Introduction to Item Authoring for Administrators

[CandicePedersen]

ITEM AUTHORING | WHAT IS ITEM AUTHORING?

WHAT IS ITEM AUTHORING?

• Item Authoring is the process of creating test items in Mastery Connect using an item bank.
• Questions created in an individual teacher account area available to all teachers in the district.
• Questions created in the District Item Bank are accessible only to district administrators and those with the District Item Author permission.

PRO TIP: When naming items, be as specific as possible to help locate questions quicker. For example: Grade - Subject - Assessment - Question Number.

ITEM AUTHORING | ITEM BANKS

ACCESSING DISTRICT ITEM BANK

• The District Item Bank is accessible only to district administrators and users with the District Item Author permission.
• Admin can make the District Item Bank available to teachers if they wish.
  • However, this allows teachers to pull questions from the bank into their own assessments
  • Once this change is made, it cannot be undone.

ADMIN ACCESS TO ITEM BANKS

• Once you are in the District Item Bank you will notice a drop-down menu.
  • This allows users to select between your [district] bank and your [district] purchased banks.
  • This will help when reserving items from a purchased item bank.

DISTRICT ITEM BANKS 

• District Item Banks are best used when building items for District Formative and/or District Benchmark Assessments, as teachers do not usually have access to this item bank.
• Item Authoring Layout
  • Blue Add Item button in upper right corner allows you to create a new test item
  • Blue Reserve button locks an item
  • Blue Release button unlocks an item
  • Filters narrow down to specific items to edit, clone, reserve, or release

PURCHASED ITEM BANKS 

• Purchased item banks can be used by both teachers and admin to create assessments.
• Item Authoring Layout
  • Blue Reserve button locks an item
  • Blue Release button unlocks an item
  • Filters narrow down to specific items to reserve or release

PRO TIP:  If your district plans to create District Formative and/or Benchmark Assessment items, create them in the District Item Bank and do NOT make that bank available to teachers. Making an item bank available to teachers allows them to pull questions on to another assessment they are creating. Once this is made available, it cannot be undone.

ITEM AUTHORING | CREATING PASSAGES AND ITEMS

TYPES OF ITEMS 

• There are many different item types you can create in Mastery Connect. Some examples include:
  • Multiple Choice
  • Multi-Select
  • Cloze Drag/Drop
  • Essay with Rich Text
  • Short Text
  • Order List
  • Choice Matrix
  • Math Formula

ITEM AUTHORING LAYOUT 

• The blue Add Item button allows users to create new test items.
• Items and passages allow users to switch between created items and created passages.
• Filter options allow users to narrow down to specific items.
• Results show created questions and whether those passages can be edited and/or have a passage attached to them.
• The center area shows the question and specific details about each questions.
• Edit will appear when an item can still have changes made to it.
• Clone allows you to create an exact replica of a question.
  • This can be used to recreate and edit a question that no longer shows the Edit option.
• Delete will completely remove the question.

ITEM PASSAGES AND FEATURES

• A passage allows users to expand questions by adding the same medium, such as text or images, to more than one question.
• Features are how passages are added to a question.
  • Features also include rulers, calculators, and protractors.
• Things to consider when using passages:
  • Passages can be linked to multiple questions.
  • Deleting a passage does not delete the questions linked to the passage.
  • You cannot upload files such as Word Docs or PDFs into the Rich Content Editor (RCE).
  • Hit Save periodically, especially when building long passages

CREATING A PASSAGE 

• A passage is a feature that you can insert into your assessment items.
• To create a new passage:
  • Click on the Passages tab at the top.
  • Click on the blue Add Passage button in the upper right corner.
  • Add a title and grade level (if desired).
  • Using the Rich Content Editor (RCE), type or add in media for the passage.
• Choose Save periodically, especially while building long passages.
  • Or choose Save and Continue Editing to continue adding content.

CREATING AN ITEM 

• An item is the actual test question.
• To create a new item:
  • Click on the Items tab at the top.
  • Click on the blue Add Item button i the upper right corner.
  • Add a title, choose a question type, and choose the correct subject, core, class, and standard associated with the item.
  • Add in Blooms, Difficulty, and/or DOK (if desired).
• Choose Continue to create the question and answer.

ADDING A PASSAGE OR FEATURES TO AN ITEM 

• While creating the question you can add a passage or feature:
  • Click the blue Add Feature button in the upper right corner.
  • Choose passage, specific calculator, ruler, or protractor
• If you choose a passage, you will be prompted to choose the correct passage from those you have previously created.
• Linked passages whill show above the question and other features will show to the right of the question while creating.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? 

• Once you have completed creating the test item, you will be prompted to select one of three possible buttons:
  • Save As Draft 
    • Allows item to be edited
    • Great to use before publishing to check for errors
  • Publish 
    • Item can no longer be edited
    • Item can now be used to create an assessment
    • Item will need to be cloned if changes are to be made
  • Publish & Reserve 
    • Items can no longer be edited
    • Reserves item to be used by District Administrators or Benchmark Authors only

PRO TIP: Always use the preview on the right to test your item. Answer it incorrectly and answer it correctly to make sure everything is set up to your liking.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Item authoring broadens construct measurement, presents more authentic contexts in test items, reduces random guessing and construct irrelevance, increases content domain coverage, and improves test-taker motivation. Using questions from both the district item bank and district purchased item banks can increase rigor in assessments, thereby supporting student mastery towards your state’s standards.

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Also don't forget to watch the Video Blog about this post as well!