Creating questions for an assessment

Note: To complete the procedures in this document, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. To view a list of permissions associated with a given role, see Permissions, roles, and tools. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and Roles: Overview.

Creating questions is only one of the steps involved in creating an assessment. Consider also reading the following documents:

You can choose from several types of questions when building an assessment. Before you begin adding questions, consider reviewing the different types available, which are outlined in the document Types of questions available for assessments.

In the menubar of the relevant course or project site, click Tests & Quizzes. To create questions for an assessment, you will use the authoring tool on the Assessments page. To create a new assessment, under the "New Assessment" heading, type a name for your assessment in the "Title:" field, and then click Create. You may base the assessment on a saved template by choosing the template from the "Choose Existing Template" drop-down list. You also can import an assessment by using the Import feature. For more information, see Importing or exporting an assessment.

To begin adding questions to a new assessment, choose the type of question you want to add from the "Add Question:" drop-down menu. Below, you'll find instructions for each question type:

Multiple Choice

To create a Multiple Choice question, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select Multiple Choice. This takes you to the editing screen.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

    Note: The total points you assign will be divided among all the blanks in the question. For example, take the following question:

    Roses are {red} and violets are {blue}, but not always.

    If you assign 10 points to this question, students will get 5 points each for filling in "red" and "blue".

  3. In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.

  4. In the "Answer:" section, click the radio buttons to choose between Single correct answer (the default) and Multiple Correct Answers. As you change the selection, the screen will refresh to allow or hide the requisite fields.

  5. In the case of a single correct answer, you'll see four sets of text boxes for possible answers and optional feedback. To indicate which answer is the correct one, click the radio button next to it. In the case of multiple correct answers, check the boxes beside the correct responses.

    If you want to present fewer possible answers, click Remove beneath the text boxes you want to remove. If you want to present more possibilities, use the drop-down list next to "Insert additional answers:" to select the number of possibilities you want to add.

  6. If you want the possible answers to appear in a random order, next to "Randomize Answers:", click Yes. To have them appear in the order you see in the question editing screen (the default), click No.

  7. If you want to require users to provide a rationale for choosing an answer, next to "Required Rationale:", click Yes. If you don't require a rationale (the default), click No.

  8. From the "Assign to Part:" drop-down list, choose the part (i.e., section) to which you want to assign this question. Leave this as the default value if you haven't created any parts.

  9. If you want to assign this question to a question pool, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name.

  10. Under "Correct/Incorrect answer feedback:", you can provide question-level feedback for correct and/or incorrect answers.

  11. When you're finished, click Save to return to the assessment editing screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment.
Back to top

Survey

The process for creating a Survey question is similar to that used to create a Multiple Choice question, except for the following differences:

Back to top

Short Answer/Essay

To create a Short Answer/Essay question, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select Short Answer/Essay.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

  3. In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.

  4. From the "Assign to Part:" drop-down list, choose the part (i.e., section) to which you want to assign this question. Leave this as the default value if you haven't created any parts.

  5. If you want to assign this question to a question pool, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name.

  6. In the "Answer:" section, you can opt to provide a model short answer or question-level feedback by typing it in the provided fields.

  7. When you're finished, click Save to return to the assessment editing screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment.
Back to top

Fill in the Blank

To create a Fill in the Blank question, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select Fill in the Blank.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

    Note: The total points you assign will be divided among all the blanks in the question. For example, take the following question:

    Roses are {red} and violets are {blue}, but not always.

    If you assign 10 points to this question, students will get 5 points each for filling in "red" and "blue".

  3. In the "Question Text:" field, enter the text for the question. Place curly braces ( { } ) around words requiring a blank, for example: In Unix, to find the current directory path, type {pwd} at the prompt.

    Other options for building a Fill in the Blank question include:

    • Wildcards: Use an asterisk ( * ) to represent one or more characters in a response. For example: An adverb, like {*ly}, modifies a verb.
    • Either|Or: If two or more specific answers could belong in a blank, you can use a pipe ( | ) to separate them. For example: {red|yellow|blue} is the primary color I like best.
    • Case sensitivity: Click to place a checkmark in the "Case sensitive" checkbox if case matters in the response. For example: The capital of California is {Sacramento}.
    • Mutual exclusivity: Click to place a checkmark in the "Mutually exclusive" checkbox if your question has two or more blanks with identical answer choices, but the student must answer each one differently. For example: When you toss a coin, it lands on {heads|tails} or {heads|tails}.

      If the answers are mutually exclusive, the student must type "heads" in one blank and "tails" in the other to answer the question correctly. If the answers were not mutually exclusive, then typing "heads" in both blanks would be considered correct.

      You can use the mutually exclusive option only when it applies to all the blanks in a question. For example, take the following question:

      We mixed {red|blue} and {red|blue} dye together to make {purple}.

      If you select the mutually exclusive option for the above question, it will automatically uncheck itself when you save your question.

  4. If your assessment has more than one part (i.e., section), use the "Assign to Part:" drop-down list to assign the question to a specific part.

  5. To save the question in a question pool for later use, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name. To do this, you must have created at least one question pool. For instructions, see Adding, moving, copying, or removing a question pool or subpool.

  6. The "Correct/Incorrect answer feedback:" fields allow you to set optional messages for students. Use the assessment's feedback settings to determine if and when students see these messages. For more information, see Assessment settings.

  7. When you're finished, click Save to return to the Questions screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment.
Back to top

Matching

To create a Matching question, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select Matching.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

  3. In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.

  4. In the "Choice:" and "Match:" fields, create a correct pair, then click Save Pairing to save it. You may do this as many times as you wish, and you may click Edit or Remove beside pairs you've created.

  5. In the "Correct Match Feedback (optional)" and "Incorrect Match Feedback (optional)" fields, you may offer answer-level feedback.

  6. From the "Assign to Part:" drop-down list, choose the part (i.e., section) to which you want to assign this question. Leave this as the default value if you haven't created any parts.

  7. If you want to assign this question to a question pool, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name.

  8. Under "Correct/Incorrect answer feedback:", you may choose to provide question-level feedback.

  9. Click Save to return to the Questions screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment.
Back to top

True/False

To create a True/False question, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select True False.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

  3. In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.

  4. In the Answer field, select either True or False.

  5. Under "Required Rationale:", you may choose to require an explanation by clicking Yes.

  6. From the "Assign to Part:" drop-down list, choose the part (i.e., section) to which you want to assign this question. Leave this as the default if you haven't created any parts.

  7. If you want to assign this question to a question pool, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name.

  8. In the "Correct answer (optional)" and "Incorrect answer (optional)" fields, you may offer answer-level feedback.

  9. When you're finished, click Save to return to the Questions screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment, along with radio buttons for selecting the correct response.
Back to top

File Upload

To create a File Upload question, which requires the user to upload a file, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select File Upload.

  2. In the "Answer Point Value:" field, enter the point value you want to assign to this question. Enter 0 (zero) if you wish this to be an ungraded question.

  3. In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question. You can use the formatting toolbar, which is similiar to those found within common word processing applications, to control the text's appearance.

  4. From the "Assign to Part:" drop-down menu, choose the part (i.e., section) to which you want to assign this question. Leave this as the default if you haven't created any parts.

  5. If you want to assign this question to a question pool, from the "Assign to question pool:" drop-down list, select the desired pool name.

  6. In the "Feedback (optional)" field, you may offer question-level feedback.

  7. When you're finished, click Save to return to the assessment editing screen. You'll see that your new question has been added to the assessment, along with the Upload file icon.
Back to top

Copy from Question Pool

To copy a question from a question pool, follow these steps:

  1. In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list, select Copy from Question Pool.

  2. Click the name of the pool from which to import the question.

  3. Navigate to a subpool and/or use the checkbox(es) to select question(s) you wish to import into the current assessment, and then click Import.
Back to top