First Row
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function |
Running total |
| Items | Subitem | Drop down, slide, click. | Gives the number of items on the assessment. Gives icons for 1) items, 2) items completed: blank, 3) items not answered: red triangle. (Note: only populates with what the student has seen so far until they have clicked through the whole exam.) |
2 |
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Number for each question |
Click for each number. Takes the user to the passage and question. |
41 items plus the review button appear at the end of the test. |
83 | |
|
Progress bar |
No action |
Can show 0=100 percent completion even if no questions have been answered. |
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Name of the test, grade, and year |
No action |
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Student’s name |
No action |
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Parenthetical ID |
No action |
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Session |
No action |
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Question mark |
Help Guide of Global and Context Menu Tools: Gives an overview of the testing screen. Gives the title and a description. Gives information about text to speech. |
One click to open. Scrolls. Expands/Contracts. Moves. Closes (6). |
6 | |
|
Gear tool: system settings |
Dropdown with 8 options. Ok. Cancel. |
One click to open. 8 options. Ok. Cancel. |
11 |
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Pause |
Opens a dialogue box about time remaining. Two options: Yes: Closes browser. |
2 |
2 |
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No: Returns to exam screen. |
2 |
2 |
Second Row
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
| Back |
Moves screen on the right to a previous question. Does not work on the first item of the first passage. Will send students back to a previous passage if the first question for the passage was selected. |
Depends: 1 to 2 or up to the number of questions. |
2 | |
| Warning message activated | Two options: Yes returns to the next question and passage. The No button goes back to the previous screen. Possible three clicks to operate | 23 | ||
| Next | OR Moves the screen on the left to a new passage if the last question for the passages is selected. |
2 | ||
| Warning message activated | Two options: Yes returns to the next question and passage. The no button goes back to the previous screen. Possible three clicks to operate. | 3 | ||
| Save | Saves progress. (Ideally, the platform saves automatically.) Note that nothing appears to happen other than a navigation bar update at the bottom of the screen. Note that the save tool does not save highlighting. It saves on the question side. The last save does not update until a new option is chosen on a question. | 1 | ||
|
Dictionary |
Opens, Closes, Expands, Contracts, Resizes, Scrolls: (can’t see the scroll unless you move mouse, use arrow keys or expand the box) Moves, Drags to Change Size; Can get stuck in the resize mode if you don’t move mouse widely – feels like the sizing won’t drop. | 7 | ||
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Text entry box |
Must type word; cannot copy/paste; spell check won’t work; inflectional endings won’t work; not all words in passage are in the dictionary. | Depends on length of the word; might need to move or resize the screen to see the text for copying or reference. | 1 | |
| Dictionary button |
Must press after typing (maybe). |
One click. |
1 | |
| Hyperlinked word or words for number of entries found | Users can click on the options they want; the corresponding definitions appear below. | Options depend on what is available. | 1 | |
| Syllabication and emphasis given | ||||
| Pronunciation given | ||||
| Part of speech given | ||||
| Must click for full definition to show if the definition is a synonym | Depends on definition or synonym given. Cannot return to previous screen if hyperlink is clicked. | 1 | ||
|
Origin given |
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| Related words given
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Clicks depend on how many options are available. Not possible to return to click on the previous list because the new word is now present. | 1 | ||
| If synonym or hyperlink used, new word information appears; sometimes, nothing happens | ||||
| When you bring the dictionary back up, the word you looked up last time is still there |
Misc.
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
| Notepad | Navigation/Movement | Appears in the center of the screen over both text and questions. Resizes, Expands Contracts, and moves. Closes. | 5 | |
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Save/Cancel |
If Save is not clicked, the data is lost. | 2 | ||
|
Text tools: |
Cut, Copy, Paste |
4 | ||
|
Line reader |
Appears on the first line of the text | Must be moved by the mouse or arrow keys. Must click for each new line. It does work in the questions, but it is not readily apparent that it does. Note that color is slightly less blue than the text highlighter before adding color. | 1 | |
|
Zoom out |
Doesn’t work until you’ve zoomed in. I think it can move four times. | 4 | ||
|
Zoom in |
Four times. Zooms both text and questions if both are showing. | 4 |
Row Under Dotted Line
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
| Highlight selection tool | Dropdown and four choices; does not appear to work until something is already highlighted. Highlighting at this point can be confused with line reader tool color. Can highlight over line reader tool. Once something has been highlighted, new options appear. If you click Reset Highlighting, everything you’ve done disappears. If you want to change or remove highlighting, you have to select only the part you want to change and then hit the Reset option. |
7 | ||
|
Hide/reveal tool |
This tool hides either the text or the questions. The line reader stops working when you move between narrow and wide screens. You have to start the line reader again. | 4 | ||
|
Question options |
Question tabs for each question associated with the passage. | 1 | ||
|
Instructions |
Bold text includes instructions and contextual information for the reader’s process. |
The Title and Text
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
| x | x | x | x | x |
Row: Another Dotted Line/Right-Hand Side Only
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
| x | x | x | x | x |
Question Number
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
|
Pulldown menu |
Tutorial |
Has its own navigation and components. | ||
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Mark for review |
Puts a flag next to the number on the question screen and a green flag in the item menu. |
Click, drag, click. |
2 | |
|
Sticky notes |
Have the same components as the notepad for third grade. | 5 | ||
| Strikethrough | Grays out the text. May automatically select option a. Can click on all four options at once. Have to click the option again or outside the question box to make it stop. | 3 | ||
|
Highlight section |
Must highlight first. Four color choices. Only works on stem, not answer choices. Reset highlighter tool functions the same. | 7 | ||
|
Question |
Stem and stimulus differ by item type. | |||
| Answer choices differ by item type. | 1 |
Invisible Items
| Property | Sub-property | Action | Function | Running total Possible clicks |
|
Scroll bar |
Invisible until the mouse runs over it. Can be moved with trackpad, the mouse, or arrow keys depending on where the cursor is. | |||
| Bouncing down arrow | An arrow will appear on some screens when there is more to see that remains invisible at the current position in the window. Works on both left and right side of the screen. | 197 |
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