The Pool Manager feature allows instructors to store questions for repeated use. Pools are course specific, although pools can be imported from one course to another and shared between instructors. Questions can be added to the Pool from other tests, surveys, and pools by clicking Find Questions. Questions can also be added to the test from a local file by clicking the Upload Questions button.

Note 1: Pools are not quizzes – pool questions cannot be accessed by students until they has been added to a survey or exam and assigned through the Content Area sections (Course Information, Course Documents, and Assignments).

Note 2: Rubrics can be added to Essay, File Response, and Short Answer questions and used for grading. Questions of these types with associated rubrics display an icon next to the question to indicate the association. Rubrics can be associated with these question types during creation or editing.

Note 3: Import Pool – Only Pool packages created by the system can be imported. Files within the .ZIP cannot be edited before they are imported.

 

The below steps guide you how to build a pool of questions.

With Edit Mode On:

With Edit Mode On:

1. Under the Control Panel, on the bottom left side of the page, click on Course Tools and then click onTests, Surveys, and Pools.

2. Click on the Pools link.

3. Click on the Build Tools button
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4. Type the name of the pool in the Name field, the description in the Description field, and the instructions in the Instructions field.

5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

You will be presented with your pool canvas window.

6. Hover the Create Question button and then choose a question to add

1. Click on the Create button. 
2. To create question(s) hover over Create Question, Blackboard presents you with many questions types, choose a suitable question type from the drop-down list from the drop down list.
3. Follow the instructions below for the specific question type.Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the OKbutton.

    

    

    

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Question Types

For each question you get the opportunity to enter correct and incorrect feedback as well as assign a question to a category (for example based on the level of difficulty etc). Also Instructor Notes are instructions are visible to Instructors using the Pool Canvas. This is a good place to describe any special instructions for using the questions in the Pool. These instructions will not appear in the Test where the questions are added.

Multiple Choice

1. Type the question into the Question Text field.
   
2. Choose the positioning and type of numbering for the question. Select the number of answers that you want for the question.
   
3. Type the answers into the Answer field and click on the Correct box next to the correct answer.
   
4. Click on the Remove button next to the Answer if not needed.
   
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

True/False

1. Type the Question Title and the actual question into the Question Text field.
2. Set the answer orientation dropdown or leave the default.
3. Click on the radio button next to either True or False for the answer.
   
4. Set any correct and incorrect feedback for the students to view upon selecting either true or false.
5. Set any Instructor Notes if necessary in the Instructor Notes field.
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

Multiple Answer

1. Type the question into the Question Text field.
   
2. Choose the number of answers in the Number of Answers pull down list.
3. Type the answers into the Answer field and check on the Correct box next to the correct answers.
4. Click on the Remove button next to the Answer if not needed.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

Ordering

 

1. Type the question into the Question Text field(s) and the answers in the Answer text field(s).
2. 
3. Select the order for the questions and answers
   
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

Matching

1. Type the question into the Question Text field.
   
2. Choose the number of questions in the Number of Questions pull down list. Type the questions into the Questionfield(s) and the answers in theAnswer filed(s).
   
3. Match each question item to the correct answer from the Match pull down list.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

Fill in the Blank

1. Type the question into the Question Text field.
   
2. Choose the number of answers in the Number of Answers pull down list. Type the answers into the Answer field(s).
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

 

Essay

1. Type the question into the Question Text field.
   
2. Enter an example of an answer, to assist graders, in the Answer field. 
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

Once you built a pool of questions, when you build you're test in Blackboard you can choose to select questions from your pool set. Find more on creating tests

After you have entered you're basic test information and have the 'Test canvas' window open, here you can choose to select questions from your pool set. By selecting the 'Reuse Question' , you can create a 'Question Set', 'Create a Randon Block' and search questions using the 'Find Questions' option.

Instructors can create a Question Set by searching and selecting questions, determining the number of points per question and then choosing the number of questions to display to the user. If the number of questions to be displayed is less than the list of questions (example: 3 out of 50), then the questions are randomly distributed so that each user may be viewing a different set of three questions. The Instructor can choose to display the same questions to all users by selecting all the questions listed.

Browsing Criteria

 

Use the drop-down lists to search for questions based upon the following criteria:

* Pools

* Tests

* Question Types

* Categories

* Topics

 

Criteria Summary

As criteria are selected from the Browse Criteria section, the questions are displayed in a table. The selected criteria are displayed above the table in a list as a reference.

Selected Questions

Each question that is selected from the Criteria Summary table is added to this list. Use the Show List/Hide List toggle to display the list of selected questions. Questions can be removed from the list by clicking the X icon next to the question.

 

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More Information

Q: How do I add an image, URL, or file to my question?
A: If you would like to add an image, URL or file to your question, click on the Creation Settings, at the top of the test canvas page. From there you can choose to provide feedback to individual answers, add images, files and URLs to questions, add images and files to answers, and add categories to questions.

Q: What are the Correct and Incorrect Response fields for?
A: If you choose to enable Show Feedback, students will see the text you place in these fields when they get the results of their quiz (specific to answering the question correctly or incorrectly). This area may be used for encouragement, for example, "Good job" or to point to a more specific information, "Incorrect, review chapter 15."

Q: I would like to add a new question between question 4 and 5. How do I do this?
A: Create a question as you normally would and once you’re done, drag and drop the question where you would like it to be place in the ordering.

Q: I finished my Pool and saved it. Now I want to make a change and add more questions. How do I do that?
A: Click on the double down arrow, or chevron, next to the name of the test. Click on either Edit the Test orEdit the Test Options.

Q: Can I add pooled questions into a test or survey?
A: From the Test Canvas page, hover over the Reuse Question button and click on Find from Pool or Test. Then choose a test or pool to search from and check the type of questions you are looking for. ClickSearch. Check the boxes next to the questions you want then click on the Add Selected button