At first glance, Manhattan's Self-tests module looks just like the Handouts/Notices and Lectures modules (see Handouts/Notices and Lectures Modules). Like those modules, the Self-tests module is a place for you to post messages and learning materials for your students to access. Just as adding the Lectures module in addition to the Handouts/Notices module provides an additional level of organization to your classroom, including the Self-tests module can give you one more area to post, well, self-tests.
What exactly is a self-test? There is one particular application that inspired Manhattan's Self-tests module, which we'll discuss in a moment. However, consider that the Self- tests module is a good place to post any learning materials designed to be a study aid for your students. You might, for example, have a list of questions that might appear on an upcoming exam. Or perhaps you've found some web-based flashcard or quiz program that would be useful for your students. You could also provide links to the web sites of textbooks, which commonly offer online quizzes that provide instant feedback to a student's responses.
While the Self-tests module can be used as if it were simply another way to categorize learning materials for your online classroom, there is a hidden feature that makes the Self- tests module unique. The Self-tests module is designed to work well with a suite of programs for creating interactive quizzes called Hot Potatoes. In particular, when a Hot Potatoes quiz that has been configured in a certain way is posted to the Self-tests module, a record of each completion of a quiz is stored on the Manhattan server. The data stored includes the date and time the quiz was taken, the score, and the amount of time it took to complete the quiz.