Managing Item Banks/Content in Atomic Assessments

Atomic Assessments allows institutions and faculty to create a wide variety of questions and items, organized in item banks. These banks enable flexible access and sharing options tailored to the needs of your institution.

Below are the primary configurations you can use to structure item bank access across your organization.

1. Course-Level Visibility

Overview:

This is the default configuration for Atomic Assessments. With course-level visibility, faculty can only access items authored within their specific course. This setup is ideal for educators looking to maintain a localized bank of questions that doesn’t automatically extend beyond their course.

Key Features

•Copying Content: To share content with others, faculty members can manually copy content between courses using available copy methods in the system.  Atomic Assessments will directly hook into the LMS course copy process to copy item bank content, or when this isn't available, will offer to copy content the first time it is accessed in a new course.

Ideal for: Faculty who prefer to manage their questions and items independently within their courses without contributing to an institution-wide bank.

Ways to Copy Content Between Courses

A. Download/Add Activities in Content Manager (Activity Level, not Assessment Level)

•Details: Enables faculty to download and add individual activities, not entire assessments.

•Restrictions: Only downloads Learnosity objects (e.g., activities and items) without linking to assessments.

•Notes: Creates a self-contained export that initially only exists in the content manager; a new assessment can be created from existing content using the “new from existing assessment” option.

•Usage: Each import creates a new copy, which can become cumbersome; this method is the least commonly used.

B. Copy on Launch

•Details: Automatically initiates a copy when an LMS launch occurs for an assessment that isn’t yet available in the target course.

•Content Included: Copies assignments, activities, and items as needed.

•How to Use: Instructors can go to Assignments, select the item, and use “Copy to” to type in the target course. During the first launch after an LMS course copy, a copy box will appear.

•Instructor Control: Instructors can choose specific activities to import from a source course or provide a course copy key if the content is missing.

•Tracking: Keeps a record of imports and can overwrite existing content in the target course.

C. Import Version (Versions Tab)

•Details: Allows for importing a saved version of assignments, activities, and items from the Versions tab.

•Tracking: Keeps track of imports and can overwrite previously imported content in the target course.

•Content Created: Generates assessments in Atomic Assessments (AA), but does not create new LMS links unless links already existed.

D. Publish Version (Versions Tab)

•Details: Stores assignments, activities, and items in cloud storage, allowing faculty to import these versions into any course, LMS, or region.

•Availability: Accessible across multiple LMS instances, though it can’t be copied directly to development environments (can only be used in Beta).

•Usage: Not commonly used due to its broader institution-level storage purpose rather than frequent course-level sharing.

E. Canvas Course/Assignment Copy

•Details: Leverages Canvas’s “Copy to” and blueprint sync features to replicate content.

•Limitations: Although it includes hooks that trigger the copy, it does not work reliably for page embeds in LTI 1.3 beyond the first copy. Only works in Canvas and requires a Global Token set by an admin.

•Fallback: If the copy does not execute fully, the “Copy on Launch” feature serves as a fallback method to ensure content is accessible.

F. Push Updates

•Details: Allows instructors to push newly created or existing assessments to other courses simultaneously if the master course is set up for blueprint sync with the child courses.

•Functionality: Functions similarly to a blueprint sync and can push multiple assignments in one action.

•Limitations: Works with all models except Download/Add Activities.

By using these methods, faculty can maintain the integrity of course-level item visibility while sharing resources flexibly with other courses as needed. Each method is tailored to different requirements, ensuring Atomic Assessments meets a variety of institutional and instructional needs.

2. Open Item Bank

Overview:

The open item bank allows content authors to search, find, and edit questions created in any course. This configuration is effective when there is a centralized group of content authors who create the majority of content.

Key Features:

•Institution-Wide Access: Anyone with access to edit content can access, search, and edit questions across the entire institution.

•Collaborative Editing: Content authors can collaborate on a centralized item bank without having to maintain copies in each course.

Ideal for: Institutions seeking a centralized content repository with a dedicated content authoring team.

3. Publisher Model

Overview:

The Publisher Model is a middle-ground option that combines elements of course-level visibility and institutional access. With this model, items tagged as “public” (or any custom tag your institution selects) are accessible across the institution. Only tagged items are shared institution-wide, while non-tagged items remain restricted to the creator’s course.

Key Features:

•Selective Sharing: Faculty can control which items are accessible institution-wide by applying specific tags (e.g., “public” or a custom tag).

•Flexible Access: Faculty members can retain control over the visibility of most items, with the flexibility to designate some as public.

Ideal for: Institutions or departments that want to make select content accessible institution-wide while allowing faculty to maintain control over the majority of their item bank.

Choosing the Right Configuration for Your Institution

Each item bank model offers unique benefits and can support different pedagogical and administrative goals. Here’s a quick comparison to guide your decision:

By selecting the most suitable item bank configuration, institutions can optimize the balance between collaborative sharing and individualized content management. Contact our support team for assistance in configuring your item bank according to your institution’s needs.