getting started with owl authoring
Contents
1. Field Name Field Field Type Length State char 25 Capital char 25 Number int leave empty gt Fields of type char must be big enough to hold the largest anticipated entry for that field gt Leave the Variable Tags column entries at the default value no 5 Click the Create New Table button Adding a New Entry Now that your table is created you can add entries to it one at a time Press the View Edit link from the command bar N Press the New Entry link from the lower command bar w You are on the Editor page for your table a A Under Capital char 25 enter Boston O Under Number int enter 6 Under State char 25 enter Massachusetts 7 Click Save New Entry 23 gt You would repeat the process to add more entries to the table Instead of adding entries one at a time you can also upload them from a file created in another application For more on table definitions and uploading downloading see Help Question Building Tools Tables Table Management Table Management Functions 24 5 Authoring a Course Courses and Sections A course such as World Geography has a name and a curriculum Once you have a course and section to go with it you then define the assignments for the class The set of assignments is the course curriculum For additional information see Help Course Authoring Course Curriculum Modules Sections a2. Moving Between Question and IUs Newly authored questions may or may not be in sequential order depending on whether another author is creating new questions at the same time There are several ways to move between Questions and IUs The most convenient method is searching for a particular IU then going to a particular question in that IU 1 For each of the following note the Question Number and IU Number at the top left of the page and note the contents of the drop down list just beneath them 2 Click the Us link in the navigation bar 3 You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page 4 Under the Content Questions in IU heading click on a box containing a 5 You are now on the Question Editor page 6 Note the question number and IU number at the top of the page 7 Press Next from the command bar a few times 8 Note the question number and the IU number each time 9 Press Previous from the command bar a few times 10 Note the question number and the IU number each time gt Inthe Question Editor Next and Previous refer to the next previous question numerically They may or may not be in the same IU and may or may not be your questions 11 Press the IU number link next to IU 12 You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page 13 Press Next from the command bar a few times 14 Note the IU Name Number and Creator 15 Press Previous from the command bar a few times 5 16 Note the I
3. Leave the other settings as they are Skip over the Variables box It is not used in static questions In the Ask box enter To calculate the radius of the Earth you need to know the value for PI What is it to 2 decimal places Ask To calculate the radius of the Earth you need to know the value for PI What is it to 2 decimal places In the Answer box enter 3 14 Answer 3 14 In the Feedback box enter An approximate fraction is 22 7 Feedback An approximate fraction 1s 22 7 10 Press Save page will return with your newly authored question Testing the Question Testing a question ensures that you have authored it correctly This exercise will help you understand how OWL grades numerical questions 1 Press View from the command bar to see how the question will appear to a student 2 Answer the question in the input box type 3 12 3 Press Check Answe gt Notice that this answer was graded as correct Unless you specify an exact range OWL uses a default of 2 for a numerical answer You will learn more about controlling answer ranges in the next section 4 Press View to try the question again 5 In the input box type 3 75 6 Press Check Answe gt Notice that this time the answer is incorrect since it is outside OWL s default range for numerical answers Input Box and Answer Range An Input Box is the box in which the student types the answer to a question for example
4. For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Question Definition Answer Modifiers Let s edit your current question not create a new one to control the input box and the grading range for the answer We ll change the range from the default of 2 to 0 r 0 modifier 1 Press Edit from the command bar 2 Inthe Ask box press Enter on the keyboard twice after the question mark 3 Type PI _ notice the 2 underscores Ask To calculate the radius of the Earth you need to know the value for PI What is it to 2 decimal places 4 In the Answer box after the 3 14 add the answer modifier r 0 Answer 3 14 0 5 Press Save gt Don t forget to the question or your changes will be lost 6 View the question gt Notice that you get an input box next to PI just as you designated 7 Test the question with both 3 12 and 3 14 as answers gt Notice that this time 3 12 is not correct 8 Edit the question again and change the input box to _5 9 the question gt is a short cut for pressing the button and then the View link There are multiple ones on the page that all function the same just as is the case for the buttons 10 Try typing this in the input box 1234567 gt You ve only changed the size of the input box not the number of characters that the student can enter 11 Edit the input box designation to 5m 12 Save and View the question again 13 Again
5. Question a Teche bel 8 Input Boxand Answer Range i 3 niiina n ce eec aie E E EE AE E EAEE 8 Multiple Choice Question a A iaa 9 Multiple Multiple Choice Questions tania aa ias 10 Additional Input Boxes Answer Ranges and Capitalization ccccsccesesscesceesceeceeeeeseeeeecaeeseecaeesaecaeeaeeneenseens 11 Matching Questions ii A ia Ae Lo HLS 12 Using Custom Inputs im Questions Via aia Hecke add baci vB it 12 Question Tags ccc A A A a Roe SO Hh a 13 Manually Graded Quests nt A toas ai 13 Parameterized QuestiOns vccscssicssescsssscscsssavcsnnssuscessssesconsaansedesooeveseenansedsccsessbseniesadenesev vecwensesece 14 Creating a New IU for Parameterized Questions c csccescssseeseeeseesceseessceseeesecaeeesecaaeeaecsaessecneeeaecsseseseeeeereneeenes 15 Creating a Parameterized Quest ibn 15 Viewing Math Operators Symbols and Functions ccccccseessesseescesceeeceseeseecaeecaecaaeeaecaaesaeceeenseceseeeeeeeeereneeeaes 15 Parameterized Questions Using String and Vector Functions 0 ccceccecssesseesecseecsecceeseceseeseceeeseeeseseeeeeeereeneeaes 16 Parameterized Questions Using a User Defined Table 0 cceccecceescesseesceseeeeeceeecsecaseeaecaaesaecneeaeceeeesereereneeenes 16 Instructional Unit Conte nt ccccccccsssssssssssccscccccscesesssccsccsccscesesssccccesccscesesccccccsscescesescccees L7 Adding Internal Content to an TU kennara E A A AE A E A ia R Es 17 Adding Externa
6. try typing the following in the input box 1234567 gt You ve now limited a student to typing a maximum of five characters in the box It really only needs to be 4 but we don t want to give away the answer completely Multiple Choice Questions Now let s add a new multiple choice question to the Static Earth Questions IU 1 Return to the question editor Edit 2 Press New from the navigation bar makes a new question in the same current IU 3 Under Select type of question to create choose Multiple Choice from the drop down list 4 Click on the Create Question button 5 In the Description box enter oceans 6 Skip over the Variables box 7 Inthe Ask box enter Which of the following is not an ocean 8 Inthe Answer box enter the following Answer Es Choice Text A Pacific B Indian C o Aunt Arctic D Atlantic and then View the question 8 Test the question a number of times Notice that the order of the choices changes Multiple Multiple Choice Questions In order to answer a multiple multiple choice question correctly the student must choose all the answers that apply to the question not just one We ll add a new one of these 1 Return to the question editor Edit 2 Press New from the navigation bar 3 Under Select type of question to create choose Multiple Multiple Choice from the drop down list 4 Click on the Create Question button
7. 4 input boxes are standard automatically graded parts and the fifth one is a custom input 4 Answer inner core g layers outer core g layers mantle g layers crust g layers evaluator ManualGrade gt To enable students to supply the 4 answers to the first question in any order we ve used the g for group answer modifier and set all the answers to belong to the same group For the fifth answer we ve used a Custom Evaluator Some Custom Inputs need to be matched with a special evaluator so that they can be graded Click on the Custom Evaluators link next to Answer for more information 5 Save and then View the question 6 Try answering the question a number of times using different orderings for the Earth s layers gt Manually grading questions is discussed in the Getting Start with OWL Course Management training e IU Check e Now let s do another quick IU check to see what has been created 1 From the Question Viewer or Question Editor page click the number link next to TU just under the command bar at the top of the page 2 You should now be on the Instructional Unit Management page for your Static Earth Questions IU 3 Under the heading Content Questions in IU check to see that there are seven authored questions listed pi oceans Amazon River Everest city country circumference and layers Parameterized Questions Parameterized Questions vary slightly from one
8. Work through all the questions again completing both the units in the assignment 15 16 17 gt Notice that in this mode you will have to use the Unit Menu link to get to all the questions in the assignment Notice also that your scores are displayed differently and that mastery criteria are included gt Because QuestionPool assignments require correctly answering a specified number of questions in a single attempt there is no Redo Question option for this assignment 18 From the Unit Menu press Assignment List to return to the list of assignments Getting to the Authoring View Before you opened the student window you were in a browser window containing the OWL instructor tools That window should still be available Just select that window to return to the instructor tools You can close the student window if you like You can always open it again if you need it Then to get to the authoring tools select Author View from the pull down list below the OWL logo You should be on the Authoring Home page Instructional Units and Questions One of the unique features of OWL is that you create your content and assessment materials first These are independent entities and are not locked to a particular course as they are in other systems They become part of a reusable pool of material that anyone in your database can use to construct assignments for their courses Instructional Units An Instructional Unit IU is a group of conte
9. for credit Its due date should be before any of your regular OWL assignments This helps to insure that students can log in and learn to use the system before they are required to do any real work You may want to tailor the tutorial to fit your department For departments that have already been using OWL check existing courses for a specialized tutorial instead of using the one supplied with the system Support Technical support is available through OWL or via email From an authoring window click the Tech Support link in the navigation pane to report a problem or ask a question You can also send email to ow help cesd umass edu Someone should respond to you within one working day 31
10. viewing to the next This feature allows the student to redo the question and get a different version of it with a different answer So they can t do the question then just redo it and cheat by putting in the correct answer that they just viewed Parameterized questions are one of the highlights of the OWL system and enable authors to write one question that contains an infinite number of variations For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Parameterized Questions 14 Creating a New IU for Parameterized Questions You are now going to create a new IU to put your parameterized questions into ON gt S 5 Make sure that you are on the Instructional Unit Management page Press the New link from the command bar In Name enter Parameterized Earth Questions your initials Press the Save New IUJ button at the bottom You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page Creating a Parameterized Question The first example will show you how to parameterize a question by just varying numbers in it oOo A Y N 7 Oo N o lt 1 Under Content Questions in IU press the Add New Question link Under Select type of question to create choose Short Answer from the drop down list Click on the Create Question button You are now on the Question Editor page Create the question as follows Description days to climb Varia
11. 3 Description shapes 4 Variables shapes stringlist triangle square rectangle pentagon octagon sides vector 3 4 4 5 8 index 1 2 3 4 5 item stringAt shapes index answer vcomp sides index gt The shapes and sides variables are string and number lists that contain the question s parameters Index is a randomly selected number that determines which item in the list should be selected and it is then used in the stringAt and vcomp functions to get that item from the string and number lists 7 Ask A item has 2 sides 8 Answer answer n 9 and then View the question 10 Test the question a number of times using the View link Parameterized Questions Using a User Defined Table Sometimes the number of items and amount of data is too much to keep in variable lists In such cases you can use a user defined table to parameterize the question A user defined table is a collection of structured information When the table is created a set of categories fields is defined for it Each entry in the table has a value for each category field Like tags tables are created using a separate authoring tool and once they are created can be used in any question Table names must be unique For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Question Definition Using Tables in a Question The table you Il use in the example Geography already exists in the system Let s look a
12. 3 12 and 3 75 from above In the question that you just wrote and tested you may have noticed that OWL automatically created an input box for you Instead of letting OWL generate the input box you can specify one and control its placement size and the number of characters that it will accept Doing so will provide you with much greater control on the look and function of your questions An input box is signified in the question editor s Ask box by two underscores __ Anywhere in a question s Ask section that you type in two underscores you ll see an input box when you view the question Thus you can make an answer with more than one part More on that later When OWL automatically generates an input box it is 20 characters long If you designate your own box it will be 20 characters long as well But you can add a number to the designation __ to change the box s size Moreover input boxes usually allow the student to type in any number of characters If there are more characters than the length of the box then the characters will scroll You can also limit this behavior in your answer designation as the exercise below will demonstrate An Answer Modifier controls how a question is graded by specifying constraints on the answer Modifiers include range capitalization etc Modifiers are placed in the Answer section after an answer s value and are separated by a vertical bar More than one modifier may be used with an answer
13. 5 For Description Amazon River 6 Skip over the Variables box 7 For Ask enter The Amazon River runs through which two countries 8 For Answer enter the following Answer Choice Text A V Peru B Poland C y Brazil D Mexico 10 Test the question a number of times Notice that again the choices change order e IU Check e Now let s do a quick IU check to make sure that you have the correct number of questions 10 1 Scroll to the top of the page and view the following information Author Last Modified by and Last Modified gt You should be the author and the modifier and the date should read as the current date 2 At the left of the previous information find your current question and IU number 3 Below that you 1l find a drop down list next to Go To Question in IU 4 Click on the down arrow in the gray box to see the question numbers in the IU gt You should have authored three questions by now Your question numbers may not be consecutive Question numbers are unique in the system and others in your database may be creating questions at the same time Additional Input Boxes Answer Ranges and Capitalization A short answer question may include more than one input box You can create Additional Input Boxes by once again typing 2 underscores __ where you wish an input box to be A question can also contain various possible correct answers signified with Answe
14. Assignment Setup page choose the New Assignment link near the top of the page You are now on the New Assignment Select Type page Under the heading Select the Type for the New Assignment click on the Question link You are now on the New Assignment page For the Assignment enter Geographical sites Question Leave all the other values as they are Press Save New Assignment 6 For the Description enter static parameterized geography questions You are now on the Assignment Management page gt We have now set the general and section specific assignment settings for this course s section as well as the defaults Adding IUs to the Question Assignment Right now the assignment that you just created is empty It has no questions in it You must assign particular ITUs to the assignment in order to give it some content We ll now use the two IUs you ve created to fill it out 1 Choose Link IU under the Assignment Content header 2 You are now on the Add New IU Link page 3 Under Search Instructional Unit Entries for the name enter questions gt Both your IUs were named __ questions This search will find all Us with the word questions in the name 4 Press 27 Find the IU named Static Earth Questions your initials Under Select the Instructional Units to Add to the Assignment click to select the box in the Select IU column next to this IU Similarly click to selec
15. GETTING STARTED WITH OWL AUTHORING OWL Online Web Learning University of Massachusetts at Amherst A Series of Hands on Activities to Teach You the Various Tools in the OWL Authoring System Center for Educational Software Development The University of Massachusetts at Amherst Amherst MA 01003 June 2012 http www cesd umass edu cesd CESD University of Massachusetts Amherst MA USA Table of Contents TINE TER DUC TON aa rare oe oe eee eee a ees Saeco ec eee a renee dee 1 Whats O a e Sls e a eck aaa tee dais 1 TAS a da dd 1 HOW TE Works ds e a E a micas 1 Organization and Use of This Manual 0 cccccsssssecseceseceeceseeseceseesececeseceseeseceeeeeeeaeeseecaecaaecaecsaecaecaeeaeeeeeaeereeas 1 Before You Get Started cia RT AA shore elcid eerie at idiots 2 Z GETTING INTO QW ooo as cacao ai 3 PO TS NN 3 First Time Information only for initial log 11 ce ceseceeceseeeeceseeecesceseceseeseeeeceseceaeeseecaeesaecaecsaecaecsaeeaeenaeeatenreees 3 Using OWL asa AAA A ss oo seiss T Taking the Tutorial aida matarte lat 4 Getting tothe Authoring Vii ads aa atei 5 3 INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS AND QUESTIONS coocccccoocccccccccnncccconononanonononnnnnaannnennnnnnnnanes 6 Instruccional DI cnica eolica O Creating a New Instructional Unit ad dada 6 Static SN AAA RN Creating a New Short Answer Question in the Question Editor oooooncnoconocnnonoonnoononnnonnonononnonn con nonn non noo nrnn rca nnnnnnns 7 Testing the
16. Programming Questions are also either static or parameterized Static questions appear exactly the same each time they are presented to the student while parameterized questions vary on each presentation For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions You should be on the Instructional Unit Management page for the Static Earth Questions IU that you just created Note the name number and creator that appear on the page just under the command bar Creating a New Short Answer Question in the Question Editor Let s create a short answer question in the Question Editor page In this part of the manual the Description Ask Answer and Feedback boxes will appear similar to how they actually appear on the Question Editor page In succeeding examples those boxes will appear only when necessary and the questions and answer data will be given in the text N w 4 Under Content Questions in IU click Add New Question Under Select type of question to create choose Short Answer from the drop down list Click on the Create Question button You are now on the Question Editor page gt The top of the page contains commands navigation and information about the question that you are on In this case you are on a new question with not much in it yet The rest of the page contains five boxes into which you type information to define the question In the Description box enter pi
17. U Name Number and Creator 19 gt Similar to the Question Editor Next and Previous will take you to the numerically next previous IU in the database Again they may or may not be your IUs 20 4 Managing Tags and Tables Managing Tags Now that you ve learned how tags operate in questions we ll go into further detail on how to manage tags Tags can be created and then used over and over again Functions such as examining searching for and deleting are common for all tag types Creating Text Applet or Image tags require different functions For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Tags Examining Current Tags Before creating a new tag you may want to examine the existing tags to see if there s something you can use or modify 1 Click on the Tags link in the navigation bar 2 You are now on the Tag Authoring Main Menu page 3 From the Select a tag type drop down list choose Text Tag 4 Press gt A list of Text Tags should appear Scan the available Text tags and their descriptions 5 You are now on the Tag Manager Text Tags page 6 Next to the unitNote tag press the blue arrow in the View Edit column 7 You are now on the View Edit Text Tag page gt Note the information under Questions and or Content Using This Tag especially the drop down list of questions using this tag Remember that tags can be used in multiple questions Any change you make to a tag affects all questions us
18. age Now turn this page to continue Getting Started With OWL 2 Getting Into OWL Authoring Window Most users log in on an OWL User Login page When you log in OWL checks to see if you are a student or an instructor Students are presented with a student window from which they can access their assignments Instructors are presented with an Instructor View window gt Some UMass Amherst users access OWL via a link from Moodle gt Authors are initially presented with an Instructor View window Logging In 1 Start your browser 2 Goto the OWL URL If you have been set up with a training account by an OWL administrator use the following e http owl oit umass edu e Select Miscellaneous and Training Do not select your department s link 3 You should see the OWL User Login page 4 Enter your Login 5 Enter your Password 6 Press LOG IN If you have never logged into OWL before continue below with First Time Information Otherwise skip ahead to Using OWL as a Student First Time Information only for initial log in The first time that you log in you will be asked to supply your contact information and change your default password to a new one You can change all of it again later if needed 1 After successfully logging in the first time you should be on the Instructor s Contact Information and Password page 2 Enter your Current Password 3 Enter a New Password Remember this new password because you l
19. artial credit is given for short answer questions with multiple input boxes and for multiple multiple choice questions Scoring Type determines how the score for the assignment will be calculated 26 Assignment Notes instructor and student notes for the assignment Section Specific Assignment Settings Start Date date at which a student can first view the assignment Authors may view at any time Due Date date at which scores from subsequent attempts of the assignment are not recorded Number of number of times the question or IU depending on assignment type may be attempted Attempts Allowed can be unlimited Display Feedback determines if and when the feedback is shown when student checks an answer Display Answer determines if and when the correct answer is shown when student checks an answer Requirement indicates if the assignment is required optional or extra credit Status Creating a New Question Mode Assignment The course you have just created is empty it doesn t contain any assignments yet First we ll add a Question type assignment and later we 1l add a QuestionPool type assignment Both of these assignments will contain the same IUs the ones you just authored Let s create the easier assignment first For additional information see Help Course Authoring Course Curriculum Modules Developing a Module Question and Exam Mode 1 From the Assignment Setup
20. ble on line in OWL by pressing the Help link from an authoring page but rather a series of hands on activities to introduce you to the various tools in the OWL authoring system It does not explain everything in the system but rather gives you an overview to get you started First you ll get onto the system as a student to see what OWL looks like from a student s perspective Next you ll learn to get onto the system as an author begin authoring questions put them into assignments and from a student s perspective check what you ve created But that is only half the story When you are done with this manual you 1l need to also do the Getting Started with OWL Course Management training to cover all the aspects of the instructor tools that you ll need to run your course Getting Started With OWL is intended to be done sequentially The exercises are ordered and later ones depend on earlier work You do not need to go through the whole training in one sitting but can log out and then log back in later and continue where you were All your information is saved in the database in which you are working Each page in the system has a title bar and title There will be a navigation bar on the left side of the page In addition for authors and administrators there will sometimes be a command bar at the top of the page underneath the title This training will refer to OWL pages by their title in bold For example while creating and edi
21. bles num 1 2 3 4 6 12 each 12 num the answer gt Look up variables in the Help manual to better understand them Help Question Building Tools Questions Question definition Variables For instance Variables must be one per line The num variable is randomly set to one of the values in the list and the each variable is then calculated based on the chosen value Ask Your goal is to climb 12 miles up Mt Kilimanjaro If you climb num n mi per day how many days will it take you to accomplish your goal 3m gt Variables are inserted into the Ask Answer or Feedback sections by entering them inside of curly braces not parentheses Answer each n Feedback mi days 12 num n each n and then View the question Test the question a number of times using the View link Viewing Math Operators Symbols and Functions A glossary of Mathematical Operations explaining Math Symbols and Arithmetic Operations Trigonometric Functions and Vector Functions exists in the author manual For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Question Definition Mathematical Operators 15 Parameterized Questions Using String and Vector Functions Sometimes you want more than numbers to vary in your questions You can use coordinated lists of strings and numbers to parameterize your questions even further Create a New short answer question in the IU as follows
22. dditional information see Help Question Building Tools Content Adding Internal Content to an IU So far all the Us you have created contain questions only You will now go back to one of your previously authored IUs and add Internal content to it Internal content may consist of a lot of information if you like However for training purposes you will only add one sentence of internal content to your IU 1 Click on the IUs link from the navigation bar 2 Next to Search for IU Name enter Static Earth Questions your initials 3 Click the Search for IU Name button 4 Click on the number link in the JU Number column gt Make sure the IU found has your initials 5 Click the Add New Content link 6 Leave the no option e selected for Display in New Browser Window 7 Choose the internal option e for Content Type 8 Press 9 For Name enter Static Questions Content 10 For Internal URL Text enter The earth is a large place containing many different types of landmasses and bodies of water 11 Press the Save New Content Page button gt Later on you will have a chance to test your newly authored questions as a student This internal content will appear with the static questions 12 Press the IU link from the command bar 17 Adding External Content to an IU in a New Window With this option it is possible for students to access a current web site in a new window They can read and observe a
23. e what has been created 1 You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page 2 Check the Name should be Parameterized Earth Questions your initials and Creator should be you 3 Under Content Questions in IU there should be one content page and three questions created days to climb shapes and country id Navigating Through IUs and Questions There are several ways to get to an IU From anywhere in the system if you d like to return to the last IU you edited simply click lus from the navigation bar Your other options are going to an IU by its number retrieving all IU s conducting a Quick Search or conducting a Search by one or more specific IU categories OWL also allows you to move between IUs and questions easily 18 Searching Instructional Units 1 Click the IUs link in the navigation bar You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page gt The last IU you edited should appear 2 Press Search from the command bar You are now on the Search Instructional Units page 3 Make sure all the input boxes are empty by pressing Clear Search Form 4 Press the Search button at the bottom of the form gt All of the Us in your database will be listed 5 Press New Search from the command bar 6 Inthe Name input box enter Earth 7 Press the Search button at the bottom of the form gt All IUs whose name includes the word Earth should appear
24. erized question In which country is place located 22 Click on the Tables link in the navigation bar 2 The Table Manager Table List page will appear 3 Inthe Manage Entries column click on the pencil icon in the row for the Geography table 4 Click View Edit in the command bar at the top of the page This takes you to the Geography Editor page 5 Press the Edit link for any one of the rows to see how to get to the editor for a given entry 6 Press the View All link in the lower command bar to return to the list of table entries Creating a New User Defined Table Before creating a new user defined table you need to determine what kinds of information you ll store in it Each entry will contain one or more pieces of information called fields Depending on the type of information that will be in the field the field is defined to be one of four types character or text for text values and integer or floating point for numeric values Character fields also need to have a maximum length associated with them 1 Choose Table List from the top command bar 2 Press the New Table link in the command bar 3 Under Create a New Table enter the following Name of table to create USCapitals Your Initials no spaces hyphens parentheses Number of fields 3 Table Description US state its capital and order of union entry 3 Press the button 4 Enter the following information for Step 2 Define New Table Columns
25. exist You won t be able to log in until someone handles the request Alternatively you can just go ahead to the Course Student Management section of this training to learn to search for yourself as a student and add yourself to the Tutorial course There are two types of assignments for you to complete The first assignment is in Question mode In this mode you are always presented with ONE question at a time While you re in this mode the status bar at the top keeps track of your progress The second assignment is in QuestionPool mode In this mode you are only presented with a subset of all the questions in the assignment at a time In order for you to obtain credit for each unit all the questions must be completed successfully in one pass oOo A OO N gt gt O 0 N DO A AA ASA 1 gt gt If you are not on the My Courses page click My Courses from the navigation bar to the left In the Your Course and Section List select Tutorials If you see some course announcements read them and then press Go to Assignments You are on the Assignment List page If not choose that link Click on the Tutorial Question Mode assignment link You are now on the Unit Menu for Tutorial Question Mode page The top of the Unit Menu page shows the name of the assignment the assignment type mode the assignment due date an overview of your current score and the assignment s requirement status T
26. he unit menu table lists the individual informational pages and questions in the assignment plus any score for that part In the unit menu table choose the Question 1 link next to the label Multiple Choice The first question in the unit will be displayed Read the question choose your answer and then click CHECK ANSWER i Read through the page carefully Note the Feedback offered at the bottom of the page for some questions Although this offers feedback on actually answering questions in a regular assignment Feedback usually consists of extra information to help you answer the question If you want to try a question again click Redo Question in the navigation bar to the left 11 Locate the Status bar at the top of the page Find the set of buttons containing question marks gt The first box informs you of your status for Question 1 A green check appears if you answered the question correctly a red X appears if you answered the question incorrectly Click the second box to go on to the next question You can also get to the next question by clicking Next Item in the navigation bar 12 Complete all the questions and then click Unit Menu in the navigation bar to the left 3 Notice how your scores are displayed 14 Now click the Assignment List link in the navigation pane Now choose the Tutorial QuestionPool Mode assignment The Assignment List page will appear showing your updated performance
27. ing that tag 8 Press the Main Menu link from the command bar 9 You are now on the Tag Authoring Main Menu page 10 From the Select a tag type drop down list choose Image Tag 11 Press gt A list of available Image Tags should appear Scan the available Image tags and their descriptions 12 Next to the earth tag press the blue arrow in the View Edit column 13 You are now on the View Edit Image Tag page gt A picture of Earth should appear for you to examine Again note the information under Questions and or Content Using This Tag 14 Press the Main Menu link when done 21 Creating a New Text Tag So far you ve used existing tags while authoring questions Creating new text tags is easy and economical if you need to use identical text while authoring a variety of questions Now let s create a new Text Tag 1 Oo N S From the Select a tag type drop down list choose Text Tag Select the Create New Tag button You are now in the Create a New Text Tag page In the Name of the new tag box enter Reminder your initials gt Tag names may only contain alphanumeric characters do not include spaces in your tag name Skip the Description box In the Text box enter Make sure to do each step of the problem gt Remember when creating Text and Image Tags it is important to write a simple yet recognizable description for the tag In this exercise we will skip the description Pres
28. isplay formatting is used numeric values are graded differently and you may need to specify the range In this case we ve allowed a range of 5 to allow for different and changing estimates of Everest s height For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Question Definition Variable and Number Formatting 8 Save and then View the question Try the answers Mt Everest and 8840 gt Both parts should be correct 9 Try these answers everest and 7500 11 gt Both parts should be incorrect since everest isn t capitalized and 7500 is outside the range Matching Questions Matching Questions allow a student to link related information together Matching questions require multiple input boxes and multiple answers Create a new question in the IU as follows Select New from the command bar N Under Select type of question to create choose Matching from the drop down list Click on the Create Question button Description city country a A 0 Skip over the Variables box O Ask Match the city with the country 7 Answer Left Side Choice Text A 3 Paris B 4 Boston C 1 Cairo D 2 Delhi Answer Right Side Choice Text 1 Egypt 2 India 3 France 4 U S A and then View the question Using Custom Inputs in Questions Sometimes you want to write ques
29. just as you did before but this time in QuestionPool mode Now you ll have to give values for the IU settings when you link in your IUs Creating a New QuestionPool Type Assignment oon A OO N gt N 8 9 Press the Assignment Setup link in the navigation bar You are now on the Assignment Setup Assignment List page Choose the New Assignment link in the command bar at the top of the page You are now on the New Assignment Select Type page Under Select the Type for the New Assignment press the QuestionPool link You are now on the New Assignment page For the Assignment Name enter Geographical Sites QuestionPool gt This distinguishes the assignment from Geographical Sites Question For the Description enter same as other but in QuestionPool mode Leave all the other values as they are 10 Press Save New Assignment 11 You are back on the Assignment Management page 28 Adding IUs to the Assignment Link your two IUs as you did before and notice that OWL prompts you for IU settings 1 Choose Link IU under the Assignment Content header You are now on the Add New IU Link page 3 Note that your previous search criteria and search results still appear Under Select the Instructional Units to Add to the Assignment click to select the box in the Select TU column next to the IU named Parameterized Earth Questions your initials 5 Click to select the box in the Selec
30. l Content to an IU in a New Window ssesessesesssessssesseserstseesteressesessestesteseseestetesseessesesseeeeseesee 18 Navigating Through IUs and Questions e soessoesssesssocesooesooesosesssessscossoossoosssossssesssoesssssssse 18 Searching Instructional Units es oeeie eE EE E r EE EEEE EEA EEE clases 19 Moving Between Question and TUS stas 19 4 MANAGING TAGS AND TABLES n ra e cnn nn nnnan ono n nn nnnnnaaa acens 21 EE A A Examining Current A a eee 21 Creating a New Ted aa 22 Creating a New Image La ate 22 Ma aging Tables ci ia 22 Viewing a User Defined Table 22 Creating a New User Defined Tablero ta 23 Addie ain ew Entry tela 23 5 AUTHORING AiG OUR SE anta ac iio cia aislar chato 25 Courses and Sections o cd5s di csalessceccacedseveicdeiccdavedselesedeciccevedsuseceacedessvecseleseseddedevedselededsscedavedsersesa 20 Yr OMV E Courseanid Section ssn sess a a ln a a eas e 25 ASSIM O Si A E EEEE ETE Assignment eds ic a aia che el 26 Creating a New Question Mode ASsignment cscceccesssescesseesceseeesceseeeeceseeceecaeecsecsaesaecasesaecaeseaecseeseseneerenneeaes 27 Adding IUs to the Question Assignment onene aeneis n a EEE Dee EE Ee RN AS ESE R E i 27 IU Settings for QuestionPool Type Assignments e sseeesooesooessoesssesssoossoossoosssosssseessoossossesse ZO Creating a New QuestionPool Type Assignment cccceccesseeceseeesceseeeeceseeesecseeesecsaesaecaaesaecseseaecasenseserenren
31. l need it the next time you log in to OWL 4 Enter it again to Confirm New Password 5 Edit your First Name Last Name Email address Telephone Number and Office as needed 6 Click the button 7 You are now on the Welcome to OWL page Using OWL as a Student OWL provides tutorial assignments that you can use in your course to ensure that students understand the system before completing any coursework The tutorials are quick and simple providing students with an overall understanding of the various question types and how to navigate in the OWL system Before learning any of the authoring tools it is important to complete the available tutorials as a student Please complete both the Question and QuestionPool mode versions Completion of these two assignments will allow you to navigate the system as a student experience various question and assignment types modes and it will give you an overall understanding of the system before you move behind the scenes to authoring course assignments Taking the Tutorial To see things as a student select Student Window link from the pull down list below the OWL logo This opens a browser window containing the student view of OWL gt Ifyou see the Rostering Problem page you have been added as an author but not yet rostered for any courses as a student Press Add Course then press the Add New Course link and finally choose to be added to the Tutorials course or another if it does not
32. lease be aware though that as an author you have access to other authors content as well as the content that you create Be careful not to modify content that someone else has authored or that is being used in others courses If you ever have questions about this issue or anything else related to OWL please choose the Tech Support link in the navigation bar and send a message If you need to know more about a feature press the Help link on the navigation bar and look through the Author Manual Best of luck and happy authoring with OWL 29 6 Appendices Appendix 1 OWL Question and Question Pool Mode Comparison Questions amp Content Question Presentation Question Ordering Content Only IUs Navigation Navigation Bar Ease of Use Redo Wrong Answer Limited Attempts Grading Partial Credit Mastery Scores Question presents all questions in all IUs can set the question order can use content only IUs shows content pages and questions in all Us navigation is straight forward redo by question can limit the number of attempts for each question available for multiple multiple choice matching and multi input box short answer questions no mastery scoring available assignment score is number of correct answers or pass fail 100 30 QuestionPool presents subset of questions from IU can be all questions are presented randomly cannot use content only IUs shows only the con
33. ll information contained on that web site before attempting to answer the questions in an IU Students also have the option of keeping the new window open for reference while they are completing an assignment You should be on the Instructional Unit Management page 2 Press the Search link from the command bar oO In Name enter Parameterized Press the button Click on the number link in the YU Number column next to your Parameterized Earth Questions IU S O o You are now on the Instructional Unit Management page Y Click the Add New Content link 8 9 Choose the yes option e for Display in new Window You are now on the New IU Content page 10 Leave the external option e selected for Content Type 11 Press Continue You are now on the New IU Content Page Attributes page For Name enter Parameterized Questions Content 12 For External URL Link enter http earth jsc nasa gov 13 For Notes Displayed to Students leave any existing text and add Read the information and then go on to the first question by choosing the from above 14 Press the Save New Content Page button gt Later on you will have a chance to test your newly authored questions as a student This external content web site will appear with the parameterized questions 15 Press the IU link from the command bar e IU Check e Now let s do one more quick IU check to se
34. neenes 28 Addins lUs to the Assignment A ae is d 29 Where to Go From Here it 29 6 APRENDICES EEE 30 Appendix 1 OWL Question and Question Pool Mode Comparison s ssessessseeee 30 Appendix 2 OWL Instructor Guidelines sccssccssscssscsssscssscsssssssssssssesssessssssssssssoes OL A A E E E TRER cas Sous eae sa eee eee eee 31 SA esos eae eee fe See ea I SO Se loa E RE vt O iene 31 INTRODUCTION What is OWL OWL stands for Online Web based Learning Basically it is a content presentation and assessment tool Students log into the system choose an assignment read any given information and then answer questions The questions are graded automatically by the system and the scores are reported to the student OWL has 4 components the student quiz engine instructor tools authoring tools and administrative tools All components are accessed over the web through individual logins The quiz engine delivers the content questions and scores to the student The authoring tools provide for the creation of the content material questions assignments and courses as well as management of students and grades Administrative tools allow for the addition of new authors as well as other high level administrative tasks The History OWL was developed in the Center for Computer Based Instructional Technology CCBIT at the University of Massachusetts It was created in 1996 in collaboration with the Chemistry departme
35. nt as a web based replacement for the electronic homework system currently in use Next the department of Physics began to use OWL and furthered its development Since then it has been revised and expanded and now is used by over 20 departments and thousands of students at the University An additional training component is also used by the University s Department of Environmental Health and Safety for their training and certification programs In 2001 Harcourt College Publishers which became Thomson Learning and is now Cengage Learning began licensing the system for use with their Chemistry textbooks How It Works OWL can be accessed from any type of computer running a reasonably up to date web browser The information that you author in OWL is saved in a database There may be one or many databases set up at your site and you may have colleagues working in the same database as you At UMass databases are traditionally created for each department Check with your system administrator to find out the configuration at your site As OWL runs information is obtained from the appropriate database and then web pages are generated based on that information Thus OWL s web pages are dynamic and change as the information in the database changes Organization and Use of This Manual This is a training manual It is designed for people that will need to use OWL s authoring instructor tools It is not a user manual the Authoring Manual is availa
36. nt material and questions related to the same concept For example the possible Instructional Units for an American History course might be divided into such topics as Heroes of the Revolutionary War or The Haymarket Riot For now we will just focus on putting questions into IUs We ll add content later IUs may contain one or more questions When an IU is included in an assignment either all of the questions or a manually or randomly chosen subset of the questions is presented to the student For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Instructional Units Content 1 Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Creating a New Instructional Unit 1 Click IUs from the navigation bar 2 You are now on the Search Instructional Units page gt This only happens the first time that you select this tool Subsequently when you go to IUs you will be on the Instructional Unit Management page of the last IU that you visited 3 Press the New IU link in the command bar at the top of the page 4 You are now on the New Instructional Unit page 5 In Name enter Static Earth Questions your initials 6 Press the Save New IU button at the bottom Static Questions Questions are the basic assessment entities in OWL They may be Multiple or Multiple Multiple Choice Matching True False Short Answer Fill in the Blank s Manually Graded Short Answer Programming or Manually Graded
37. orld Geography class tags may serve as maps or pictures of geographical features Tags are created using a separate authoring tool and once they are created can be used in any question Tag names must be unique across all tag types For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Questions Question Definition Using Tags in a Question An image tag named earth representing a picture of the earth already exists in the database Let s change the appearance of the previous question by adding this tag to it Note that tags are in curly braces and not in parentheses Change the question to the following Ask tags earth The circumference of the earth is input select choices 350 4657 24901 miles 1 Save and View the question gt A picture of Earth will now be included when the question is viewed Manually Graded Questions You may want to have students answer a question that OWL cannot grade automatically You can add these kinds of questions to OWL but you need to be willing to grade them or find someone else who will by hand Questions can have both automatically as well as manually graded parts in them Create a New short answer question in the IU as follows 1 The question type should be Manually Graded Short Answer 13 2 Description layers 3 Ask What are the 4 main layers of the earth 10 10 LO 10 Briefly describ ach layer input textarea gt Note that the first
38. r Ranges In the question below students may supply a number of correct answers for the first part of the question This question will also be the first example of a short answer question with a text answer The previous short answer question had a numeric answer Text answers must be enclosed in either single or double quotes Also by default answers are case insensitive If you want to make sure that your students capitalize things correctly you can set OWL to be case sensitive by using the answer modifier c 0 Create a new question in the IU as follows 1 Press New on the command bar Under Select type of question to create choose Short Answer from the drop down list Click on the Create Question button Skip over the Variables box 4 Description Everest Ask __ 15 has traditionally been considered to be the highest peak on Earth It is 5 meters high 7 Answer the answer for each part must be on a separate line Everest Mt Everest Mount Everest c 0 8848 n r 05 gt A student is allowed to answer the first part of this question in three different ways they may choose to simply answer Everest or they may be more specific by answering Mt Everest or Mount Everest Either way students must capitalize their answer as signified by the modifier c 0 gt The n forces the number to be displayed as an integer instead of with decimal places When number d
39. re the active entities of a course Students are rostered for a section of a course and thus to use a course it must have at least one section When you create a course you are required to create a section in it at the same time Also whenever you create a section in a course you are added to the section s roster and are set as the section s message recipient For additional information see Help Course Authoring Courses and Sections Course amp Section Attributes Course Name must be unique Section Number identifies the section Instructor name of instructor Location building and classroom number Time time of day class starts Announcements New or edited announcements are shown to students of that section upon login and can optionally be sent to those students with an email address Announcements are always available to students under Announcements in the student navigation bar Message enabled author s who receive the email messages for that section There must be at Recipients least 1 message recipient per section On section creation the current author is set as the message recipient Your OWL Course and Section If you have been set up with a training account by an OWL administrator in the Miscellaneous and Training database then your course has already been created If you are not working in the Miscellaneous and Training database then check with the OWL administrator who created
40. s You are now on the View Edit Text Tag page gt Since the tag isn t being used in any questions yet the delete option appears where there is otherwise Questions and or Content Using This Tag Creating a New Image Tag The most widely used graphics formats on the Web are GIF or JPEG formats Unless you re a graphic artist you ll probably be using images that have been prescanned and saved in either a GIF or JPEG format In order to create a new Image Tag you must have the image file accessible from your local system 1 BB 0 N 5 6 Select Main Menu from the command bar From the Select a tag type drop down list choose Image Tag Click the Create New Tag button For the Name of the new tag enter TajMahal your initials Press the Browse button to locate the tajmahal jpeg image file on your machine that you downloaded from http owl oit umass edu gettingStarted Press Create gt For more information about the other image tag settings see the Help Managing Tables You have seen how existing tables can be used to create parameterized questions Now we ll look at some of the options for managing tables For additional information see Help Question Building Tools Tables Viewing a User Defined Table Remember that a user defined table is a collection of structured information that can be used in any question You ve already used a table while authoring the paramet
41. t IU column next to the IU named Static Earth Questions your initials 6 Click the Add lUs button 7 You are now on the Add IU with Defaults page 8 For the Static Earth Questions IU set the Number of Questions to Present to 3 and the Number Needed for Mastery to 2 9 For the Parameterized Question IU leave the Number of Questions to Present at 3 and set the Number Needed for Mastery to 1 gt Note that these are the two IU settings OWL knows to ask for them because it is a QuestionPool type assignment 10 Press Add IU s to Assignment 11 You are back on the Assignment Management page Where to Go From Here That s it for your tour of OWL authoring To actually run your course in OWL you 1l need to learn how to set assignment start and due dates send announcements get student grades and progress information give extensions and answer student messages All of this and more is covered in Getting Started with OWL Course Management Besides the things that are covered in these two Getting Started training manuals there are loads of features and links that we haven t described to you These include using HTML in questions IU description fields use of integers conditional feedback for all but short answer question types adding hints to questions ordering questions content and IUs uploading and downloading tables The best thing to do is to start exploring and experimenting in OWL P
42. t the box in the Select IU column next to the IU named Parameterized Earth Questions your initials Click the Add lUs button You are back on the Assignment Management page gt Notice that at the bottom of the page under the heading Instructional Units the two Us that you just link are listed along with their content and questions IU Settings for QuestionPool Type Assignments In Question type assignments all of the questions in the IU are presented to the student and there is no concept of mastery In QuestionPool type assignments a subset of the questions in the IU can be presented to the student and the idea of mastery is introduced Thus in this mode you need to set two IU presentations attributes Questions to Present and IU Mastery IU Settings for QuestionPool Type Assignments Questions to Present The Number of Questions to Present value determines how many questions from the IU are shown to the student Questions are picked randomly from the IU If the number of questions to present is less than or equal to the number of questions in the IU no question is repeated Each time the IU is selected a new set of random questions is chosen IU Mastery number of questions that must be completed correctly in one attempt at the IU to master the IU For additional information see Help Course Authoring Course Curriculum Modules IU Presentation Attributes Let s create a new assignment
43. t this table first and then use it to create a parameterized question Select the Tables link from the navigation bar N Click the blue arrow under Manage Structure for the Geography table h 0 Choose View Edit from the command bar Note the field names Feature and Country used as table column headings and the entries in the table al Click the Questions link in the navigation bar not the command bar at the top of the page to return to the question editor Create a New short answer question in the IU as follows 5 Description country id 16 6 Variables geoRow Table Geography place geoRow Feature where geoRow Country gt The first line chooses a random entry from the Geography table and then identifies it with the variable geoRow This variable is then used to get specific field information for the selected entry Ask In which country is place located __ Answer where c 0 11 12 13 Se 14 Test the question a number of times using the View link Instructional Unit Content Instructional Unit Content Us may also contain content material exclusively or in addition to questions Any content material provided is presented to the student before the questions in the IU Content in an IU may appear in the regular OWL window or in a new separate window The content may also be internal defined and managed inside of OWL or external an existing URL For a
44. tent pages and questions in the IU navigation can be confusing students always need to return to the unit menu can redo an entire IU but not a single question can limit the number of attempts at each IU not available need to set number of questions that must get right to master each IU assignment score is either mastery of all IUs of IUs or of correct questions Appendix 2 OWL Instructor Guidelines Grading OWL can be made optional or can be required as part of a student s grade in a course We ve found that when made optional its use is quite limited If it does count towards a student s grade we suggest that it not be worth more than 15 Somewhere in the 5 15 range is enough incentive for students to do their OWL work to better their grade but makes it not so important that it promotes cheating Student Handouts A student handout that explains how to use OWL is available on the Getting Started with OWL page click Getting Started from the navigation bar This handout should be edited to accurately reflect OWL use in your department and course It should be given to students before they need to get on the system Departments that have been using OWL may already have a specialized handout Assignments A student tutorial assignment in both QuestionPool and Question mode is supplied with each OWL database Make sure to assign the Tutorial as your students first assignment and make sure to count it
45. ting questions you ll often be on the Question Editor page Below are some examples of the authoring items you 11 be using consistently throughout the manual Buttons look like this Command bar items and links look like this Edit When you are told to type something into the system the words you are to type will appear like this type this now Any quote marks should be typed in as they appear You may also be told to press Enter since keyboards are different this may be the Return key on your system instead Often you will be told to enter a title with your initials when you are creating something These titles need to be unique across the system Since other authors may be working in the same database and completing these same tutorial exercises as you your initials will make the title unique or different from theirs You ll also then be able to tell yours from theirs Before You Get Started You should have received an email notifying you that you have been added as an instructor to the system and supplying you with some general information You will need this information before you start working through these exercises Use the email that you received to make sure that you have the following items 1 The base URL web address for accessing the OWL system OWL URL 2 Your login and password for getting into the system Login Password 3 Access to the file tajmahal jpeg downloaded from Getting Started p
46. tionPool mode question presentation with additional training constraints Assignment Types Non IU Based Assignments External for 2 party modules Survey an assignment containing only non graded questions Tutor a hand crafted assignment designed to tutor a specific concept Assignment Settings The assignment type along with some other assignment settings is fixed across all the sections of a course Some section specific assignment settings see below on the other hand may vary from section to section All settings have default values that are used when new sections are created For example World Geography 100 Section 1 may vary from World Geography 100 Section 2 Even though they have the same assignments the sections can have different due dates for assignments and or one instructor may wish to limit students to only three attempts at a question while another instructor may decide not to set a limit at all General Assignment Settings Name must be unique within the course Description description of the assignment for instructors only Assignment Type IU and Non IU based types below Time Permitted the amount of time a student has to work on an assignment can be unlimited Allow Question for Question type assignments only determines if a student can answer the same question Resubmission again no new parameters Partial Credit for Question and Exam modes only determines if p
47. tions that have students input their answers in a format that doesn t fit one of the standard OWL question types Custom inputs are additions to the OWL system that expand the ways that students answer questions Create a new question in the IU as follows 1 Select the New link from the command bar 2 Under Select type of question to create choose Short Answer from the drop down list 12 3 Click on the Create Question button 4 Description circumference 5 Skip over the Variables box 6 Ask The circumference of the earth is input select choices 350 4657 24901 miles 657299 gt Don t start a new line after the is the line will wrap automatically because of its length Note that the input is enclosed in curly braces and not in parentheses 7 Answer 24901 n and then View the question Try the different answers 9 Return to the Question Editor page and click the Custom Inputs link next to Ask gt A small window will open describing custom inputs and the various ones that are available If you look at Drop down List you ll see that it is the custom input that was used in this question We implemented it a bit differently than described since you won t learn about Variables until the next section of the training 10 Close the small window 11 You should be on the Question Editor page Question Tags Tags Tags are named text image or applet entities For example in a W
48. your account to find out what course you should use for your training 1 Choose Instructor View from the pull down list below the OWL logo to return to the instructor tools 2 Click on Course List in the navigation bar at the left 3 Find the course called World Geography your name 4 Click on the arrow in the Section column next to your course 5 You should be on the Course Home page 6 Click on the Assignment Setup link in the navigation bar 7 You are now on the Assignment Setup Assignment Setup page 25 Assignments You construct assignments for your students from objects currently in the system Assignments can be IU based or non IU based see below Assignments that contain Us in turn contain the content and questions from the IUs For IU based assignments the Assignment Type see below determines how the questions in the IU will be presented to the student The types Question and QuestionPool are the most commonly used See Appendix 1 for a comparison of these two types For additional information see Help Course Authoring Course Curriculum Modules Developing a Module Assignment Types IU Based Assignments QuestionPool subset of questions from Us are presented and mastery criteria set for each IU Question all questions from Us are presented Exam like question mode but with only 1 attempt and no scores answers or feedback given to students during the exam Training Ques
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