1.17.1. General Information
What is a Test? What is a Self-test?
Tests are used to control achievements in a course. By means of a test you can examine your participants' knowledge at the beginning of your course, check it after each completed module or let course participants take tests electronically.
Tests are created with the OLAT test editor. You can determine a test's duration, its type of questions as well as other configurations. It is also possible to import tests in the IMS QTI format (version 1.2).
Tests are created as independent learning resources before embedding them in a course. You decide if a test should be a self-test for practice purposes or a real test for examination purposes. In the first case you may want to use the course element «Self-test» while in the second case you may prefer the course element «Test.» Results of self-tests are stored anonymously; test results are stored personalized.
What is a Questionnaire?
Questionnaires are used for online evaluations during a course. By means of a questionnaire you can find out more about what your participants expect from your course at its beginning. You can then process your results by means of statistic methods before evaluating the success of your course at its end.
Questionnaires are created with the OLAT questionnaire editor. You can determine a questionnaire's length, its type of questions and make further configurations. It is also possible to import questionnaires in the IMS QTI format (version 1.2).
Questionnaires are created as independent learning resources before embedding them by means of the course element «Questionnaire.» OLAT guarantees that each course participant can fill in such questionnaires only once. Results will be stored anonymously.
If you want to receive personalized data you can use a cloze as first question, asking the participant to indicate his name. However, it is not possible to check if your participants do what they are asked for.
Comparison: Test, Self-test and Questionnaire
The following table exemplifies the difference between test, self-test, and questionnaire:
Test  |
Self-test  |
Questionnaire  |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Intended use: | Test | Exercise | Poll |
| Created with: | Test editor | Test editor | Questionnaire editor |
| Question types: | Single-choice, multiple-choice, Kprim, cloze | Single-choice, multiple-choice, Kprim, cloze | Single-choice, multiple-choice, cloze, free text |
| Embedding with course element: | Test | Self-test | Questionnaire |
| Number of attempts: | to be configurated | unlimited | only once |
| Archiving of results: | personalized | anonymized | anonymized |
Requirements
You have already created an OLAT course and now want to add a test, self-test or questionnaire. We recommend preparing questions and answers of a test or questionnaire electronically, e.g. as Word file; such a file can be easily transferred to a test or questionnaire editor later on.
Perhaps you have already exported a test or questionnaire file in IMS QTI format (version 1.2) from another LMS and want to import it in OLAT. Just follow the instructions in section «Import (learning resources)».