When you create an assessment in an Ultra course, you can use question pools to be sure each student receives a different version of the assessment.

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Comparing Ultra to Original 

The Ultra Course View includes the new terminology that aligns with current industry standards. This table lists the names of assessment question features in the two types of Blackboard courses.

Ultra Course ViewOriginal Course View
Question poolRandom block and question set
Question bankQuestion pool
Question analysisItem analysis

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  1. Access your Ultra course and create a Test. Provide a clear name for the Test so students can easily find it among your course content.



  2. Click the plus sign wherever you want to add a question pool.

  3. Select Add question pool from the menu. The question pool is inserted at this point in the assessment.



  4. Use the filter to identify specific questions or content within questions. 



  5. On the Add Question Pool page, select the assessments, question banks, and question types you want to browse.
  6. Expand questions on the Add Question Pool page to view them.



    NOTE: You can't edit the questions or the point values on this page. Questions with goal alignments appear with trophy icons next to the point values. Goal alignments are added with the questions.

  7. Check for the questions you want to add. You can view how many items you've selected at the bottom of the screen.



    • Select Clear all to clear the check boxes for the questions you no longer want to add.
  8. Select Add Questions. The question pool appears in your assessment.
  9. Enter a point value and the number of questions to display to students.



    • NOTE: The point value is assigned to each question in the pool. You can't assign separate point values for individual questions in the same pool. Select Save to add the question pool to your assessment.
  10. Set the due date, number of attempts, point value, and availability for the Test. Modify advanced settings by clicking on the gear icon. 

About Question Pools in Ultra Courses

  • You choose the number of questions from a pool to display to students. For example, you can show 3 questions out of 50. The questions are then randomly distributed so each student sees a different set of 3 questions.
  • After you make your selections, you set the same points possible for all questions in the pool.
  • You can display all the questions in a pool. Questions appear in a random order for each student.
  • You can delete questions in a pool. The question is removed from the pool, but not deleted from your course.
  • In the student view, questions randomly selected from a pool appear just as other questions do. Students won't know the questions are from a pool.

You can't add question pools to assessments when these settings or conditions exist: