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Creating an online assessment directly in Smartgrade

Updated

BEFORE YOU START: in order to be able to create an assessment you need to activate a publisher profile. Also, if you want to use topics to group questions in your assessment, before setting up an assessment you'll need to create a topic library.

NOTE: Many publishers find it quicker to create online assessments via a spreadsheet upload. This help article explains how this process works.

Assessments are the main building blocks of Smartgrade. This article explains how to create online assessments and assign them to classes ready for your students to take. To create a regular paper-based assessment, please see this help article.

To create an online assessment:

  1. Navigate to the My Assessments module and ensure the My Assessments tab is selected.
  2. Click BUILD AN ASSESSMENT. 
  3. Enter information in the available fields:
    • Assessment Family - the grouping for a range of assessments. Note: this is how the system links together assessments in different subjects and assessment windows, so it's good practice to create and reuse a generic family, such as "[Org name] Online Assessments".
    • Title - this optional field can be used to add extra context to an assessment. It will appear in the Marketplace, on markbooks and in analysis. It could, for instance, be used to identify which assessment paper has been used.
    • Subject - the subject for which the assessment is being created.
    • Year - the year group for which the assessment is intended.
    • Assessment Window - the half term in which the assessment will be taken.
    • Academic Year - the year the assessment applies to (e.g. 2023/24).
    • Multiple Parts? - the number of parts that make up the assessment (e.g. select "2" if the assessment has a Part 1 and Part 2). Note - the number of parts defaults to 1 if you do not enter a number here.
    • Markscheme. This is visible only to customers who have requested the ability to upload different markschemes. If you do not see this dropdown, then a classic numeric markscheme will be used. 
    • Tiered papers? - we currently don't support tiered online assessments.
    • Whole grade data entry permitted? - for online assessments leave this turned off.
    • Upload question detail? - if you are creating the online assessment in Smartgrade rather than via a spreadsheet upload, then leave this off.
    • Online assessment? - turn this on (see screenshot above). Note - if you are not able to see the Online assessment slider, please contact help@smartgrade.co.uk 
  4. Select a topic library (optional). If no topic library is selected, topic-level analysis will not be available for the assessment. Note: you can only select a topic library associated with the subject chosen.
  5. Assign questions, answers, marks & topics:
    • First enter the number of questions on your assessment and click CHANGE. The table will update with the number of questions selected. 
    • (If required) Edit the question name to fit your preferred naming convention e.g. you may want to call the questions 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b etc.
    • Add the question text that you want the student to answer by clicking ENTER QUESTION in the Question Text column. 
    • Enter the total potential Marks for each question.
    • (If required) Select one or more topics to associate with the question from the selected topic library.
    • To enter answer(s) click on VIEW in the Answer(s) column.
      For a question which you are requiring a free text answer from the student, leave the radio button selected for Free text.  If you require more than one answer from the student, click the link to Add additional correct answer. 
      For a multiple choice question, tick the Multiple choice radio button. You will need to enter at least one correct and one incorrect answer. Click Add additional option to add either another correct or incorrect option. You can have a maximum of 5 options available for the student to select from. 
    • Click on Marking guidance to add any supporting information for teachers during marking (e.g. "Award 2 marks for 3 correct answers; award 1 mark for 2 correct answers.").
    • To add an image to appear below the question, please see this help article.
    • To use maths notation, either in the question text, or to enable maths notation for the answer please see this help article.
    • Add a breaker (optional).  If you wish to add a breaker to allow students to refocus, to give additional information or signal a new part of the assessment follow these instructions:            In the question detail area you can indicate where in the assessment you would like breakers. Using the dropdown options you can choose whether to position it before or after the specified question. Multiple breakers can be used in each part.

Insert the title of your breaker into the small box, any additional information can be added by pressing ENTER BREAKER TEXT.

This will then be displayed as a breaker message when the test is viewed.

  • If it is an assessment with more than one part, use the drop-down towards the top right of the page to select the next part to enter question details.
  • If you have included Multiple Choice Questions and would like the answer options to be in a consistent order so they can be read aloud to students, see this help article.
  • When all of your Question Detail is complete, press CONFIRM.

 

Add attachments (optional). Where prompted, select files for any of the following:

    1. Test file.
    2. Markscheme file.
    3. Other file.

Publish the assessment. Doing this will make the assessment visible in the MARKETPLACE. When publishing, you need to set two further options:

      1. Publish as - who you want the assessment to be shown as published by (i.e. with your own personal profile or your school / MAT's profile).
      2. Audience - who you want to be able to view and assign the assessment in the marketplace (yourself, your school, your MAT or "Global", to give access to any school/MAT using the platform).

Hints and tips

  • Make sure you think carefully about the Assessment Family used, and check with your MAT Administrator, if relevant, before setting up the assessment. The Assessment Family is how we group assessments together for analysis, so it becomes important later.
  • You can add/remove attachments from an assessment anytime - even after the assessment is published and markbooks have been created.
  • You can format question text (but not answer text) using the following markdown:
    • To bold a word / sentence add  **  either side, e.g. "This word is **bold**", would display in the test as "This word is bold".
    • To use italics add  _  either side, e.g. "I like to _highlight part of a sentence by using italics_", would display in the test as "I like to highlight part of a sentence by using italics".
    • To underline a word or words, use ~~ either side, e.g. "This ~~part of the sentence~~ is underlined", would display in the test as "This part of the sentence is underlined".
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