availability in Ultra Course View |
|---|---|
| Test header to show students timer, questions remaining, progress bar | Yes |
| Auto Save | Yes |
Grading
| Feature | Availability in Ultra Course View |
|---|---|
| Score attempts using latest/highest/lowest/first/average of all attempts | Yes |
| Points can be changed for an individual question (completed tests remarked) | You can change the points possible for a question and this will update student attempts. You can also select to give all students full marks for a question e.g. this may be useful if you notice an error. We are expecting further developments in this area. |
| Download test results | Yes – for multiple attempts you can either download all attempts or just the attempt which gives the final mark. |
| Staff can view submission receipts | Yes - this functionality was not available in Original Course View tests. |