This guide will help distance instructors install and use Diploma Exam.

Diploma is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) test creation tool. It can help you create, organize and deliver tests in both distance and face to face environments. Numerous exporting options allow you the freedom to deliver your test and quizzes in a means that suits you and your students. Diploma allows you to use a number of various forms of media (such as images, video, and a multitude of digital file types) that enhance your evaluations and benefit the learning experience of your students.

Select from the following topics to get acquainted with Diploma.

Getting started:

• Your Computer - System Requirements
• Creating Content - How to create questions for your exams

Creating Evaluations:

• New Evaluations - How to create evaluations from scratch
• New Question Banks - How to create banks of questions for use in later exams
• Using Question Banks - How to create evaluations using existing questions stored in a question bank

Advanced Features:

• Importing Media - Multimedia can liven up your tests and engage your students
• Using Variables - Variables can play an integral role in effective evaluations, here's how to use them
• Other - Some other stuff goes here

Exporting:

• Blackboard - For classes using blackboard
• For Print - for those pesky face to face classes
• HTML - exporting to html and dhtml

If you have need for any further assistance, please contact IDDL Support Staff.

Getting Started:

Before installing Diploma Exam 6, ensure that your computer meets the following requirements.

Windows: Windows 98 2nd Edition or later, Internet Explorer 6 service pack 1 or later, 32 megabytes of available RAM (for Windows 98 or Windows ME) or 64 megabytes of available RAM (for Windows 2000, XP or later), Super VGA with 256 colors or higher, and sufficient hard drive space to store the program and question bank.

Macintosh: Power PC Processor, MacOS 8.6 or later or MacOS X or later, at least 32 megabytes of RAM, and sufficient hard drive space to store the program and question bank.

Creating Content :

There are two different ways to go about creating your tests. One is to fill a question bank with all of the questions and add them to new tests (we will go into question banks further later in this section). The other way is to create each question on the fly. To do this, click on Question in the Exam Window and choose New Question.

When you do this a window will appear that will allow you to choose the type of question. Then a window will appear where you can create or edit your question and the answers. This is the question editor window (you can also open this window by double clicking existing questions). Type in your question and the answers and then close the window. The question will now appear in the test. Repeat this process as many times as necessary and then move on to the next section.

Creating Evaluations :

This section covers the creation of new Question Banks and how to use them to add content to your exams.

Using Question Banks:

You can use question banks to help speed up the process of making many tests. This is often a great way to save time and energy if you teach the same material in more than one class or more than one context. By using a question bank you won’t have to write out the same questions multiple times.

Click on New Question Bank and then start adding questions just as we did before. Keep in mind that these questions are not part of any exam yet. Once you have created all the ques­­­tions you will need, we can start preparing the exam itself.

When you press Copy to Exam you will notice that the question you had highlighted is copied into the exam window. You can repeat this process to add individually selected questions to any exam. You can also click on the Random Selection Toolbar button. This gives you a toolbar with an option to randomly copy any number (you enter this number in the small field in the toolbar) of questions to the new exam. When you press Copy Now however many questions you want to copy are randomly selected and copied to the exam.

Advanced Features:

This section covers some of Diploma's advanced features such as Importing Media, Using Variables, and the Equation Editor.

Importing Media :

When making tests it can be very helpful to include outside media types such as tables, images, reference files and more. In the question editor window under the Insert menu you can add all of these types of items to your question. You can insert media such as images, audio clips and sound files, and video clips. By clicking on Ole Object under the insert menu, you can import PDF files, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations, Word documents, sound files, video clips, Flash documents and much more.

Equation Editor:

The question editor is accessed when in the question editor window. Choose Insert and then choose Equation.

Once you have opened the equation editor you can use it to create all of the mathematical and or scientific equations you will need. The equation editor is shown below. If you will be including equations often in your tests, it is a good idea to get familiar with the equation editor before you actually begin making tests for your class.

Question Appearnce:

If your test still lacks a little something graphically and looks a bit plain you can use the Format tools (in the question editor window) to change the page layout and appearance in the same way you would with a MS Word document. You may not want to use different fonts for each question on a test, but it is useful for creating good looking assessments to be able to modify the font, text size, and other characteristics of the text.

Exporting to Blackboard :

When exporting your exam to Blackboard, a .ZIP file is created. To do this, choose Export from the File menu, and select Blackboard.

The major advantage of exporting to Blackboard is that the zip file is stored on your computer and then can easily be uploaded to blackboard where students are logged in securely and tests can be automatically graded. Since Diploma integrates so seamlessly with blackboard it is a wonderful option if you are already using blackboard.

Other Exporting Options:

You can also export to WebCT and EDU. These are both Content Management Systems, like Blackboard. You can also export to DHTML (Dynamic html). This allows you to post the test as a web page and students can go to that page and take the test. These tests can be self grading, so they are great for review tests and practice quizzes. Rich Text Format is an export option you may want to consider if you intend to print your exams for students to take in a Face to Face classroom environment.