How to Create a Quiz or Exam in D2L

Purpose

Use this document to learn how to create a quiz or exam in D2L for student assessment.

Topics

• Considerations
• Create Quiz
• Properties Tab
• Restrictions Tab
• Exam Accommodations
• Assessment Tab
• Submission Views Tab
• Save Quiz / Changing the settings

Considerations

D2L has the functionality to offer multiple question types, such as multiple choice, short answer, true/false, matching, etc. and it is centrally supported at MSU.

As for most online exams, there are varying levels of security measures that must be taken into account to discourage cheating. Providing access to the same multiple-choice exam, over an extended period of time, without randomization, makes sharing answers far too easy.  Imposing the strictest levels of security has its own drawbacks on access, fairness, and flexibility. To level the playing field among all students, some faculty are choosing to make exams open book. 

Changing your assessment approach is an option if you are uncomfortable with exams in an unproctored setting. Creating more short answer, essay, or critical thinking work will require students to submit more individualized answers. This is harder to do at scale because of the time it takes to assess. Also consider how students may feel about major changes in course expectations, especially if new assignments will increase workload. 

It will take longer for students to take an exam online than in-person on paper. Instructors should consider decreasing the length of exams to avoid assessments longer than the class period. 

More secure online options are available, however some require additional funds (e.g., Remote Proctor Now opens in new window costs $15 per student per exam). Another option recently made available at no cost to students, is the combination of Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor opens in new window. The additional technical learning curves, privacy, and requirements also need to be considered. The university is recommending instructors do not choose this option unless absolutely necessary. 

There are still means to promote student integrity without relying on proctoring by learning more about quiz creation and available features.

Create Quiz

After logging into D2L, select the course where you want to add the quiz by clicking on the Course Selection icon in the top menu.

Click on Quizzes from the Assessments menu in the navigation bar or from the Course Admin area.

Choose “New Quiz”

Properties Tab

Name the quiz

To deter cheating, you can prevent right click attempts and/or turn off the ability for the student to use D2L mail or Instant Messages during a quiz attempt.

Restrictions Tab

Note that the initial setting “Hide from Users” is checked. A hidden quiz will not be viewable by students. The title of a hidden quiz will not even be visible. You can show that the quiz is there and still make it unavailable by unchecking the Hide setting and adding a start date.

Set Start and End Dates 

This is the time-frame when students can access the quiz. It is not the time limit of the exam. For the example below, the quiz is available to students for a 24-hour period. Students can begin at any point during this time period and still have the full amount of time allotted to complete it. Again, the end-time does not require that the quiz be submitted at this time. That means a student could log in at 11:58 pm and still be able to complete the quiz.

Recommend to your students that they try to complete the exam well before the end time. Many students may be using D2L at the same time and a small lag or other issue could occur. If the students are still taking the quiz past the end time, and run into such a problem, a browser refresh will kick them out of the quiz, and they will not be able to log back in. 

Set the time limit for the quiz.

This is the length of time the student has to complete the quiz once they have begun. A recommended time limit is not enforced but gives students an idea of what is expected for time-on-task. If you want to limit how long they are able to work, use an enforced time limit.

Exam Accommodations

If you have students with an RCPD VISA for time extensions on quizzes and exams, or if you have make-up exams, you can create special accommodations for those individuals.

Below Timing on the “Restrictions” tab, choose “Allow selected users special access to this quiz,” and then click “Add Users to Special Access.”

When the Special Properties window opens, you can alter the characteristics of the quiz.

• Is a student taking it earlier or later than the rest of the class? Change the Start and End dates.

• Does a student have a time extension? Change the Enforced Timing limit.

1. First, select the student(s) at the bottom.
2. Then make edits to the quiz characteristics above.
3. Then click Save.

You will need to repeat this for different individuals that have different settings.

D2L is working on a new Accommodations Profile feature that will streamline this process. We will announce it at MSU when it's ready.

Assessment Tab

Allow the system to auto-grade

Determine if you want D2L to auto-grade the quiz attempt. This works well for multiple choice, true-false, matching, or short answers. If there are any written response (WR), essay questions, the system will give a partial score of the auto-graded items and inform students that the written responses are yet to be graded. 

If you choose this option and have a mix of multiple choice and short answer, it is important to let students know ahead of time that their initial grade will not be correct and that you will need to manually grade all written responses.

Create and Associate a Grade Item.

For students to be able to view their scores in the gradebook, you need to associate a grade item. If you do not already have an existing item, click on “[add grade item]” to create one.

Name the grade item (using the same name as the quiz is recommended) and determine the number of points. Matching the total points for the quiz (found under the questions on the Properties tab) is recommended but it is also possible to have differing values. For example, you might have multiple quizzes with a different number of questions and different totals, but you want them all to be worth 10 points in the gradebook.

After adding a gradebook association, you can check “Allow automatic export to grades” and the auto-graded score will be sent to grades.

Set the number of attempts 

Also determine how many attempts you want students to have. Often low stakes quizzes can have multiple attempts to make sure students learn the material, whereas high stakes exams often only have one attempt. 

If you choose more than one attempt, decide how you want the grade calculated; highest score, average score, etc… using the dropdown options. 

Submission Views Tab

After students complete the quiz, you can allow them to review the questions. The default setting prevents viewing questions and answers, and only shows the overall quiz score. 

If you would like to allow students to review their work, click on “Add Additional View.” Students will not see feedback on questions unless you show the questions.

1. Name the view (i.e., Exam Review) - students do not see the name.
2. Determine when you want the view to be available to students. 
3. Set the date when the view will be available.
   • Setting the date as the start date will allow students to review as soon as they finish.
   • Setting the date and time after the exam end date will allow students to review after the exam closes for everyone.

SET THE DETAILS OF THE VIEW 

• Can students see questions?

• If so, how much information will you give - all questions (show all questions with user responses), only those answered correctly or incorrectly?

• Can they see their score on that question? 

• Can students see the question answers?

The following example is probably the most common quiz review setting for students to see how they did after the end date. 

Save the additional submission view to return to the tab settings.

If you want the review period to be limited (i.e., one day), create another additional view. Set the time for when you want review access to stop, and set view details to Show Questions? No. 

SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Leave the starting Default view at "No" so that you do not show the questions when the students first submit it. It is easy for students to copy this page for "sharing" with others.
• Add an Additional View to show the questions (select "Yes") and select "Show all questions with user responses,"  as well as "Show question score and out of score."
• Finally, add another Additional View to go back to "No" and set the date to the end of the semester so that the question view is not left open after a course copy.

Save Quiz / Changing the Settings

Moving from tab to tab will save your quiz settings as you go. Make sure to click "Save and Close" when finished.

You can change the settings before or after the quiz becomes available. However, understand that each student will only be able to complete the quiz with the settings that were present at the time they started the quiz.

Warning: Do not change any of the questions after students have started submitting or the statistics will be wiped out for those questions.