Respondus® is an offline editing tool for creating and managing exams and surveys that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard. Exams can also be converted from Microsoft Word documents. Regardless of your experience level with online testing, Respondus can save you hours on each project.

You can download the Respondus® installer and a pdf file with installation and activation instructions as a .zip archive from the links listed in the upper right-hand corner of your MyUSMA page when you login to Blackboard. Save the archive to your desktop, extract the files and please read the instructions before installing.

Please note:

• Currently, Respondus will not login to Blackboard because of issues with CAC authentication. That is being looked at by Respondus support, however, exams can be published by using the steps described in this document.
  Retrieving reports or downloading data can be done manually from the course Grade Center.
• The use of this application is restricted to USMA faculty and staff.

• Our campus license will only work with this download.
• Please call Patrick Gill at 938-4670 or e-mail him by clicking here, with any questions.
• Before you begin...
• View a demo
• Download the Quick-Start Guide 

This update includes major enhancements, including the following features:

• A new Media Wizard makes it easier to add images, audio and video files, and to link to content on external web servers (e.g. YouTube and Picasa)
• The Question List on the Edit tab now includes context menus with options such as preview, edit, delete, move, and more
• Question Lists now offer an “Expanded View” that displays a full-screen version of the list of questions
• The Import task now allows importing of Ordering, Jumbled Sentence, and Fill in Multiple Blank question types
• Printing includes new features to control randomizing of questions and answer choices
• Campus-wide license users can now update their annual license information at any time using File > Update License
• A number of bug fixes were also included in this update. Note that the online help and user guides were updated to reflect the above enhancements.

Authoring

• Includes a distinct user environment (called a "personality") for Blackboard
• Create exams and assessments offline using a Windows interface
• Supports up to 15 question types, including calculated and algorithmic formats.
• Import questions from MS Word (including embedded images), rich-text, QTI and tab/comma delimited formats
• Use the Exam Wizard to create an assessment in minutes
• "Spell check" an entire exam file (includes dictionaries for American English, Canadian English, British English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, and a comprehensive medical dictionary)
• Add tables, bulleted lists, font changes, and enhanced formatting (e.g. bold, italics) just like in a word processor
• Insert mathematical and scientific symbols using the Respondus Equation Editor or MathType
• Embed graphics, audio, and video without writing or viewing the underlying HTML
• Resize graphics and convert them to JPEG format with one click
• Add links to multimedia content on other servers with the Web Links tool
• Create random sets of questions in seconds with a one-step wizard

Preview, Publish, and Printing

• Preview questions before publishing them to the server
• Publish exams and assessments directly to an online course (media files are automatically uploaded)
• A “batch publish” feature allows assessments and surveys to be published to multiple courses in a single step!
• Determine point values and exam settings offline
• Print exams/surveys directly from Respondus, or save files to MS Word or rich-text format

Retrieval, Reports, and Tools

• Retrieve exams from Blackboard®, complete with media files.
• Retrieve custom reports, such as student scores, summary statistics, and answer distributions.
• Download answer databases for quizzes or surveys and save them in an Excel-compatible format.
• Archive and restore exam/survey projects (including media content) with one click — ideal for providing a colleague with a ready-to-use exam
• Quickly locate questions using keyword searches

Also includes:

• Full context-sensitive help
• Respondus User Guide (MS Word/Wordpad format)
• An easy-to-use interface that, for most users, makes online help and the user-guide unnecessary
• Access to over 2,000 publisher test banks in Respondus format for instructors who adopt a participating textbook

System Requirements for Respondus 4.0

• Operating System
  Windows 7, Vista, XP, ME, 2000, 98
• Memory
  32 MB RAM minimum
• Hard Disk Space
  10 MB of free hard disk space for program files
• Monitor
  800x600 minimum (1024x768 recommended)
• Download Time
  The file size is approximately 10 MB, which should take less than two minutes to download with a standard Internet connection.
• Course Management System
  Respondus 4.0 is compatible with Blackboard 6.0 and higher (Basic and Enterprise)
• Apple Macintosh users can run Respondus using Windows emulation software such as Parallel's™ Desktop.