A test is a container and the items are its content. A short form defines the container; the items are then added one at a time, selecting for each the format that matches the learning outcome to be assessed. Nine formats are available and six of them are scored automatically.
The first form is short: it registers the test and its classification data. The name identifies it in your list; the description records what it was designed to assess, which is what makes it reusable a year later.
None of these settings is definitive: the same form can be reopened from the list of tests at any time.
Click on any image to see it full size.
From the item list of the test, "Add item" opens the format selector rather than a blank form: it asks first WHAT is to be assessed and in what way. Every format is documented on that screen, so that the decision is made with the information at hand, and the selected one opens its own form.
Nine formats are available. Six are scored automatically, two are informational and do not contribute to the score, and one — the open response — requires manual marking.
Whatever the format, the upper half of the form is always the same, so the procedure learnt with the first item applies to all the rest.
Below that common section, each format requests only what is specific to it: the options, the pairs, the images, the video or the text with the gaps.
The description of each format below is the same text the platform displays when the format is selected, and the screenshots are the actual forms.
Automatic scoring
The student reads a question, optionally illustrated with a picture, and picks a single answer from the text options you define (between two and five). Only one option is correct: you mark it when you create the item. This is the most common type for checking specific knowledge quickly and objectively. Marking is automatic and all-or-nothing: right if the student picks the correct option, wrong if they pick another one; if they do not answer, the item is left blank. It is ideal for revision questions, comprehension quizzes and multiple-choice exams where you want to cover a lot of content in little time.
Manual scoring
The student answers by writing freely in a text box, at whatever length they need. This is the right type for essay questions, reasoned opinions, definitions in the student's own words, or exercises where what matters is how they argue and express themselves. As there is no single closed answer, marking is not automatic: the answer is flagged as pending and you are the one who reviews it and awards the score from the results screen. It gives you very rich qualitative insight into the student's reasoning, at the cost of manual marking. You can record a reference answer to help you while marking.
Automatic scoring
Shows two columns of texts that the student has to match: each item on the left goes with its counterpart on the right. It is useful for pairing concepts with definitions, terms with examples, causes with effects or dates with events. You define the correct pairs when you create the item and the system shuffles the order so that the student really has to work out the correspondence. Marking is automatic and allows partial credit: the score is proportional to the number of pairs matched correctly, so getting some right already counts. It is a very clear format for revising vocabulary and relationships between ideas.
Automatic scoring
Shows a single picture next to the question along with several text options (between two and five), of which only one matches the picture. The student looks at the picture and picks the text that goes with it. It is useful for identifying what the picture shows — a map, a work of art, a diagram, an animal, a road sign — and linking it to its name, description or function. You upload the picture and define the options and the correct one when you create the item. Marking is automatic and all-or-nothing: right or wrong; with no answer, it is left blank. It draws on visual memory and works very well where the image is an essential part of the content.
Automatic scoring
This is a multiple-choice question whose answers are pictures: given a text or a prompt, the student picks the correct picture among the ones you upload (between two and five), of which only one is valid. It is useful for visually recognising an object, an artwork, a chart, a geometric figure or a scene that meets the condition in the question. You upload each picture-option and mark the correct one when you create the item. Marking is automatic and all-or-nothing, just like in text multiple choice. It is perfect when what you are assessing is visual identification and describing the answer in words is not enough.
Informational: not scored
Embeds a YouTube video inside the test so that the student watches it as part of the activity. It is an informational item: it does not ask a question or expect an answer, so it does not score. It is used to introduce a topic with an explanatory video, or to show an experiment, a news report or a clip that gives context to the questions that follow. You only have to paste the link or the YouTube video id and the system displays it, ready to play, on the test page. Combine it with answer items placed right after it to assess what the student has learnt from the video.
Automatic scoring
The student reads a question, optionally illustrated with a picture, and answers by picking an option from a single drop-down menu with between two and five alternatives that you define, of which only one is correct. It works just like multiple choice, but in a more compact format: the options are not shown as a list of radio buttons but collected inside the drop-down. Marking is automatic and all-or-nothing: right if they pick the correct option, wrong if they pick another one; if they leave the drop-down unselected, the item is left blank. It is handy for completing a sentence or deciding between similar alternatives.
Informational: not scored
Shows only a text, with no question and no answer field. It is an informational item that does not score and is used to give instructions, introduce a block of questions, provide a reading passage, a quotation or the context the student needs before answering the items that follow. It lets you structure the test into sections and guide the student with explanations in between, instead of stringing questions together one after another. It accepts the same rich text formatting as any other question. Place it before a group of related questions so the student has all the information they need in front of them.
Automatic scoring
Shows a text with gaps that the student fills in by typing the missing word or phrase in each one: while writing the question you wrap each answer in braces and the system turns it into a gap. There are no options in sight: the student has to recall and type the answer, which demands a firmer grasp of the content. It is ideal for vocabulary, dates, formulas, key terms or completing definitions. Marking is automatic and allows partial credit: each correct gap adds its proportional share of the score. By default the comparison ignores capitals and accents, although you can require both when you create the item.
Multiple-choice items — both the text and the image variants — can be filed in the item bank of the school as they are written: a checkbox at the end of the form stores the item in the bank as well as in the test.
The bank is shared by the whole teaching staff of the school. What one teacher writes, the rest can reuse: a department that spends a term drafting items ends up with a common repository instead of ten private folders. The remaining formats stay within their test, which is where they are meaningful.
The test is assigned from "Assign a test to the whole group", with one access code for the group, or from "Assign a test to individual students", with one code per student. Students require no account, no email address and no password: they open the home page, enter the code — with the group code they also select their name from the class list — and respond.
Everything that admits automatic scoring is marked as soon as the student finishes. The open responses remain in "Tests results", where they are read and marked one by one. From there the platform provides the marks of the whole group — also in CSV, for a spreadsheet —, the detail of each student and a report in PDF.
In "Tests and items management", in the "Tests & items" section of the menu, the "Add test" button opens the same form shown at the top of this page. The user manual documents the whole procedure screen by screen.
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