This article highlights for teachers details about the Lincoln Learning Assess Its and ways to adjust them within their LMS.
By design, Assess Its are the graded components in your course. Your students can complete two types of assessments: an online assessment or an upload assessment.
Online and Upload Assessments
An Online Assessment is one the student completes in the LMS. It will contain a variety of question types including matching, ordering, multiple answer, multiple choice, passage, and/or essay. Once the student submits the online assessment, it is ready for the teacher or system to grade. Examples include Checkpoints and Mastery Assessments.
An Upload Assessment appears only in traditional Empowered courses and not in auto-graded courses. This assessment type requires the student to complete original, authentic work and upload it to the LMS. Students can attach a variety of files and Google documents.
Lincoln Learning Standards
The Lincoln Learning curriculum is aligned based on subject-specific, grade-appropriate national standards, and state standards where applicable. English language arts and mathematics are written to fulfill national Common Core Standards. Science aligns with the NGSS Framework, and social studies unpacks the C3 Framework.
Although all Lincoln Learning Objects are written to be standards-aligned, Lincoln Learning assessments and individual assessment questions may not be aligned in your LMS. However, the standards aligned to the Lincoln Learning Objects are found in the course pacing guide.
In the Course Resources, select the Pacing Guide. In the Pacing Guide, you will be able to see all the Lincoln Learning content and to which standards the activities are aligned.
TIP: Download an Excel or PDF of your pacing guide for easy reference and to take course notes.
Adjusting Assessments in the LMS
Each LMS offers a variety of features that can modify and customize assessments. Select your LMS to see more information about Lincoln Learning Assessments in your LMS.
If you do not see your LMS listed, visit your LMS help center for assistance.
Buzz
Buzz uses the term Assessments for online assessments and Assignments for upload assessments.
Buzz has standard alignment applied.
Lincoln Learning Buzz Assessments Specifics
Within a Buzz Assessment, Lincoln Learning has a few default settings.
TIP: Review the Assessment Activity tab, Assessment Settings tab, and Questions tab details from Buzz Help Center to learn more.
In the Activity settings tile, the following settings are typically applied for Lincoln Learning Assessments:
- Number of attempts: Lincoln Learning Solutions' default is one attempt to take the assessment. If you would like your students to have multiple attempts at completing an assessment, you can change that here.
- Questions per page: LLS default is one question per page, but if creating your own, consider how you want the students to interact with the assessments. Keeping at one question per page helps to apply focused questioning for all students.
- Randomization: These two checkboxes help to ensure students are getting a different question order with a different response order.
The Gradebook and submission tile is where you can determine the overall points of your assessment. You can also identify the score entry type or whether the activity counts as extra credit.
- Weight in category defaults to 100. Score entry defaults to Percentage.
- Lincoln Learning Solutions typically changes the Score entry to Points.
By changing Score entry to Points, you will then see a Grading scale (points) that defaults to a blank. This results in the activity being worth 100 points.
The Assessment review is where you choose how students review assessment results. By default, all options are set as Always.
Lincoln Learning Solutions typically changes the following settings in this tile while leaving the rest as default settings:
- Display correct questions should be set to After minimum attempt.
- Display correct choices should be set to After minimum attempt.
- Display feedback should be set to After minimum attempt.
Review the Assessment review details from Buzz Help Center to learn more.
Assessment pool settings tile allows you to choose how many questions and the forms of those questions you want in your assessment. You can pool the questions by groups, learning objectives, or question type.
Lincoln Learning Solutions designs online assessments comprised of question pools that create a version of the assessment based on question type and/or a number of specified questions.
TIP: If you have a modification that may ask you to eliminate essay questions, this is where you can adjust how many questions are pulled per question group. It is important to map out your changes as eliminating questions in a pool will adjust the number of overall questions and potentially adjust points. Please see the example below for additional details.
Furthermore, Lincoln Learning uses some metadata tagging that may show in a pool. Review the Question metadata tips below.
EXAMPLE: 1-pt_LLS_MC means 1-point multiple-choice questions created by Lincoln Learning Solutions.
- Point = point per question
- LLS = Lincoln Learning Solutions-created
- CERT = Ceritca created
- Question Types
- MC = Multiple Choice
- MA = Multiple Answer
- MT = Matching
- O = Ordering
- E = Essay
- PE = Passage Essay
- PMC = Passage Multiple Choice
IMPORTANT: The assessment points correspond to the pool setup. If you adjust the number of questions for any type, your points will scale to the original points unless adjusted.
EXAMPLE: This assessment is worth 32 points, with eight 1-point multiple choice, one 2-point multiple answer, one 3-point multiple answer, one 3-point matching, one 4-point matching, six 1-point passage multiple choice, and two 3-point passage essay. If you eliminate one of the 3-point passage essays, the assessment will be scaled to 29 points. Therefore, if a student scores a 25 out of 29, that is equal to a 27.59 out of 32. However, if you eliminate one of the 3-point passage essays, you do have the ability to add three 1-point multiple choice questions and then the scale will stay the same.
Review the How do I use question pools? details from Buzz Help Center to learn more.
The Advanced assessment options tile allows you to add or disable features for your students’ assessments.
Here you can set a time limit, set the default question score, and set the minimum attempts you want your students to take. LLS default settings allow printing of all assessments with no time limit specified.
WARNING: Formative assessment will potentially excuse a student from previous or upcoming activities based on the standards associated. This should not be checked unless there is a specific use case.
IMPORTANT: An assessment password can be applied, but if you are doing forced progression, you may want to consider adding the password at the Visibility and access tile.
In the Advanced gradebook options, Lincoln Learning defaults to checking Score can be dropped from calculated course score and Include this activity’s score in final-grade calculation.
Additional Buzz Resources for Assessments
How do I create and use rubrics for activities and essay questions?
How do I create questions for Assessment and Practice questions activities?
What assessment tools can I enable for my students?
Lincoln Learning Buzz Assignments Specifics
By design, Lincoln Learning Solutions Empowered courses will contain a variety of authentic work. These can sometimes be in the form of an upload assessment. In our auto-graded courses, you will not see these types of exams.
In kindergarten through fifth grade, you will find a hidden Assess It Answer Key. In Grades 6th – 12th, you will typically find a hidden Show It and Show It Answer Key before the upload- assessment-style Assess It. The hidden Show It Answer Key can serve as an answer key.
Show Its that are not hidden can be made into graded activities. In the Gradebook and submission tile, you can adjust the settings of the Show It to allow for uploads, points, and more. Remember to hide the Answer Key if you make these adjustments.
Additional Buzz Resources for Assignments
Click here to return to the top of the article.
Canvas
Lincoln Learning curriculum utilizes New Quizzes in Canvas as the online assessments. Canvas uses the term Assignments for upload assessments.
Canvas does not have standard alignment applied.
Adding Outcomes to the Course
NOTE: Outcomes is Canvas’ term for standards.
View How do I create an outcome for a course? for instructions on how to create an outcome and How do I create outcome groups? for options on how to organize your outcomes.
TIP: From the pacing guide, copy the standard for which you want to create an outcome and paste the standard into the Name field in the Create Outcome modal.
Try using the Standard Description in the pacing guide to help create the name. Finally, locate the Learning Object(s) in the pacing guide, summarize the learning objective(s), and type that summarization into the Description text box in the Create Outcome modal. Also, use that summarization, changing it to first person for parent/student display, and type it into the Friendly description text box.
These Canvas steps should be completed to add a Lincoln Learning standard to an upload assessment.
TIP: Refer to the pacing guide to assist in locating the names of Lincoln Learning assessments.
IMPORTANT: Aligning standards to questions needs to be done before any students take the assessment.
Complete these Canvas instructions to add Lincoln Learning standards to individual Assess It Questions.
Additional Canvas Resources for Standards
Click here for the Outcomes topic in the Canvas Guides for teachers.
Click here for the Outcomes topic in the Canvas Guides for admins.
Click here to return to the top of the article.
Learning Tree
Learning Tree uses the term tests for online assessments and assignments for upload assessments.
Learning Tree has standard alignment applied.
Editing a Lincoln Learning Online Assess It
You may want to edit an Assess It, you want to remove questions due to hiding content in the course. Or, you may want to add your own questions into the question pool.
IMPORTANT: You cannot edit an Assess It in the Learning tab.
Begin by using the elastic search and search bar to locate the Assess It you would like to edit.
After locating the Assess It, click the More Options icon. From the pop-up menu, select Make a copy.
In the Test Details pop-up, give your test a name and click Save.
Your test was successfully cloned, and you will now find the test by selecting My Tests.
To edit the test, select the More Options icon on the test. From the pop-up, select Edit.
In Add/Edit Test, begin to customize your test by adding or editing details, adjusting the grading scale, and removing, adding, or ordering the question pool questions.
When you are finished editing your test, you can Share your test with individual users, Save it, or Print it.
To access your newly created test, you will either find it in My Tests or My Shared Tests depending on whether you shared the test with your organization.
Additional Learning Tree Resources for Tests
How Do I Customize My Test Using The ‘Test Detail’ Page?
Learning Tree Resources: Modifying (Copying) A Test (Article)
Making an Activity Gradable in Learning Tree
NOTE: These details are only applicable for activities already provided with the Lincoln Learning curriculum.
Teachers may want to make an LO activity an assignment to provide an opportunity to ask for additional authentic student work.
NOTE: In Learning Tree, an assignment is defined as an activity that allows teachers to add a description/instruction, rubric, and a student response box. It also offers students a place to upload authentic work for submission. An assignment can be either graded or ungraded.
Since LOs are already created in the system as an activity, when you adjust the settings, the ability to add descriptions/instructions, rubrics, and student response boxes will not be available. However, students will be able to upload authentic work for submission, and a teacher can determine if it’s graded or ungraded.
In the Add/Edit External Tool of the activity, you have the following options:
- Toggle Not an Assignment to say Is an Assignment
- Adjust Max Score
- Toggle Not Graded to Graded
IMPORTANT: Although you will see text boxes for Description/Instructions and Rubric, you will not be able to edit these areas. You will also not be able to use the Add New Rubric button.
After all adjustments are completed, click Save in the bottom-right corner. You will see a notification if saving your adjustments was successful.
NOTE: Remember to hide any corresponding Answer Keys (AKs) if you make an activity gradable.
Additional Learning Tree Resources for Assignments
How To Edit / Rescore The Assignments
How do I restrict students from viewing quiz results in New Quizzes?
Click here to return to the top of the article.
Please note the images found in this resource may not match your screen. Access and/or features may vary based on client contract.
© 2024 Lincoln Learning Solutions. All rights reserved.