Tech Corner: "Can you Help Me?"

We enjoy the e-mails we receive from customers who describe how Respondus solved one or more of their problems. One Respondus user told us that he obtained "hero status" at his college when he came up with a solution to convert exams from the course management system they previously used on their campus to the new system that was just installed. His solution was Respondus 2.0.

Then there was the instructor who took a position at a new college, only to learn that a different course management system was being used there. "I panicked," she wrote. "But then a trainer told me about Respondus." She told us it took about an hour to move all the exams from old courses to new ones. Another user who teaches at two different colleges wrote "I can't tell you how happy I am with the new version of Respondus! I use WebCT at [one college] and Blackboard at [the other college]. The two courses are essentially identical but I was going CRAZY having to create the same exam twice! I love, love, love the new version!!"

Respondus 2.0 was able to solve the above problems because it is designed to work with the leading course management and testing systems. Over the past few years there has been a lot of talk in the e-learning industry about "interoperability" (which is the ability to create content once and then be able to use it with a variety of e-learning systems), but Respondus is the first exam authoring tool that makes this a reality.

To us, interoperability is just one component of flexibility. Flexibility means that we support the diverse ways that instructors create and administer exams. It means that we recognize the uniqueness of each course management system and provide users a custom environment that is fully compatible and integrated with their platform. Ultimately, flexibility is about saving time. If we can get users from point "A" to point "D" without forcing them to go through -- or even think about -- B and C, then we know that's a good feature to add to Respondus.

Here are examples of some flexible and time-saving features in Respondus:

• Exams can be authored in a word processor and then imported into Respondus
• Exams can be "retrieved" from one course management system and then "published" to another course management system (the question order, point values, random question blocks, and media files are maintained by Respondus)
• Once an exam is in Respondus (whether it is imported from a word processor, retrieved from a course management system, or authored in Respondus itself), you can print a traditional paper-based exam or save the exam to MS Word format.
• Exams can be opened or saved in IMS QTI format -- the emerging IMS standard for "Question and Test Interoperability"
• Exam or survey questions can be authored collaboratively by instructors at different colleges, regardless of which course management system they use, or whether they use one at all
• Publishers can create and distribute test banks in a single Respondus file. This allows users to publish exams to any of the leading course management systems (WebCT, Blackboard, eCollege) or QTI-compliant testing systems (Questionmark Perception). The same file can be used to generate print exams or MS Word files.

Respondus 2.0 contains many different tools and capabilities, so sometimes you have to figure out which tool works best. One instructor wrote us regarding a preloaded WebCT exam that came with a publisher e-pack. She had two problems. First, she needed to print a copy of the exam so that it contained identical questions to the online exam but where the text was enlarged (for a visually impaired student). Second, she wanted to print a copy of the exam for herself -- with the correct answers marked -- so that she could do a post-exam review in the classroom. "Is there a way to do this," she wrote, "without printing the web pages and enlarging them?" The solution for both problems was essentially the same.

1) Go to the "Retrieval" tab in Respondus and retrieve the exam from the course management system.
2) Switch to the "Preview & Publish" tab and select "Print Options."
3) For the student's exam select the "Exam" formatting option; for the instructor's copy select the "Exam with Answer Key" option. Then print the exams from Respondus or save the files to MS Word format. (Note: the font size for the student's exam can be adjusted in either Respondus or in MS Word.)

Problem solved.

Source: Respondus, Inc. (www.respondus.com)
Originally Published: April 21, 2003

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