This guide covers the advanced features of the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES). Before using the advanced features you should have at least a basic understanding of how EIES works. If you are a beginner, we suggest you read the EIES Starting Guide to become familiar with the system.
Among the features covered in this guide are the Activities. This manual explains how to use and create activities.
EIES is a second generation computerized conferencing system which is constantly evolving. As new features are incorporated into the system, new chapters will be added to the appropriate manuals. To determine that you have the most up to date version of any EIES manual, be sure the version number of the manual corresponds to the version number of the system.
An attachment provides a way to add additional information to a conference comment or mail item. EIES attachments are comparable to receiving a letter from the post office and having a pamphlet, book, or other item included. There are a number of types of attachments available on EIES:
Binary file Any computer program or file that is not in ASCII or EBCDIC format.
Text file Any text only file, in ASCII or EBCDIC format.
Item Any EIES mail item or conference comment.
Activity Any of the various special tools which assist group functions.
At some time you may receive an EIES mail item or conference comment with an attachment. When an item with an attachment is viewed, the following is displayed in the lower portion of the screen: use (type) attachment (Y/N)>. The type of item/file that is attached appears within the parenthesis. If you wish to use the attachment type Y. Depending on the type of attachment, EIES will either present an item directly or a menu may be displayed. If you do not wish to use the attachment at this time type N. You may use the attachment at a later time simply by viewing the item again, or by selecting Use attachment from either the list or view screens.
EIES item, text file, and activity attachments will be displayed on your screen once you choose yes to use them. Binary file attachments must be downloaded to your host computer or PC.
When you choose to use a binary file attachment EIES will ask: Put file to PC or Host (P/H) >. Enter P to send the item to your personal computer. EIES will then ask: File to put to PC >. Type the filename that you would like the binary file saved as. Remember to abide by the filename format that your PC operating system requires (i.e., MS-DOS allows 8 character maximum with 3 character maximum extension). EIES will confirm the filename you have selected as follows: Writing out to file yourfile.ext on PC. Ok to Continue (Y/N) > Enter Y if you wish to continue downloading the binary file attachment. Enter N if you wish to cancel the download.
If you wish to add an attachment to an EIES item you must first have your attachment ready. Then compose your mail item or conference comment as you normally do. When you have finished composing the item and send it, EIES will ask: Attachments (Y/N)>. Answer Y to this question. A screen like this will appear:
Select the type of attachment you have. EIES will ask for the attachment. If you want to attach an EIES item simply provide the item number. For example, if you want to attach comment number 234 from the Welcome Conference (conference number 1), you would enter C1CC234. When attaching a text item, EIES will take you to your scratchpad so that you may enter the text; however, if your text file has already been created on your PC you may wish to upload it to EIES and then attach it to your item. If you wish to attach a binary file you must upload it to EIES.
You can send mail items with certain types of attachments to Internet users. Simply send the mail as you normally would. The Internet recipient will receive the text of the mail with the attachment posted at the end. Item attachments and text attachments can be sent to an Internet address; however, binary attachments can not be sent via the Internet. The following screen shows how mail sent from EIES with a text attachment may be presented to an Internet user.
Certain types of attachments can be copied into your scratchpad. You may wish to do this if you receive an item with an attachment and wish to store the attachment in another location on EIES or send it to another user. To copy an attachment follow the instructions below:
. View the EIES item with the attachment you wish to copy. You must be at the point where EIES is asking use (type) attachment (Y/N)>.
. Type +log (this command will place everything displayed on your screen to a file called LogFile).
. Use the attachment.
. Type +stoplog (this command stops placing what is displayed on your screen in the LogFile).
. Enter the scratchpad. If you wish to store the attachment in a conference, enter the conference and then enter the scratchpad. If you wish to send the attachment as mail, first go to mail, and then enter the scratchpad).
. Copy the contents of the LogFile into the scratchpad using one of the following commands:
· For the default editor (standard line editor) type &<#LogFile on a line by itself.
· For the screen editor press <CTRL>-R and then type Logfile.
· For vi (visual editor) type :r Logfile.
The contents of the attachment are now in your scratchpad. You may now store or mail the attachment as you would any item. In addition, the attachment may be modified while it is in your scratchpad.
An Activity is a special purpose tool which helps a user or group of users complete a task. Activities such as List and Vote can help groups reach a consensus. The Poll/Survey activity can assist in data collection. Many of the activities are useful in establishing a classroom environment. For example, the Gradebook activity is a tool which allows a member of a group (i.e., a professor), record, store, and calculate grades for the rest of the group (i.e., a class).
An activity is stored as an attachment to a conference comment. For example, there may be a conference for all the students in a biology class. The professor could submit a comment in the biology class conference stating that a Gradebook activity was attached. The students would use the Gradebook attachment to view their grades for the class.
Each of the EIES activities is presented in detail in the following chapters. This manual describes both how to create an activity and how to use an activity that has already been created.
Activities are stored as attachments to conference comments. When you view a comment that contains an activity, the text of the item will normally include an explanation of the attached activity (this explanation is added by the author of the item, some authors may not include a description). Next, the activity is presented to you as with any other type of attachment (See Chapter 1). You will be asked if you want to use the attachment. If you choose Yes, the activity will be presented to you. Keep in mind that some activities can take a long time to complete. For example, a Poll/Survey activity may include twenty or thirty questions or more. If you wish to do the activity at a later time, simply answer No to the use attachment question.
The number of activities waiting for you to complete appears on the homebase screen. You can access your waiting activities from the homebase screen or from the conference where the activity was presented.
To access your waiting activities from Homebase, select Activities from the homebase screen. You will be presented with the following screen:
All activities which are waiting for you to complete are listed on this screen. `Status' refers to whether the activity is available for you to complete (some activities expire after a certain amount of time). `Your status' indicates if you have completed the activity. On this screen, `Your status' will always be listed as undone, since this screen only lists activities that are waiting for you to complete. Date indicates the day that the activity was completed. As with `Your status', the date field will always be `-' because only activities waiting to be completed are listed here.
Activities which you have completed do not appear on this screen. You can view any completed activity in the conference where the particular activity was presented to you.
While you can access and complete activities from the Homebase screen, we recommend that you access activities from within the conference where the activity was presented to you. Accessing activities from a conference is described in the following section.
To access an activity from within a conference, first enter a conference that has an activity in it. To determine which of your conferences have activities you can view the activities review screen (select Activities at the HOMEBASE). If you do not have any waiting activities you could join a public conference (such as the Welcome conference or Practice) which may have activities available, you may want to check with the conference moderator to be sure.
Once you locate and enter a conference that contains an activity, select review activitY list (note that you need to type Y to access activities from within a conference, since A refers to Accepted here).
The choices on the Activities Review screen include:
Do: Select this to complete an activity.
Create: Allows you to set up a new activity. Refer to the EIES
Moderator's Guide for information on creating activities.
monitor Your activity: Allows the creator of an activity to view certain
statistics regarding that activity.
drop/Intake: Removes an activity from your list of waiting activities.
Note that this is only applicable when you review activities
from HOMEBASE.
All the activities which were submitted in this conference are listed on this screen (even any that you `dropped' with the drop/Intake command) . `Status' refers to whether the activity is available for you to complete (some activities expire after a certain amount of time). `Your status' indicates if you have completed the activity or not (done or undone). Date indicates the day that the activity was completed. A `-' is displayed after activities that have not been completed.
Some activities are `sequenced' which means you must complete them in a specific order. If you have sequenced activities waiting to be completed { you will know they are sequenced because...I need a little help here...how does a user know that they have a sequenced activity?? }
If you wish to complete an activity select Do. Note the type of activity you wish to do, and refer to the appropriate chapter of this manual for further instructions.
A Question activity contains a question or list of questions which the user must answer. After a response has been entered the user will have the opportunity to read the responses of the other members. An activity can be set up to prevent users from viewing the responses of other members, even after the user completes the activity.
To create a Question activity, enter the conference where you would like the activity to be presented and select review activitY list. Next, select Create. EIES will ask: Enter item number to associate this activity with (#/c#cc#) (<CR> for new item) >. If you have already entered a description of this activity into the conference, type the comment number now, otherwise press <ENTER> to create the activity and to add a description of it. Next, select Question. You will be taken to the scratchpad. Type your question here and exit the scratchpad as you normally would when submitting an item. EIES will then ask a series of questions (listed below). As with other EIES prompts, simply press <ENTER> to choose the default answer (which is either highlighted or listed in parenthesees).
EIES Question: Type in Response:
Number of Response The number of levels of replies you
Levels? (CR=1)> wish to allow. When Level = 1 all
responses will be numbered x.1, x.2, etc.
(for example, a reply to comment 15
would be called 15.1, and additional
reply to 15 would be called 15.2, and a
reply to 15.1 would be assined 15.3. Level =2 would allow only 2 levels of
numbering (for example, a reply to 15.1
would be given 15.1.1).
Multiple responses allowed? Y will allow a user to reply to the
(Y/N) > question (and any replies) any number
of times. N will only allow only one
response per user.
Signature Type? Reg will affix the users name and user
(Reg Pen Anon Opt) (CR=Reg) > number to the users response. Anon
will submit the response anonymously.
Permission to view before Y will allow users to view the responses
responding?(Y/N) > of others before they have replied to the
question themselves. N will force the
user to answer the question before being
allow to view others' answers.
Permission to view after Y will allow users to view the responses
responding?(Y/N) > of others once they have replied to the
question themselves. N will prevent
users from viewing any responses even
after they have responded.
Initial Status? (open closed) If open is selected, users may do the
(CR=open) > activity as soon as it is posted. If closed
is selected, the instructor can `open' the
activity at a later time.
Required or Optional This function does not work at this time.
(CR=Required) >
Sequenced Activity? If there is another activity that should be
(#/m#/c#cc#) (CR=None) > completed before this question activity,
indicate that activity (item number) here.
Select Notification? (Y/N) > This function does not work at this time.
Extend Special Privileges? (Y/N) > Y will allow you to
The remaining questions (Subject, Associated Items, Key Words, and Use Normal Signature) pertain to the conference comment the question activity is being attached to. Simply answer them as you would for any conference comment. Your question activity is now complete and you should be returned to the Activities Review screen. Here you will see the new activity listed on the screen. Your Status will appear as Author.
A Question activity usually consists of one question which you are to answer. You will not be able to view the responses of other members until you "do" the question activity. Once you do a Question activity, you will be able to see any answers that were posted prior to your completion of the activity and you will be presented with any new answers if and when other members complete the activity. In some cases, the creator of the activity may have chosen not to allow responses to be viewed, in this case, even if you complete the activity, you will not be allowed to view the answered of the other members.
If you are currently viewing at item that has a question activity attached, type Y in response to the use ( Response Activity ) attachment (Y/N) > prompt and skip to the paragraph immediately following the Activities Question Screen below. Otherwise, enter a conference that has a question activity waiting. Select review activitY list. From this list choose the Question activity that you would like to complete and select Do. EIES will ask: Enter item number of the activity (#/c#cc# ) >. Type the number of the activity you wish to do (the activity number is simply the comment number that the activity is attached to).
The Activities Question Do screen displays the number of new responses to the question (Waiting Responses) and the total number of responses that have been made. While a question activity is in the undone status the number of waiting and total responses is listed as zero.
Select View/read question activity text to read the question that you are being asked to answer. Once you have read the question, select Respond to the question. When you choose Respond, you will be taken to your EIES editor. Type in your answer and when you've finished, leave the EIES editor as you normally would (i.e., type escape and enter if you're using the screen editor, type a + if you're using the line editor, etc.). You will now be asked the same questions you would if you were replying to a conference comment. You may enter a new subject, keywords, etc. or leave the header information the same by pressing return at each prompt. EIES will ask OK to Send (Y/N)>, type Y to complete the activity. EIES will display the comment id number of your activity response.
After completing an activity you will be allowed to view the responses submitted by the other members of the conference. Notice that the number of Waiting Responses and Total Responses is no longer zero. If you have not viewed any responses to this activity the number of Total Responses will be 1 (representing the item that you submitted). To view the responses of other members select list Waiting responses (to get to a menu which offers this prompt, select review activitY list from the Comments Waiting List screen, then select Do and enter the number of the activity you wish to review). You may also view responses the you previously read by either selecting list Accepted responses or by viewing the items from the conference's Comments Accepted List.
An Exam activity allows a student to take a test on line, rather than having to be at a specific location at a specific time. An Exam may consist of true and false, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and/or essay questions. The professor will create the exam and schedule it for students to take during a specified time period. Once the time period has expired the exam is closed and can no longer be taken. The completed exam is kept private, only the professor who scheduled the exam and the student can see the answers.
When a professor schedules an exam, a new comment will appear in your class conference. The text of the comment will include the earliest date and time you can start the exam and the latest date and time you can start the exam. The maximum time allowed for taking the exam is also displayed. You must begin the exam no later than the latest date and time that is displayed. The system will not allow you to take an exam before or after the dates and times listed. For example, if the earliest start time is May 5 at 8:00 am and the latest start time is May 8 at 10:00 p.m. and the time allowed for the exam were 60 minutes, you would have to begin the exam no later than May 8 at 10:00, and your exam would have to be completed in 60 minutes. If you attempt to take an exam outside the time parameters you will be notified that the exam is closed and to either try again later (because you tried to take the exam before it was opened) or to contact your professor (because you tried to take the exam after it had closed).
When you are ready to take an exam select review activitY list in the conference where the exam is stored. All of the activities in the conference will be displayed here. Select Do. EIES will ask: Enter item number of the activity (#/c#cc# ) >. Type the number of the exam activity you wish to do (the activity number is displayed in the "Comment ID (CC#)" column). You will be presented with the Take Exam Menu. This screen, and all the remaining exam screens utilize a Lynx browser. The Lynx browser functions differently than the normal EIES system does. Basic instructions always appear in the lower 3-4 rows of the screen (also called form). Please refer to the table below for additional instructions on navigating through the Lynx browser.
| What you want to do in Lynx | What to do/Lynx command |
| Get help while using Lynx | Press the h key (you must be in Lynx at the time) |
| Go to the next page | Press the spacebar |
| Highlight next topic or move to the next field | Press the down arrow key |
| Highlight previous topic or move to the previous field | Press the up arrow key |
| Move to previous page | Press the - key |
| Reload the screen | Press the Ctrl key and the r key simultaneously |
| Quit Lynx and return to EIES | Press the q key |
When you begin an exam the Take Exam Menu indicates that your exam has been prepared and will be sent to you when you submit the form. To submit the form simply press <ENTER>. This will `click' the Retrieve exam button. If you do not wish to take the exam now, press q to return to EIES. Once you click on the Retrieve exam button your exam has started. A message will be displayed in the lower part of the screen stating: "http request sent; waiting for response". Then the exam will be displayed; it may be similar to the exam below:
If you are disconnected from the system while taking an exam try to sign on again. If you are able to reconnect, follow the steps listed above for taking an exam. Your status on the Activities Review screen should be `taking'. Your exam will be restored and will include all answers as of your last `submit' (see Chapter 4.2 for information about submit). If you are unable to reconnect record the date and time that you were disconnected as well as any error messages that were displayed on your screen. Send this information to your instructor at once.
An exam consists of sections and questions (though an exam may have just one section, and/or just one questions). At the end of every section is a [submit answers] button. This button is the equivalent of handing in your test to your instructor. You MUST press this button (move to the [submit answers] field and press <ENTER>) after you answer the questions. This will record your answers and tell you the time you have remaining to complete the exam. Press the left arrow key to return to the exam. If the left arrow key doesn't return you to the exam, try pressing the TAB key once and then pressing the left arrow key. If you answer all the questions on the exam and forget to press the [submit answers] button your answers will not be recorded and sent to the professor. To be safe we recommend that you press the [submit answers] button after completing each section. If the sections are long you may want to press the [submit answers] more often. The system will permit you to submit your answers one time after the time for the exam has passed. Your professor will receive the last copy of your exam before time expired and a copy of your exam after time expired. It is up to the discretion of the professor to decide which copy to use.
A full question may be split between two (or more) pages. Press the spacebar to see the next page. Press the up arrow to go back to the previous page (or question). There are four types of questions available, true or false, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and essay. Your exam may have all of these question types, or just one.
To answer a true or false question, move to the "Select one of the following: [_____]" field so that the [_____] is highlighted, then press <ENTER>. A box with the words true and false will pop up on the screen. Use the up and down arrows to select an answer and then press <ENTER>. Your answer will appear in the [_____]. You may change your answer at any time during the exam by returning to the field and selecting a different answer. Remember to press the [submit answers] button to record any changed answers.
To answer a multiple choice question, use the up and down arrows to move to the ( ) in front of the answer you wish to select, then press <ENTER>. A * will appear in the ( ). You can change your answer by moving to a different choice and pressing <ENTER>. The * will move from your previous choice to your new choice.
To answer a fill-in question, use the up and down arrows to move to the long line that appears after the question (you will not be able to move to the shorter line in the question itself). Type your answer. When finished, use the TAB key or the down arrow to move to the next question. You can change your answer by returning to the long line and typing a different answer.
To answer an essay question, use the up and down arrows to move to the series of long lines that appear after the question. Type your answer. When you near the end of a line, use the down arrow key to move to the next line. When finished, use the TAB key or the down arrow to move to the next question. You can change your answer by returning to any line and typing a different answer.
Remember to click on the [Submit answers] button from time to time to record your answers.
When you have finished your exam press the q key to quit. You will be asked: Are you sure you want to quit? [Y]. Type y to quit the exam or n to continue taking the exam.
There are several steps necessary to create an exam. First, the questions (also called source questions) must be stored in a conference on EIES in a specific HTML format (see chapter 4.3.1 for format specifications). Since the text of the questions (and answers) will be viewable by any members of the conference, the questions should not be stored in a conference which have students as members. It is recommended that a private conference be set up.
Once your questions are on EIES, the next step is to create a single MakeExam activity in the conference where your exams are stored. You only need to do this step once, then you can create an unlimited number of exams.
The next step is to actually create an exam. You can create your exams at anytime. An exam is not viewable by students until the time when it is scheduled to be taken. Therefore, you can create all the exams for an entire semester at the beginning of the semester.
Finally, the exam must be scheduled, which will make it available for students to take.
The questions for an exam must be stored in a conference on EIES in a specific HTML format. Any number of questions and question types may be stored in a single EIES conference comment; however, for simplicity you may wish to store only one type of question, or questions for a single subject in each comment. If your questions are already in electronic form, you may simply change them to the proper HTML format off-line and then upload them to EIES.
Each question within a comment must begin on a new line. The first characters on the line must be <li>. Next, the text of the question should appear followed by the characters <!--E TYPE. After TYPE the format will vary. The exact format for each type of questions is presented below:
| Question Type | Format | |
| True or False | <li>Text of Question.<!--E TYPE=tf ANS=true--> | |
| Multiple Choice | <li>Text of Question.<!--E TYPE=pick CHOICES=(list of choices) ANS=answer--> |
Note: multiple word answers must be encased in double quotes. |
| Fill-in-the-blank | <li>Text of Question.<!--E TYPE=line MAXLENGTH=40 ANS=answer--> |
Note: multiple word answers must be encased in double quotes. |
| Essay | <li>Text of Question.<!--E TYPE=essay COLS=60 ROWS=5--> |
Here are some sample questions:
True or False
<li>The name of Mother Gooses Goose was Clarence.<!--E TYPE=tf ANS=true-->
<li>Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was black as coal.<!--E TYPE=tf
ANS=false-->
Multiple Choice
<li>What sat down next to little Miss Muffett?<!--E TYPE=pick CHOICES=
(tiger spider "Santa Clause") ANS=spider-->
<li>What did Peter Piper pick a peck of?<!--E TYPE=pick CHOICES=("pink pandas"
"prickly pears' "pickled peppers") ANS="pickled peppers"-->
Fill-in-the-blank
<li>Old King ________ was a merry old soul.<!--E TYPE=line MAXLENGTH=40
ANS=Cole-->
<li>Little boy blue come blow _______.<!--E TYPE=line MAXLENGTH=40
ANS="your horn"-->
Essay
<li>Why can't wood chucks chuck wood?<!--E TYPE=essay COLS=60 ROWS=5-->
<li>List and explain what measures engineers can take to prevent London Bridge from
falling down.<!--E TYPE=essay COLS=60 ROWS=5-->
Once the exam questions are stored on EIES and you are ready to create an exam you need to set up a MakeExam activity (you only need to do this one time). Once the MakeExam activity is created you can create an unlimited number of exams. To set up the MakeExam activity, enter the conference where you would like to store your exams (you will probably wish to use the conference where the questions are stored) and select review activitY list. From the Activities Review screen select Create activity. EIES will ask: Enter item number to associate this activity with (#/c#cc#) (<CR> for new item) >. Press <ENTER> for a new item. You will then be at the Exam Create screen. Select Exam and press <ENTER>. EIES will ask for a subject. Type a subject for this item (for example "Exams Are Here"). Your MakeExam activity will now be created and you will be taken to the Exam Preparation Menu.
Once you have created a MakeExam activity in a particular conference, you should associate all exams with that item. In other words, you should only have one MakeExam activity per conference. If you are using one conference to store exams and questions for several courses, you may wish to have one MakeExam activity for each course. You do not; however, need a MakeExam activity for each Exam. For example, if a professor is teaching two courses; Fairy Tales 101 and American Literature 390, they may wish to have one MakeExam activity for each course, and then associate all the Fairy Tale exams with one MakeExam activity and all the American Literature exams with the other MakeExam activity.
DO NOT delete the MakeExam activity or the conference comment it is attached to. If you delete either of these items any exams that you have created will be lost. See Chapter 4.6 for instructions on deleting an exam.
If you have already created a MakeExam activity and wish to create an exam, select Do from the Activities Review screen. When EIES asks: Enter item number of the activity (#/c#cc# ) >, enter the comment id associated with the MakeExam activity. This will take you to the Exam Preparation Menu presented after the following paragraph.
If you are creating your first exam and have just created your first MakeExam activity, you should be at the Exam Preparation Menu which appears below. This is an HTML/Lynx screen. It may take a few seconds for the screen to appear.
If you wish to view any of the source questions you have stored on EIES at this time, type the location of the questions in the Conference: and Comment: fields (do not include c in front of the conference number or cc in front of the comment number). Use the TAB key or the UP and DOWN arrow keys on your keyboard to move between each field, and the other menu choices on the screen. Once you have filled in the location of your questions move to the Submit button and press <ENTER>. The Submit button (as well has any other choice) will be highlighted when you have landed on it. If you have made a mistake while typing the location of your comments, move to the Clear Form button and press <ENTER>. When you have successfully entered the location of your questions you will be presented with a listing of all of the questions contained in the EIES item you indicated. The Formatted Exam Source Listing Screen appears below:
Once you have viewed the questions, press the LEFT arrow key to return to the Exam Preparation Menu. Next, move to the Create an Exam button and press <ENTER>. You will be taken to the Exam Identification Data Screen. Here you will enter the course number, semester, and title of the exam. You may use any format you wish for the identification data; however, you may wish to use the format used at your academic institution. Once you have entered all of the information, move to the Submit Form button and press <ENTER>. If you have made any errors you can erase the data with the Clear Form button (this will erase all of the information from the screen).
After completing the Exam Identification Data form, you will be taken to the Add Section/Question Screen. This is where the actual questions are added to the exam. The screen is displayed below:
The Section ID refers to the part number of the exam. This is an internal system identifier which will not appear on the exam itself. You may have as few or as many exam sections (parts) as you wish, and they may be in any format; however, each section id must be unique.
The Section Title is the name of this section (part) of the exam. If you wish to have a section or part number appear on the exam, include it as part of the Section Title. For example, you may wish to call a part of your exam "Part 1 - Famous Marys" which may include questions about the many Marys that appear in fairy tales. Another part could be called "Section B - True and False" which could contain only true and false type questions.
The Comments/Instructions field allows you to add directions for each section of the exam. For example, you may wish to have your students answer two out of three essay questions in a particular section.
By typing Y in the Random Select(Y/N)? field the system will select a subset of questions from a larger list of questions. For example, if you have 20 essay questions about the Brothers Grimm, you can have the system randomly select three of the 20 questions for each students' exam (each student would get a unique set of questions to answer). If you do not wish to use the random select feature you must type N in the Random Select(Y/N)? field, you may not leave this field blank. Enter the number of questions you would like have randomly selected in the Number of Items to Select? field.
You may assign a point value to each question in the Enter the point value of each question of this type: field. There is no limit to the total number of points on an exam.
The next few fields are used to indicate which questions are to be used on the exam. Enter the number of the conference where the questions are stored in the Conference(#): field (be sure to list only the conference number, do not precede it with a c). Next, in the Comment 1(#): field, type the comment number of the first comment where you want to pick questions from (again, be sure to list only the comment number, do not precede it with a cc). Now enter the questions that you would like to include on the exam. Indicate a range of questions with a - (i.e., to include questions 5 through 9 type 5-9). Separate a list of questions with a comma (i.e., to include questions 2 and 4 and 6 and 8 type 2,4,6,8). You may mix ranges and individual questions by combining the two methods (i.e., to include questions 4-6 and questions 8 and 14 and 21 type 4-6,8,14,21).
If you wish to enter more questions from this conference enter the location of the questions in the fields provided for comment 2 and 3 and questions 2 and 3.
Finally, move to the Submit Form button and press <ENTER> to add this section to the exam. EIES will notify you that the section has been added to the exam. Any error messages will be displayed in the lower portion of the screen, just below the Submit Form/Reset Form/Help menu bar. The table below lists the possible errors you may encounter when adding sections/questions to an exam.
| Error Message/Problem Encountered | Solution |
| System is not responding. | Be sure you pressed the Submit Form (or equivalent) button. |
| "Maximum length reached"/ can't type anymore characters. | You have exceeded the number of characters allowed in the field, use a shorter name. |
| "Id invalid or not unique". | The section number or name has already been used in the current exam OR there is an invalid character in the section number. Select a new section name or number. |
| "Random group indicator invalid". | You didn't type a Y or N in the "Random Select (Y/N)? ___" field. |
| "Number to Select invalid". | In the "Number of Items to Select? ___" field no number was indicated OR the number of questions indicated exceeded the number of questions provided in the `Questions" field. |
| "Comment # question # invalid type". | No source questions were found at the specified location OR the format of the question was incorrect. Go to the conference and confirm the location and question format. |
| "Conference invalid". | The conference was not found. Be sure to type only the conference number (do not precede the conference number with a C. |
