This month's tech tip has two parts. The first shows how to change the default point value in Respondus when importing questions from MS Word or other formats. The second part shows how to change point values across question types that are already in Respondus.

Setting Points Values for Question Imports
When using Respondus to import questions, each question is given a default point value of "1." To change this default value, do the following:

1. Select File from the menu bar
2. Select Preferences
3. Click the Edit & Publish tab
4. Enter the desired value for the item "Point value for questions..."
5. Click [OK]

If the learning system supports fractional values, those can be entered as the desired point value.

Changing Point Values for Questions in Respondus
Changing the point value for a question in Respondus is easy – you just edit the question and change the value. But, let's say you have a large Respondus file where you want to make all multiple choice questions worth 5 points, all the essay questions worth 10, and the true-false questions worth 2 points. To accomplish this, you need to create a new Respondus file and then copy questions from the original file to it. During the copy process, you can assign the new point values.

Here are step-by-step directions on how to do this:

1. Select the "Exam Wizard" from the Start menu.
2. Select "Create a new exam and copy questions to it..."
3. Provide a name and description for the new file.
4. Select the file in which you want to modify the point values, and click [Next].
5. From the "Source File" pull-down list, select the file again so that the numbers of questions available for each question type are displayed.
6. In the "Number to Select" column for each type of question, enter the same number that appears in the "Available to Select" column. Then enter the desired point value wanted for that question type.
7. Select "Add to End of List" and continue to end of the wizard.

At the end of the wizard, the questions with the new point values are copied to the new file.

For more tech tips on Respondus products, visit our newsletter archive at http://www.respondus.com/update/index.shtml.

Related Articles:
Tech Tip: Batch Publishing an Assessment
Respondus to the Rescue
Importing MS Word 2007 (.docx) files with Respondus 3.5
Training Resources for Respondus Products

Source: Respondus, Inc. (www.respondus.com)
Originally Published: August 18, 2009

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