Welcome to the JISC RSC-Northwest's Free Authoring Tool for Web-based Tests. With this tool, practitioners can create self-scoring, multiple choice tests without having to learn any HTML or JavaScript!

Why? Well on-line formative assessment can reduce practitioners' workload and increases learners' responsibility for their own learning. On-line assessment can also offer instant feedback and provide opportunities to reinforce learning and, on-line quizzes, testing conceptual understanding, increase learners' confidence and therefore participation in face-to-face sessions.

To make a web-based test using this tool, you will...

• Select the number of questions you want in your test,
  
• Type in each question and up to five different answer choices and,
  
• Indicate which of the answers is correct for each question.
  

It is as easy as that !
The code, for the web-based test, is automatically generated by this tool.

Before you start making your test(s), please read (and print, if you wish) the following instructions. When you do begin creating a test, the Authoring Tool will open in a new window, so you can always refer back to this window if you need further help.

1. Choose the number of questions (1-50) you would like in your test from the selection box at the bottom of this page, then press the 'Enter Questions' button. You cannot add questions to the next window once it has been generated, so we suggest that you select a few extra questions just to be safe.
N.B. Any questions you leave blank will not appear on the test.

2. In the window that opens, type in a title for your test. The title will appear near the top of the web-based test. Next, type in the instructions for the users of your test. You can change any of the proposed instructions which appear, by default, in the instruction box.

3. Type the required text for each question in your test, along with up to five answers choices. Click the radio button (circle) next to the correct answer for each question. Each question must have a correct answer, and that answer must contain some text.

4. Blank answers will not appear (i.e. For each question, only the choices that you typed in will appear on the test). Also, only the questions that you type in will appear on the test (blank sections (questions) will not appear).

5. Click on the 'Preview my test' button. Proof read carefully! Make sure that the test appears exactly as you intended. Watch for spelling mistakes and make sure that you marked the appropriate correct answer for each question. One of the best ways to do this is to "Take the test yourself"; this will verify that the correct answers were marked appropriately.

6. Close the preview window. To generate the code for your test, click on the 'Make my test' button. The resulting window will contain all of the HTML and JavaScript that runs your web-based test. Follow the directions below for your particular browswer.

• Internet Explorer - In the upper left hand corner of the screen, click on View then Source. Another window will appear. In the upper left hand corner of this window, click on File then Save As. Save the file with the name of your choice followed by .htm (for example test.htm or revision.htm) to your desktop, or to any other folder on your hard disk or floppy disk.
  
• Netscape - In the upper left hand corner of the screen, click on File then Save As. Save the file as test.htm to your desktop, or to any other folder on your hard disk or floppy disk.
  

7. It was as easy as that! The file that you saved, e.g. test.htm, is the web-based test. You can share the test with others on a floppy disk, CD-ROM or over a network. Users can simply double-click on the file to take the test, or open it from within a Web browser. You can also upload the test to your intranet or to the the Internet. In addition, you can send your test to others as an e-mail attachment.

8. If you have any further questions, please contact John Dalziel our e-Learning Adviser (Adult and Community Learning).

9. The final reason you should consider using this tool is that creation of online multiple-choice quizzes by learners for other learners motivates and engages learners. So why not encourage your students to use this tool? They can produce tests for each other!

Now, choose the number of questions you would like in the test (you can add a few extra just to be safe), then click on the 'Enter questions' button.

This Free Authoring Tool is 'based on' an Authoring Tool offered by the MEREX Corporation in USA
Permission to adapt/change was provided by their President Ray Karesky, Ph.D