Richard G Baldwin (512) 223-4758, NRG Room 4238, Baldwin@DickBaldwin.com, http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/

ITSE 1359 Introduction to Scripting Languages: Python

This material applies to classroom sections and Distance Learning sections taught by Professor Baldwin.

Instructions for Accessing and Taking Blackboard Tests

Fall 2018

Revised: 08/15/18

The official web page for this course is ITSE1359.htm


An orientation test

See the following documents for a further discussion and explanation of a required orientation test named Test00.

Test00 is an open-book, open-computer, online Blackboard test that is based on the material pointed to by the orientation link listed above. You may take the test as many times as you need from any computer that allows you to log into your Blackboard course. (Test00 is not to be taken in an ACC testing center.)

While the submission deadline for Test00 is the same as the submission deadline for Test04 at the end of the semester, you will need to achieve a score of at least 80 on Test00 as early in the semester as possible to gain access to the assignments.

The following instructions do not apply to Test00. Briefly, Test00 covers the conduct of the course while Test01, Test02, Test03, and Test04, (discussed below), cover the content of the course.

Four competency tests

You must complete four competency tests -- one for each of the four competencies -- by selecting Test01, Test02, Test03, and Test04 in the left-side menu in Blackboard.

(See detailed instructions below for taking the test in an ACC Testing Center using the Respondus Lockdown Browser.)

Each test will disappear from Blackboard when the scheduled submission deadline expires.

You may take each test up to two times before it expires. Your highest score among the two scores for each test will be used to compute your final grade.

Test contents

Each test consists of ten True/False questions. Most of the questions require you to analyze some Python code and to answer a True/False question regarding that code. Test questions are drawn from my online Ebook titled ITSE 1359 Introduction to Scripting Languages: Python as shown below.

The format of the test questions is essentially the same as the format of many of the questions in the review modules in those sections.

Study for the tests

Some students do well on the tests. Many students do poorly on the tests. Therefore, you are encouraged to carefully study the material in the appropriate section of the Ebook given above prior to taking each test. If you do poorly on a test, you should study some more and take the test again for your second and final attempt.

It is strongly recommended that you complete your first attempt on each test well before the deadline so that you will have time to study some more, if needed, before making your second attempt.

Pay particular attention to the questions, answers, and explanations in the review modules. Many (but not all) of the test questions are taken from the questions in those modules. If you understand the correct answers to those questions and can reflect that knowledge under test conditions, you should do well on the tests. If you don't understand those answers, you will simply be guessing and may do poorly on the tests.

You should make certain that you can answer all of the questions in all of the review modules for a competency before making your first attempt on a test for that competency.

Feedback on the tests

Students will receive all the feedback that Blackboard has to offer as soon as they submit the test but they are not allowed to take notes on that information. (Unfortunately students who take a test remotely using an ordinary browser do not receive any feedback when they submit the test.)

You should consider your first attempt on a test to be a learning experience and make that attempt well before the deadline for the test. Although you will receive feedback when you complete the test, you will not be allowed to copy that feedback and take it with you when you leave the testing facility. Therefore, you should allow plenty of time to study that feedback before shutting down the session and leaving the testing facility.

Taking the tests

Distance Learning students

Distance Learning (DIL) students are required to take their tests in an ACC Academic Testing Center (except for remote proctoring as described below).

If you are required to take your tests in an ACC Academic Testing Center, it is your responsibility to make all necessary arrangements with the testing center to complete the tests, including accessibility, hours of operation, etc. It is also your responsibility to comply with the Testing Center Guidelines. (In the event that you find the above link broken, you can search for and access testing center requirements from the main ACC web site.)

Instructions for accessing/taking a Blackboard test in an ACC Testing Center

Click here to view a set of instructions compiled by Dr. R.L.Martinez, who has been using this mode of testing with his Distance Learning students for several semesters.

Remote proctoring of Blackboard tests

If you are not located in or near Austin, TX, you will need to make arrangements for remote proctoring. See the Distance Testing page at http://dl.austincc.edu/students/DistanceTesting.php  In the event that the link is broken, search the main ACC website for Distance Testing and notify your instructor of the situation.

Prof. Baldwin has no way of knowing where Distance Learning students are physically located. If this requirement applies to you, it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements without input or assistance from Prof. Baldwin. However, you will need to notify Prof. Baldwin that you are making such arrangements so that he can provide the necessary passwords to Mr. Peterson.

As mentioned above, one of the downsides of remote proctoring is that students who take a test remotely using an ordinary browser will receive no feedback when they complete the test, except that you can log into Blackboard later and see your grade. There is nothing that I can do about that issue. That is simply the way that Respondus is designed to work.

Other students

Students who are not enrolled in a Distance Learning (DIL) section of the course must take their tests in the Computer Studies and Advanced Technology computer lab on the second floor of Building 4000 on the Northridge campus. They are not allowed to take their tests in an ACC Academic Testing Center.

Those students simply need to notify Prof. Baldwin of the desire to take the test during the first ten minutes of any regularly scheduled class or lab period for the course. Prof. Baldwin will supply the password and supervise the taking of the test during those periods.

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File: ITSE1359TestInstructions.htm

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