Authoring Tool

The Test Nation Authoring Tool makes it easy to create online assessment tests with no previous experience or knowledge of computer programming.

To access the Authoring Tool you must first Create a New Test or Edit an Existing Test from the Author Menu.

Some of the controls available are quite similar to those you would find in an E-Mail Program or Microsoft Word.

There are icons at the top and bottom of the screen for the most commonly used functions.

These functions can also be accessed from the menu bar at the top of the screen (File, Edit, Type, Items, Points, View, Text, Mulitmedia, Help).

The navigation panel is used to move between pages. This is situated at the bottom left of the screen. The left arrow moves to the previous page and the right arrow to the next. There is also a draggable bar to quickly jump to a specific question.

File Icons

The first cluster of four buttons control the loaded test and can alternatively be accessed from File on the menu bar.

• Save Test - Saves the test to the server.
• Preview Test - See what the test look will look like when it is taken. You can return to the Authoring Tool by clicking on the Edit button.
• Return to Menu - Takes you back to the Author Menu menu.
• Test Settings - Set or change the test name, select a category and subject, set the time limit etc.. More about Test Settings

The second cluster of six buttons controls the current page and can also be accessed from Edit on the menu bar.

• Undo Changes - Returns the page back to it's original content.
• Add New Page - Adds a new page to the test.
• Delete Current Page - Removes the current page from the test.
• Copy Current Page - Copies the current page, so it can be pasted elsewhere.
• Cut Current Page - Removes the current page from the test and copies it to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere in the test.
• Paste Current Page - Puts the page in the clipboard at the current page number.
  

Page Type

The Page Type palette allows you to change to the page template. These functions can also be applied using Type on the menu bar.

• Written Answer - More
• Word Sorting - More
• Multiple Choice - More
• Information Page - More
  

Text Formatting

The Text Formatting palette allows you to alter the look and functionality of all text on a page. Simply select the text you want to alter using your mouse and click on one of the Text Formatting buttons. These functions can also be accessed from Text on the menu bar.

• Add Web Link - Turns the selected link into a hypertext link to another website.
• Insert Symbol - Inserts a symbol at the cursor position. Scientic, Foreign and Wing Dings are currently available.
• Bold Text - Turns the selected text bold.
• Underline Text - Turns the selected text to underlined.
• Italic Text -Turns the selected text italic.
• Text Colour - Display the colour palette where you can select a colour for the selected text.
• Subscript - Turns the selected text into subscript. This is particularly useful for Chemistry and Maths.
• Superscript - Turns the selected text into superscript.
• Normalise Text - Returns the selected text to default colour, style and size.
• Font Size - Increase or Decrease the font size of the selected test.

Items and Points

• Items - Increase or Decrease the number of items on the current page.
• Points - Increase or Decrease the amount of points available for a correct answer on the current page.

Multimedia

The multimedia panel allows you to add audio clips, images, animations, video clips and any other system registered files.

For more information see Adding Multimedia