Buzz Editor: Creating Assessments

This article outlines steps for creating assessments in Buzz.

ARTICLE QUICK LINKS 

This article includes the following primary sections.  Use these links to navigate directly to the section. 

INITIAL SETUP

Buzz has three primary options for creating assessments or graded work.

  • A Buzz Assessment is an online assessment that can contain multiple choice, multiple answer, matching, ordering, and essay questions.
  • A Buzz Assignment is an activity that allows a teacher to create an item that will be added to the Gradebook. In this type of assessment, you determine how a student submits this work.
  • Adjusting the Gradebook and submission settings on an existing activity allows you to make any activity a gradable item within your course. Marking an activity gradable means it will appear in the student and teacher gradebooks and can have submissions.

To add an assessment, navigate to the Editor from the Home Page or the Main Menu.

In the Editor, navigate to the folder where you want to add an Assessment.

Click the plus sign.

Choose Assessment.

Within the Activity Editor, you will find three tabs.

  • The ACTIVITY tab is where you will title your item.
  • The SETTINGS tab allows you to create or edit the properties of the assessment.
  • The QUESTIONS tab allows you to Edit all questions, Link to existing questions, or Create new questions.

Initial Setup

Within the ACTIVITY tab of the Activity Editor, begin by entering a Title.

Next, include any necessary Content, Attachments, and other supporting materials.

For example, you can add a Calculator that can be incorporated into the assessment.

TIP: For an existing assessment, you can add attachments or other support material to customize expectations for your students.

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SETTINGS OPTIONS

Within the SETTINGS tab, you will see a variety of tiles. In the sections that follow, you will find a brief description of each tile as well as typical setting changes Lincoln Learning Solutions adjusts from the default settings. Each of these setting areas, however, can be adjusted to meet the needs of your classroom.

Activity Settings

Activity settings is where you can determine the number of attempts, number of questions per page, and whether students can save and continue. Additionally, you can adjust whether all questions are required to be answered and whether question and/or response orders are randomized or not.

Lincoln Learning Solutions typically changes the following settings in this tile while leaving the rest as default settings:

  • Change Number of attempts to 1
  • Change Questions per page to 1.

For a traditional course, the Activity settings is also where you can determine a Due date by checking the Due date box. Next, determine the date and time and whether you Allow late submissions.

Gradebook and Submission Settings

Gradebook and submission 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.

TIP: To alter the point value, change the weight in category and leave Grading scale (points) blank or ensure they both match.

Assessment Review Settings

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.

Assessment Pool Settings

Within Assessment pool settings, only change the Desired number of questions if the number of questions you created exceeds the number of questions you would like to display on the assessment.

Visibility and Access Settings

Visibility and access is where you can set up activity visibility and access rules. For example, if you want pre-setup assessments, you can use Visibility and access to select Block student access until a specified date. Additionally, you can set a password that locks students out of the assessment until the password is provided.

Advanced Assessment Options

Within the Advanced assessment options, you can determine whether the assessment has a time limit, the default score for each question, and the number of minimum attempts. Additionally, you can turn on various options to modify the student experience.

For the option of printing the assessment, check the Allow printing option.

Additional Settings

Within the Settings tab, you can also access the following areas to make additional adjustments.

  • Badges: Here you can setup badges that will be automatically awarded to students who successfully complete the activity.

TIP: To learn more about auto-assigning badges, check out the Creating and Auto-Assigning Badges article.

  • Metadata: Here is where you can edit the description and other metadata such as identifying Big Picture, Essential Questions, and identifying Vocabulary and Resources.
  • Advanced activity options: Here you can determine how the activity is marked completed. If you want students to receive a passing score, you can select that option under Mark as complete when the student. You can also check the box Student must complete this activity before continuing to the next one if you desire.
  • Advanced gradebook options: These options allow you to check settings such as:
    • Set the passing score for the activity
    • Require a passing score for course credit
    • Include the activity’s score in the students’ final grade calculation
    • Treat as zero in gradebook until this activity is scored
  • Objective mastery: This setting allows you to align the activity with one or more objectives. Click CHOOSE OBJECTIVE to select the desired objectives.
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ADDING QUESTIONS

The Questions tab within an Assessment activity allows you to create questions for your assessment. First, select the plus sign to Create new question. 

Next, determine your question type by selecting from the dropdown next to Multiple Choice. Multiple Choice is the default question type.

Additionally, you will want to determine your point value for the question if it is not the same as the default point value you set for the assessment. This is found to the right of the question type.

Multiple Choice

A Multiple choice question begins with the question field and two choice options.

Click Type something in the field next to your question number to begin creating your question.

TIP: If you prefer to work in HTML, you can select the Text editor toggle to switch quickly to an HTML view.

If you have chosen to not toggle the Text editor, by clicking on Type something, a text editor will populate. You can use this to format your text. You can insert images, tables, and even create a bulleted list. This same text editor will appear when you select the Type something action for your choices, as well.

To insert an image, select the Insert media option from the text editor.

This will open the Insert media pop-up. You can Choose a media resource from files you have already uploaded that are sorted in your resources or select the cloud to insert one you have saved to your computer.

Select INSERT when you find your image.

To add another choice, select ADD CHOICE. You can also use the More Options icon to Remove a choice, Add feedback to a choice, or Toggle lock position in place. The Toggle lock is a great feature for when you use all of the above and you want to lock it as the bottom choice. Don’t forget to select the radio button next to the correct answer.

When you select Add feedback, you will see a blue box appear under the choice. Select Type something in the blue box to access the text editor.

Multiple Answer

Multiple answer questions can be created the same way as Multiple choice questions. However, you will notice that the radial buttons are now squares. This allows you to select multiple correct answers. Don’t forget to remind your students in the directions to select all that apply.

Matching

To create a Matching question, start by typing your initial question or instructions next to the question number.

Create each matching pair by typing in an option on the left and its match on the right. Click ADD MATCH to create additional sets.

IMPORTANT: If you have a matching question with 4 terms, but only 2 options, type the exact term for each correct option. When the question displays, it will eliminate the doubled term, if and only if, the two terms are typed exactly the same.

 

TIP: If your point value is the same as your number of matches and you select the Partial Credit option under the scoring properties, students can earn points for each correct match.

Ordering

To create an Ordering question, start by typing your initial question or instructions next to the question number. Click ADD ORDER ENTRY if you want to create additional items to order. Like Multiple Choice, two fields are provided by default.

You can type your entries in order if you have the responses randomized. If you don’t, remember to type your entries in a random order and update the Correct order field to the correct order you are looking for.

Essay

To create an Essay question, click in the empty space next to the question number and type in your essay details. You can also provide an Example Answer, which is recommended. Click on Type something after Example Answer to create your example. A workspace is provided for student responses.

TIP: To add feedback to an essay, click ADD FEEDBACK. If you include the feedback in the example answer, the student will see it displayed when the question is displayed, not after answering.

Additional Question Types

Fill in the Blank: This question type can be case sensitive.

Passage: Here, you can create a passage and then use the Passage ID to link questions directly to the created passage.

Matching Graphic Drag-and-Drop: Format Matching questions as graphic drag-and-drop interactions where you give students an image with targets, and a list of draggable answer options that they can drag and drop on those targets.

Multiple Answer Questions with Clickable Inline Answers: Put answers into sentences or after a question. Students can select all clickable dotted-line boxes they think are correct.

Multiple Answer Questions with Checkboxes: List text or image answers under the question with checkboxes next to them. Students can select all answer choices they think are correct.

Multiple Answer Graphic Hot Spot Questions: Give students an image with clickable hot spots that they can select to answer a question.

NOTE: If you would like additional details about creating the above advanced question type features, please reach out to our Professional Development team at training@lincolnlearningsolutions.org.

 Left Panel

You will see that your left panel contains each question you created in order. Below is a summary of each icon you will see in this area. Just click on a question in the left panel to edit.

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PROPERTY OPTIONS FOR EACH QUESTION TYPE

Once you have created your assessment question, you can set various properties associated to each question.

Calculator, for example, is an option that you can add a calculator, as needed, to an assessment or each individual question as needed.

Companion Material is also an option you can add to the entire assessment or individual questions. For example, if you are teaching a math course, a formula sheet might be a good companion material to include on individual questions.

An Essay question is the only question type listed that has a Rubric as an option. A PDF of a rubric might be a great question level companion material since students will only see the rubric after grading unless it is part of the question.

This chart compares the property options you can set for different question types.

Partial Credit Option

If you select the Partial Credit option, please check your question again at the top. You might need to adjust the partial credit earnings for each response.

This is also a great option to turn on for Matching questions. This way, if the student misses only some of the matches, they can still earn points for what they do match correctly.

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RUBRICS

Buzz rubrics utilize two features, Levels and Dimensions. Levels are the rubric’s column headers that define the level of mastery. Dimensions are the rubric’s row headers that define the components/criteria that will be evaluated.

Creating Rubrics

To use a rubric within an Essay question, locate the Score tile under the QUESTIONS tab.

Click the pencil icon next to Rubric.

TIP: If you would like this essay to be worth Extra credit, check the box.

Clicking the pencil icon will open your Edit rubric window where you can now create the Levels and Dimensions for your rubric.

The plus signs can be used to add these appropriately. Each Level and Criteria must be given a title.

Additionally, each criterion can have an associated point value. You can click on the space below the colored bar to type in the description.

As you add Levels and Dimensions, the point values for each criterion will evenly distribute between the levels.

Once you are finished with creating your rubric, click SAVE.

Uploading the Rubric PDF

TIP: If you want to provide this rubric to students, create a new rubric in Word and save as a PDF. This will then be uploaded as Companion material.

Within the essay question, locate the Companion material tile under the QUESTIONS tab. Click ADD MATERIAL.

Click the cloud icon to upload an existing document.

IMPORTANT: If your file is already found under Resources, you do not need to go through the steps to upload the file. Please click here to go to the steps for Selecting an Existing PDF.

Uploading your PDF to Resources

Within the pop-up window, select CHOOSE to browse your computer for the correct PDF.

You can now choose the Destination folder in which your file will live. Once the correct file is selected, click UPLOAD.

You will notice under Companion material, the PDF is now associated.

To delete the material, click the X.

To add another document to this essay, click ADD MATERIAL.

 

Selecting an Existing PDF

If the document you would like to associate with this essay has already been uploaded into the resources, you can just select it rather than uploading again.

To select an existing document, click File under Choose a course (.pdf) and a list of existing documents will appear. Click on the one you would like to include as a resource in this essay.

The resource will now appear under Companion material.

To delete the material, click the X.

To add another document to this essay, click ADD MATERIAL.

Save

Once you have completed your assessment creation, select SAVE.

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ADDING A BUZZ ASSIGNMENT

To add an assignment to your course, click the plus sign icon from within the folder to which you would like your assessment to be added. Choose Assignment.

Within the Activity Editor, you will find two tabs.

  • The ACTIVITY tab is where you will title your item.
  • The SETTINGS tab allows you to create or edit the properties of the assignment.

Creating the Assignment

Within the ACTIVITY tab of the Activity Editor, begin by entering a Title.

Next, create the details for the assignment. Content contains the needed directions and details students will see regarding this assignment.

This makes it easier to link to a Course resource, Website, or Google document. Additionally, you can create the assignment details directly within the Content area.

Finally, you can attach any additional needed items to support your students in the Attachments section. A rubric is always a great item to attach if students are submitting their assignments.

Gradebook and Submission Settings

Gradebook and submission is where you can determine the overall points of your assignment, just as you do with a Buzz Assessment. Additionally, for a Buzz Assignment, you will determine how your students submit their work. For Submission type, use the dropdown to select from the following options:

  • None
  • Single document
  • Multiple documents
  • Web address or URL
  • Notes only

 

TIP:  The Setting options for an Assessment and an Assignment are very similar, click here to access the details on SETTING OPTIONS found above. 

Saving

Once you have completed your assignment design, select SAVE.

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ADJUSTING GRADEBOOK SETTINGS FOR AN EXISTING ACTIVITY

If you already have an activity that you would like your students to complete for a score, you can adjust the Gradebook Settings and have this easily added to your Gradebook.

Please watch the Adjusting Visibility and Gradebook Settings teacher video below to learn more.

Run Time:  05:54

NOTE: Adjusting settings at the activity or assessment level may block global updates if applied, or updates must be applied manually post adjustment of settings at the activity or assessment level.

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