About NextGen Assessments
Courses on the Pearson Connexus platform come with different course origins. These course origins include, Pearson, eDynamics, GradPoint, and Apex. To find which course has each origin please refer to the Course list with Origin excel file, which can be found for admins in your Communication Hub course. (Reminder: How to get to the Communication Hub course) Teachers- reach out to your admin/manager for course origins.
If a course has a Pearson course origin, then it has what is called Next Generation (NexGen) Assessments.
Next Generation Assessments enable students to demonstrate a deeper application of skills for more authentic assessment of skill proficiency. This type of assessment prepares students for the experiences they will encounter when taking state and other high-stakes assessments.
Some of the setting options that display are built specifically for the traditional online assessments and will not work for NextGen assessments. In fact, changing some settings can cause issues with an assessment. This guide outlines the settings that should not be edited. Questions in NextGen Assessments can not be edited.
Editing Assessments
NextGen assessments display similarly to traditional online assessments and can be edited on the same settings page in the course editor. Users with permissions to edit a course can access the course editor and edit settings by selecting the pencil icon for the activity, as shown below.
Distinguishing NextGen Assessments from Other Assessments
NextGen assessments are unique in their distinctive gray background and one-question-per-page layout.
They can be identified while editing assessments. No questions display in the Questions tab.
List of Unsupported Settings
Some tabs include assessment activity settings that should not be edited. Note that all settings are supported for the traditional online assessments, but many are either not functional or have limited support for NextGen assessments. Caution: If you edit a NextGen assessment, please adhere to the limitations described below.
The following tabs contain settings that are either not functional or have limited support for NextGen assessments:
- Activity
- Questions
- Assessment Settings
Settings in the following tabs are fully functional for NextGen assessments:
- Data
- Objectives
- Gradebook
- Navigation
- History
Activity
| Option | Standard Assessment Functionality for Buzz Pearson Connexus Native Assessments, eDynamic* Assessments, and GradPoint* Assessments |
Assessment Functionality for the NextGen Assessments, Apex, and Pearson* Assessments |
*Please refer to the Course list with Origin excel file, that is found in your Communication Hub course. (Reminder- How to get to your Communication Hub Course) |
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| Attachments | Allows you to add a file for students to refer to while taking the assessment. | No files will be available for students taking NextGen assessments. |
| Calculator | Provides a calculator tool for student use. | This setting cannot add a calculator tool to the assessment; however, NextGen assessments requiring a tool will provide one. |
| Companion Material | Similar to Attachments above. | This setting cannot add companion materials to the assessment; however, NextGen assessments requiring passages, images, or other materials will provide them with their associated items. |
Questions
| Option | Standard Assessment Functionality for Buzz Pearson Connexus Native Assessments, eDynamic* Assessments, and GradPoint* Assessments |
Assessment Functionality for the NextGen Assessments, Apex, and Pearson* Assessments |
| *Please refer to the Course list with Origin excel file, that is found in your Communication Hub course. (Reminder- How to get to your Communication Hub Course) |
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| Preview | Displays a preview of all questions in the assessment. | Preview will not display any of the questions used on the assessment. |
| Edit all | Allows direct editing of question metadata text. | NextGen Assessments (includes Elm Learnosity) can not be edited. Questions cannot be reordered, added, or removed. |
| New question | Creates new questions to add to the assessment. | NextGen questions cannot be added. |
| Link question | Allows you to insert a question from another assessment. | You cannot add a question from a traditional online assessment to a NextGen assessment. Doing so could result in errors. |
| Score | Sets the number of points the question is worth. | NextGen assessment question point values cannot be changed. |
Assessment Settings
While some of the Assessment Settings can be edited for NextGen assessments, please note that changes are either not saved or will negatively impact the assessment.
| Option | Standard Assessment Functionality for Buzz Pearson Connexus Native Assessments, eDynamic* Assessments, and GradPoint* Assessments* |
Assessment Functionality for the NextGen Assessments, Apex, and Pearson* Assessments |
| *Please refer to the Course list with Origin excel file, that is found in your Communication Hub course. (Reminder- How to get to your Communication Hub Course) |
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| Allow save and continue | Controls whether students are allowed to leave and come back to an assessment. | Students can return to an assessment regardless of this setting. After submitting an assessment, students can return to a read-only view of the assessment. |
| Number of attempts | Controls how many attempts a student is allowed by default. If set to a value greater than one, students may retake an assessment immediately after submitting the first attempt. Students who are satisfied with the original score are not required to use that retake if they do not wish to do so. | This setting allows students to retake assessments up to the maximum value enabled. |
| Questions per page | Specifies how many questions should appear per page. | One question appears per page regardless of this setting. |
| Randomize question order | Changes the sequence in which questions appear on a student’s assessment. | Questions may or may not be randomized depending on default assessment settings. Changing this setting will not alter default course settings. |
| Randomize response order | Changes the order of the answer options in multiple-choice questions each time the student starts the assessment. | Options are always in the same order. |
| Student must enter a password to view this activity | Requires a student to enter a password before viewing the activity. | Requires a student to enter a password before viewing the activity. |
| Display question results | Controls whether students see question results when reviewing questions on an assessment. | Setting this to Never will prevent students from seeing any assessment result besides the overall grade. All other options allow students to review their submitted assessments. |
| Display student answers | Controls whether students see their responses when reviewing an assessment. | Student answers are always visible. |
| Display question score | Controls whether students see the score earned for each question. | Earned points are always visible. |
| Display correct questions | Controls whether students see correctness indicators for each question. | Students always see if they answered questions correctly. |
| Display correct choices | Controls whether students see the correct answers for questions they answered incorrectly. | Correct answers are always visible and cannot be modified. |
| Display feedback | Controls whether students see teacher feedback. | Students always see feedback when available. |
| Pool by question type | Selects questions for randomized assessments by question type. | All NextGen questions appear as Custom, so randomizing is not possible. |
| Allow printing | Allows students to print a blank assessment. | Students can select the print button when opening their assessment. |
| Hide question Back button | Prevents students from going back to previous questions on an assessment. | Students can always return to a question before submitting an assessment. |
| Show question review flags | Allows students to mark questions they want to skip and return to later. | This setting does not work for NextGen assessments; however, the assessment summary page identifies items that have not been answered, and students can revisit those items prior to submitting. |
| Default question score | Sets the default score for all questions in the assessment. | The score for NextGen questions cannot be modified. |
| Exam template | Bases the assessment on an existing HTML template file. | This setting does not modify NextGen assessments. |