Faculty Guides and Documentation

Creating a Hot Spot Question

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A Hot Spot question allows students to identify a region within an image to indicate a response.  This guide will demonstrate how to create a Hot Spot question in Blackboard.

This is for Ultra Course View, go to Original Course View.

Instructors can create three different types of Hotspot questions: Standard Hotspot, Multiple Choice Hotspot, and Multiple Answer Hotspot:

  • Standard Hotspot: Instructor defines one or more hotspots within the uploaded image and students will indicate their response within the image. Credit is awarded for responses within the defined hotspots
  • Multiple Choice Hotspot: Instructor defines multiple hotspots. The defined hotspots are shown to students, and students must select the correct hotspot for credit.
  • Multiple Answer Hotspot: Instructor defines multiple hotspots. The defined hotspots are shown to students, and students must select one or more correct hotspots for credit.

More information about Hotspot questions can be found at Blackboard's support site.

Hot Spot questions may not be fully accessible to users with vision disabilities.

Adding a Hot Spot Question to a Test or Assignment

Image of an assessment canvas with an arrow and a 1 pointing to the dividing line between elements, and an arrow and a number 2 pointing to the Add Hotspot question option in the content menu.

To add a Hot Spot question to the assessment canvas:

  1. Hover over the dividing line between elements and click on the + buttons.
  2. Select the Add Hotspot Question option from the menu.

Creating a Hot Spot Question

screen shot of creating a hot spot question with the following items: 1. question text field. 2. file upload interface. 3. Point value

To create a Hotspot question:

  1. Write the question text: Enter the question text in the field provided.
  2. Select File. Drag and drop or click Upload from device to add a supported image file for the question. Supported file types include jpg, gif, png, or bmp.
  3. Points. Click on the point value in the upper right hand corner to modify the point value for the question.

Selecting Hotspot Regions

image showing Selecting Hotspot Regions showing the following items: 1. add hotspot button. 2. defined hotspots on image. 3. erase hotspot button. 4. delete all button. 5. show hotspots to students. 6. answer options and description fields.

Once you have uploaded your selected image, it will appear on screen.

To assign hotspots:

  1. Add a Hotspot: Click on the box to the right of Add a Hotspot. You can click on the button again to add multiple hotspots. A numbered square will appear on screen, which you can then resize and reposition to identify the areas you wish to designate as hotspots.
  2. Hotspots: Defined hotspots will appear by dashed squares, with each hotspot numbered.
  3. Erase Hotspots: Click this button to remove the currently selected hotspot.
  4. Delete All: Click this button to clear all hotspots from the uploaded image.
  5. Show hotspots to students: Click on this slider to show hotspot boundaries for students for the purposes of creating multiple choice or multiple answer hotspots. (This option is unavailable if only one hotspot is defined).
  6. Answer options: Enter a text description for each hotspot, and check the checkboxes to the left of each description to mark that hotspot as correct (at least one correct response is required if two or more hotbox regions are selected.

Entering Response Feedback

image of the feedback setup with the following items: 1. Automated Feedback. 2. Correct Answer Feedback. 3. Incorrect Answer Feedback. 4. Save button.

After completing the question and response, you can add feedback to be displayed to students after completing their exam.

  1. Automated Feedback: Click on the slider to enable feedback for the question.
  2. Correct Answer Feedback: Enter feedback for a correct response here.
  3. Incorrect Answer Feedback: Enter feedback for an incorrect response here.
  4. When  finished, click the Save button to create the question.

Finishing Up

The completed question will appear within your assessment.

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