User's guide

®®

UUsseerr’’ss GGuuiiddee ((VVeerrssiioonn 11..888))

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Introduction

What is Beyond Question and Why Should I Use It?® …………….. iv Section I: Getting Started

Installing the Software……………………………………………... 1 Installing the Hardware…………………………………………….. 3 Completing the Installation……………………….………………... 4 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 4 Section II: The Basics

Finding Your Way Around………………………………………… 5 Using Beyond Question to Ask Questions………………………… 6 Knowing When Students Have Responded………………………... 7 Viewing Student Answers………………………………………….. 8 Moving Between Questions………………………………………... 12 Saving Your Results……………………………………………….. 14 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 16 Section III: Introduction to Class Files

What is a Class File and Should I Use Class Files?………………... 17 Creating a New Class File………………………………………….. 17 Adding Students……………………………………………………. 18 Assigning Remote Numbers……………………………………….. 21 Selecting Students………………………………………………….. 23 Removing Students………………………………………………… 24 Saving a Class File…………………………………………………. 25 Opening a Saved Class File………………………………………... 27 Taking Attendance…………..……………………………………... 29 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 30 Section IV: Introduction to Lessons

What is a Lesson and Should I Use Lessons?……………………… 32 Creating a New Lesson…………………………………………….. 32 Adding Questions………………………………………………….. 33 Selecting Questions………………………………………………… 38 Changing a Question……………………………………………….. 39 Reordering Questions………………………………………………. 39 Removing Questions……………………………………………….. 40 Saving a Lesson……………………………………………………. 41

Opening a Saved Lesson…………………………………………… 43 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 44

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Section V: Using the Instructor’s Remote

What is the Instructor’s Remote and Should I Use It?……………... 47 Changing Screens…………………………………………………... 47 Moving Between Questions………………………………………... 47 Working with Assign Numbers……………………………………. 48 Controlling When Students Can Answer…………………………... 48 Setting the Correct Answer………………………………………… 49 Changing the Current Question Type……………………………… 51 Upcoming Features………………………………………………… 51 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 52 Section VI: Working with PowerPoint®

Opening a PowerPoint Presentation in Beyond Question………….. 53 Specifying Which Slides are Questions……………………………. 54 Starting the Slide Show…………………………………………….. 55 Navigating the Slide Show…………………………………………. 55 Displaying the Graphs Screen……………………………………… 57 Saving Your Results……………………………………………….. 57 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 58 Section VII: Grouping Students Together

Creating Groups…………………………………………………….59 Changing Group Names……………………………………………. 60 Moving Students Between Groups……………………………….... 60 Removing Groups………………………………………………….. 60 Viewing Answers and Scores by Group…………………………… 61 How Group Scores are Calculated…………………………………. 61 Using Multiple Answer Keys………………………………………. 62 Setting Answers for the Current Key………………………………. 63 Adding and Removing Answer Keys…………………………….... 64 Assigning Answer Keys to Groups………………………………… 64

Section Summary…………………………………………………....65

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Section VIII: More About Lessons

Adding Notes and Web Links to Lessons…………………………...67 Displaying and Setting the Clock………………………………….. 68 Starting, Stopping, and Resetting the Clock……………………….. 69 Controlling What Happens When Time Expires…………………... 69 Regenerating Dynamic ExamView™ Questions…………………… 70 Downloading Online Content……………………………………… 71 Editing the List of Online Servers…………………………………. 73 Specifying Where Downloads are Saved…………………………... 74 Section Summary…………………………………………………....75 Section IX: Working with Standards

Using Standards Libraries………………………………………….. 78 Navigating the Standards…………………………………………... 78 Associating a Standard with a Question…………………………… 81 Removing an Association………………………………………….. 82 Viewing a Standards Report……………………………………….. 82 Section Summary…………………………………………………....86 Section X: Printing, Importing and Exporting

Printing the Roster…………………………………………………. 88 Printing the Questions……………………………………………… 90 Printing the Student Answers………………………………………. 91 Importing Class Rosters……………………………………………. 92 Importing Lessons………………………………………………….. 94 Exporting Class Rosters……………………………………………. 96 Exporting Lessons………………………………………………….. 97 Exporting Student Answers………………………………………... 98 Exporting Standards Reports………………………………………. 99 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 100 Section XI: Advanced Features

Using Port Management…………………………………………… 103 Controlling the Remote Number Boxes……………………………. 105 Section Summary…………………………………………………... 107 Appendix Trademark and Copyright Information……………….……………. 109

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Introduction What is Beyond Question® and Why Should I Use It? Beyond Question is a software program designed to improve student learning by increasing the quality and degree of interaction between teachers and students in the classroom. This improved interaction is accomplished by providing the teacher with a set of tools that can receive and report information from all of the students in a class simultaneously. The basic procedure is as follows:

At the beginning of class, each student is provided a remote control that has buttons marked with possible answers such as “A,” “B,” “C,” “Yes,” “No,” “True,” and “False.” The teacher then asks the class a series of questions using either the computer or a more traditional method such as handouts, overhead transparencies, writing on the board, or in some cases by speaking the questions aloud. After each question, the students respond by pressing a button on their remote controls that corresponds to their chosen answer.

All of the student answers are recorded by Beyond Question and can be shown to the class as a graph of how many students gave each type of answer. While such feedback to the students remains entirely anonymous, the teacher has the additional option of looking at the individual answers given by each student. This arrangement makes a number of benefits possible, including the following: 1. Teachers can quickly determine what percentage of the class understands the current material. 2. Students who are having difficulty can be more rapidly and accurately identified. 3. Student attention can be more effectively focused on the task at hand. 4. Student participation can be greatly increased thereby raising the level of interest among the students. Information collected over the course of the class period can be saved for later analysis and can even be graded automatically. While the software contains a number of tools for developing, recording, and grading questions and answers, the primary purpose of Beyond Question is to enhance the teacher's ability to interact with the students so as to further the education process.

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Seeccttiioonn II:: GGeettttiinngg SSttaarrtteedd Installing the Software

To install the Beyond Question program, place the program CD in the computer's CD drive. If your computer has AutoPlay enabled, the installation program should appear momentarily.

What To Do If the Installation Program Doesn't Run Automatically If your computer has AutoPlay disabled, you will have to start the installation program manually. You can do so by completing the following steps: 1. Make sure the program CD is in the computer's CD drive. 2. Click on the “Start” menu at the bottom left of your screen, and

choose “Run…” from the menu that appears. The “Run” dialog box should appear.

3. Click the “Browse…” button at the bottom right of the “Run”

dialog box. A “Browse” dialog box should appear. 4. Navigate to the “My Computer” location. On most Windows

systems, this can be done by clicking the “My Computer” icon on the left of the dialog box. (If you are using Windows 95 or 98, you will have to select “My Computer” from the list and click the “Open” button.) You should see a list of drives and possibly some folders.

5. Click on the “Beyond Question” CD drive in the list, and then

click the “Open” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. The CD drive usually has the letter “D:” or “E:” associated with it.

6. Click on the program named “Setup” or “Setup.exe” in the

folder that appears, and then click the “Open” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. The “Browse” dialog box should disappear leaving you back at the “Run” dialog box.

7. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the “Run” dialog box,

and the installation program should start.

The “Start” menu button as it appears

on Windows XP

The “My Computer” icon as it appears on

Windows XP.

Two views of the CD.

Two views of “Setup”.

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Once the installation program has started up, you should see a screen such as the one depicted below on the left:

To proceed with the installation, click the button labeled “Install ‘Beyond Question.’” You will then be asked to agree to the terms of the End User License Agreement. You must agree to these terms before you can install or use Beyond Question. After agreeing to the terms of the license, a screen similar to the one shown above on the right will appear. You can modify the settings shown, or simply leave them set to their default values. If you decide to adjust some or all of the settings, the following explanations may be helpful: 1. Destination Folder – The destination folder is the location where the installer will

place the main Beyond Question application and all of its supporting files. The installer will automatically default to creating a folder called “Beyond Question” within the “Program Files” folder for use as the destination folder. This is probably the most appropriate place to install the software, but if you would prefer a different location, simply click the “Browse…” button within the “Destination Folder” area and indicate where you want Beyond Question installed.

2. Add Icons – The installer automatically adds shortcuts to the Windows start menu for

easy access. If you would prefer that the installer not add these shortcuts, simply uncheck the checkbox to the left of the words “Add Icons to this Folder.” If you merely wish the shortcuts to be placed in another location instead, click the “Browse…” button within the “Add Icons” area and indicate where you would like the shortcuts to be placed.

3. Desktop Shortcut – The installer will automatically place a shortcut to Beyond

Question on the desktop unless you tell it not to by unchecking the checkbox to the left of the words “Place a shortcut on the desktop.”


Once you are satisfied with the installer’s settings, click the “Install” button at the bottom right of the window in order to begin the installation process. The installation should require only a few seconds. Once complete, the installer will inform you if any errors occurred during the installation process. You will then be prompted to install the hardware. You should leave the installer running while you connect the hardware. (If you will not be using the remotes with this computer, then you can skip the following steps explaining how to install the hardware.) Installing the Hardware

The receiver is a small device that accepts signals from the remote controls. It is designed to be connected to the computer by a single cable that plugs into one of the computer's USB ports. To connect the receiver to the computer, locate an available USB port on the computer. They may be oriented horizontally or vertically, and should look like this:

A USB port

Once you have located an available USB port, note that one side of the port is open (as at the bottom in the image above) while the other side is blocked (as at the top in the image above). The same combination of one open side and one blocked side exists on the USB cable. Match the open side of the free end of the USB cable to the blocked side of the USB port on the computer and insert the USB cable into the port. It is important to make a firm connection, but do not force the connector if it does not seem to fit. If you encounter this problem, check to make sure that the USB cable is aligned properly with the port. If you are still unable to get a good fit, locate a technology professional or someone with experience connecting equipment to computers and ask for assistance. The receiver draws power from its connection to the computer. However, some USB ports on peripherals such as keyboards do not have as much power available to them. If you have connected your receiver to the computer through a second device and you experience difficulty getting it to work properly, you may need to move the receiver to a USB port on your computer instead. If you have difficulty receiving answers from the students, it is useful to know that the receiver has a red LED just inside the case at the front that blinks whenever an answer is received. This can be helpful in determining whether the problem is with the software or the hardware and should be noted for future use. You will probably want to use a display device, such as a projector or a connected TV, when using Beyond Question so that students can receive feedback. Follow the instructions that came with your display device to connect it to your computer. If you require assistance in obtaining a projector, PC-to-TV converter, or other display device, you may contact your hardware vendor for support. Questions regarding the installation of a specific display device should be directed to the manufacturer or distributor of that device.


Completing the Installation Once you have installed the hardware (if appropriate), the bottom of the final page of the installer will give you the option of launching Beyond Question. Leave the “Launch ‘Beyond Question’” box checked if you want to begin using Beyond Question immediately. Click the “Finish” button at the bottom right of the window to exit the installer.

Regardless of whether or not you chose to have the installer launch Beyond Question for you, you can always start the program in the future by double-clicking on the application icon or one of its shortcuts.

The Beyond Question Application Icon

(If you have difficulty double-clicking, you can right-click on the application icon instead and chose “Open” [by left-clicking] from the resulting popup menu.)

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy ● To Install the Software (Pgs. 1-2) ○ Insert the CD. ○ Click “Install Beyond Question.” ○ Click “Install.” ● To Install the Hardware (Pg. 3) ○ Plug the receiver into an available USB port. ● When installation is complete, click the “Finished” button to exit the installer. (Pg. 4)


SSeeccttiioonn IIII:: TThhee BBaassiiccss Finding Your Way Around Everything in Beyond Question can be done from one of six screens, and moving between these screens is easy. All you have to do is click on the tab at the top that corresponds to the screen that you want to see.

To move to a particular screen, click the tab that corresponds to that screen. It is also possible to change screens by choosing the name of the screen you would like to go to from the “View” menu at the top left of the window, or by pressing the corresponding shortcut key (F5 through F10) on the keyboard.

As you can see, the six screens are: 1. Roster: Information about the current class and the students that compose it. 2. Desks: Individual student answers on a seating chart layout. 3. Lesson: A list of the questions in the current lesson with tools to edit those questions. 4. Answers: A grid with all of the answers received for all questions. 5. Remotes: Feedback for students showing the current question and who has answered. 6. Graphs: A bar chart of how many students have given each possible answer. The first four of these screens, shown above in red, contain information that is intended only for you, the instructor. These screens allow you to prepare information ahead of time or view confidential information about specific student answers. The remaining two screens include information that can and should be shared with your students, such as whether or not each student's answer has been received and what the results look like as a whole.


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Using Beyond Question to Ask Questions To begin using Beyond Question with students, make sure that the necessary hardware is properly connected and then start the Beyond Question software. Once the software is up and running, go to the “Remotes” screen by clicking on the “Remotes” tab. You are now ready to begin interacting with your students. The large white area is where questions that have been prepared ahead of time appear; you may also type a question in this area now, but you are not required to do so. Many instructors present questions to students via handouts, overhead transparencies, a blackboard or whiteboard, or even verbally. You should use whichever method you have materials for and feel most comfortable with. At the extreme bottom right of the window the words “Accepting Answers” should be visible. This indicates that students are allowed to send answers to the current question.

You can control when they are allowed to answer by turning the “Accept Answers” menu item in the “Class” menu on or off. As you can see, the default setting for “Accepting Answers” when you are on the remotes screen is “on”. To change the setting to off and prevent students from answering (or changing their answers), select the “Accept Answers” menu item or click the corresponding button on the toolbar.

The “Accept Answers” Toolbar Button

When “Accept Answers” is off, the words “Disregarding Answers” will appear at the extreme bottom-right of the window. You can turn “Accept Answers” back on by once again clicking on the “Accept Answers” menu item or by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button. In this manner, you can toggle the setting back and forth and ensure that students answer only when you want them to.


Knowing When Students Have Responded At the bottom of the remotes screen is a group of gray boxes containing numbers. These numbers correspond to the numbers on the student remotes.

Remote Number Boxes When the student with remote number one gives an answer to the current question, the gray box with the number one will turn green to indicate that the student’s answer has been received. If that student then decides to change his or her answer, the box with the number one will momentarily change to yellow before returning to green. Thus students are free to answer and change their answers to the current question as long as “Accepting Answers” is turned on.

Answer Received for Remote One Answer Changed for Remote One


Viewing Student Answers Once all of your students have had a chance to answer the current question (or you determine that time is up) you can display a graph of how many students gave each possible answer by going to the “Graphs” screen. On the right side of the graphs screen is a reminder of which question you are currently on along with the text for the current question. The heights of the colored bars on the bar graph correspond to how many students gave each answer and are labeled appropriately. On the left side of the graph is an indication of what percentage of the total class each answer represents.

Note that as soon as you go to the graphs screen, “Accepting Answers” will be automatically turned off. This prevents students from changing their answers in response to the information provided by the graph (such as which answer was given by the majority of the class). If you would prefer for students to be able to continue to give or change their answers while viewing the graph screen (perhaps to encourage discussion), just select the “Accept Answers” menu item from the “Class” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button to turn “Accepting Answers” back on. In additional to the general feedback provided by the graphs screen, it is possible for you to view the individual answers given by each student. It is important to keep this information confidential by remembering to freeze or shut off the external display that the students are viewing (such as a TV screen or projector). Once you have adjusted the external display appropriately you can view the student data in one of two ways.


To view a color-coded version of the answers received from all of the students for the current question, go to the “Desks” screen. Each desk will have a single remote assigned to it and will display the color that corresponds to the answer received from that remote.

Using the buttons below the desks, it is possible to turn on or off labels showing which remote is assigned to which desk. Similarly, it is possible to turn on or off the display of the student names associated with the assigned remotes. Regardless of how the display is configured, you can find out which student is assigned to a desk by clicking on the desk of interest and looking at the student name that appears in the “Selected Student” box at the bottom right of the screen.

You can also select a student name directly from the drop down list in the “Selected Student” box to have the corresponding desk highlighted. The desk screen is an excellent place to quickly determine which students understand the concepts being taught and which may require extra help.


For a broader view of the available student answers, go to the “Answers” screen. Here all of the answers given by all of the students appear in a grid format. The student names are listed on the left and the question numbers go across the top.

Thus to find a particular student's answer to question three, locate the row that corresponds to that student on the left and then move across the grid until you reach column three. The answer (if any) given by the student will appear within that cell. By default, incorrect answers are marked in red. If you feel that this feature is not appropriate for your current lesson (for example, if you are giving a survey), you can turn it off via the “Preferences” dialog box. To display the dialog box, choose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu. Then uncheck the item labeled “Mark Incorrect Answers” and click the “OK” button at the bottom right of the window.


If auto-grading is being used, the answers screen also contains the current grade for every student just to the right of the student's name. The default setting displays this information as a percentage, but you can change the display to show the absolute number of points accumulated by each student by right-clicking on the “Score” column heading and choosing “View as Points” from the resulting popup menu.

Keep in mind that unanswered questions are counted as wrong, so don't be surprised if the student scores are particularly low before the entire lesson is concluded. The scores will update in real time as additional student answers come in. You can also monitor the progress of the class as a whole by referring to the class average displayed at the bottom left of the answers screen. This value is also updated in real time as student answers come in.


Moving Between Questions When you are ready to continue on to the next question, return to the remotes screen by clicking the “Remotes” tab. If you have frozen or disabled the external display (projector or TV) while viewing sensitive student data, be sure you re-enable the display at this time so that students can see the next question. To proceed, click the “Next Question” button at the top right of the screen.

If you are working with a lesson that you have already prepared, Beyond Question will proceed to the next question in that lesson. If you are working without a prepared lesson or if you have already reached the end of the current lesson, then clicking the “Next Question” button will automatically add a new question for you and move to that question. In either case, all of the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen will go back to being gray to indicate that no student answers have been received for this question. If at any point you wish to back up to a previous question, you can do so using the navigation bar at the top left of the screen. This bar shows the number of the question that you are currently on and makes moving between questions simple.

To back up one question, click the left-pointing arrow closest to the question number. To back up to the first question in the lesson, click the left-pointing arrow that is next to a vertical bar. Likewise, you can proceed to the next question or skip to the final question in a prepared lesson by clicking on the right arrow closest to the question number and the right-pointing arrow next to a vertical bar, respectively. This is summarized below:

Go to the first question in the lesson.

Go to the previous question.

Go to the next question.

Go to the final question in the lesson.


Note that you cannot use the navigation bar to move beyond the last question in the current lesson. While the “Next Question” button on the remotes screen automatically adds new questions, the navigation bar always keeps you within the existing questions. An equivalent approach to using the buttons on a navigation bar is to select one of the corresponding menu items from the “Question” menu. These menu items use the same images as the navigation buttons and accomplish the same thing.

In addition to using the buttons and menu items to move around, you can also go directly to a specific question by typing the desired question number in the white text box on the navigation bar and pressing “Enter” on your keyboard. This is a useful feature if you routinely work with large numbers of questions and know exactly where you want to go.


Saving Your Results Once you have administered all of the questions for the current session, you may want to save a copy of the students' answers. You can do this by choosing “Save” from the “File” menu while on any screen other than the roster screen. (Choosing “Save” while on the roster screen saves the current class file.) If you prefer, you can simply click the “Save” icon on the toolbar instead.

The “Save” Toolbar Button

A file dialog box will appear asking you to give the file a name and to specify a location to save the file.

Type a name in the box provided, and make sure that you save the file in a location where you will be able to find it later. Click the “Save” button or press “Enter” on your keyboard to finish saving the file.


The file created is a Lesson file with answers, generally referred to as an Answer file for short. It will contain a copy of the questions, all of the student answers, and a link to the class file (if any) that was open at the time. Its name will appear on the recent lessons drop down list at the top of the “Lesson” screen, and it can be opened at a later time just like any other lesson. (For more information about the recent lessons drop down list and opening saved lessons in general, see “Opening a Saved Lesson” in “Section IV:Introduction to Lessons.”)

You can change which folder Beyond Question automatically defaults to saving and opening files from by changing the “Default Folder” in the preferences dialog box. To do

this, choose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu and go to the “General” tab if you are not already there.

On the “General” tab, either modify the contents of the “Default Folder” text box by hand, or click on the “Browse…” button to select a folder directly. Click the “OK” button at the bottom right of the window when you are done.


SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy You can navigate between Beyond Question’s six screens using the tabs at the top of the Window or by using the “View” menu. (Pg. 5) Asking Questions and Knowing When Students Have Responded (Pgs. 6-7) ● To ask your students a question, go to the “Remotes” screen.

● You can control when students are allowed to answer by using the “Accept Answers” toolbar button or the corresponding button on your instructor’s remote.

● When a student responds to a question, the box at the bottom of the Remotes screen that corresponds to that student’s remote number will change from gray to green. If the student then changes his or her answer, the box will blink yellow briefly.

Viewing Student Answers (Pgs. 8-11)

● The Graphs screen allows you to see how many students have responded with each possible answer to the current question. This feedback can be very valuable to students. (Pg. 8)

● The Desks screen allows you to see how each individual student answered the question; this screen should not normally be shown to students. (Pg. 9)

● The checkboxes at the bottom of the Desks screen can be used to control what information is displayed along with the student answers. (Pg. 9)

● The Answers screen provides a spreadsheet view that summarizes how every student has answered every question. (Pg. 10)

● You can control whether or not incorrect answers are marked in red by changing the “Mark Incorrect Answers” checkbox on the “General” tab of the “Preferences” dialog box. (Pg. 10)

● The Answers screen also displays student scores when automatic grading is being used. Right-clicking on the “Score” column allows you to change the display back and forth between points and percentages. (Pg. 11)

Moving Between Questions (Pgs. 12-13)

● The “Next Question” button on the Remotes screen will take you to the next prepared question in the current lesson and will add a new, blank question if necessary.

● The “Question” menu and the Navigation Bar can also be used to move between questions within the current lesson. You can go to the first question in the lesson, the previous question, the next question, or the last question using either method.

Saving Your Results (Pgs. 14-15)

● Once students have answered, you can save the results by choosing “Save” from the “File” menu or by clicking on the “Save” toolbar button. Just provide a name in the dialog box that appears, and a new Answers file will be created.


SSeeccttiioonn IIIIII:: IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn ttoo CCllaassss FFiilleess What is a Class File and Should I Use Class Files? In many ways, the more information you provide Beyond Question with, the more it can do to help you. Class files are an excellent example of this. Consisting basically of a class roll and a seating chart, class files allow Beyond Question to assist you in maintaining student information, recording grades, and identifying students that may need additional help. Class files are entirely optional. You do not have to create a class file to use the basic capabilities of the program, but you are encouraged to do so in order to reap the maximum possible benefits of the software. Here are some of the advantages of creating class files: • Student information (including student ID numbers and notes) is retained for

later reference.

• Attendance is automatically kept with each lesson administered.

• Student names appear below their assigned desk.

• Student answers and grades are automatically associated with the student's name instead of just a remote number.

Creating a New Class File To create a new class file, choose “New Class” from the “File” menu at the top left of the screen. This will take you to the roster screen if you are not already there, and will clear the list of students on the left.


Adding Students To add a student to the current class, choose “Add New Student” from the “Class” menu or click the “Add Student” button located at the bottom right of the roster screen.

If the "Add Student" button is disabled (i.e. grayed out), then the roster already contains the maximum number of students allowed. You will not be able to add any more students to this class until some of the existing students are removed. See "Removing Students" for help with this. Once you add a student, a new, blank line will be added to the list of student names at the left and the information fields on the right will become active (turn white). The blinking text cursor should be in the “Last Name” field at the top right of the screen.


Entering Student Information There are several pieces of information that Beyond Question can keep track of for each student. These are: 1. The student's last name.

2. The student's first name.

3. The student's ID number.

4. The remote number assigned to the student.

5. Notes about the student. Each piece of information has a field associated with it on the right side of the "Roster" screen. If the blinking text cursor is not already in the “Last Name” field at the top right of the screen, put it there by clicking on the white space of the box to the right of the word “Last.” Now type in the last name of the student. When you are finished press “Enter” on your keyboard to move the cursor to the “First Name” field. Type in a first name for the student and then press “Enter” again to move on to the “ID” field. Student ID's are optional. Enter one now if you wish. Either way, press “Enter” again to move on. When you press “Enter” this last time, the text cursor will disappear, but the “Add Student” button will now have a dotted rectangle on it. That rectangle means that pressing “Enter” again will be the same as clicking on the button. This is useful when you have a large number of students to add since it allows you to add each additional student without having to move between the keyboard and mouse.

The dotted rectangle means that pressing “Enter” is the same as clicking on the button.

You can always go back to a previous field simply by clicking in the white area (or on the text) of the field that you want to return to. This makes correcting mistakes easy. You can also back up by holding down the “Shift” key on your keyboard and then pressing the keyboard’s “Enter” key. (You can also use the “Tab” and “Shift-Tab” key combinations to move forward and backward between fields, respectively.)


If you are in the middle of making a modification to the contents of a field and change your mind, you can restore the field’s original text by pressing the “Esc” (escape) key on your keyboard. Once you have pressed “Enter” or left the field, the escape key will no longer work, but you can still restore the original text by choosing “Undo Typing” from the “Edit” menu or by clicking the corresponding toolbar button.

The “Undo” Toolbar Button

Note that it is not necessary to do anything (such as press enter) to cause Beyond Question to register the changes you have entered. Just making the changes is sufficient even though the program may not update the information in the list of student names to the left until you click on something else or move the cursor to a different field. Continue to add students until your class is complete.


Assigning Remote Numbers As you add students to your class roster, Beyond Question will automatically assign each one the next available remote number. You can change the remote number assigned to the currently selected student at any time by clicking on (or tabbing to) the white box that contains the student’s remote number.

Once the blinking cursor is within the box, replace the number that is already there with the remote number that you would prefer the student to have and press “Enter” on the keyboard. The student’s remote number will be changed instantly, and this change will be reflected on the list of students to the left. You can use this method to set the remote numbers for all of your students, but there is an easier way. First add all of your students to the roster by whatever method you prefer; don’t worry about which remote numbers are assigned to which students right now. This method requires that you be in class and that every student already have a remote, so you may want to save your class and reopen it later when it’s time for class. (See “Saving a Class File” and “Opening a Saved Class File” for more information on how to do this.) When you are in class with a completed class roster and you have already handed out the remotes to students, choose “Assign Numbers…” from the “Class” menu to begin the process of assigning remote numbers to students.

The entire window will turn gray, and the name of the first student on your roster will appear in large letters in the center of the window. Make sure that the students can see the screen (usually via a projector or connected television set). Each student should press a single button on his or her remote in response to seeing his or her name on the screen. When a student presses a remote button, that student’s name will shrink and move to the top of the screen along with the number of the remote that the student used. The name of the next student in the roster will then take center stage.


The Assign Numbers View Students continue in this manner until everyone on the roster has had a chance to associate a remote number with their name by pressing a button. If one or more students is absent, you can skip over their names by pressing either enter, the space bar, the right arrow key, or the down arrow key on the keyboard. Similarly, if a student presses a button when they were not supposed to, you can use either the left or the up arrow key to back up one student and allow the correct student to press a button. The message “Signal from Remote Already Assigned to First-name Last-name” will appear at the bottom of the screen in red if any student attempts to register his or her remote with more than one name. Usually, this is an accident. You can ignore the message if the student has already registered his or her remote with the correct name (i.e. the student pressing a button for the second time is the student named in red). If, however, the student pressing the button for the second time is the student whose name appears in the center of the screen, then that student must have made a mistake when he or she pressed the button for the first time. You can correct this mistake in one of two ways: 1. Back up to the name of the student given in red, allow that student to press a

button as he or she should have in the first place, and then move forwards to the current student again,

or

2. Allow the student named in red to press a button at this time. The two students will then have their remote numbers backwards. After the number assigning process is complete, simply correct either of the remote numbers by hand on the roster screen. Beyond Question will automatically correct the other student’s remote number.

Once every student has had a chance to press a button, the assign numbers process will automatically end and return you to the roster screen. Alternately, you can abort the process at any time by pressing the “Esc” (escape) key on the keyboard.


Selecting Students As you add new students to your class, you may notice that the name of the current student is always highlighted on the list to the left. You can change which student is the active one by clicking on any name in the list. When you do, the information in the fields on the right side of the screen will change to show information for the newly selected student. In this way, you can easily edit the information for any student; just select the desired student, click in the field of interest, and modify the information. You can also select more than one student at a time and perform actions on all of the selected students at once. The simplest way to do this is to select a range of names by first clicking on the topmost student (in the list) and by then dragging the mouse cursor down to the bottom name before releasing the mouse button. An equivalent method is to click on the first name and then press and hold the “Shift” key on the keyboard while clicking on the last name. This will select the names clicked along with all those in between. Whenever multiple students are selected, the information fields on the right side of the roster screen will become inactive (grayed out). In addition to selecting a continuous range of students, it is possible to select multiple students that are not directly adjacent to one another on the roster. To do this, click on the first student that you want to select, and then press and hold the “Ctrl” (control) key on the keyboard. While holding the control key down, click on each name that you would like to include. If you click on a name by mistake, you can remove it from the list of selected names by simply clicking on it a second time. Once you have selected all of the student names that you are interested in, release the control key. The above descriptions refer to the list of student names shown on the roster screen, but you can use the exact same techniques on the answer screen’s list of names as well. You can even select students on the desks screen by clicking on the desk that a student is assigned to or by choosing a student’s name from the “Selected Student” box at the bottom right of the screen. You can select multiple desks by holding down the shift or control key while clicking on them. No matter which screen you work from, the selection made will be reflected on all of the screens. Thus, if you select the first student on the roster screen and then go to the answers screen, the first student will be selected there as well. You can deselect all students by clicking on the white space at the bottom of the lists on the roster or answer screens, or by clicking on the space between desks on the desks screen.


Removing Students If you need to remove a student from your class roster because the student has left the class or was added to the roll by mistake, you can do so quite simply. Just select the student or students that you would like to remove and then choose “Remove Student” from the “Class” menu or click the “Remove Student” button at the bottom right of the roster screen.

Note that the “Remove Student” menu item is only enabled on screens where you can see which students are currently selected (and will therefore be removed).

Once you choose the “Remove Student” menu item or click the “Remove Student” button, you will be asked to confirm that you do indeed wish to permanently remove the selected student or students. If you are sure that you want to proceed, click the “Yes” button. All selected students will then be removed from your roster. Keep in mind that this action cannot be undone.

Don’t be surprised if you see deleted student names reappear when viewing an old lesson in which those students gave answers. Beyond Question temporarily adds back deleted names when it needs to show old student answers. Thus you can safely remove students

from your roster without losing access to data previously collected. student


Saving a Class File Once you have finished creating your roster, you will almost certainly want to save a copy so that you can use it in the future. To save the current class, make sure that you are on the roster screen and choose “Save” from the “File” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button.


Because you are saving this class for the first time, a “Save Class As” dialog box will appear asking you to give the file a name and to specify a location to save the file.



Once the class has been saved for the first time, future modifications can be saved by choosing “Save” from the “File” menu again, or by clicking on the “Save” toolbar button again. You will not be asked to specify a name or location again. If you decide that you want a copy of the class (for example, on a floppy disk), you can choose “Save Class As…” from the “File” menu and specify a new name and/or location for the copy.


Opening a Saved Class File You can open a previously saved class file at any time. If the file was open fairly recently, then the easiest way to reopen it is probably with the class drop down list on the roster screen. This drop down list is located at the top left of the screen, just to the right of the “Class” button.

The class drop down list contains a list of the ten most recently opened class files. Most of the time, the class file that you are interested in will be in this list. Just click the downward pointing arrow on the right side of the drop down control to see the list. Then click on the name of the class file that you are interested in. If the class file that you are looking for is not on the list, you can click the “Class” button on the left to bring up an “Open Class” dialog box. Use the dialog box to locate the class file you want to open, click on the file, and then click the “Open” bottom at the bottom right or press “Enter” to open the file.


When you use the “Class” button, the dialog box that appears will be set up to show only class files. (You can change this if you want by choosing a different file format from the “Files of Type” drop down list at the bottom of the dialog box.) You can also reopen an existing class file by choosing “Open…” from the “File” menu or by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button.

The “Open” Toolbar Button


Taking Attendance While Beyond Question cannot track attendance on a daily basis, it can keep a record of which students were present and participated in any given lesson. This information is displayed on the roster screen along with the student names. On the far left of the list of names is a column with an image of a small scroll at the top. A checkmark is placed in this column next to the name of every student that has responded at least once to the current lesson.

At the bottom of the column, the words “Total Present” are followed by a count of the names with checkmarks next to them. This makes it easy to tell at a glance if everyone is present or if some students are absent, even if the list of names is too large to view without scrolling.

It is possible to manually change the status of one or more students in a couple of ways. This is useful, for example, when a student inadvertently (or inappropriately) presses a button on a remote belonging to a student who is absent. In such a case, you can easily remove the checkmark from the absent student’s name. To do this, select the student (or students) that you want to adjust, and then choose “Mark as Absent” from the “Class” menu.


You can, in the same way, mark one or more students as present without waiting for them to answer any questions by choosing “Mark as Present” from the “Class” menu after selecting the appropriate student or students. While the “Mark as Present” and “Mark as Absent” menu items are very useful when working with multiple students, there is an even easier way to modify the status of individual students. Right-clicking in the attendance column will toggle the status of the corresponding student. Thus, the first right-click might mark an absent student as being present while the second one will return the student’s status to absent. This can be done regardless of which student or students are currently selected and does not modify that selection in any way.

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy ● Class Files are optional but allow you to track student information and associate

incoming answers with student names. (Pg. 17)

● To create a new class file, choose “New Class” from the “File” menu. (Pg. 17)

● To add a new student, choose “Add New Student” from the “Class” menu or click the “Add Student” button located at the bottom right of the roster screen. (Pg. 18)

Entering Student Information (Pgs. 19-20)

● When a single student is selected, that student’s information can be edited using the fields on the right side of the roster screen.

● The student information fields include a place to enter the student’s last name, first name, student ID, assigned remote number, and any relevant notes. The student ID is optional, and the notes field can hold any information that might be useful.

● You can move between the various information fields by clicking in the desired field or by using the “Enter” or “Tab” keys on the keyboard. The “Enter” key will also allow you to use the “Add New Student” button to add another student, making it possible to enter information for large numbers of students using only the keyboard.

● A field’s original value can be restored by pressing “Esc” (escape) until you move to another field or press “Enter.” The last change can be undone using the “Undo” command even if the “Esc” key will no longer work.

Assigning Remote Numbers (Pgs. 21-22)

● Each student is assigned a default remote number when they are added to the roster, but you can change this number using the “Remote” number field.

● A better way to assign remote numbers is to choose “Assign Numbers…” from the “Class” menu. Each student can then respond when his or her name appears. The instructor remote can be used to back up to a previous student or skip over an absent one.


Selecting Students (Pg. 23)

● You can select a student by clicking on that student’s name on the left of the roster screen.

● You can select multiple consecutive students by clicking on the first name and dragging the cursor down to the last one.

● You can also select multiple consecutive students by clicking on the first name and then clicking on the last name while holding down the “Shift” key on the keyboard.

● You can select nonconsecutive students by holding down the “Ctrl” (control) key on the keyboard while clicking on the name of each student you wish to include.

Removing Students (Pg. 24)

● You can remove one or more students by first selecting them on the roster and by then choosing “Remove Student” from the “Class” menu or by clicking the “Remove Student” button at the bottom right of the roster screen.

Saving a Class File (Pgs. 25-26)

● You can save the current class file by going to the roster screen and by choosing “Save” from the “File” menu or by clicking on the “Save” toolbar button. If this is the first time you have saved the Class File, you will be prompted to give it a name. Do so and then click “Save.”

Opening a Saved Class File (Pgs. 27-28)

● The fastest way to reopen a Class File that was open recently is to select the name of the file from the drop down list at the top of the roster. That list contains the ten most recently used Class Files.

● If you need to open a file that is not on the list of recent Class Files, you can click the “Class” button to the left of the drop down list.

● You can also open a Class File by choosing “Open…” from the “File” menu or by clicking the “Open” toolbar button.

Taking Attendance (Pgs. 29-30)

● When Beyond Question receives an answer from a student, it places a checkmark next to the student’s name on the roster.

● You can turn this checkmark on or off manually by selecting the student of interest and by choosing either “Mark as Present” or “Mark as Absent” from the “Class” menu.

● Alternately, you can right-click on the checkmark to turn it on or off.

● The total number of students marked as present is shown at the bottom of the roster on the left.


SSeeccttiioonn IIVV:: IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn ttoo LLeessssoonnss What is a Lesson and Should I Use Lessons? While Beyond Question can be used effectively without any advance preparation, it is often helpful to prepare questions ahead of time and use Beyond Question to organize and present the information. Lessons allow you to do just that. You can add, remove, and reorder questions, as well as format the question text and images to your preferences. Lessons also allow you to specify what kind of answers should be accepted for each question and how the questions as a whole should be graded. Prepared lessons are entirely optional. You do not have to create a lesson to use the basic capabilities of the program, but you are encouraged to do so in order to reap the maximum possible benefits of the software. Here are some of the advantages of creating lessons: • Questions are presented visually to the students at the appropriate time.

• Student answers can be automatically restricted to a desired range. (i.e. A-E)

• Student answers can be automatically graded in real time.

• Questions are stored along with the answers that students provide. Creating a New Lesson To create a new lesson, choose “New Lesson” from the “File” menu at the top left of the screen or click on the corresponding toolbar button. This will take you to the lesson screen if you are not already there, and will clear the list of questions at the top. It will also automatically add a single new question for you.

The “New Lesson” Toolbar Button


Adding Questions When you create a new lesson, Beyond Question automatically adds a new question for you. After preparing this initial question to your satisfaction (as described below), you will probably want to add additional questions to your lesson. To add a new question to the current lesson, choose “Add New Question” from the “Question” menu, or simply click the “Add Question” button at the bottom right of the lesson screen.

A new question will be added to the list of questions at the top of the screen, and the blinking text cursor will be positioned at the beginning of the white area of the question box so that you can begin typing the text of the newly added question.

Note that the new question’s settings (described below) will be the same as those of the question that was selected when the new question was added. If no question or more than

one question was selected, the last question on the list is used as a template instead.


Entering Question Text and Images Once you have a new question to work with, you can begin entering the text for that question by clicking in the white space of the large question box at the bottom of the lesson screen (if the blinking cursor is not already there). Then simply type the text you want for your question.

At the bottom left of the lesson screen, you will see standard formatting controls that you can use to adjust the font, size, and attributes of your question text.

These controls work exactly the same way as in common word processors. For example, to make a portion of text bold, italic, or underlined, select the text and then click the corresponding button as shown below:

Toggle the Bold attribute on or off for the selected text.

Toggle the Italic attribute on or off for the selected text.

Toggle the Underline attribute on or off for the selected text. Click the same button again to remove the attribute once you’ve added it. You can also adjust the font type face and size using the drop down menus just to the right of the bold, italic, and underline buttons.


For even more control over the characteristics of your text, including font color, choose “Format Text…” from the “Question” menu.

This will display a format dialog box with expanded options. Once you’ve adjusted the font settings to your tastes, click the “OK” button at the top right of the dialog to close the dialog box. In addition to typing text, you can also paste pictures into the question box to enhance your question. To paste a picture in the question box, you will first need to open the picture in any graphics program and copy the portion that you want. (In most programs, you can do this by selecting the picture and choosing “Copy” from the “Edit” menu.) Once you have copied your picture onto the clipboard, return to Beyond Question, click in the white space at the location where you want the picture to go, and choose “Paste” from the “Edit” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button.

The “Paste” Toolbar Button

Although Beyond Question allows you to resize pictures after adding them to questions, such changes may not be retained unless you also modify the text in some way (such as

adding and then removing a space) after resizing the picture.


Setting the Question Type It is possible to specify what kind of answers students are allowed to give for each question by setting question types. The default question type is “A – J” which means that students are allowed to answer with any alphabetical multiple choice response from “A” through “J”. You can change the question type of one or more questions by selecting the questions that you want to modify and then choosing the new question type from the question type drop down list located above the question box on the right side of the lesson screen.

Possible question types include various alphabetical and numerical multiple choice types, true/false and yes/no types, and the “Directions” type which indicates that no student answers should be accepted for the information displayed. Setting the Correct Answer If you want to use the optional auto-grading feature of Beyond Question, you will need to specify a correct answer for each question. You can do this by selecting a question and by then choosing the correct answer from the “Answer” drop down list located above the question box on the right side of the lesson screen.

If you want to change both a question’s type and its correct answer, make sure that you change the type first, as this influences which answers are available as correct ones.


Setting the Number of Points If you use the auto-grading capabilities of Beyond Question and do not specify the number of points that each question is worth (i.e. you leave every question with its points value set to zero), then all questions will be graded as if they are of equal value. In many cases, this is the desired behavior. However, if you want some questions to be worth more than others, you can accomplish this by assigning a point value to each question. To assign a point value to a question (or group of questions), select the question or questions you are interested in and type a point value into the points field located above the question box on the right side of the lesson screen.

The number of points assigned to the selected question or questions will be updated instantly throughout the program. You can see how many points the lesson as a whole is currently worth by looking at the “Total Points” display at the top right of the lesson screen.


Selecting Questions As you add new questions to your lesson, you may notice that the current question is always highlighted on the list at the top of the lesson screen. You can change which question is the active one by clicking on any question in the list. When you do, the question box at the bottom of the screen will change to show the contents of the newly selected question. The controls that handle the question type, correct answer, and points value will also be updated to reflect the current question. After selecting a question, you can easily modify the contents or settings belonging to that question just as if you were creating it for the first time. You can also select more than one question at a time and perform actions on all of the selected questions at once. The simplest way to do this is to select a range of questions by first clicking on the topmost question (in the list) and by then dragging the mouse cursor down to the bottom question before releasing the mouse button. An equivalent method is to click on the first question and then press and hold the “Shift” key on the keyboard while clicking on the last question. This will select the questions clicked along with all those in between. Whenever multiple questions are selected, the question box at the bottom of the screen and the text formatting controls below it will become inactive (grayed out). In addition to selecting a continuous range of questions, it is possible to select multiple questions that are not directly adjacent to one another in the list. To do this, click on the first question that you want to select, and then press and hold the “Ctrl” (control) key on the keyboard. While holding the control key down, click on each question that you would like to include. If you click on a question by mistake, you can remove it from the list of selected questions by simply clicking on it a second time. Once you have selected all of the questions that you are interested in, release the control key. There are other ways to change the selected question than those mentioned above. For example, whenever you use a navigation bar (discussed in “Moving Between QuestionsT” in “Section II: The Basics”) to change the current question, the question list will automatically be updated to show the new question as the only one selected. Another method for changing the currently selected question is to click the desired question number on the answers screen.

For example, clicking on the number “3” would make question three the active question.


Changing a Question While it is obvious that you can change the contents of a question at any time by selecting the question and modifying its contents on the lesson screen, you may not realize that it isn’t always necessary to return to the lesson screen. Simple mistakes can often be fixed directly on the remotes screen even as you are showing questions to students. Just click in the white area where the question is being displayed, and you can edit its contents directly. You can even adjust formatting by choosing “Format Text…” from the “Question” menu and using the dialog box that appears. Any changes you make on the remotes screen are automatically propagated to the lesson screen. This is often a more convenient approach to fixing minor errors in the text than disabling the display that the students are looking at, returning to the lesson screen, and making the change there. Reordering Questions After you have added several questions to a lesson, you may wish to change the order in which some of the questions occur. This can be done by selecting one or more questions and then choosing “Move Question Up” or “Move Question Down” from the “Question” menu, or by clicking on the corresponding buttons to the right of the list of questions.

Doing so will move all selected questions up or down one position in the list of questions.


Removing Questions If you decide that you no longer want one or more questions to be a part of the current lesson, you can remove such unwanted questions by selecting them and choosing “Remove Question” from the “Question” menu or by clicking on the “Remove Question” button at the bottom right of the lesson screen.

Note that the “Remove Question” menu item is only enabled on screens where you can see the text of the current question if only one question is selected. If multiple questions

are selected, then the “Remove Question” menu item is only enabled on the lesson screen.

Once you choose the “Remove Question” menu item or click the “Remove

Question” button, you will be asked to confirm that you do indeed wish to permanently remove the selected question or questions. If you are sure that you want to proceed, click the “Yes” button. All selected questions will then be removed from your lesson. Keep in mind that this action cannot be undone.

When you delete a question, all student answers associated with that question will also be

deleted.


Saving a Lesson Once you have finished creating your lesson, you will almost certainly want to save a copy so that you can use it in the future. To save the current lesson, make sure that you are on any screen other than the roster screen and choose “Save” from the “File” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button.


Because you are saving this lesson for the first time, a “Save Lesson As” dialog box will appear asking you to give the file a name and to specify a location to save the file.



Once the lesson has been saved for the first time, future modifications can be saved by choosing “Save” from the “File” menu again, or by clicking on the “Save” toolbar button again. You will not be asked to specify a name or location a second time. If you decide that you want a copy of the lesson (for example, on a floppy disk), you can choose “Save Lesson As…” from the “File” menu and specify a new name and/or location for the copy.


Opening a Saved Lesson You can open a previously saved lesson file at any time. If the file was opened fairly recently, then the easiest way to reopen it is probably with the lesson drop down list on the lesson screen. This drop down list is located at the top left of the screen, just to the right of the “Lesson” button.

The lesson drop down list contains a list of the ten most recently opened lessons. Just click the downward pointing arrow on the right side of the drop down control to see the list. Then click on the name of the lesson that you are interested in. If the lesson that you are looking for is not on the list, you can click the “Lesson” button on the left to bring up an “Open Lesson” dialog box. Use the dialog box to locate the lesson you want to open, click on the file, and then click the “Open” bottom at the bottom right or press “Enter” to open the file.


When you use the “Lesson” button, the dialog box that appears will be set up to show only lesson files. (You can change this if you want by choosing a different file format from the “Files of Type” drop down list at the bottom of the dialog box.) You can also reopen an existing lesson by choosing “Open…” from the “File” menu or by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button.


SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy ● Lessons, though optional, allow you to prepare questions ahead of time within Beyond

Question, control which answers are allowed, and grade and save the results. (Pg. 32)

● You can create a new lesson by choosing “New Lesson” from the “File” menu or by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button. A single, blank question will be added automatically. (Pg. 32)

● To add a new question, choose “Add New Question” from the “Question” menu or click the “Add Question” button located at the bottom right of the lesson screen. (Pg. 33)

Entering Question Text and Images (Pgs. 34-35)

● Enter the text for a question by typing in the large white box at the bottom of the lesson screen.

● You can control the characteristics of the text using the formatting controls below the text area on the left. These controls can be used to make text bold, italic, or underlined. They can also adjust the font and size of the text.

● You can get additional control of the attributes of the text by choosing “Format Text…” from the “Question” menu.

● You can add pictures to your question by copying them from a graphics program and then pasting them into the question box using “Paste” from the “Edit” menu.


Question Settings (Pgs. 36-37)

● Specifying the question type, correct answer, and points value of a question is entirely optional unless you want Beyond Question to grade student responses.

● The “Type” drop down list located above the question box on the right allows you to specify what kind of question is currently selected. This in turn controls whether or not students are allowed to provide an answer and what types of answer are permitted if so.

● The “Answer” drop down list is located just to the right of the “Type” drop down list. It allows you to specify the correct answer for the current question when you want Beyond Question to grade student responses.

● The “Points” field is located above the question box to the right of the “Answer” drop down list. If all questions have zero points assigned to them, Beyond Question will assume that all questions have equal weight and will calculate the percent answered correctly for each student. If different questions have different point values, Beyond Question will use those values to weight each question when determining a final score.

Selecting Questions (Pg. 38)

● You can select a question by clicking on the desired question in the list at the top of the lesson screen.

● You can select multiple consecutive questions by clicking on the first question and dragging the cursor down to the last one.

● You can also select multiple consecutive questions by clicking on the first question and then clicking on the last one while holding down the “Shift” key on the keyboard.

● You can select nonconsecutive questions by holding down the “Ctrl” (control) key on the keyboard while clicking on each question you wish to include.

● Moving between questions, as described on pages 12 and 13, will also change which question is selected.

● You can click a question number at the top of the grid on the answers screen to select that question.

Changing, Reordering, and Removing Questions (Pgs. 39-40)

● You can modify the text and formatting of a question directly on the remotes screen as well as on the lesson screen.

● The “Move Question Up” and “Move Question Down” menu items in the “Question” menu can be used to adjust the ordering of questions. The corresponding up and down arrows to the right of the question overview list at the top of the lesson screen can also be used to reorder questions.

● You can remove one or more questions by first selecting them and by then choosing “Remove Question” from the “Question” menu or by clicking the “Remove Question” button at the bottom right of the lesson screen.


Saving a Lesson (Pgs. 41-42) ● You can save the current lesson by going to the lesson screen and by choosing “Save”

from the “File” menu or by clicking on the “Save” toolbar button. If this is the first time you have saved the lesson, you will be prompted to give it a name. Do so and then click “Save.”

Opening a Saved Lesson (Pgs. 43-44) ● The fastest way to reopen a lesson that was open recently is to select the name of the

lesson from the drop down list at the top of the lesson screen. That list contains the ten most recently used lessons.

● If you need to open a file that is not on the list of recent lessons, you can click the

“Lesson” button to the left of the drop down list. ● You can also open a lesson by choosing “Open…” from the “File” menu or by

clicking the “Open” toolbar button.


SSeeccttiioonn VV:: UUssiinngg tthhee IInnssttrruuccttoorr’’ss RReemmoottee What is the Instructor’s Remote and Should I Use It?

The instructor’s remote allows you to control many of the major capabilities of Beyond Question without having to be tied down to the computer. You can walk around freely within the classroom and interact more directly with your students without ever sacrificing control over the current lesson or presentation. While the instructor’s remote is not a requirement for using Beyond Question, it is an excellent tool for enhancing the software’s effectiveness, and you are strongly encouraged to take advantage of its features.

Changing Screens The instructor’s remote makes it easy to move back and forth between the remotes screen and the graphs screen from anywhere in the classroom. These are the only two screens that can be reached using the instructor’s remote, as this ensures that students are never shown sensitive or confidential information by mistake. To move back and forth between the remotes screen and the graphs screen, simply press the “Change Screen” button on the instructor’s remote. This button is located just below and to the left of the arrow keys. Moving Between Questions

The instructor’s remote also makes it easy to move forwards and backwards among the questions in a lesson (or among the slides in a PowerPoint® presentation). Just use the left and right arrow keys on the remote to back up to the previous question or advance to the next one, respectively. The right arrow key on the instructor’s remote works in exactly the same way as the “Next Question” button on the remotes screen. Thus,

if you are at the end of a lesson and press the right arrow on the instructor’s remote, Beyond Question will automatically add a new question at the end of the lesson.


Working with Assign Numbers The left and right arrow buttons on the instructor’s remote play a double role; in addition to navigating between questions, they can also be used in place of the arrow keys on the keyboard when in the process of assigning remote numbers to students via the “Assign Numbers…” menu item. (See “Assigning Remote Numbers” under “Section III:Introduction to Class Files” for more information about assigning remote numbers.) Thus, while in the assign numbers mode, pressing the right arrow key on the instructor’s remote will skip over the current student and pressing the left arrow key will return to a previous student. You can use either the up or the down arrow key on the instructor’s remote in place of the “Esc” (escape) key on the keyboard while in this mode. Pressing either of them will stop the remote number assignment process and will return you to the roster screen. (The remote number assignment process must still be initiated from the computer.) Controlling When Students Can Answer

As you know, the “Accept Answers” menu item and corresponding toolbar button allow you to control when students are permitted to send answers to the current question. The instructor’s remote allows you to maintain the same level of control via the “Accept Answers” button. The “Accept Answers” button is located just below and to the right of the arrow keys. Pressing it is the same as selecting the “Accept Answers” menu item or clicking on the toolbar button.


Setting the Correct Answer While Beyond Question allows you to assign correct answers to questions for grading purposes, it does not require you to indicate the correct answers at any particular time. Thus it is just as valid to specify correct answers while you are presenting students with questions as it is to do so beforehand. The instructor’s remote makes doing this easy. You can set the correct answer for the currently selected question by pressing the corresponding button at the top of the remote. For example, to set the correct answer for the current question to “C,” press the “C” button on your remote. This works for all alphabetical and numerical multiple choice type questions. For true/false and yes/no questions, use the “A” button to set the correct answer to “True” or “Yes,” and the “B” button to set the correct answer to “False” or “No.” You can also use the correct answer buttons at the top of the instructor’s remote to give students additional feedback about the correct answer on the graphs screen. After you have specified the correct answer for a particular question (either using the lesson screen or the instructor’s remote), you can press the corresponding button on the instructor’s remote while on the graphs screen to cause Beyond Question to highlight the correct answer.

The highlighting will remain if you leave the graphs screen and then return, but it will disappear as soon as you move to a different question. (You can also make the highlighting disappear by using the instructor’s remote to temporarily change the correct answer and then return it to its original value.)


If you want Beyond Question to always highlight the correct answer on the graphs screen, even without the use of the instructor’s remote, you can accomplish this by adjusting your nce settings. To do so, choose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu, and go to the

“General” tab if you are not already there. prefere

On the “General” tab, check the item labeled “Mark Correct Answers.” Then click the “OK” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. Until you change your preferences again, Beyond Question will always mark the correct answer on the graphs screen.


Changing the Current Question Type In addition to using the instructor’s remote to set or change the correct answer, you can also use it to set or change the question type for the currently selected question. Furthermore, you can accomplish this using the exact same buttons that are used to set the correct answer. When you use the instructor’s remote to change the correct answer for the current question, Beyond Question checks to make sure that the newly specified answer is within the range of answers that students are allowed to give (as specified by the question type). If the new correct answer is outside of this range, Beyond Question automatically extends the question type to be of the same basic type but with a range that includes the new correct answer. For example, if a question had a type of “A – E” and you pressed “G / 7” on the instructor’s remote, Beyond Question would change the question type to “A – G” in order to use “G” as a correct answer. If the original question type was “1 – 5,” the same button press would have changed the question type to “1 – 7.” Thus the instructor’s remote can be used to extend the range of the current question’s type but cannot reduce the range or change the question’s fundamental category, with one important exception: questions with a type of “Directions” can be changed into alphabetical multiple choice questions by pressing any of the letter buttons on the instructor’s remote. This is most useful when working with PowerPoint® presentations as it allows you to ask students questions within PowerPoint without doing any preparation work on the presentation ahead of time. (See “Section VI: Working with PowerPoint” for more information.) If you change the question type of the current question in this way and you are using Beyond Question’s grading capabilities, then be sure to reset the correct answer to the appropriate value at some point (either via the lesson screen or by using the instructor’s remote). Thus, in the example above, after pressing the “G / 7” button to change the question type to “A – G,” you might then want to press the “C” button to restore the correct answer to “C.” The question type would remain “A – G” under this scenario. Upcoming Features You may have noticed that the instructor’s remote also has the words “Clock,” “Reset,” and “Menu” on it. These have been placed on the instructor’s remote in anticipation of new features currently under development and will become functional with a future release of the Beyond Question software.


SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy ● The instructor’s remote, while optional, allows you to control many of Beyond

Question’s features without having to be at the computer. (Pg. 47) ● Pressing the “Change Screen” button will take you back and forth between the

“Remotes” screen and the “Graphs” screen. (Pg. 47) ● The left and right arrow keys on the instructor’s remote can be used to move back and

forth through the questions (or PowerPoint slides) in the current lesson. Pressing the right arrow key when you are on the last question in the lesson will add a new, blank question. (Pg. 47)

● The left and right arrow keys can also be used to move back and forth through the

roster while using the “Assign Numbers” feature to match remote numbers to students. (Pg. 48) ● The “Accept Answers” button allows you to control when students are allowed to

answer the current question. (Pg. 48) ● The answer buttons at the top of the instructor’s remote allow you to specify the correct

answer for the current question at any time, even while students are answering. (Pg. 49) ● Pressing the answer button that corresponds to the correct answer while on the graphs

screen will cause Beyond Question to mark the correct answer on the screen. (Pgs. 49-50) ● You can also use the answer buttons to change the question type for the current

question. If you set the correct answer to a value that is outside of the current range of valid answers, Beyond Question will extend the range of valid answers to include the newly indicated correct answer.

For example, if a question is set to type “A–C” and you press “E” on the instructor’s remote, the question’s type will be changed to “A–E.” After changing the question type in this manner, you can reset the correct answer to any value within the new range in the normal manner. This approach is particularly useful for changing PowerPoint slides that default to a question type of “Directions” into a more appropriate question type that matches the contents of the slide. (Pg. 51)


SSeeccttiioonn VVII:: WWoorrkkiinngg wwiitthh PPoowweerrPPooiinntt®®

Opening a PowerPoint Presentation in Beyond Question Beyond Question’s tight integration with Microsoft PowerPoint is one of its most useful features. And using a PowerPoint presentation with your class is just as easy as working with one of Beyond Question’s native lessons. To begin using PowerPoint with Beyond Question, make sure that you have a licensed copy of PowerPoint installed on your computer. To open a PowerPoint presentation in Beyond Question, choose “Open” from the “File” menu, or click on the corresponding toolbar button. You do not need to have PowerPoint running at this time, but it is fine if you do.


Use the “Open” dialog box that appears to select the PowerPoint presentation that you would like to work with. Once you have selected the file that you are interested in, click the “Open” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. Beyond Question will start the PowerPoint application for you if it is not already running. It will then open the selected presentation into PowerPoint while simultaneously creating a new lesson and adding one question for each slide in the presentation. This may take a little while, depending on the size of the presentation. All of the questions will have a default question type of “Directions,” and each new question will have its text set to the title of the corresponding PowerPoint slide, preceded by the words “PowerPoint Slide.” Although originally taken from the slides, the text of each question is actually just a reminder of what the slide contains. Feel free to modify this text to clarify the description or to better suit your needs. Modifications to the question text will not alter the PowerPoint slides in any way.


Specifying Which Slides are Questions When you open a PowerPoint presentation directly from Beyond Question, all of the imported slides are designated with a question type of “Directions.” This means that these slides are considered to be informational in nature and will not require students to provide answers. Naturally, some of your slides may actually be questions. It is important that you let Beyond Question know which ones you want treated as such. You do this by changing the question type of the slides that correspond to actual questions in the same way that you would change the question type for a normal question in a lesson. (See “Adding Questions” in “Section IV: Introduction to Lessons” for more information.) There are two ways to change the question type for the appropriate slides. The first is to select one or more slides on the lesson screen (just as you would select questions within a lesson) and then change the question type using the question type drop down control.

The second method is to use Beyond Question to proceed through the PowerPoint presentation (as described below) and set the question type of the appropriate slides using the instructor’s remote. Whenever you arrive at a slide that should be a question, simply press the button on the instructor’s remote that corresponds to the highest letter that the students can give as an answer. For example, if the current slide asks a question with “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” and “E” as possible answers, you should press “E” on the instructor’s remote to mark this slide as an “A – E” type question. If you want to specify a correct answer for this question, you can do so immediately after indicating the question type.

It is perfectly allowable to wait until you are actually showing the PowerPoint presentation to your students before setting the question type and correct answer with the or’s remote; just make sure you don’t accidentally forget to make the adjustment at the

proper time. instruct

If you are preparing a presentation ahead of time, you may wish to save the changes you have made to the question types. Just save the lesson as you normally would; no modifications will be made to the PowerPoint presentation. Make sure that you have both the saved lesson and the original PowerPoint presentation available when you reopen the lesson in the future. See “Saving Your Results” below for more information about saving and reopening lessons that are linked to PowerPoint presentations.


Starting the Slide Show Once you have specified which slides (if any) are to be treated as questions, you can begin the presentation’s slide show by going to the remotes screen. Simply click the “Remotes” tab, and the slide show will start up within a few seconds and fill the screen.

The First Slide of a PowerPoint Presentation Navigating the Slide Show You can move through your PowerPoint presentation using any of the methods that you would normally employ. This includes clicking on the screen with the mouse and right-clicking to bring up navigational menus.

Navigational Menus Inside a PowerPoint Slide Show


You can also navigate through the slides in your presentation using the instructor’s remote. Just use the left and right arrow buttons on the remote to move backward and forward, respectively. The left and right arrow buttons on the instructor’s remote behave in the same way as the arrow keys on your keyboard when working inside a PowerPoint slide show, so you can use them to control bulleted items and other timed sequences within PowerPoint. When you reach a slide that has been designated as a question in Beyond Question, the contents of the slide show will automatically shrink enough to accommodate the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen. This is the cue to students that they should use their remotes to answer the current question. (If you use the instructor’s remote to change the current slide into a question, the remote number boxes will immediately appear at the bottom of the screen.)

Remote Number Boxes Will Appear When Needed As soon as you proceed to a slide that is not a question, the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen will disappear, and the slide show will expand to once again fill the entire screen.


Displaying the Graphs Screen You can return to the graphs screen in Beyond Question in a variety of ways. The easiest is to use the “Change Screen” button (the up arrow) on the instructor’s remote. This will immediately hide the PowerPoint presentation and display Beyond Question with the graphs screen active. You can achieve the same effect by exiting the slide show; the simplest way to do this is to press the “Esc” (escape) key on your keyboard. Finally, on slides that have been set to questions, you can right-click on the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen and choose “View Graphs” from the popup menu that appears.

Right-clicking on the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen also provides you with a way to adjust the “Accept Answers” setting from within the slide show without having to use the instructor’s remote.

Regardless of how you choose to get to the graphs screen, you can return to the owerP

you change questions while on the graphs screen, the slide show will be on the

aving Your Results

After collecting answers from students while using a PowerPoint presentation, sho

will re-import it with all of the slides set to directions.

P oint slide show at any time by going back to the remotes screen (either via the computer or with the instructor’s remote). As soon as you return to the remotes screen, the PowerPoint slide show will reappear at the current question.

Ifcorresponding slide when you return to it.

S you uld save your results in the same way that you would save a normal lesson. (See “Saving a Lesson” in “Section IV: Introduction to Lessons” for more information.) When you save the results, your PowerPoint presentation will not be modified in any way; instead, a Beyond Question lesson file will be created that contains all of the question types, the student answers, and a link to the PowerPoint presentation. Opening that lesson file in the future will automatically reopen the PowerPoint presentation (provided that the original presentation is available). If you open the presentation itself, Beyond Question


SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy ● You must have a licensed copy of Microsoft PowerPoint® to use PowerPoint with

Beyond Question. (Pg. 53) ● To open a PowerPoint presentation using Beyond Question, choose “Open” from the

“File” menu or click the corresponding toolbar button. When the “Open File” dialog box appears, select the presentation you are interested in and click the “Open” button. Beyond Question will launch PowerPoint and import all of the slides as questions that are of type “Directions.” (Pg. 53)

● Modifying the text that is imported from a PowerPoint presentation will not modify

the contents of the presentation itself. This text is only used to remind you of the contents of the slide. (Pg. 53)

● Since all PowerPoint presentation slides are imported as type “Directions,” none of the

slides will be treated as questions unless you change their question type. This can be done using the “Type” drop down list on the lesson screen, or by using the answer buttons on the instructor’s remote. (Pg. 54)

● You can start the PowerPoint slide show simply by going to the remotes screen. (Pg. 55) ● You can navigate between slides within the slide show as you normally would with

PowerPoint. You can also use the instructor’s remote to move between slides. (Pgs. 55-56) ● When you come to a slide that has been given a question type other than “Directions,”

the slide show will automatically shrink just enough to display the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen. The remote number boxes will disappear again once you proceed to a slide that is not a question. (Pg. 56)

● You can move from the PowerPoint slide show to the graphs screen using the “Change

Screen” button on the instructor’s remote, by pressing the “Esc” (escape) key on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on the remote number boxes at the bottom of the screen (when they are visible) and choosing “View Graphs” from the resulting popup menu. (Pg. 57)

● You can return to the slide show by going back to the remotes screen. (Pg. 57) ● You can save any changes that have been made (including student answers and setting

up slides as questions) by saving the current lesson in the normal way. This will not modify the original PowerPoint presentation; rather, it will create a lesson file that contains a link to the presentation. The presentation must still be available when you later reopen the lesson, but if you open the presentation rather than the lesson, none of the student answers or changes that you made will be present. (Pg. 57)


SS GGrroouuppiinngg SSttuuddeennttss TTooggeetthheerr Cr

indwitog

ca

Thn . Beside each group name there is

thagronuca ups that are currently of interest.

tu

eeccttiioonn VVIIII::

eating Groups While one of Beyond Question’s greatest strengths is its ability to enhance the

ividual attention given to each student, it also recognizes the many benefits associated th group activities. As such, Beyond Question gives you the ability to group students ether within the program for a variety of purposes.

By default, all students that you add to the roster are part of a single, initial group

lled “Group 1.” You can create additional groups by choosing “Group Manager” fromthe “View” menu.

e Group Manager (shown above on the right) will appear. A list of the current groups d the students that belong to them is shown on the lefta

a small blue triangle. This triangle can be used to expand or collapse the list of students t belong to that group. Just click on it to hide all of the students that belong to that up; then click it again to show those students once more. When you have a large

mber of students, the ability to show or hide the ones associated with particular groups n make it easier to concentrate on just the gro

You can add a new group by clicking the “Add Group” button on the right. Any

dents that you have selected on the left will automatically be added to the new group. s


default

Rectangle

Changing Group Names Once you have more than one group, you may wish to change the names of the roups to something more representative. This could be something as simple as “Red

Team,” or it could be more informative such as “Basic,” e the name of a group, click on the group’s

ere you want them to end up. Sometimes it’s easier to create all of the groups first and then move students into their appropriate places. Or maybe circumstances have simply changed and a few students need to be re-categorized. Whatever the reason, the Group Manager makes it easy to move students from one group to another.

gTeam” and “Blue Intermediate,” and “Advanced.” To chang“

old name in the list on the left, and then change the name using the “Group Name” field on the right.

oving Students Between Groups M There are a number of reasons why you might want to move students from one group to another. New students are automatically added to the first group in the list, but

not be whthat may

Just select the students that you want to move into a new group, and then use the “Target” drop down list in the “Group Assignments” section at the bottom right of the Group Manager window to specify the group to which you would like to move the selected students. Once you have selected the target group, click the “Add Students to Group” button. Removing Groups

y selecting its name from the list on the left and clicking the “Remove” button. Any students belonging to the group being removed will automatically be reassigned to the first remaining group in the list. You cannot remove the last remaining group.

The “Remove” group button.

If you decide that a particular group is no longer needed, you can remove it b


Viewing Answers and Scores by Group

When you view student answers by groups, you will see ype of hierarchical arrangement that is used by Manager. Group names will appear on a light

By default, the answers screen shows information by student. That is, each student is treated as an individual with a score calculated solely from his or her answers. However, you can also choose to view the results of a lesson by Group. To switch back and forth between the two settings, simply right-click on the “Score” column heading and choose either “View by Students” or “View by Group” from the resulting popup menu.

the same tthe Groupgray background with blue triangles to the left, and the students belonging to each group are listed below the group name. You can show or hide the students belonging to a particular group by clicking the blue triangle next to the group of interest.

Student scores and answers are displayed on the same line as the student name in either mode, but when viewing answers by groups, you can also see the oup score on the ame line as the group name. Further to the right, the answer key for that group is shown

n calculates a score for each group by averaging the scores of any he group that have answered at least one question. This means that

ere ar

● Each group ca te with which to respond. The group score will

then be calculated from the answers received from that single remote.

grsin green. (Different groups can have different answer keys assigned to them as described in “Section IX: More About Lessons.”) How Group Scores are Calculated Beyond Questiostudents belonging to tth e at least two easy ways to use groups with your students: ● Each student can use his or her remote to answer as they normally would. The group

score will be the average of all participants, and absent students will not have any effect on the group’s score.

n be given a single remo


Using Multiple Answer Keys One of the central tenets of Beyond Question’s design is the importance of interacting with students on a more personalized and individual level. Using a single answer key allows Beyond Question to automatically grade answers for a single set of questions. However, the use of multiple answer keys allows Beyond Question to simultaneously grade multiple sets of questions, with each set being matched to the needs f a particular group of students. This makes it possible to adjust the difficulty of the

being presented on a topics to different groups, or simdifferent versions of a test to pre Setting up multiple answseveral limitations that you shoucorrect answers. The current lesthat doesn’t change the numbeassociated with each question. Th s are necessarily of the same length and use the same point arrangement. Further, the use of multiple answer keys does not change the fact that Beyond Question can display the text for only one question at a time. To set up multiple answer keys for use with a lesson, follow these steps: 1. Open the appropriate class file if it is not already open. (For assistance in opening a class file, see page 27.) . Open the lesson you want to use, or create a new, blank lesson and add the appropriate

ach answer key you want to use. Each group can have only one answer key assigned to it, so make sure that all of the students in a particular group will be receiving the same version of the lesson to answer. You can

one group, so it’s fine to have more groups than answer keys. (For more information on using the Group Manager to create grou

omaterial student by student basis, present questions on different

ply ensure that students sitting next to one another have vent cheating.

er keys is a fairly straightforward process, but there are ld be aware of first. Each answer key specifies a series of son can have multiple answer keys associated with it, but r of questions in the lesson or the number of points

at means that all of the answer key

2number of questions. (For assistance in opening a lesson, see page 43.)

3. Use the Group Manager to divide the students in your class into different groups. You

should create at least one group for e

assign the same answer key to more than

ps, see page 59.)


4. Once you have created appropriate groups, choose “Answer Keys” from the “View” menu to make the Answer Keys window appear.

The Answer Keys window is divided into two sections. On the left are the group

ht

coan ey 1 and vice versa. But you an also modify Answer Key 1, and any other answer key, by following these steps:

3. Press the key on your keyboard that corresponds to the correct answer. For example, if the correct answer to question one is “C,” press “C” on the keyboard. Use “Y” and “N” for “Yes” and “No,” and “T” and “F” for “True” and “False.”

“F” can be interpreted as either a multiple choice answer or as a true/false answer. Beyond Question will attempt to select the correct type based on context, but you can easily override its decision if you need to. Just click on the incorrect setting and press the letter “F” again.

assignments that show which answer key is currently assigned to each group. On the rigre the answers that comprise the current answer key. a

Setting Answers for the Current Key By default, all groups have Answer Key 1 assigned to them, and the answers that

mprise Answer Key 1 are the same ones shown on the lesson screen. When you change answer on the lesson screen, you are modifying Answer K

c

1. Select the answer key you wish to modify from the drop down menu at the top right of the Answer Key window. 2. Click on the first line in the answer key beneath the drop down menu—the one that corresponds to question one.


default

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Note that Beyond Question will automatically move the selected question to the xt line every time you specify a correct answer. Tne his makes it easy to quickly enter the

using nothing but the keyboard. Adding and Removing Answer Keys Every lesson has a single answer key, Answer Key 1, associated with it by default. You can add additional answer keys by clicking the “Add Key” button located at the bottom right of the Answer Key window. Each press of the “Add Key” button adds the next sequentially numbered answer key to the drop down list and makes the newly added key the current one. If one or more of the groups on the left is currently selected, the newly added answer key will automatically be assigned to those groups.

entire answer key

If you find that you no longer need a particular answer key, you can remove it from the list by clicking the “Remove Ke ” answer key except for Answer Key 1” which must alway After you remove an answer key, B ond

t the nswer key that you wan

located at the top right ofthe drop down list and wi b

y button. You can remove anys remain. ey“

Question will automatically renumber the remaining answer keys to keep them sequential, but this will not affect the contents of the answer keys or which keys are assigned to which student groups. Assigning Answer Keys to Groups As was already mentioned, any group that is selected when a new answer key is added automatically has that new answer key assigned to it. However, you can also change which answer key is assigned to any particular group at any time. Simply select ne or more groups on the left side of the Answer Key window, and then seleco

a t to assign to the group(s) using the answer key drop down list the window. The selected answer key will be displayed beneath

e assigned to each of the currently selected groups. ll


SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy Using the Group Manager (Pgs. 59-60) ● You can create and manage groups by choosing “Group Manager” from the “View”

You

To change the name of a group, click on the group’s old name in the list on the left of the Group Manager window, and then change the name using the “Group Name” field on the right.

ame from the list on the left and click the “Remove” button. You cannot remove the last remaining group.

iewing Group Information ( )

anager.

Beyond Question calculates a score for each group by averaging the scores of any students belonging to the group that have answered at least one question. Thus, absent students do not affect group scores, and groups can be allowed to respond with one remote or many.

menu. ● can expand or collapse the list of students associated with any particular group by

clicking the small blue triangle shown to the left of the group name. ● You can add a new group by clicking the “Add Group” button on the right of the

Group Manager window. Any students that you have selected on the left will automatically be added to the new group.

●

● To move students between groups, select the students you want to move using the list

on the left side of the Group Manager. Then select the group you want to move them to using the “Target” drop down list on the right and click the “Add Students to Group” button.

● To remove a group, select its n

V Pg. 61 ● On the answers screen, you can choose to display results by student or by group. To

switch between these two views, right-click on the “Score” column header and choose either “View by Students” or “View by Groups.”

● The lists of students shown under group names on the answers screen can be expanded

or collapsed by clicking the blue triangles just as they can within the Group M ●


Using Multiple Answer Keys (Pgs. 62-64)

Beyond Question can use multiple answer keys to simultaneously grade multiple sets rent groups of students. (Pg. 62)

isting lesson or create one with placeholder questions,

e drop down menu at the top right, ○ click on the first line in the answer key (belonging to question one) , and then

● apped to either the multiple choice answer or to “False” depending on

context. If Beyond Question chooses the wrong setting, you can change the answer to

● er key, click the “Add Key” button located at the bottom right of the

Answer Key window. Keys are added in sequential order, and a newly added key will

To remove an answer key, select the answer key you wish to remove from the drop

down list at the top right of the Answer Key window and then click the “Remove Key” e window. All remaining answer keys will be

renumbered to keep them in sequence if necessary. You cannot remove Answer Key 1.

● or more groups, select the groups on

the left side of the Answer Key window and then select the answer key that you want

●

of questions presented to diffe ● To set up multiple answer keys (Pg. 62):

○ open the appropriate class file, ○ open an ex

○ group students who will share a single answer key together using the Group Manager, and then

○ choose “Answer Keys” from the “View” menu. ● To set the answers for a particular answer key (Pg. 63):

○ select the desired answer key from th ○ use the keyboard to set each answer. (Y = Yes, N = No, T = True, F = False)

“F” can be m

the other setting by clicking on the incorrect answer and pressing “F” again on the keyboard. (Pg. 63)

To add an answ

automatically be assigned to any groups that are currently selected on the left. (Pg. 64)

●

button located at the bottom left of th

(Pg. 64)

To change which answer key is assigned to one

to assign to those groups using the answer key drop down list located at the top right of the window. (Pg. 64)


SSeeccttiioonn VIII:: MMoore Abbre A oouutt LLeessssoonnss

dding Notes and Web Links to Lessons

within a particular lesson, you might find it ions making up

urc ing such notes within the sson ant to associate a note with and

white question box.

WNoen that might prove useful in

e space provided at the top. If you want to

of as nter the address of the website in the “Link” box at the bottom of the window.

enQusit

When you’re done entering notes for the current question, you can click the

yomono ltitude of questions.

Even without the “Notes” window open, you can easily determine whether or not the currently selected question has a note or web link associated with it. When a note is present, the picture on the “Notes” button changes from an empty document image to one with a checkmark:

SA While preparing the questions convenient to associate a note or reminder with one or more of the questthe lesson. This note could include information about how the lesson is intended to be used, ways the lesson could be improved in the future, or even where you found the so e material from which the lesson is being created. Stor

itself is easy. Just go to the question that you wlethen click the “Notes” button located on the left above the

hen you click on the “Notes” button, the tes dialog box will appear. You can then

ter any informationthreference a website (for example, as the source

the information used to create the question or a place to find further information), you can

eWhenever you return to the notes box at a later time, you can visit the website that you

tered simply by clicking the “Go” button on the right side of the “Link” box. Beyond estion will automatically launch your default web browser and take you directly to the

e that you specified.

“Close” button at the bottom of the “Notes” window to close the window. Alternately,

u can leave the window open, and its contents will be continuously updated as you ve from question to question. This is a convenient way to browse through the various

tes associated with a mu

This is an easy way to recognize thcurrent question.

ection VIII: More About Lessons

.

becomes

at there is more information associated with the

UUsseerr’’ss GGuuiiddee 67

Displaying and Setting the Clock Beyond Question comes with a built-in timer that can be used to keep students

oving at a set pace. By default, the timer is hidden, and Beyond Question moves from owever, you can bring up the timer by

hoosing “Clock” from the “View” menu or by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button.

The Instructor’s Clock Display

hours, minutes, or seconds) and by then t to increment or decrement the time, le to one minute, you would click on the

lick on the seconds field and then change the number to “24”. If ou enter a number that is larger than a particular field normally holds, then that value

ny time by clicking on the small “X” at e top r

The “Clock” menu item and correspo ton can be used to show or hide the ime. Showing ys cau both to appear, so

rning the clock off and then on again is a quick way to get the instructor’s display back

the students’ display.

mquestion to question only when you tell it to. Hc

allotted by clicking in one of the three sections (clicking the up and down arrows on the righrespectively. So to set the amount of time availabmiddle set of numbers (minutes) and then click the up arrow once. Of course, you can also modify the value in any of the three fields directly by simply typing in the desired number. Thus, if you want the clock to be set to twenty-four seconds, you can just c

When you activate Beyond Question’s timing feature, the instructor’s clock display will appear as

lette, and a students’ display will appear tes screen above the question area. Note e allotted is divided into hours, minutes, s. You can chan

a floating paon the remothat the timand second ge the amount of time

ywill affect the next field over as well. For example, if you enter “75” into the seconds field, then the minute field will be increased by one and the remaining fifteen seconds will be left in the seconds field. The clock cannot be set to a time longer than twelve hours. You can hide the instructor’s clock display at ath ight corner of the floating palette. The students’ display will remain visible and continue to count down if the clock is already running. To hide both the instructor and student displays, choose “Clock” from the “View” menu again, or click on the “Clock” toolbar button to turn off the clock displays. This will stop the clock if it is currently running.

nding toolbar butclock displays at any t the displays will alwa setuonce it has been hidden. An even easier way to make the instructor’s display reappear is to simply click on


default

Rectangle

Starting, Stopping, and Resetting the Clock

t any time by clicking the “Stop” button on the instru tor’s display. (If you’ve hidden the display, remember that you can make it reappear b on the students’ display.) This makes it easy to provide a planations without affecting the amount of time that students have to answer. To restart the clock, just click the “Start” button again.

Once you’ve set the time allotted, you can start the clock by clicking the “Start” button on the instructor’s clock display. The clock will begin counting down the amount of time remaining on both displays. You can now hide the instructor’s display if you wish, and the students’ display will continue to count down. You can pause the clock a

cy clicking

dditional instructions or ex

At some point, you may find it useful to reset the time remaining to its original value. The “Reset” button on the instructor’s clock display allows you to do this with a single click. However, clicking “Reset” docounting down. If the clock is stoppeit is counting down, then it will contin The “Reset” button can actualtime remaining to any of a number of

om the list.

es not change whether or not the clock is currently d before you reset the time, it will remain stopped. If ue to do so using the newly reset value.

ly be used to set the amount of preset values. Clicking on the

small black arrow just to the right of the “Reset” button will display a popup menu with a number of preset times. The topmost time is the value that the clock will be set to if the “Reset” button itself is clicked. The other times can be chosen instead by selecting themfr Controlling What Happens When Time Expires By default, Beyond Question will chime when the clock reaches zero and then stop accepting answers from students. This setting is useful for timing individual questions. But there are also other settings that can be used to control the behavior of Beyond Question when time expires on the clock. To view these additional options, click the small green triangle located at the bottom left corner of the instructor’s clock display.


The Instructor’s Clock Display in its Collapsed State

After clicking the green arrow, the instructor’s clock display will expand to show options governing Beyond Question’s behavior when time on the clock expires. There are three options that can each be turned on or off by clicking on the associated image:

Chime: If this is on, Beyond Question will play the chime when time runs out as an auditory indication to the students.

Stop Accepting Answers: If this setting is on, Beyond Question will stop accepting answers when time runs out.

Go to Next Question: If this is on, Beyond Question will immediately proceed to the next question in the

playing the eyond Question will

can click the green smaller size.

ew™ Questions

Imported ExamView™ lessons can contain questions with dynamic content. ly and automatically changed in

lesson and restart the clock from its original value.

Note that if both “Stop Accepting Answers” and “Go to Next Question” are turned on, then Beyond Question will only stop accepting answers when there are no more questions in the lesson. Thus, if all three options are set to on with ten seconds on the clock, Beyond

uestion will give the students ten seconds to answer each question before Qchime and moving to the next question. At the end of the lesson, Bstop accepting answers when time runs out. Once you have set the options for when time expires, you arrow again to collapse the instructor’s clock display back down to its Regenerating Dynamic ExamVi Dynamic content involves information that can be easi

order to create a new question with the same basic pattern as the original. When a question contains dynamic content, the “Regenerate Question” menu item and toolbar button will become active.

To have Beyond information in a Question” from th

question accordingset up the question

“Regenerate QuesQuestion will th

TT

. 70

he “Regenerate Question” oolbar Button

Question update the dynamic question, choose “Regenerate

e “Question” menu, or click the toolbar button. Beyond utomatically recreate the

to the rules originally used to .

tion”en a

UUsseerr’’ss GGuuiiddee

Downloading Online Conten Beyond Question is designsources ranging from paper handwhile those items are easy to sha it’s helpful to have central locations from which la e numbers of teachers can share lessons. Beyond Question’s online content integratschools, districts, and other organizathat are quick and easy to downlo w Beyond Question also has lessons available through the Be onthe only location that Beyond Q es by default, but it’s possible to add other collections to the list of sites b Per

in with, choose “Download Content…” from

t

ed to work with existing content from a large variety of outs to overhead transparencies to electronic files. And re from person to person, sometimes rg

ion is designed to address that need by allowing tions to create online collections of pre-built lessons

ad hen needed.

access to a small but growing collection of sample y d Question Server. The Beyond Question Server is u tion will search

eing searched, as described later.

forming a Search

To download lessons from one or more online collections, you must first locate lessons that meet your needs. You can do this by specifying the kind of lessons that you are looking for and by then performing a search. To begthe “Help” menu.

oing so will cause the “Download Online Content” window to appear. D


At the bottom left of the “Download” window, there is a place for you to indicate which subjects and grade levels you are interested in. Click in the box to the left of each subject that you would like to see lessons for. Doing so will place a checkmark in the box, indicating that the subject will be included in the search. You can remove an unwanted checkmark by clicking in the box a second time. Once you have marked all of the subjects that you are interested in, repeat the process for the list of grade levels just to the right.

If you want to view all of the lessons associated with a particular subject, you can leave all of the grade levels unchecked. You can also view all of the lessons for a particular grade

level by leaving all of the subjects unchecked. However, you must check at least one item (either subject or grade level) before you can perform a search. Once you have placed checkmarks next to the items that you are interested in, you can proceed with the search by clicking the “Search” button on the right side of the “Download” window. Beyond Question will then contact each of the online locations that it knows about in order to compile a list of all of the lessons that match the criteria you have specified. Lessons that match will be listed at the top of the “Download” window. Downloading Selected Lessons You may choose any of the lessons that appear for immediate download simply by clicking on the line or lines that correspond to the lessons you want. To select multiple lessons, either click on the first and then drag the mouse downward until you reach the last, or hold down the “Shift” or “Ctrl” (control) key while clicking on multiple lessons. (The shift key selects multiple consecutive lessons while the control key can be used to select noncontiguous lessons.) If you decide not to download any lessons, you can dismiss the “Download” window by clicking the “Done” button at the bottom right. If you want to proceed with downloading the lessons you have selected from the list at the top of the window, simply click the “Download” button located just above the “Done” button. All of the selected lessons will be immediately downloaded into the appropriate downloads folder as specified on the “Downloads” tab in preferences. If you have set your preferences to allow for a different download location to be specified every time, then a folder selection dialog will appear asking you to select a folder that the downloaded lessons should be placed into. If you have selected exactly one lesson to download, then the “Open File” checkbox located below the list of lessons on the right will be available. If you leave the “Open File” checkbox checked when you click the “Download” button, then the “Download” window will disappear and Beyond Question will open the selected lesson as soon as the download is complete. This allows you to find a lesson of interest and begin working with it as quickly as possible.

If you return to the “Download” window a second time within the same session, you will find your previous search results still there. To perform a new search, just set your criteria and then click the “Search” button again.


Editing the List of Online Servers

The “Preferences” dialog box will appear. Click on the “Downloads” tab at the top of the dialog box to go to the appropriate section. At the top of the window, there is a section marked “Online Content” that lists all of the locations that Beyond Question will

checked, but ere are several ways that you can modify the list of search locations.

Adding a New Search Location To add another search location, click the “Add…” button located under the list of servers on the right. A small window will appear with a place for you to specify both the name and location of the new entry. The name is the text that will appear on the list. The location is the web address where Beyond Question should look to find the online content. This web address should be provided to you by the organization running the online collection that you wish to add. For example, if your district maintains a collection of online lessons for download, you might name the new entry “District Server”. You would then enter the website that the district had indicated.

After entering a name and location for the new server entry, click the “OK” button. The newly added entry will then appear at the bottom of the list of search locations with a checkmark next to the name indicating that the server i among those that will be searched for lessons.

As mentioned previously, Beyond Question searches only the Beyond Question Server by default. However, you can add additional servers to the list of locations that Beyond Question will search when looking for online content. To do this, begin by choosing “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu.

search when it is looking for lessons to download. By default, only the Beyond Question Server is listed and th

s


Editing an Existing Search Location If, after adding a search location to the list, you find it necessary to go back and modify some of that location’s information, you can do so by clicking on the name of the search location and then on the “Edit…” button located below the list on the left. Doing so will bring up the same window that you saw while originally adding the search location. You can modify the name and location as before and click “OK” to commit the change Remov

inactive by removing the heckm

will never again need to access a particular location, en you can permanently remove it from the list of search locations. To do this, click on e loc

pecifying Where Downloads are Saved

s.

ing a Search Location If you no longer need Beyond Question to search a particular location, you have

o options. You can temporarily mark a location as beingtwc ark from next to its name. To do this, just click on the checkmark you wish to remove. Beyond Question searches only for lessons using locations that have a checkmark next to them. By removing the checkmark, you can keep a particular site from being searched without permanently removing the information associated with that site. This is particularly useful if you know that a site will be unavailable for a while but will ventually be useful again. e

If you are certain that youthth ation that you want to remove, and then click the “Remove” button located below the list of search locations and slightly to the right. Beyond Question will ask you if you are sure that you want to permanently delete the selected location. Click “OK” to delete it for good, or “Cancel” to leave it unchanged. S In order to make lesson downloads as easy as possible, Beyond Question defaults to downloading all lessons to the “Lessons” folder within the Beyond Question application folder. However, if you would prefer lessons to be saved to a different location, there are a couple of ways that you can achieve this. The first is by changing the download location that is set in preferences. Begin by choosing “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu and then click on the “Downloads” tab. At the bottom of the window, there will be an area labeled “Save Location.”

he wchangethen se

T hite box holds the location where all downloaded lessons will be saved. You can this location manually, or you can click the “Browse…” button to the right and lect a new location using the folder selection window that appears.


The second way that you can modify the location where Beyond Question saves ownloaded lessons is by checking the “Prompt for Location” checkbox on the

best location each time.

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy Adding Notes and Web Links to Lessons (Pg. 67) ● To add a note or web link to a particular question, go to that question and then click on

the “Notes” button located above the text box to the left on the lesson screen.

Clicking the “Go” button on the “Notes” window will launch your default web pecified in the “Link” field.

open as you move between questions to see the stion.

t already open, you can tell if a question has king at the picture on the “Notes” button. A blank re is no information, while one with a green note or web link for the selected question.

lays by choosing “Clock” from the “View” menu or by click

ting palette. You can hide all clock displays by choosing “Clock” from the “View” menu a second time or by clicking the “Clock” toolbar button again. (

● When you turn the clock displays back on

hidden the instructor’s display previously. ( ● If the instructor’s clock display has been clo

clicking on the students’ display will bring

d“Downloads” tab of the “Preferences” dialog box. When this checkbox has a checkmark in it, Beyond Question will always ask you where lessons that are about to be downloaded should be saved. This is useful if you routinely save downloaded lessons to several different locations and want to be able to select the

●browser and take you to the address s

● You can leave the “Notes” window

information associated with each que ● When the “Notes” window is no

information associated with it by loodocument image indicates that thecheckmark on it means that there is a

Using the Clock (Pgs. 68-70) ● You can bring up the clock disp

ing the “Clock” toolbar button. A students’ clock display will appear on the remotes screen, and an instructor's clock display will appear as a floating palette. (Pg. 68)

● You can change the amount of time available by clicking on the hour, minute, or

second portion of the instructor’s display and by using the up and down arrows to increment or decrement the time. Alternately, you can type a new value in directly. (Pg. 68)

● You can hide the instructor’s display by closing the floa

Pg. 68)

, both displays will appear even if you had Pg. 68)

sed but the students’ display is still visible, up the instructor’s display again. (Pg. 68)


● The “Start” and “Stop” buttons on the instructor’s clock display can be used to start and stop the

The green triangle at the bottom left of the instructor’s clock display can be clicked to verning Beyond Question's behavior when time expires.

You can turn any

If “Go to Next Question” is marked, Beyond Question will reset the timer to its origi

questions with dynamic content which can be automatically updated by Beyond Question to create a new question with the same

If a

● You can download online lessons by choosing “Download Content...” from the “Help” menu. (Pg. 71)

● You can indicate which subjects and grade levels you are interested in by placing

checkmarks next to the appropriate entries at the bottom left of the “Download” window. Checkmarks are placed by clicking in the box to the left of the item you are interested in, and at least one checkmark must be present before you can perform a

clock at any time. (Pg. 69) ● The “Reset” button on the instructor’s clock display can be used to reset the clock to

its original value. Clicking the small arrow just to the right of the “Reset” button provides a popup menu with several preset times. Choosing one of these times will set the clock to that value. (Pg. 69)

●

show or hide the options go of these options on or off by clicking on the associated picture. (Pg. 69)

● If “Chime” is marked, Beyond Question will play an audible chime when time runs

out. (Pg. 70) ● If “Stop Accepting Answers” is marked, then Beyond Question will stop accepting

answers unless “Go to Next Question” is also marked and there is a next question to go to. (Pg. 70)

●

nal value, proceed to the next question in the lesson, and begin counting down again. (Pg. 70)

Regenerating Dynamic ExamView™ Questions (Pg. 70)

Imported ExamView™ lessons can contain●

pattern as the original one. ● question contains dynamic content, the “Regenerate Question” menu item and

toolbar button will become available. Choosing the menu item from the “Question” menu or clicking the toolbar button will cause Beyond Question to update the contents of the current question in order to create a new question.

Downloading Online Content (Pgs. 71-75)

search. (Pg. 72)


● king the “Search” button on the right side of the “Download” window will cause Beyond Question to search all of the online locations it is aware of to find lessons that match the criteria you have specified on the left. The results will appear in a list at the top of the window. (Pg. 72)

● You can select one or more lessons from the results list and click the

Clic

“Download” button to save them to your computer. If only one lesson is selected and the “Open File” checkbox is marked, then the “Download” window will disappear and Beyond Question will immediately open the lesson that was just downloaded so that you can

If the “Download” window is still visible and you wish to dismiss it, you can click the

will be what appears

● move”

button, and verify that you want to permanently delete the search location from the

● save lessons that are about to be

downloaded. (Pg. 75)

begin working with it. (Pg. 72) ●

“Done” button. (Pg. 72) ● You can edit the list of search locations where Beyond Question looks for lessons to

download by choosing “Preferences...” from the “Edit” menu and clicking on the “Downloads” tab at the top of the window. (Pg. 73)

● To add a new search location, click the “Add...” button and provide a location name

and web address in the small dialog box that appears. The nameon the list, and the web address should be provided to you by the organization managing the online content. (Pg. 73)

● To edit an existing search location, click on the name of the desired location in the list

and then click the “Edit” button on the left just below the list. (Pg. 74)

To remove an unwanted location, you can select the location, click the “Re

list. (Pg. 74) ● If you don't want to permanently remove a location from the list but would like

Beyond Question to temporarily stop trying to search that location, you can simply remove the checkmark from next to the location's name by clicking on the unwanted checkmark. Clicking in the same spot can be used to restore the checkmark at a later time. (Pg. 74)

● The white box in the area marked “Save Location” is used to specify where Beyond

Question will save downloaded lessons. You can change this setting manually, or you can click the “Browse” button and select a folder from the list. (Pg. 74)

If you place a checkmark next to the words “Prompt for Location,” then Beyond Question will always ask you where you want to


S g wwiitthh SSttaannddaarrddss kn

h ped by subject, level, and purpose, and are most often

de

U rds Libraries

thaorg s its own set of standards that have been developed to facilitate the

coou are working with only those standards specifically relevant to your

cation or group.

d Question, one or more

froc e continually being added.

whthe pplication folder. On most omputers, the Beyond Question application folder is located at “C:\Program Files\Beyond uestion”, although it may be in a different location on your system. Beyond Question

ards Libraries that are placed inside the Standards” folder.

cathe

Seeccttiioonn IX:: Woorrkkiinn

In general, standards are collections of statements that define what skills and owledge students should have at specific points along the path of their education. ese statements are usually grouT

structured in a hierarchical fashion. Beyond Question allows you to associate standards with individual questions so that you can easily track how your students’ performance

monstrates their understanding of the corresponding standards.

sing Standa To begin using standards with your lessons, you must first locate the standards

t are appropriate for your situation. Every state, as well as many districts and anizations, ha

education process. Beyond Question gains access to these standards through the use of “Standards Libraries.” A Standards Library is a specific collection of standards that

rresponds to a particular state or organization. By using Standards Libraries, you can ke sure that yma

lo

Depending on the method by which you acquired Beyon Standards Libraries may have been included with the software. If not, then you will need to obtain an appropriate library from the organization you work for, or download one

m the internet. Please note that Standards Libraries are not currently available for all ations, although new ones arlo

Once you have obtained an appropriate Standards Library, you need to place it

ere Beyond Question can find it. This is a fairly simple process. Just move the file into “Standards” folder within your Beyond Question a

cQwill automatically detect and load any Stand“

Navigating the Standards

After placing the appropriate Standards Libraries in the “Standards” folder, you n begin working with standards within Beyond Question by choosing “Standards” from “View” menu.


e “Standards” window will appear. On the left sid Th e is an interactive list of all of the

selemta

nd those sub-items,

ab

Standards Libraries that Beyond Question found in the “Standards” folder. On the right side at the top is a list of all of the standards that have been associated with the currently

ected questions. Unless you’ve already been working with standards, this list will be pty. The bottom right of the window contains a description of the currently selected ndard or category. s

To the left of each Standards Library there is a small plus sign. This plus sign

icates that there are sub-items contained within the main item. To seeiclick on the plus (or select the item with the keyboard and press the right arrow key). The list of sub-items will appear indented below the main item. For the sample library shown

ove, the sub-items are subjects by which the standards have been categorized.

Clicking on the plus to the

.

left of an item expands the hierar

79

chy to reveal all of the sub-items below.

UUsseerr’’ss GGuuiiddee

default

Rectangle

The subjects listed in the sample library also contain sub-items. Clicking thplus to the left of any of the subjects will reveal a collection of grade levels theen used to further subdiv y.

e small at have

ide the standards contained within the sample librar Within ach grade level is a collection of standards. These in turn contain one or more items. An

ate with a particular uestion or group of questions. As such, most of the entries at the upper levels of the

associated with them. The library itself may have a nd that, only the items at the lowest one or two levels of

short ID for the entry.

uage Arts” category. “LA” is

use different kinds of dividers at different points within the ID. To lly understand how the short IDs in your libraries represent standards, you will have to

ries’ organizational system.

gh the contents of the entire Standards Library to find the items that ou are interested in at the moment.

beactual Standards Library may have its standards grouped by any number of levels, but most use between four and six to organize their information. Any entry within the Standards Library may have text associated with it. This text is intended to provide additional information or remind you of what the standard says. It is not intended to be a complete and accurate definition of the standard. Rather, its urpose is to assist you in selecting the correct standard to associp

qhierarchy will not have text

elcoming statement, but beyowthe hierarchy normally have any additional information. To see if an entry on the left of the “Standards” window has descriptive text associated with it, click on the entry. Any information associated with the entry will appear in the box at the bottom right of the “Standards” window along with the name of the entry and the The short ID of an entry is an abbreviated way of referring to the entry. It is composed of a series of abbreviations separated by short dividers. Each abbreviation identifies one part of the hierarchy. For example, the standard shown above has a short ID of “LA.6-8.1”. In this case, “LA” is short for “Language Arts” and means that the tandard indicated is one of those listed under the “Langs

then separated by a dot which is being used as the divider in this instance. The next part of the standard’s ID is the text “6-8” which is short for “Grades 6 – 8” and further identifies where this standard belongs. Finally, after another dot divider, the ID ends with “1” because this is standard number one. Note that different Standards Libraries use different rules for creating short IDs. The kinds of abbreviations used may vary, as too may the types of dividers. In fact, some

tandards Libraries Sfubecome familiar with your libra Just as clicking the plus to the left of an item expands the list to show any sub-items, clicking the minus that then replaces the plus will contract the list back to its original, more compact state, thereby hiding those sub-items. In this manner, you can easily browse throuy


. UUsseerr’’ss GGuuiiddee

Associating a Standard with a Question Once you have located the standard or standards that you are interested in working with, you need to associate those standards with the questions in your lesson. Doing so is a fairly straightforward process. First, select one or more questions to which you would like to apply a particular group of standards. This is most easily done on the lesson screen. (For more information on the various ways you can select questions, see “Selecting Questions” on page 38.) You may want to place the main Beyond Question window and the “Standards” window side by side while associating standards with questions. Alternately, you can move back and forth between them as the need arises. (If the “Standards” window becomes hidden when you go back to the main window, you can bring it to the forefront again by once more choosing “Standards” from the “View” menu.)

r in the list of elect

and then standards.

When you do change which questions are currently selected, you may notice that the list of “Selected Standards” also changes. The “Selected Standards” list always shows which standards have been associated with he currently selected questions. As y select different questions it will automatically update its contents to remain current. Standards that are associated with all of the currently selected questions will appear in black. Those that are associated with only some of the selected question, but not all, will appear in gray. For example, the list shown above indicates that all of the questions currently selected have standard “LA.6-8.1.2: Item 2” associated with them, but only some of them have .6-8.1.3: Item 3” associated with

m

After you have selected the questions that you want to apply the first group of standards to, select the first standard in the group from the list on the left side of the “Standards” window. Then click the “Add” button. The selected tandard will appeas

“S ed Standards” at the top right of the “Standards” window. You can then select another standard and click the “Add” button to associate that standard with the selected questions as well. In this manner, you can associate as many standards as you like with the questions that are urrently selected. At any point you can change which questions are selected c

continue adding

tou

“LA the .


The subjects listed in the sample library also contain sub-items. Clicking thplus to the left of any of the subjects will reveal a collection of grade levels theen used to further subdiv y.

e small at have

ide the standards contained within the sample librar Within ach grade level is a collection of standards. These in turn contain one or more items. An

ate with a particular uestion or group of questions. As such, most of the entries at the upper levels of the

associated with them. The library itself may have a nd that, only the items at the lowest one or two levels of

short ID for the entry.

uage Arts” category. “LA” is

use different kinds of dividers at different points within the ID. To lly understand how the short IDs in your libraries represent standards, you will have to

ries’ organizational system.

gh the contents of the entire Standards Library to find the items that ou are interested in at the moment.

beactual Standards Library may have its standards grouped by any number of levels, but most use between four and six to organize their information. Any entry within the Standards Library may have text associated with it. This text is intended to provide additional information or remind you of what the standard says. It is not intended to be a complete and accurate definition of the standard. Rather, its urpose is to assist you in selecting the correct standard to associp

qhierarchy will not have text

elcoming statement, but beyowthe hierarchy normally have any additional information. To see if an entry on the left of the “Standards” window has descriptive text associated with it, click on the entry. Any information associated with the entry will appear in the box at the bottom right of the “Standards” window along with the name of the entry and the The short ID of an entry is an abbreviated way of referring to the entry. It is composed of a series of abbreviations separated by short dividers. Each abbreviation identifies one part of the hierarchy. For example, the standard shown above has a short ID of “LA.6-8.1”. In this case, “LA” is short for “Language Arts” and means that the tandard indicated is one of those listed under the “Langs

then separated by a dot which is being used as the divider in this instance. The next part of the standard’s ID is the text “6-8” which is short for “Grades 6 – 8” and further identifies where this standard belongs. Finally, after another dot divider, the ID ends with “1” because this is standard number one. Note that different Standards Libraries use different rules for creating short IDs. The kinds of abbreviations used may vary, as too may the types of dividers. In fact, some

tandards Libraries Sfubecome familiar with your libra Just as clicking the plus to the left of an item expands the list to show any sub-items, clicking the minus that then replaces the plus will contract the list back to its original, more compact state, thereby hiding those sub-items. In this manner, you can easily browse throuy


When you choose “Report” from the “View” menu, the “Standards Report” indow will appear containing summary information about the performance of your w

students.

You can choose from several options governdefault, information is grouped by standard. The short ID of each standard is given, followed by the standard’s description. After this information, there is a line that tells you how many of the questions associated with this standard were answered correctly by your class on average. For example, in the sample shown above, the first standard was ssociated with four questio

ing the way that the report is formatted. By

ns and students answered on average fewer than one of those Correct”).

tic is a figure that shows how the students’ ber of points scored for correctly answering is shown both as an absolute value and as a

sible. In the example shown above, students uestions associated with standard one. That

ave been achieved from those questions.

s to note here. First, the absolute number of

dard is associated with a particular question. The oints earned for that question will then count towards the statistics for both standards.

aquestions correctly (“Average of 0.8 out of 4 Immediately following this first statisanswers translate into points scored. The numquestions associated with the current standardpercentage of the total number of points posscored an average of 4.0 points from the qrepresented 79% of the total points that could h There are a couple of important itempoints scored is reported to one decimal place, so don’t be surprised if there is a slight discrepancy between the absolute value and the percentage shown. In the example above, the absolute number of points scored on average was actually 3.95, but this was rounded to the nearest tenth for a resulting value of 4.0. Second, don’t be surprised if the sum of the points scored for each standard comes out to a value greater than 100%. This can asily happen if more than one stane

p


In the example shown, the average number of questions associated with standard number one that were answered correctly was 0.8 out of 4. Yet students scored 79% of the total points possible from those questions. At first glance, this may seem like a contradiction, but in actuality it merely means that the questions had different point values and the one most often answered correctly was worth considerably more than the others. The final piece of summary information is intended to allow you to compare the tudents’

attention if students scored 50% on average for the lesson as a whole. In this econd scenario, student performance related to the standard is actually quite good

nding of the subject matter.

emiz

the right.

When itemizing by student, Beyond Question will continue to list the standards associated with the lesson as well as summary information for each. However, it will then add a line for each student in the class.

s performance on the current standard to their average performance on the lesson as a whole. This provides context for the rest of the information. A standard that has been learned with a 70% success rate may need to be reviewed if students averaged 95% on the lesson as a whole, since that indicates that the standard in question was a weak point in their learning. However, the same standard with the same 70% score would deserve much lesssrelative to their general understa It ed Information While viewing information grouped by standard, you can optionally add itemized information about each student, each question, or both. To view information about how individual students performed with respect to the current standard, click the “Itemize by Student” checkbox at the bottom of the “Standards Report” window toward

The information presented for each student is the same as the summary information for the standard as a whole. Aft givinnumber of questions associcorrectly. Following that is thas a percentage of the pointsboth forms to give you a sens his allows you to compare their performance on this particular standard with their performance in general.

er g the student’s name, Beyond Question displays the ated with the current standard that the student answered e student’s score shown both as an absolute point value and possible. Finally, the student’s overall score is displayed in e of how they did on the lesson as a whole. T


While viewing results by standard, the second way to itemize information is by question. You can have Beyond Question do this by clicking the “Itemize by Question” checkbox located just below the “Itemize by Student” checkbox. (Note that you can have oth checkboxes marked, in which case information will first be itemized by student and

question.)

bthen by

When Beyond Question itemizes information about a standard by question, it lists each question that was associated with the current standard. The number of students that answered each question correctly is indicated both as an absolute value and as a percentage of the class. This makes it easy to determine which questions were giving students the most trouble. Organizing Information by Student

If you are less interested in how your class is performing as a group and more interested in how individual students are faring, you can ask Beyond Question to show you how each student is performing on each of the standards associated with the current lesson. To do this, click the “View by Students” button located at the bottom of the “Standards Report” window just to the left of the “View by Standards” button.

Beyond Question will produce an entry for each student in the class. Beneath each tudent’s name is a list of the standards associated with the current lesson. For each s

standard, the number of questions (associated with that standard) that the student answered correctly is shown. The number of points that the student earned from answering those questions correctly is also shown, both as an absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of points that could have been earned. When more than one standard has been applied to a single question, student answers may be represented more than once. This is the case in the example above where the student only answered one question correctly, yet that one correct answer affected the statistics associated with all three standards that were assigned to that question.


P g and Exporting Standards Reports After viewing your report, you may wish to print the report or export it to a different format for use in other applications. You can do this using the “Print” and “Export…” buttons located at the bottom left of the “Standards Report” window. The

rintin

Print” button will immediately print a copy of the current Standards Report just as it ppears

e students c points along the path of their education. (Pg. 78)

Beyo

Understanding and Navigati ● To begin using standards from

“View” menu; this will cause t

Click the plus and minus signs located to the left of items to expand and contract them, showing or hiding their sub-items. (Pgs. 79-80)

● Entries may have text associated with them that is intended to provide additional

information or remind you of what the standard says; such text is not intended to be a complete and accurate definition of the standard. (Pg. 80)

● Not all entries have descriptive text associated with them, but if one does, you can

view that description by clicking on the item and looking in the box at the bottom ght

“a on the screen. The “Export…” button will provide you with a standard save dialog box so that you can select the manner in which you would like the information exported. For more information about exporting a Standards Report, please see “Exporting Standards Reports” in “Section X: Printing, Importing and Exporting.”

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy

Standards are collections of statements that define what skills and knowledg●should have at specifi

● nd Question uses Standards Libraries, specific collections of standards that each

correspond to a particular state or organization. (Pg. 78) ● To use a particular Standards Library with Beyond Question, place the Library file in

the “Standards” folder within the Beyond Question application folder. (Pg. 78)

ng the Standards (Pgs. 78-80)

within Beyond Question, choose “Standards” from the he “Standards” window to appear. (Pgs. 78-79)

●

riof the “Standards” window. (Pg. 80)

● A short ID is an abbreviated way of referring to an entry that consists of a series of

abbreviations (one for each level in the hierarchy) separated by short dividers. The short ID of an entry is shown just above the descriptive text along with the name of the currently selected entry. (Pg. 80)


Manipulating Standards Associations (Pgs. 81-82) ● To associate a standard with one or more questions, select the questions in the normal

way, click on the desired standard in the “Standards” window, and then click the “Add” button.

● When you change which questions are selected, the contents of the “Selected

Standards” box in the “Standards” window will update to continually show which standards have been associated with the currently selected questions. Standards in this box that are drawn in black have been associated with all of the selected questions. Standards drawn in gray have been associated with only some of the selected questions.

● Selecting a gray standard from the “Selected Standards” box and clicking the “Add”

button will associate the standard with all of the questions currently selected.

To remove an association between one or more questions and a particular standard,

To view a Standards Report showing how your students performed with respect to the eport” from the “View” menu in the “Standards”

window. (Pg. 82)

ut student performance on that particular standard. (Pgs. 83-84)

● You can add detailed information about each student's performance on each standard

by clicking the “Itemize by Student” checkbox. Data about each student's performance will then be listed under each standard. (Pg. 84)

● You can add detailed information about each question associated with the current

standard by clicking the “Itemize by Question” checkbox. Information about ow students performed on each question will be listed under each standard. (Pg. 85)

●select the questions, select the standard in the “Selected Standards” box that you wish to disassociate from the selected questions, and click the “Remove” button.

Standards Reports (Pgs. 82-86) ●

current lesson's standards, choose “R

● You can choose to view the information in the Standards Report grouped by standard

or by student—grouped by standard is the default. (Pg. 83) ● When information is grouped by standard, each standard has an entry that gives the

name of the standard, its description, and a summary line with statistics abo

h

● If you choose to view the information in the Standards Report grouped by student,

then each student will be shown with a list of the lesson's standards beneath his or her name. Each standard will include information about how the student performed on that standard. (Pg. 85)

● You can print or export a Standards Report using the “Print” and “Export...” buttons

on the “Standards Report” window. The print button will immediately print a copy of the current Standards Report just as it appears on the screen. The “Export...” button will display a standard save dialog box so that you can select the file format to which you want to export. (Pg. 86)


SSection X: PPrriinnttiinngg,, IImmppoorrttiinngg aanndd EExxppoorrttiinngg

ection X: Printing the Roster If you need to produce a printed list of the students in a class, you can do so by going to the roster screen and choosing “Print…” from the “File” menu, or by clicking the corresponding “Print…” button on the toolbar.

The “Print” Toolbar Button

om

“R

Doing so will produce the “Print” dialog box from which you can select exactly what information you want printed. If you were on the roster screen when you gave the print

mand, then the “Roster” portion at the top of the dialog box will already be selected. cIf it is not, select it now by clicking on the white circle just to the left of the word

oster” at the top of the dialog box.


Below the word “Roster” there are two items that you can choose to include or mit from the printout. The first of these is “Include Student ID’s.” If this item is checked

secthe remote number assigned to each student will also be printed. If you choose to uncheck

hoC

yo to begin rinting.

choosing

“Page Setup…” from the “File” menu before you print. Doing so will display a setup me setup dialogs allow you to specify the number of copies;

ber of copies that you want in one location. (i.e. Do not enter

co

o(as is the default), then each student name will be followed by that student’s ID. The

ond item is “Include Remote Numbers.” If this item is checked (as is the default) then

both items, then only a list of student names will be printed in “Last Name, First Name” form.

After you have indicated what information should be printed, you can specify w many copies you would like by changing the number in the white box labeled opies:” at the bottom left of the dialog box, or by using the small up and down arrow“

buttons to the right of the box to increase or decrease the number of copies by one. When u are satisfied with everything, click the “Print” button at the bottom right

p

If you want to change the page layout or other printer settings, you can do so by

dialog box unique to your printer. So yours does, only indicate the numif

the number of copies in both the page setup and the print dialog boxes. This will cause more pies to be printed than intended.)


Printing the Questions You can print all of the questions (including any graphics) in your lesson or you an print just certain ones. If you want to print only certain questions, make sure that

y those questions are selected before you proceed. (See “Selecting V: Introduction to Lessons” for more information.)

f you were on the lesson screen when ou gave the print command, then the “Questions” portion of the dialog box will already

be selected. If it is not, select it now by clicking on the white circle just to the left of the word “Questions” toward the middle of the dialog box.

cthose questions and onl

uestions” in “Section IQ To print some or all of the questions in your lesson, go to the lesson screen and choose “Print…” from the “File” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button. This

ill cause the “Print” dialog box to be displayed. Iwy

Below the word “Questions” there are two items that control exactly what nformation is to be printed. The first i

Ifitem is labeled “Include Only Selected Questions.”

you only want to print the questions that are currently selected on the lesson screen, heck this item by clicking on the white box to the left of it. If you want to print all of the

questions regardless of whether or not they are selected, make sure that this item is left unchecked (the default). The second item is labeled “Include Answer Key.” If you check this item, then an answer key will be printed separately after the questions have been printed. The answer key will consist of each question’s number followed by the correct answer assigned to that question. Answer keys are not printed by default. After you have indicated what information should be printed, you can specify how many copies you would like by changing the number in the white box labeled “Copies:” at the bottom left of the dialog box, or by using the small up and down arrow

uttons to the right of the box to increase or decrease the number of copies by one. When you are satisfied with everything, click the “Print” button at the bottom right to begin printing.

c

b


Printing the Student Answers After administering a lesson and collecting responses from all of the students, you may wish to print a hard copy of the results. To do this, go to the answers screen and choose “Print…” from the “File” menu or click on the corresponding toolbar button. This will cause the “Print” dialog box to be displayed. If you were on the answers screen when you gave the print command, then the “Student Results” portion of the dialog box will lready be selected. If it is not, select it now by clicking on the white circle just to the left a

of the words “Student Results” near the bottom of the dialog box.

Below the words “Student Results” there are two items that control exactly what information is to be printed. The first item is labeled “Include Scores.” If this item is checked (as is the default), then each student’s score as calculated by Beyond Question’s automatic grading system will be printed to the right of the student’s name. The score will be printed in the same way that it is displayed on the answers screen. Thus, if the scores are being shown as percentages, then they will be printed as percentages; if they are being shown as point totals, then point totals will be listed on the printout. (For more information on how you can change the way in which points are displayed on the answers screen, see “Viewing Student Answers” in “Section II: The Basics.”) If you do not want student scores to be printed or it would not make sense to do so (for example, when giving a survey), make sure that the “Include Scores” item is unchecked before continuing. The second item listed in the student results section is labeled “Include Answers.” If this item is checked, then all of the student answers will be printed to the right of the student names using the same layout seen on the answers screen. Question numbers and correct answers will be printed above the student answers for reference purposes. If there is insufficient room on the page to print all of the answers, then additional pages will be printed with the student names being repeated on the left.


After you have indicated what information should be printed, you can specify ow many copies you would like by changing the number in the white box labeled Copie

s into Beyond Question.

mporting from Spreadsheet Applications If you have typed or imported your students’ names into a spreadsheet application, you will need to format the spreadsheet according to the following rules: • The information for each student should go on a separate row.

• All of the students’ last names should go in the first column.

• All of the students’ first names should go in the second column.

• Any student ID’s should go in the third column. Once you have formatted the spreadsheet in this manner, you will need to save the file in

SV (Comma Separated Value) format. In most spreadsheet applications, you can do this y choosing “Save As…” from the “File” menu and setting the “Save as type:” drop

e student record for each student. Make any necessary

are happy with the results, be sure to save the newly created class file.

h“ s:” at the bottom left of the dialog box, or by using the small up and down arrow buttons to the right of the box to increase or decrease the number of copies by one. When you are satisfied with everything, click the “Print” button at the bottom right to begin printing. Importing Class Rosters If you already have a list of your students’ names in electronic format or if you would prefer to enter their names into the computer via a different (possibly more familiar) application, you can always import those name I

Cbdown menu at the bottom of the dialog box to “CSV File.” Now all you have to do is start Beyond Question, go to the roster screen, and open the saved CSV file using the “Open” menu item or toolbar button just as you would any normal class file. (For more information on opening class files, see “Opening a Saved Class File” in “Section III: Introduction to Class Files.”) Beyond Question will utomatically create a separata

corrections and, when you are happy with the results, be sure to save the newly created class file. Importing from WebCT To import a roster from WebCT, use the WebCT tools to create a comma delimited text (“.txt”) file with the “First Name,” “Last Name,” and (optionally) “WebCT ID” fields selected. Save the file and then open it in Beyond Question from the roster screen using the “Open” menu item or toolbar button. Beyond Question will automatically create a separate student record for each student. Make any necessary corrections and, when you


Importing from Word Processors

a comma and then the student’s last name.

• If you want to include student ID information, it should come after each student’s last name with only a comma separating the two.

• There should be no spaces in the document. For example, if you have two students named “John Smith” and “Jane Doe,” you would format the word processing document as follows: <Blank Line> John,Smith,ID1 Jane,Doe,ID2

nce the document is in the correct format, you will need to save it in text only format. In ost word processors, this is done by choosing “Save As…” from the “File” menu and tting

If you have typed or imported your students’ names into a word processor, you will need to make sure that they are formatted according to the following rules: • The first line of the document should be blank or contain header information.

• Every student’s name should be on a separate line with no blank lines between them.

• Every student’s first name should be listed first followed by

Omse the “Save as type:” drop down menu at the bottom of the resulting dialog box to “Text Only.” Now simply start Beyond Question, go to the roster screen, and open the saved text file using the “Open” menu item or toolbar button just as you would any normal class file. (For more information on opening class files, see “Opening a Saved Class File” in “Section III: Introduction to Class Files.”) Beyond Question will automatically create a separate student record for each student. Make any necessary corrections and, when you are happy with the results, be sure to save the newly created class file.


Im ting Lessons Beyond Question allows you to import questions from numerous sources including questions packaged with textbooks, online databases, and even ones that you’ve typed into a word processor yourself.

por

porting RTF (Rich Text Format) Files

rt questions into Beyond Question is to save those questions s RTF (Rich Text Format) files. RTF is supported by virtually all word processors as ell as

n every uestion. Beyond Question will use these blank lines to determine how the document

wn enu at the bottom of the resulting dialog box to “RTF” or “Rich Text Format.”

he saved RTF file sing t ormal lesson file. or m n “Section IV: trod automatically separate the file to questions. If you are happy with the results, be sure to save the newly created lesson.

porting Skills Connection Files

utomatically.

Im The best way to impoaw most databases and preserves both the formatting (i.e. text size, color, style, etc.) and any pictures or graphics that the questions might contain. If you have typed the questions yourself, make sure that there are at least two blank lines betweeqshould be split during the import process. In most applications, you can save your information in rich text format by choosing “Save As…” from the “File” menu and setting the “Save as type:” drop dom Now start Beyond Question, go to the lesson screen, and open t

he “Open” menu item or toolbar button just as you would any nu(F ore information on opening lessons, see “Opening a Saved Lesson” iIn uction to Lessons.”) Beyond Question will attempt to inIf the results are not satisfactory, you will need to open the RTF file in a word processor, make any necessary adjustments (such as adding additional blank lines between questions), save your changes (still in RTF format), and try again. Im Beyond Question currently has special support built in for the Skills Connection database. If you are using Skills Connection, you can open a skills connection file (“.sc”) directly into Beyond Question. Just choose “Open” from the “File” menu or click the corresponding toolbar button, and then select the skills connection file and click “Open.” Beyond Question will automatically import all of the questions (including graphics) contained in the file. It will even set the question type and correct answer for each

uestion aq


Importing Text Files If your application cannot save its information in RTF format or you do not need to retain any graphics or special formatting, then you can also import questions into

eyond Question in text only format. As with RTF files, you will need to make sure that ere in

ours

I t applications, you can save your information in text only format by

menu at g dialog box to “Text Only.”

N en the saved text file the normal lesson file.

or m ing a Saved Lesson” in “Section IV:

open the text file in a word processor, adding additional blank lines between

still in text only format), and try again.

Bth are at least two blank lines separating the questions if you have typed themy elf.

n mos choosing “Save As…” from the “File” menu and setting the “Save as type:” drop down

the bottom of the resultin

ow start Beyond Question, go to the lesson screen, and opou would anyusing “Open” menu item or toolbar button just as y

(F ore information on opening lessons, see “OpenIntroduction to Lessons.”) Beyond Question will attempt to automatically separate the file into questions. If you are happy with the results, be sure to save the newly created lesson. If the results are not satisfactory, you will need tomake any necessary adjustments (such asquestions), save your changes (

You can change the font and size that are automatically applied to questions imported from a text only document. To do this, choose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu and

go to the “General” tab if you are not already there.

On the “General” tab, you can use the “Font” and “Size” drop down menus in the “Imported Text Style” section at the bottom of the dialog box to specify the characteristics to be applied to all questions being imported from text only sources. Click the “OK” button at the bottom right of the window when you are done.


Importing ExamView™ XML Files

choose “Export” from the “File” menu and

To import an ExamView XML document into Beyond Question, go to the lesson

Beyond Question can import tests that have been created in ExamView and exported as XML files. ExamView 5.x and earlier versions can export tests in the XML format, but this feature has been removed from version 6 of the ExamView software. To export a test to XML using ExamView 5.x, specify XML as the desired file type.

screen and open the XML file using the “Open” menu item or toolbar button just as you would any normal lesson file. (For more information on opening lessons, see “Opening a Saved Lesson” in “Section IV: Introduction to Lessons.”) Beyond Question will automatically import all of the questions contained in the file. It will even set the question type and correct answer for each question automatically. Exporting Class Rosters

If you want to work with the student names from one of your class files using another application, then you will need to export them in either text or CSV (Comma Separated Value) format. Which format you use depends on how you want to use the information once it has been exported:

• Text format is generally the most appropriate format if you are going to be working with the names in a word processor or viewing them unchanged.

• CSV format is typically the best choice if you are going to use a spreadsheet application to work with the information, or if another application will need to perform any kind of automatic manipulation on the data.

In either case, actually exporting the names is easy. Simply choose “Save Class As…” from the “File” menu.

Give the file a new name using the box provided, and then choose the appropriate file format (either Text or CSV) from the “Save as type:” drop down menu at the bottom. After you have named the file and specified the file format, click the “Save” button at the bottom right. You may then open the newly saved file in any application that can read files of that type.


Exporting Lessons Just as you can import questions from other applications in either text or rich text formats, so too can you export your Beyond Question lessons to other applications using these same formats. If you know that your target application can accept rich text, you will probably want to export your lesson as an RTF (Rich Text Format) file. RTF will preserve both the formatting (text size, color, style, etc.) and the images in your lesson.

any applications can handle RTF files, including virtually all word processors. If you

To export the questions in your lesson, choose “Save Lesson As…” from the

Mdo not believe that your target application can accept an RTF file, then you should export your lesson as a plain text file. “File” menu.

Give the file a new name using the box provided, and then choose the appropriate file format (either “Rich Text File” or “Text File”) from the “Save as type:” drop down menu at the bottom of the dialog box. After you have named the file and specified the file format, click the “Save” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. You may then open the newly saved file in any application that can read files of that type.


Exporting Student Answers Exporting student answers allows you to easily move them into another program where you can keep a permanent record (such as in a grade book application) or you can generate additional reports (such as in a spreadsheet application). Exporting to Spreadsheet Applications To export a copy of the student names, scores, and individual answers for each question, choose “Save Lesson As…” from the “File” menu.

file a new name using the box provided, and then set th

Give the e “Save as type:” drop

ialog box. You may then open the newly saved file in any pplication that can read CSV files (such as most grade book and spreadsheet

applications). Exporting to Integrade Pro To export the results of a lesson to Integrade Pro, choose “Save Lesson As…” from the “File” menu (as shown above). Give the file a new name using the box provided, and then set the “Save as type:” drop down menu at the bottom of the dialog box to “Integrade Pro” format. After you have named the file and specified the file format, click the “Save” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. You may then open the newly saved file in Integrade Pro.

down menu at the bottom of the dialog box to “CSV (Comma Delimited)” format. After you have named the file and specified the file format, click the “Save” button at the bottom right of the da


Exporting Standards Reports

Configure the Standards Report’s options as you see fit, and then click the “Export…” button located at the bottom left of the “Standards Report” window. When you click the button, the “Export Standards Report…” dialog box will appear.

Enter a name for the file in the box marked “File name:”, and then set the “Save as type:” drop down menu at the bottom of the dialog box to the format you would like to export the report in. You can choose to export the report as text or as HTML for a web page. After you have named the file and specified the file format, click the “Save” button at the bottom right of the dialog box. You can then open the resulting file in any application that supports the format you choose.

To export a Standards Report, first bring up the “Standards” window by choosing “Standards” from the “View” menu of the main Beyond Question window. Then display the report on screen by choosing “Report” from the “View” menu of the “Standards” window.


default

Rectangle

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy Printing (Pgs. 88-92) ● To print your roster, go to the roster sc

or click the “Print” toolbar button. Make sure that the treen and choose “Print” from the “File” menu

op button, labeled “Roster,” is mar

○ Leave a checkmark next to “Include Student ID’s” if you want to print student IDs along with the student names; this option is checked by default. (Pg. 89)

○ Leave a checkmark next to “Include Remote Numbers” if you want to print the

remote numbers assigned to students next to their names; this option is checked by default. (Pg. 89)

After specifying the options you want, set the number of copies and then click the

“Print” button to begin printing. (Pg. 89) ● To print the questions in your lesson, go to the lesson screen. If you only want to print

some of the questions, make sure those questions are selected. Choose “Print” from the “File” menu or click the “Print” toolbar button. Make sure that the middle button, labeled “Questions,” is marked on the resulting “Print” dialog box. (Pg. 90)

After specifying the options you want, set the number of copies and then click the ting. (Pg. 90)

names; this option is checked by default. (Pg. 91)

○ Leave a checkmark next to “Include Answers” if you want individual student answers to be printed; this option is checked by default. (Pg. 91)

After specifying the option you want, set the number of copies and then click the

“Print” button to begin printing. (Pg. 92)

ked on the resulting “Print” dialog box. (Pgs. 88-89)

○ Place a checkmark next to “Include Only Selected Questions” if you only want to

print the questions that are currently selected. (Pg. 90) ○ Place a checkmark next to “Include Answer Key” if you want Beyond Question to

print an answer key page after printing the questions. (Pg. 90)

“Print” button to begin prin ● To print the results of a lesson, go to the answers screen and choose “Print” from the

“File” menu or click the “Print” toolbar button. Make sure that the bottom button, labeled “Student Results,” is marked on the resulting “Print” dialog box. (Pgs. 91-92)

○ Leave a checkmark next to “Include Scores” if you want student scores to be

printed to the right of the student


Importing (Pgs. 92-96) ● import a roster from a spreadsheet, make sure the information is formatted as

follows: (Pg. 92) ○ Each student's information should go on a separate row.

○ All last names should g

To

o in the first column. ○ All first names should go in the second column. ○ Any student IDs should go in the third column.

When all of the spreadsheet information is formatted appropriately, save the file in CSV (Comma Separated Value) format. Then start Beyond Question, go to the roster screen, and open the CSV file. (Pg. 92)

To import a roster from WebCT, use the WebCT tools to create a comma delimited text (“.txt”) file with the “First Name,” “Last Name,” and (optionally) “WebCT ID” fields selected. Save the file and then open it in Beyond Question from the roster screen. (Pg. 92)

To import a roster from a word processor, make sure that the document adheres to the following rules: (Pg. 93)

○ The first line must be blank or contain header information.

○ Student IDs, if included, should follow the last names with only a comma separating the two.

○ There should be no spaces in the document.

A correctly formatted document will look similar to this: (Pg. 93)

<Blank Line> John,Smith,ID1 Jane,Doe,ID2

Once the format is correct, save the word processing document as “Text Only,” close the document, open Beyond Question, go to the roster screen, and open the newly saved file. (Pg. 93)

●

●

●

○ Every student's name should be on a separate line with no blank lines. ○ Every student's first name should be followed by a comma and then the student's

last name (with no space).

● ●

● To import a lesson that contains formatted text and even images from a word

processor, use the RTF (Rich Text Format) format. Make sure that there are at least two blank lines separating every question, and then save the document as an RTF file. Close the document, start Beyond Question, go to the lesson screen, and open the RTF file. (Pg. 94)


● To import a Skills Connectiofile by choosing “Open” from

n file, start Beyond Question and then open the desired the “File” menu. (Pg. 94)

t does not contain special formatting or images from a word save the document in text only format. Make sure that every

“G this before

● Toch from the “File” menu within the ExamView software. Then start

xporting

ou will be

down list at the bottom of the save dialog ” if your

“Standards”

● To import a lesson tha

processor, you canquestion is separated by at least two blank lines, and then save the document as a text file. Close the document, start Beyond Question, go to the lesson screen, and open the text file. (Pg. 95)

● You can change the font and size that are automatically applied to questions imported

from a text only document by using the “Imported Text Style” section of the eneral” tab on the “Preferences” dialog box. However, you must do

performing the import. (Pg. 95)

import an ExamView XML file, begin by exporting the ExamView test to XML by oosing “Export”

Beyond Question, go to the lesson screen, and open the XML file. (Pg. 96)

(Pgs. 96 - 99) E ● To export a roster, choose “Save Class As...” from the “File” menu, and then specify

the format that you want to export to using the “Save as type:” drop down list at the bottom of the save dialog box. Text format is best if you will be working with the names in a word processor or just looking at them. CSV format is best if yworking with the data in a spreadsheet or if another application will need to perform any kind of automatic manipulation on the data. Click “Save” to complete the export. (Pg. 96)

● To export the questions in a lesson, choose “Save Lesson As...” from the “File” menu,

and then specify either “RTF” or “Text” as the format using the “Save as type:” drop box. Be sure to choose “RTF

questions include images or text formatting that needs to be preserved. Click “Save” to complete the export. (Pg. 97)

● To export student answers, choose “Save Class As...” from the “File” menu, and then

specify either “CSV” or “Integrade Pro” as the format using the “Save as type:” drop down list at the bottom of the save dialog box. Click “Save” to complete the export. (Pg. 98)

● To export a Standards Report, choose “Standards” from the “View” menu of the main

Beyond Question window. Then choose “Report” from the “View” menu of the window. Click the “Export...” button at the bottom left of the “Standards

Report” window, choose the format you wish to export the report as using the “Save as type:” drop down list at the bottom of the save dialog box, and click “Save.” (Pg. 99)


SSeeccttiioonn XXIII:: AAddvvaanncceedd FFeeaattuurreess

cept Answers” menu item, toolbar en students are allowed to submit

ns already makes adjustments to

deo saves you from having to make the change

autut exactly what you would want the program to do. It is possible to

ccept Answers” setting, if you are not

lr

Using Port Management As you already know, you can use the “Acbutton, or instructor’s remote button to control wh

wers. What you may not realize is that Beyond Questionathis setting on your behalf as you move from one screen to another. For example, whenever you go to the remotes screen, Beyond Question begins accepting answers by

fault. You can override this setting at any time using the controls mentioned above, but st of the time this behavior simplym

yourself.

In a similar manner, whenever you leave the remotes screen, Beyond Question omatically stops accepting answers by default. Again, you can override this behavior, usually this is b

instruct Beyond Question to stop changing the “Accept Answers” setting altogether or to behave in an even more sophisticated manner. To modify the way that Beyond Question handles the “Achoose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu and go to the “General” tab a eady there.

the right side of the dialog box, below the “Browse…” button, is a section labeled ort Management.”

On“P


The port management section of the dialog box contains three possible settings:

• None

Th is “Simple.” When port management is set to “Simple,” Beyond

uestion automatically begins accepting answers whenever you go to the remotes screen

set n in such a way that you find yourself constantly aving to undo the adjustments that Beyond Question has just made to the “Accept

to sto he “Accept

nswers” menu item, toolbar button, or instructor’s remote button.

” port management, causes Beyond Question to do

whwhstudis

e

on

defaults to “Simple” to protect instructors that may be less

• Simple • Advanced

e default setting Qand stops accepting answers on all other screens, unless you have modified the current

ting yourself.

If you use Beyond QuestiohAnswers” setting, then you can turn this feature off entirely by setting port management

“None.” When port management is set to “None,” Beyond Question will never start or p accepting answers unless you specifically tell it to do so by using t

A

The third option, “Advanced even more to assist you in controlling when students can and cannot answer. When advanced port management is enabled, Beyond Question will stop accepting answers

enever you leave the remotes screen and will only begin accepting answers again en you reach an unanswered question on the remotes screen. This approach prevents dents from being able to change their answers if you return to the remotes screen after playing the graph screen but have not yet had a chance to proceed to the next question. member that you can override the current state at any time using any of the R

aforementioned controls if you find yourself in a situation where the current setting is not what you want.

If you are familiar with the various ways that “Accept Answers” can be toggled and off, then you should probably take the time to change the port management setting “Advanced.” It onlyto

familiar with the “Accept Answers” controls and how they can be adjusted.


Controlling the Remote Number Boxes By default, Beyond Question displays thirty remote numbers at the bottom of the

motes screen, expanding this number as necessary to support larger rosters or signals ange. However, you can easily adjust the rules that Beyond how many remote numbers (and which ones) should be

splay

refrom remotes outside of this r

uestion uses when decidingQdi ed. To change these rules, choose “Preferences…” from the “Edit” menu, and click on the “Remotes” tab at the top of the dialog box that appears.

The “Remotes” tab of the preferences dialog box gives you tremendous control over how and when the remote numbers on the bottom of the remotes screen are displayed, but it also takes some effort to understand it completely. The easiest approach is to consider the possible options in the order that they appear, starting at the top of the dialog box. Option 1: “Show Remotes that Have Not Yet Received Answers” The first option tells Beyond Question whether or not to display remote numbers belonging to remotes that have not yet sent an answer to the program. If this option is unchecked, then Beyond Question will not initially show any remote number boxes a the

ottom of the remotes screen. Boxes will appear as students answer for the first time, and

a remote number belongs to a student that is absent or to one that has yet to answer. Under this scenario, all of the remote number boxes will turn green when everyone has answered; there will never be any unused remote numbers showing.

tbwill remain until the end of the lesson. This arrangement is ideal when you do not know ahead of time which remotes will be used, or when you do not want to worry about determining whether


If the first option is checked (as is the default) then any remote number assigned a student on the current roster (if any) will show up at the bottom of the remotes ree e using class files, then this setting is slightly easier for students since it

llow e their remote number from the very beginning. If the first option is heck will also be able to control whether or not remotes that are not already n th ticipate. This is handled by the checkbox at the very bottom of the ialog box labeled “Disregard Answers from Remotes that Are Not Shown.” When

ven activity. The default is to always allow every remote to participate.

d option comes in. If e second option is checked, then remote numbers other than those listed on the roster

Beyond Question to fill in any gaps in the sequence of remote numbers, ou can uncheck the “Keep Numbers Continuous” checkbox near the bottom of the ialog b

If option two is checked (as it is by default), then you can indicate exactly when Beyond Question should show remote numbers other than those on the roster. (Remote numbers on the roster always appear as long as option one is checked.) You have two choices: • Always

• When the Roster is Empty Selecting “Always” ensures that the additional, unassigned remote numbers always appear on the remotes screen. Selecting “When the Roster is Empty” causes Beyond Question to display unassigned remote numbers only when there is no class file open and hence no list of assigned remote numbers to work with.

tosc n. If you ara s them to sec ed, then youo e roster can pardchecked, Beyond Question will only accept signals from remotes that are assigned to a student on the roster; thus, remotes with numbers other than those shown on the remotes screen will not be able to answer. This is one way to allow only a subset of students to participate in a gi Option 2: “Show Remotes that Are Not on the Roster” Provided that you have the first option checked and are allowing Beyond Question to show remote numbers that do not already have answers associated with them, then you can also decide whether or not those remote numbers should include ones that have not been assigned to any student on the roster. This is where the seconthcan appear for various reasons (described below). If the second option is not checked, then the remote numbers on the remotes screen will always correspond directly to those on the roster. By default, Beyond Question allows remote numbers that are not assigned to any student to appear on the remotes screen. Doing so gives Beyond Question the freedom to fill in any gaps in the numbers so as to keep the numbering continuous. This makes it easier for students to locate the number that they are looking for, as remote numbers are less likely to change location when students are added to or removed from the roster. If you do not wantyd ox. When to Show Remotes that Are Not on the Roster


Designating a Range of Remote Numbers If option two is checked, you can also specify a range of remote numbers that should be displayed. This is the default setting that causes Beyond Question to display thirty remote number boxes. You can change the starting and/or ending number by clicking in the appropriate white box and typing a new value, or by clicking on the small up and down arrows just to the right of the box in order to increase or decrease the number by one. To the right of the starting and ending numbers are checkboxes labeled “Lowest on Roster” and “Highest on Roster,” respectively. When checked, these boxes cause Beyond Question to truncate or extend the list of remote numbers based on the lowest or highest remote number used on the roster. For example, if you have the “Highest on Roster” setting enabled, then Beyond Question will limit the list of remote numbers so that it does not exceed the highest value assigned on the roster. This is useful if you want to hide unused remote numbers when a class file is open, but show a certain number of remote number boxes when no such file is in use. This is the default configuration for Beyond Question. If you are on the remotes screen, you can see the effects of your changes as you make them. Once you are satisfied with the settings for the remote numbers, click the “OK” button at the bottom right to dismiss the dialog box.

SSeeccttiioonn SSuummmmaarryy

sing Port Management (Pgs. 106-104)

ill stop ou move

“Sim

o the next question.

U ● Beyond Question can assist you in managing when students are allowed to answer

questions. To change the way in which it does so, choose “Preferences...” from the “Edit” menu and go to the “General” tab if you are not already there.

Choosing “None” from the “Port Management” section of the “General” tab w●

Beyond Question from changing the “Accept Answers” setting even when ybetween screens.

● ple” is the default setting for “Port Management.” When this setting is selected,

Accepting Answers is turned on when you are on the remotes screen and is turned off at all other times, unless you have temporarily changed the setting using the “Accept Answers” menu item or toolbar button.

● Choosing “Advanced” allows Beyond Question to do even more to assist you. Beyond

Question will stop accepting answers when you leave the remotes screen and will only begin accepting answers again when you reach an unanswered question on the remotes screen. This prevents students from being able to change their answers if you return to the remotes screen after displaying a graph but have not yet had a chance to proceed t


Controlling the Remote Number Boxes (Pgs. 105-107) ● You can adjust the rules Beyond Question uses to determine how many remote

numbers (and which ones) should be displayed at the bottom of the remotes screen. To do so, choose “Preferences...” from the “Edit” menu and go to the “Remotes” tab. (Pg. 105)

● The first option (“Show Remotes that Have Not Yet Received Answers”) tells Beyond

Question whether or not to display remote numbers belonging to remotes that have not yet sent an answer. If this option is unchecked, Beyond Question will not show any remote number boxes until students answer for the first time. If the option is checked (as is the default) then any remote number listed on the roster (if any) will show up. (Pgs. 105-106)

If the first option is checked, then you will also be able to control whether or not remo

pear. (Pg. 106)

unassigned remote numbers only when there is no class file open and hence no list of assigned remote numbers to work with. (Pg. 106)

If option two is checked, you can also specify a range of remote numbers that should be d

Beyond Question to truncate or extend the list of remote numbers based on the lowest or hig Pg. 107)

●

tes that are not already on the roster can participate. This is handled by the checkbox labeled “Disregard Answers from Remotes that Are Not Shown.” When checked, Beyond Question will only accept signals from remotes that are assigned to a student on the roster. (Pg. 106)

● If the first option is checked, then you can check the second option (“Show Remotes

that Are Not on the Roster”) to allow remote numbers other than those listed on the roster to ap

● Beyond Question will normally attempt to fill in any gaps in the numbering of the

remote number boxes so that students can more easily locate their numbers. You can turn this behavior off by unchecking the “Keep Numbers Continuous” checkbox. (Pg. 106)

● If option two is checked, you can specify when Beyond Question should show remote

numbers other than those on the roster. Selecting “Always” ensures that such remote numbers always appear. Selecting “When the Roster is Empty” causes Beyond Question to display

●

isplayed, including a starting and ending number. (Pg. 107) ● The checkboxes labeled “Lowest on Roster” and “Highest on Roster,” when checked,

cause hest remote number used on the roster. (


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® is a registered trademark of Beyond Question Learning Technologies, Inc. he log

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