Test-running your test

In this lesson we'll have a look at the three different ways of trying out tests. They all have advantages or disadvantages, and which one you choose depends on your team. The images below show the three possible scenarios to choose from for trying out the "Capital Cities" test.

The first method requires an extension which is not available on all versions of TAO. Of the second and third methods, the third is quicker but requires stringent security to be in place.

Also, the latter two methods require the test to be published (a delivery created), which involves the global manager stepping in to do this (or granting the test author the permission to do so, by assigning them the role taoDeliveryRdf Manager).

Method One: Using “test preview”

This is the simplest way of trying out your test, and for this you'll need the test preview extension (TAO Extension: taoQTITestPreviewer). If the test preview extension has been installed, it is not necessary to either publish the test or to assign it to test-takers. The test preview allows you, as test author, to navigate through the test questions (though, unlike the item preview, no scores are generated – this is just to check your test has been assembled correctly and makes sense). To preview your test, simply select the test from the Tests library and click on the Preview button on the blue bar above it. The image below shows a sample test preview using the Capital Cities test.

Note: this extension is not available in all TAO versions.

Previewing the "Capital Cities" Test

Note: You will see on the image that the user is TAO Guest, even though, in this case, Tessa Austin is logged in as a test author. This is necessary for technical reasons: a new TAO instance is automatically opened in which to run the test preview, with the login TAO Guest.

Method Two: Sitting the test as a test-taker

This is the legacy way of trying out your test. To do this, the global manager will need to do three things:

Register the person who is going to try out the test as a test-taker (this is usually the same person who has created it, but see the note below).
Publish the test (i.e. create a delivery of the test in question). See the chapter Creating a Delivery in the User Guide.
Assign the delivery to Teresa Austin as a test-taker. You will need the TAO extension: taoTestCenter for this - see the chapter Licensing a delivery to a test center in the User Guide for information on how to do this.)

Note: Remember we said earlier that if a person is going to carry out multiple tasks, it is best to do this as different users. For this scenario, then, if Tessa Austin (i.e. the person rather than the user with the role ‘test author’) is going to test-run her own test, a separate user should be created for her when she is registered as a test-taker. For the sake of clarity, she could be given the login teresa-austin-tt for this (and teresa-austin-ta when she is authoring tests).

Tessa can now log in as a test-taker to try the test. The image below shows the start page of the "Capital Cities" test. In the top right-hand corner, you can see she is logged in.

Method Three: Sitting the test as a "Guest"

You can try the test out under Guest access (if guest access is enabled when the delivery is created) – i.e. as a guest instead of a registered test-taker. This is a quicker version of the second method described above. However, tests obviously contain sensitive data, and using the guest access option to try it out is only a good idea if you are certain that there can be no uncontrolled access from outside of your organization. The image below shows the start page of the "Capital Cities" test. In the top right-hand corner, you can see that it is a guest (TAOGuest) who is taking the test.