background image

Creating Quizzes

15

Using the menus and toolbar

File command

Keystroke

What it does

New Quiz

Ctrl-N (PC)

a

-N (Mac)

Opens a new quiz document

Open Quiz

Ctrl-O (PC)

a

-O (Mac)

Allows you to open an 
existing quiz

Close

none (PC)

a

-W (Mac)

Closes the quiz you’re 
working on (prompts you to 
save if you’ve made changes)

Save

Ctrl-S (PC)

a

-S (Mac)

Saves the quiz you’re 
working on

Save As

none

Allows you to name and save 
a new quiz

Quiz Options

Ctrl-I (PC)

a

-I (Mac)

Allows you to put limits on 
quiz-taking

Export

none

Allows you to export a quiz 
(in text format) to another 
application

Print Setup (PC)
Page Setup (Mac)

none

Takes you to a standard print 
window

Print

Ctrl-P (PC)

a

-P (Mac)

Prints a selected quiz

Print Preview (PC)

none

Shows onscreen how the 
quiz will look when printed

Exit (PC)
Quit (Mac)

none

a

-Q

Quits application

Summary of Contents for AlphaQuiz SmartApplet

Page 1: ...AlphaQuiz Integrated classroom quiz solution including quiz design delivery automated grading reporting and analysis User s Guide...

Page 2: ...AlphaQuiz SmartApplet User s Guide...

Page 3: ...produced in any manner either wholly or in part for any purpose whatsoever without written permission from AlphaSmart Inc Copyright 2006 Renaissance Learning Inc All rights reserved AlphaSmart and Ren...

Page 4: ...w 7 Administering grading and managing quizzes 7 Sending quizzes to AlphaSmart devices 8 Administering quizzes 8 Printing and saving quizzes 8 Retrieving students responses 9 Viewing a response set 9...

Page 5: ...ing the integrity of a quiz 39 Marking a quiz as finished 40 Modifying quiz prompts 41 Spell checking a quiz 43 Rearranging questions 44 Dragging questions between quizzes 44 Deleting questions 45 Vie...

Page 6: ...ed AlphaSmart devices 83 Deleting quizzes from connected AlphaSmart devices 86 Retrieving student responses 88 Deleting students responses 90 Turning on power to AlphaSmart devices 91 Turning off powe...

Page 7: ...vi AlphaQuiz User s Guide Appendix D Contact Information 123 Index 125...

Page 8: ...AlphaSmart device refers to both AlphaSmart 3000s and Neos It does not refer to the Dana line of products made by AlphaSmart Because teachers and students use different components of the system AlphaQ...

Page 9: ...1 Use QuizDesigner on your computer to create and save a new quiz 2 Connect AlphaSmart devices to an AlphaHub or connect devices one at a time to your computer with a direct USB cable 3 Use QuizManage...

Page 10: ...d save the document 10 QuizManager automatically grades true false multiple choice and short answer questions Short Answer questions cannot be auto graded unless you enter one or more correct answers...

Page 11: ...nage tests AlphaHub A device that connects up to thirty AlphaSmart devices used to send and receive information to and from a teacher s desktop computer AlphaHub is available as part of AlphaSmart s S...

Page 12: ...r Teacher comments Text notes that can be associated with a graded quiz question and printed on a corrected quiz Author comments In QuizDesigner notes added on the Basic tab of Quiz Options to provide...

Page 13: ...reate quizzes on your computer using QuizDesigner part of the AlphaQuiz system Quizzes are stored in your computer until you release them for student use In the course of designing a quiz you have the...

Page 14: ...gner allows you to see how your questions will look to your students as they view them on their AlphaSmart devices see the example on page 46 This is useful for getting a sense of how questions flow a...

Page 15: ...izzes Once you send a quiz to your students AlphaSmart devices the students can use the AlphaQuiz SmartApplet to take the quiz Students select the correct quiz from a list of available quizzes enter t...

Page 16: ...curately and true false multiple choice and short answer questions can all be graded automatically The Grading window lists student names for a particular quiz You can view summary results for selecte...

Page 17: ...k to students Quiz summary report lists student names and scores Statistical report shows averages means high low scores and so on Exporting quiz scores QuizManager lets you export quiz scores for use...

Page 18: ...you have already installed the AlphaQuiz SmartApplet on your AlphaSmart device s as explained in the AlphaQuiz 3 0 Installation Instructions included in the download file This section describes how to...

Page 19: ...izManager and QuizDesigner on a PC 1 Using Windows Explorer browse to the location where you unzipped the AlphaQuiz download file 2 Double click the QuizDesigner Setup exe file 3 Follow the onscreen i...

Page 20: ...zDesigner offers four question types True false Multiple choice Short answer up to eighteen characters Essay you can set a maximum number of words You can create a new quiz revise one you ve used befo...

Page 21: ...Using the menus and toolbar The menus and keyboard shortcuts in QuizDesigner as well as the tool bar on the PC version of QuizDesigner allow you to move quickly through creating and handling your quiz...

Page 22: ...ges Save Ctrl S PC a S Mac Saves the quiz you re working on Save As none Allows you to name and save a new quiz Quiz Options Ctrl I PC a I Mac Allows you to put limits on quiz taking Export none Allow...

Page 23: ...f questions and edit questions you ve Edit command Keystroke What it does Undo Ctrl Z PC a Z Mac Allows you to undo your last action Cut Ctrl X PC a X Mac Cuts selected text Copy Ctrl C PC a C Mac Cop...

Page 24: ...M Mac Lets you compose a new multiple choice question Add Short Answer Ctrl B PC a B Mac Lets you compose a new short answer question Add Essay Ctrl E PC a E Mac Lets you compose a new essay question...

Page 25: ...order by choosing Edit Undo But you must do it right after shuffling or you will lose the original order Window menu PC only Commands on the Window menu allow you to arrange windows on the screen and...

Page 26: ...browser if it can t find a default browser it then searches for Internet Explorer or Netscape If the browser is not currently running QuizDesigner launches it when you access Help If the browser is a...

Page 27: ...e various menus Toolbar icon What it does Opens a new quiz document Opens an existing quiz Saves current quiz Allows you to write a new true false question Allows you to write a new multiple choice qu...

Page 28: ...rs each question shows the question type and displays as much of the question text as possible The Quiz Capacity indicator bar at the bottom of the screen shows you how much space is left in the quiz...

Page 29: ...the quiz title that appears on the AlphaSmart devices This field is required Important If you don t enter a name for the quiz it appears in the window s title bar as untitled Be sure to give your quiz...

Page 30: ...override a student created password This can be useful if a student must exit and re enter a quiz but forgets the password he or she has created in this case you can type the admin password to complet...

Page 31: ...r provides an indication of how much space remains for quiz questions Each question has three main parts Question text Use this field at the top of each question window to type the text of your questi...

Page 32: ...cally right or wrong Multiple choice Use multiple choice questions when you want to compose questions with brief defined possible answers one or more of which is correct Short answer Use short answer...

Page 33: ...e name You can give it the same name as the name you gave earlier in the Basic tab of the Quiz Options window but this name is the name of the actual file and can t be seen by your students The name y...

Page 34: ...ur modified quiz document Composing true false questions In creating true false questions keep in mind that students will only be able to type T or F to answer the question so you should word your que...

Page 35: ...ndow 5 Select the correct answer in the Answer section 6 Type any comments you want to make about the question in the Question Remarks field at the bottom of the window Note Use this field to type in...

Page 36: ...or more may be designated as correct answers A student can select only one answer for questions with one correct answer but can select as many answers as are available on questions with multiple corre...

Page 37: ...se 6 Check one or more of the appropriate checkboxes to indicate the correct answer s Note If you select more than one checkbox to indicate multiple correct answers a student must select exactly the s...

Page 38: ...iz quizzes are limited to a size that will fit on the AlphaSmart devices If you exceed the capacity of a quiz a warning message appears giving you the chance to shorten the current question Composing...

Page 39: ...n the blank field in the Answer section Automatic grading of Short Answer questions requires an exact match between the student s response and the correct answer for the response to be counted as corr...

Page 40: ...n and the period 7 Type any comments about the question in the Question Remarks field at the bottom of the window 8 Click OK when you re done The question appears in the Quiz Questions window listing...

Page 41: ...field at the bottom of the window 7 Click OK when you re done The question appears in the Quiz Questions window listing 8 Repeat steps 1 through 7 to compose more essay questions Important As you re c...

Page 42: ...le click the question you want to edit A window for that question appears 2 Rewrite or edit the question text type in different possible answers change case requirements or edit the teacher comments 3...

Page 43: ...ow students to use other SmartApplets present on the AlphaSmart devices such as AlphaWord while taking a quiz Block access to Calculator SmartApplet during quiz Available only when Require students to...

Page 44: ...ts to enter a class number for their quiz answers Function QuizManager groups responses by class number Check this option to require students to type in a number assigned to their class Remove the che...

Page 45: ...ct the options you want to be in effect during the quiz you can revise these selections any time during editing 3 Click OK Controlling student password requirements There are two types of student pass...

Page 46: ...our students to be able to access Spell Check in AlphaWord or other SmartApplets You can set these limits by checking the appropriate boxes on the Advanced tab of the Quiz Options window Password type...

Page 47: ...z is completed This is useful in the following circumstances If time is up and students must turn in the quiz but some students have left certain questions unanswered marking the quiz finished prevent...

Page 48: ...false Note Regardless of the text used in the prompt only T or F will be accepted as responses 31 characters Multiple choice Select 1 Select all that apply Used when there s only one right answer Use...

Page 49: ...entries define the text your students see as a prompt for each type of quiz question 2 Use the default entries these can be restored by clicking the Defaults button or customize 3 Click OK when you r...

Page 50: ...ner save the quiz 2 Choose File Export 3 Select options for the text you want to spell check 4 Click OK 5 Enter the name of the test in the File Name field of the Save As window 6 Click Save 7 Start y...

Page 51: ...y 3 Save your quiz when you re satisfied with the order of the questions To rearrange questions in random order 1 Open the quiz whose questions you want to rearrange and make sure the questions appear...

Page 52: ...command on a Macintosh 2 Click to highlight the question you want to drag and drop it into the desired position in the other quiz Deleting questions There will be times of course when you want to del...

Page 53: ...l view questions on their AlphaSmart devices This lets you preview the quiz to see if your questions flow well and scroll easily Note Students can change the font size on Neos See Changing font size o...

Page 54: ...hen you have finished viewing the AlphaSmart device preview Exporting a quiz Sometimes you may want to transfer a quiz to your word processing program in order to use it outside of the AlphaQuiz syste...

Page 55: ...wing table Option What it does Export quiz name Check to export the name of the quiz Remove the check mark if you do not want to export the name Export author teacher name Check to export the name of...

Page 56: ...t to create this field Question Check to export the text of each question in the quiz Remove the check mark if you do not want to export question text Correct answers Check to export the correct answe...

Page 57: ...s displayed 2 Choose File Print The Quiz Printing Options window appears 3 Select the print options you want as explained in the following table Option What it does Print quiz name Check to print the...

Page 58: ...u do not want to print this line Print blank for class number Check to print a blank line where the students can enter their class number Remove the check mark if you do not want to print this line Qu...

Page 59: ...e a library of questions about all the continents then when you create a quiz use only those questions that have to do with a particular continent To create a library you follow the same steps you per...

Page 60: ...ick OK Note that the Quiz Capacity indicator bar in the quiz window is no longer there 6 Add questions in the same manner as you do for a quiz see Composing questions on page 23 7 When you re through...

Page 61: ...54 AlphaQuiz User s Guide Creating a question library...

Page 62: ...names and passwords and take the quiz 3 The teacher uploads the student quiz responses to a desktop computer What is a SmartApplet A SmartApplet is an application such as AlphaQuiz developed specific...

Page 63: ...four lines per screen using a fixed width font Small six lines per screen Medium five lines per screen Large four lines per screen The Very Large three lines per screen and Extra Large two lines per s...

Page 64: ...the Neo User s Guide for more information about the Control Panel Through AlphaSmart Manager Note however that AlphaSmart Manager can only reset the font size to the system font four lines onscreen T...

Page 65: ...and log into a quiz to view the change in font size The system font The four line system font is slightly different from the four line large font setting The four line system font is a fixed width or...

Page 66: ...an help you design and compose effective quizzes as well as help you guide your students through the quiz taking process Refer to the User s Guide for the AlphaSmart device if you have questions about...

Page 67: ...To take a quiz 1 On the AlphaSmart devices students press on off 2 Students press applets The SmartApplets menu appears 3 Students scroll using the arrow keys to select AlphaQuiz then press enter A li...

Page 68: ...in Taking a quiz on page 59 they may be asked to identify themselves and their work with certain types of information depending on what you specified as quiz options when you created the quiz Quiz ac...

Page 69: ...t has not yet entered that quiz the student chooses and enters a personal password between two and six characters long Note Password entries appear as a series of asterisks 6 If you have specified a c...

Page 70: ...udents press any key to exit the Help message If a student has not already begun this quiz the first quiz question appears If a student has already started this quiz AlphaQuiz opens the quiz with the...

Page 71: ...uired K up arrow Allows student to scroll up through question or answer text L down arrow Allows student to scroll down through question or answer text a L enter Moves to the next question a K Moves t...

Page 72: ...ons 1 Students press a B A screen showing unanswered questions appears The total number of questions listed on the screen depends on how many questions there are in that quiz to a maximum of fifteen a...

Page 73: ...t a quiz be marked finished and chose to block other SmartApplets during the quiz page 35 the following message appears 2 Students should do one of the following Type R to return to the last question...

Page 74: ...udents press print on their devices before exiting the quiz Note AlphaSmart devices can print to a printer using a cable to connect directly between the device and the printer or by using infrared bea...

Page 75: ...e AlphaWord file they designated unless mark as finished is required and a quiz has not been marked finished Special situations during test taking While you ll use your computer to download and manage...

Page 76: ...n the AlphaQuiz SmartApplet to handle these situations Accessing teacher options To allow teachers direct access to AlphaQuiz administrative functions on each AlphaSmart device a Teacher Options area...

Page 77: ...izes that you are trying to sign into the teacher area 7 Type in the administrative password you assigned If you did not define an administrative password enter the AlphaSmart devices master password...

Page 78: ...as finished even though a U is showing as their test status This can occur if the student has run out of time and must turn in the test in which case he or she will mark it as finished even though so...

Page 79: ...es the quiz for other classes and makes the AlphaSmart device usable instead of being locked in that particular quiz To change the finished status 1 From the student response list select the name of a...

Page 80: ...to all questions 1 From the student response list select the name of a student 2 Make sure the cursor is blinking next to that student s name and press a D A warning appears 3 Type Y to delete type N...

Page 81: ...74 AlphaQuiz User s Guide Special situations during test taking To view the quiz access password X From the student response list press a A The access password if it exists appears...

Page 82: ...d completed quiz responses from your students AlphaSmart devices Control which quizzes are loaded onto AlphaSmart devices Power up and shut down all connected AlphaSmart devices Grade quizzes Assign p...

Page 83: ...ing the menus and control bar The menus and control bar in QuizManager allow you to move quickly through quiz management tasks File menu Commands on the File menu let you open close save set up and pr...

Page 84: ...tudent response set you re viewing Save Ctrl S PC a S Mac Saves the student response set you re viewing Save As none Lets you save the student response set you re viewing under a different name Page S...

Page 85: ...typing Mac Ctrl Z PC a Z Mac Lets you undo your last action Cut Ctrl X PC a X Mac Cuts selected text Copy Ctrl C PC a C Mac Copies selected text Paste Ctrl V PC a V Mac Pastes text that s been cut or...

Page 86: ...o the buttons on the QuizManager control bar Communication command Keystroke What it does Send Quiz none Downloads a quiz from your desktop computer to AlphaSmart devices Delete Quiz none Deletes a qu...

Page 87: ...lp menu offer context sensitive assistance while you re grading quizzes or compiling reports Power On AlphaSmarts none Turns power on to all AlphaSmart devices connected to an AlphaHub or by direct US...

Page 88: ...your default browser if it can t find a default browser it then searches for Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator If the browser is not currently running QuizManager launches it when you access Hel...

Page 89: ...of numbered indicators identifies each connected AlphaSmart device These indicators are Black if no AlphaSmart devices are connected or if the connected AlphaSmart device has a version of AlphaWord p...

Page 90: ...at it does Sends a quiz to connected AlphaSmart devices Removes questions and responses for a particular quiz from connected AlphaSmart devices Uploads students responses without removing that quiz or...

Page 91: ...through an AlphaHub or by a direct USB cable Tip If a connected device s indicator light is black disconnect the device and turn it on Then reconnect it to the AlphaHub or your computer 2 Click Send...

Page 92: ...quiz access password for the devices type a password in the Access Password field Leave this field blank if you don t want students to have to enter a password Note Changing the quiz access password...

Page 93: ...re you have retrieved student responses for a quiz before deleting that quiz from AlphaSmart devices If you simply delete the quiz without having done so the quiz and its associated student responses...

Page 94: ...mes of all of the quizzes loaded on all of the AlphaSmart devices the list could be fairly long 4 Enter the administrative password for a quiz if an empty text box appears next to its name 5 Repeat St...

Page 95: ...ch might be useful if some students did not complete the quiz before the end of class To retrieve student responses 1 Make sure the AlphaSmart devices are connected to an AlphaHub or to your computer...

Page 96: ...heckboxes next to their names You can use the Select All or Select None buttons to speed up the process QuizManager automatically selects any responses that have not yet been retrieved 5 If you want t...

Page 97: ...ns so you can grade the quiz and report on students results See the section Grading quizzes on page 94 for more information on the grading process Deleting students responses Once you have retrieved a...

Page 98: ...if an empty text box appears next to its name 5 Click OK A message appears saying that the selected responses were deleted Turning on power to AlphaSmart devices If the connected AlphaSmart devices ha...

Page 99: ...lphaSmart devices X Click Power Off AlphaSmarts on the QuizManager control bar or choose Communication Power Off AlphaSmarts The Power Off and Power On buttons change appearance and all connected Alph...

Page 100: ...Make sure you have retrieved responses page 88 and are viewing the student response document to which you want to assign points Alternatively choose File Open to open a response document you ve previ...

Page 101: ...ion enter zero The percentages adjust automatically as you edit the values in the points fields 5 Click OK when you re done Grading quizzes Once you ve retrieved student responses to your computer you...

Page 102: ...f you click a particular class that class is selected If you click a student s name then click Grade the Grading window for that student appears You can also select multiple students or an entire clas...

Page 103: ...izzes you want to grade If you want to work through the entire list sequentially deselect any class or student by clicking below the last name in the list 3 Click the Grade button at the bottom of the...

Page 104: ...ke Note however that question remarks you entered while you were designing the quiz appear in the Remarks section of a report and you cannot edit these remarks in QuizManager 7 When you have graded al...

Page 105: ...r creates a report only for that selection either student or class If you want the report you choose to include your entire roster be sure to deselect any class or student by clicking below the last n...

Page 106: ...zzes and Printing Reports 99 Printing reports To print a grading sheet 1 Make sure you re in the Student Response window for the quiz for which you want a grading sheet 2 Click Reports The Reports win...

Page 107: ...100 AlphaQuiz User s Guide Printing reports 3 Select Grading Sheet from the Report Types list on the left 4 Select the options you want for the grading sheet from the choices on the right...

Page 108: ...ation student by student 6 Use the scroll bar to move down through the student names and questions 7 Click Print to print the grading sheet QuizManager automatically prints each student s responses on...

Page 109: ...s on a separate page You have several options as to what information to include on the corrected quiz full text of all questions and possible answers entire student responses correct answer for each q...

Page 110: ...ading Quizzes and Printing Reports 103 Printing reports 3 Select Corrected Quiz from the Report Types list on the left 4 Select the options you want for the corrected quiz from the choices on the righ...

Page 111: ...ve if you want to save this student s corrected quiz information to a text file 8 To view another student s corrected quiz select a student from the student dropdown list 9 Click Done when you re fini...

Page 112: ...ent Response window for the quiz summary you want to print 2 Click Reports The Reports window appears 3 Select Quiz Summary from the Report Types list on the left 4 Select the options you want for the...

Page 113: ...ral options as to what information to include in a statistical report average scores median scores high and low scores score distribution or a summary of questions students answered incorrectly To pri...

Page 114: ...o save the statistical report to a text file 8 Click Done when you re finished Exporting student quiz scores QuizManager lets you export student quiz scores into a computer based grade book applicatio...

Page 115: ...rade book application export a student roster and save the roster as a text file if you want QuizManager to try and match names between quiz scores and your application s student roster 2 In QuizManag...

Page 116: ...rowse to select a roster file if you exported a roster from your grade book application 5 Click Export If you are using a roster file QuizManager scans the response set and compares the names to the r...

Page 117: ...t and click OK Alternatively you can click Skip to bypass exporting that student s score click Skip All to bypass exporting all conflicting student names and scores or click Cancel to stop the export...

Page 118: ...es the student response to a short answer question have to be spelled correctly Is it case sensitive If you are using QuizManager s auto grading capability for a short answer question the spelling of...

Page 119: ...ty one AlphaSmart devices at once with QuizManager Can a student spell check an essay question Spell Check cannot be used directly within AlphaQuiz although it can be used in other SmartApplets such a...

Page 120: ...en the first set of responses again Is it possible to print a quiz from the teacher s computer AlphaQuiz provides a range of printing options Reports including grading sheets corrected quizzes quiz su...

Page 121: ...an be opened with a spreadsheet program or imported into a gradebook program It can also work with a roster exported from a gradebook package allowing the teacher to manually correlate mismatched name...

Page 122: ...z was selected for the quiz In this case the AlphaSmart device starts up with the message The other applets including AlphaWord cannot be used because a quiz has not been marked as finished Press any...

Page 123: ...116 AlphaQuiz User s Guide...

Page 124: ...here are a few reasons why this situation might occur That AlphaSmart device may be powered off or may have a version of AlphaWord earlier than v1 4 installed Make sure the AlphaSmart device is powere...

Page 125: ...Smart devices If there are any responses for other quizzes stored on the AlphaSmart devices use QuizManager to retrieve them Then print any response sets for the lost quiz on each AlphaSmart device or...

Page 126: ...stions student responses correct answers and teacher comments among other elements Create a quiz Compose test questions using QuizDesigner Delete a quiz To clear or erase a quiz and any associated stu...

Page 127: ...that they have completed the quiz This can be thought of as equivalent to handing in a quiz on paper and can be helpful in avoiding later misunderstanding as to whether the student intended to answer...

Page 128: ...sponses document in QuizManager Send quiz To download a quiz from the teacher s computer to students AlphaSmart devices Student password A personal word or phrase that each student may optionally be r...

Page 129: ...122 AlphaQuiz User s Guide...

Page 130: ...ngdom www alphasmart com international all other countries If you can t find the information you re looking for on the web site use the contact information listed in this appendix United States Techni...

Page 131: ...com Latest support information www alphasmart eu support Select your country or region Purchase AlphaSmart products www alphasmart com international This url also provides a list of resellers and Alp...

Page 132: ...points 9 92 automatic grading 94 B blank answers 65 C Calculator 36 39 73 changing font size 56 changing finished status 72 checking quiz status 71 class number 37 clearing student responses 90 codes...

Page 133: ...ions 25 29 P passwords admin 23 entering 61 quiz access 74 student passwords 39 viewing students 72 points assigning 9 92 powering off AlphaSmarts 92 powering on AlphaSmart devices 91 previewing a qui...

Page 134: ...izManager 75 Communications menu 79 control bar 82 Edit menu 78 File menu 76 Help menu 80 R rearranging questions 44 removing student responses 90 reports 97 printing 97 printing a correct quiz report...

Page 135: ...uestion to question 64 marking as finished 66 printing a finished quiz 67 saving quiz to AlphaWord 67 teacher options 69 toolbar QuizDesigner 20 troubleshooting 117 true false questions 25 27 types of...

Page 136: ...Renaissance Learning Inc www alphasmart com 061222...

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