Objective: Learn how to create modified / alternative assessments.

Notes: The Alternate Assessments feature allows teachers and admins to create customized assessments tailored to specific student or class needs that are available to other teachers in the School. This ensures flexibility in instruction while maintaining control and consistency in assessment delivery. These modified assessments leverage Learnosity functionality and are a wonderful opportunity to provide students with a more personalized experience.

Assessments can be copied and changed for all, a few, or just one student. Using email addresses, you can opt to use multiple assessment versions for each assignment or just one, and data is differentiated and scores pushed to the gradebook even if one assessment has more or fewer questions than another. 

Alternative assessments can only be copied for Learnosity items. A small number of assessments contain third-party items (such as KDS or CenterPoint). For those assessments, the Copy button will be greyed out to prevent unauthorized duplication. Additionally, when hovering over a greyed out button, a message will display: "This assessment cannot be duplicated."

Teachers can assign alternates to their students, and classes while editing permissions are restricted to the original Author and Admin for security purposes.

Related Article:  Add Users to a Course

How-To Create an Alternative Assessment

• Select a course from the dashboard. 

• Select a graded assignment from the modules or assignments.

• Scroll to the embedded Learnosity assessment space.
• *Note* Alternatives CAN be created even if a student has already completed the original assessment. You will be unable to assign an alternative to a student who has already submitted the original assessment unless additional attempts remain. If a student has completed an attempt on an original assessment, and a teacher assigns an alternative to the class after the fact, any subsequent attempts for that student will auto assign the test designated as "default" for the class. 

• Select the Assessment Tab. 

• Select Copy for the default assessment. Then, rename your alternative assessment if desired. 

• Users have the option to cancel after clicking “Copy.” If canceled, no duplicate is created, helping to prevent excess copies in the dropdown list.

• NOTE: Once you have saved a copy, it cannot be deleted. 

• Select the Title of your alternative assessment from the menu. Then, scroll down to the questions. 
• You can add or delete questions, edit the wording of a question, add or remove answer choices, or update settings. 

How-To Assign an Alternative Assessment

To Assign to an individual or group of students:

• Select the title of your alternative assessment.

• Select the Student tab. Then, enter in the email addresses associated to the students you wish to assign the assessment to. 
• Select Save.
• Unassigned assessments will automatically revert to “None,” and any uncommitted changes in student selection revert back as well.

To Assign to whole class or remainder of class if certain students have already been assigned a different alternative assessment:

• Select Class. This will automatically save. You can adjust by selecting none or students. When you navigate back to the assessment list, you will now see this assessment as the default.
• NOTE: If you set an alternative as the class assessment AFTER a student or students have already completed an assessment, they will not be included in the new default.  

• Reminder: You can only make an alternative assessment from the original StrongMind created assessment.
• You can view assigned students under that heading. You can remove students from an assessment by selecting the x next to the email address in the Assigned Students section. 
• Alternative assessment data will be visible in the embedded Learnosity window. 

Viewing Alternative Assessment Attempt Data

• Select the Attempts tab from the assessment. 
• Notes: You will only see data once a student has completed an assessment or alternative.
• You will see a page break indicating data attached to each alternative.
• Each Assessment data cluster will show it's own average attempts, score, and time spent. You can select individual attempts to dig deeper into student responses and trends.

Frequently Asked Questions for Alternative Assessments

Q: Can I delete an assessment copy once it's created?

A:  There is no way to remove an assessment copy, however, only assessments assigned to students will be visible. You may also cancel a copy as long as you have not selected Save. 

Q: If I delete an email and remove that student from an alternative assessment after they have taken it, will their assessment data also be removed?

A: If you remove a student email after they have completed an assessment, the data associated to it will remain. Teachers can manually adjust grades in the Speedgrader tool as needed.  

Q: Are Alternative Assessments available on Schoology or Buzz LMS's?

A: Presently Alternative Assessments are only released within the Canvas platform, though QA discovery efforts are underway to determine opportunities to expand those offerings. 

Q: Where can I find student emails?

A: To view student emails, access the People tab in the course navigation. 

Q: Can I share or use assessments made by other teachers in my school?

A: You will see all alternative assessments in your org from that course. If there are multiple teachers and/or sections of a course, all alternatives will automatically show -along with the author who created it - in your assessments tab. You cannot modify assessments made by others. 

Q: How can I assign an alternative to a school?

A: Only Admins have the ability to designate one alternate assessment as the school-level assessment, replacing the original assessment included in the course.

Q: Can I edit an assessment?

A: Non-Authors cannot edit alternate assessments, ensuring the integrity of the content. Teacher authors can edit their own alternate assessments only if the assessment is not currently in use by other teachers or students.