How to Create Effective Online Exams for Training

Thu 31st Oct 2019< Back to Blogs and Tutorials

Face it; anybody can put together a Test. Add some questions, a few answer options, and you now have something called a Test, Quiz, Exam, survey - depending on the content added.

Creating great Tests for training, however, requires thought. You want to make sure that the Test being given benefits both you in the results you get back and your users, for what they can get out of taking your Test.

Before you start to add questions for others to answer, you need to quiz yourself with questions as to why you are giving this Test.

What is the purpose of this Test?

When writing a good quiz for training purposes, you want to make sure that you receive results that provide you with feedback on the progress of your users, how they are doing, if they are struggling in specific areas, if they are learning from the material you provide.

Other reasons you may be creating a test:

Mock Tests to prepare users for upcoming exams where grades will matter
Skill assessments for your employees
Product Knowledge to educate your employees on your product line
Gathering feedback
Recruitment Testing for future employees
Exams that count towards grading
On-going employee training
Refresherquizzes
Identify problem areas to identify areas that users are experiencing difficulties with

Who is my target audience?

Let's take a look at some tips on constructing Tests for training for those who you will be training.

Make the Test challenging but not too challenging. As fun as it may be to give an impossible Test, you won't get the results you are looking for, especially if you are giving Tests for training. You will get results that only confirm the Test was useless when seeing results that include 0 answers. Think of your audience and create these tests with your target users in mind. Nobody likes taking a test that by the end of it, they feel it's been a waste of their time, they didn't benefit from it, and they leave feeling discouraged.

Use natural language in your Test. Try reading your questions out loud. Does it come across as too techy? (Unless, of course, you are giving a Technical type of Test, the techier, the better! )Does it sound natural as if you were to ask someone that question in person? If not, maybe try changing your wording, because having a more natural flow will enable your users to comprehend the content better, as they go from question to question.

What Do I Include in Quizzes for Training?

Giving Tests online enables you to add additional elements beyond just questions and images - these being the only two options for paper Testing. Create engaging Tests by adding training materials, such as media, to make these more interactive.

Questions, of course! You can write effective Test questions with ClassMarker's variety of question types, including multiple choice, multiple response, essay, matching and more!
Test Introduction - Adding a Test Introduction is a great way to welcome your users to this part of their training and provide a summary of what they are about to partake in.
Custom Instructions - Use default guidelines added by ClassMarker if you choose. These will be based on settings you apply to your Test, such as stating the number of questions on the Test, if there is a time limit, etc. You can also add additional instructions - this is optional.
Demographic questions prior to Test - make these mandatory or optional. Collect the data you require, such as position of employee, department they are in and more. All of these details will be included in the results for your viewing. These are non-graded questions.
Images - What better way to add some 'pop' to your Tests! Images are bright, colorful, and are a great aid used in Tests for training because users do tend to remember and recall things seen in images over text.
Audio - Audio is a great option to add to Tests for training. This can be used for language Tests, listening to customer service scenarios and more. Multimedia in training is a great learning tool!
Documents - Great for when you have lots of information you want your users to review without adding it to the questions in your Test. Users can then download these for reference.
Video - Everyone loves videos! Add training videos into your Tests on work place protocol for new employees, new products coming out - video is great for showing new product launches, on-going training. A lot of content can be included in a Test for training with even one video being included.
Custom feedback during Test for both correctly/incorrectly answered questions
Customized Certificates - Create training certificates online that can be given automatically upon completion of any or all Tests. These can also be available for download from results sent to your users via email.

After creating your Test, you can then choose how to give your Tests to your users - via a registered member account or via a Link which you can email, paste or embed directly into your own web pages, with your own branding!

Not only will you be able to customize the actual Test however once you assign your Test, you can then apply quiz settings for how your Test is given. These will include number of attempts, optional time limit, availability dates, how many questions per Test page, mandatory answering as users go through Test, option to go back to previous pages for review and so on. From the beginning of the Test creation process to the very end of giving it out to your users - everything is customizable. It's your choice!

What Type of Results and Statistics Can I Collect?

Individual Results - Check each user's individual progress in their training.
Question Statistics - Ideal for seeing problematic areas that your employees are having difficulties with.
Group Results - Look at results for all users as a group.
Category Results - See how each category performs for a single user or group as a whole.

With ClassMarker, you can view these results within your administrator account, have results emailed to you or other Assistants within your account upon each user's Test completion, export result to Excel and have results sent back to your own system using our API/Webhooks Integration options.

Evaluating Quiz results for training by users is also available by displaying these results on-screen upon Test completion and by having these results emailed to them automatically. You have full control over what displays for your users. If giving Tests for training purposes, showing graded questions with feedback included is key for users to progress.

Now, with the information provided to create my Test, where do I begin?

Now comes the easy part! You need to begin by taking the content you have and adding this into an online Testing system. Register with ClassMarker for a 30 day trial which only takes a minute to register, no credit card information required! Once logged in to our user friendly interface, you can begin creating Tests, adding questions, uploading your media and assigning those Tests. Your employees will be taking Tests for training in no time!

Your business is important, your employees are important and the training they receive is important. Use ClassMarker's employee Testing software. We've been around for a long, long time (since 2006), our system is secure, private, built with stability in mind, and professional. ClassMarker is used by both Businesses and Educators around the world, for a reason!

to start using ClassMarker, the best Testing platform, for training your staff. You owe it to yourself and those you work with!

Happy Testing!

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