Marked Work Introduction
Firefly allows you to create three types of marked work: Revision tests, Class tests and Assignments. All types of test enable the setter to set Multiple Choice, True/False, file upload or text answer questions, the latter being especially useful for "Cloze" type exercises.
The format for creating questions in each is identical:
Assignments allow students to answer the questions in their own time, with marks being released when the teacher is ready.
Class tests give a pre-determined period of time for completion of the test and the marks are not returned automatically, instead they are released by the teacher when ready.
Revision tests allow students to answer questions and have them automatically marked (with correct answers supplied too), additionally they can clear their answers and attempt the test again - results are not reported to the teacher.
Use the usual Add Page (or Modify Page) routine to create a new page, though here you should select the Page Type to be Revision test, Class test or Assignment (as below). Then click OK.
If it is to be a Class test you will be asked to enter the duration of the test in minutes (or leave blank for no limit).
When you're ready, click Add Page to open the new page and then click Add Content. You should be presented with an input box containing a menu of component types - you should choose Question.
Tip: Remember that each question and each block of formatted text must occupy separate components on the page; you cannot have formatted text and questions in the same component.
To write questions
The example below shows how multiple choice questions may be written and added to the test page:
- Select the question type from the five alternatives Multiple Choice, Text (line), Text (paragraph), True/False or File upload; in this case Multiple Choice is chosen
- Write the question in the Question text box. If questions are to be numbered, remember to write the number in at the beginning of the text.
- Write alternative answers in the Choices boxes, using the Add Choice button for each new alternative. If alternatives are to be lettered, remember to write the letter at the beginning of the text.
- Add a Correct tick against the correct alternative
- Write an explanatation in the Answer explanation box where appropriate
- Click Insert to add the question to the page. It should look as below:
Tip: The text within the Question text box cannot be formatted in any way. If you wish to have formatted text (e.g. x2) or graphics as part of your questions you should include this in a separate component which uses the Formatted Text box above or below your question component. Accents, etc can be written using the relevant foreign language keyboard, e.g. French Canadian.
Continue until all the questions are written.
Delivering the test
A class test needs to be kept confidential until the testees are ready to take it, therefore permissions must be set to enable this. In the case of the Physics test referred to in the Add Page instructions above, Write Access would be awarded to Physics staff. You then have two options:
- Set Read Access to a group which does not contain any testees (e.g. Chemistry staff) and change these shortly before the test so that testees can read the page.
- Use the Add a start date (and if appropriate, Add an end date) option in the Permissions tab of the page's properties window, which you can access by going to Tools > Edit this page > Modify page properties.
Setting the test as a task
You can now use the Dashboard to create tasks which can be assigned to individuals/groups of users within Firefly. These tasks can be linked to an item of Marked Work and as students submit their answers, their submissions are tracked within the Dashboard interface. To create a task that is linked to an existing Marked Work page, you need to click the link in the banner shown below.
Begin by using the selector screen to choose or search for groups or individual users.
Once you see the desired user/group in the list, click on their name and you should see them added to the list with an "X" (which you can click to remove them) next to their name. Note that you can add multiple users and groups to your list of people who will be assigned this task. Then click Next. You will then be asked to enter in details about your task as shown below.
Once you have entered in all the necessary details, click Next and then confirm the details before clicking Publish Task. This task will then appear in the relevant users' Dashboards and you will be able to use your own Dashboard to track their progress.
After the test
After testees have submitted their test results, all tests are either manually or automatically marked (revision tests are always automatically marked). When ready, the results can be returned to the students at the supervisor's discretion (revision tests always have results returned immediately). Supervisors may view a summary of all results and can also view responses from each testee on an individual basis. To do this, click the Display Report link at the top right hand side of the class test page to display a report such as the following:
Filters have been used to select both the Upper VI Active Directory group and the Set B sub-group, for which a summary of the test results is displayed.
- Clicking on an individual User name will display the full marked test for that user.
- Clicking the check box to the left of the user and then clicking Release selected tests will allow the testee to see their marked test when they navigate to the test page.
- Clear selected tests removes all test information from the Firefly database.
- Export to Excel exports all the test summary
