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. 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:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down list,
select
Multiple Choice
. This takes you to the editing screen.
- 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".
- In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
.
- 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
.
- 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.
- 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.
- Under "Correct/Incorrect answer feedback:", you can provide
question-level feedback for correct and/or incorrect answers.
- 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.
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Survey
The process for creating a Survey question is
similar to that used to create a Multiple Choice question, except for
the following differences:
- The "Answer Point Value:" field is default
0
(zero).
- For the text of possible answers, you must choose from a
predefined set of scales commonly used for survey reporting. To select
the scale you want to use, click its corresponding radio button. The
choices are as follows:
Yes, No
Disagree, Agree
Disagree, Undecided, Agree
Below Average -> Above Average
Strongly Disagree -> Strongly Agree
Unacceptable -> Excellent
1 -> 5
1 -> 10
- You do not have the option to randomize answers or require a
rationale.
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Short Answer/Essay
To create a Short Answer/Essay question, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:"
drop-down list, select
Short Answer/Essay
.
- 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.
- In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.
- 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.
- 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.
- In the "Answer:" section, you can opt to provide a model short
answer or question-level feedback by typing it in the provided
fields.
- 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.
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Fill in the Blank
To create a Fill in the Blank question, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:"
drop-down list, select
Fill in the Blank
.
- 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".
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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Matching
To create a Matching question, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:"
drop-down list, select
Matching
.
- 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.
- In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.
- 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.
- In the "Correct Match Feedback (optional)" and "Incorrect Match
Feedback (optional)" fields, you may offer answer-level feedback.
- 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.
- 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.
- Under "Correct/Incorrect answer feedback:", you may choose to
provide question-level feedback.
- Click
Save
to return to the Questions screen. You'll see
that your new question has been added to the assessment.
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True/False
To create a True/False question, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:"
drop-down list, select
True False
.
- 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.
- In the "Question Text" field, enter the text for the question.
- In the Answer field, select either
True
or
False
.
- Under "Required Rationale:", you may choose to require an
explanation by clicking
Yes
.
- 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.
- 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.
- In the "Correct answer (optional)" and "Incorrect answer
(optional)" fields, you may offer answer-level feedback.
- 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.
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File Upload
To create a File Upload question, which requires the user to upload
a file, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:" drop-down
list, select
File Upload
.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- In the "Feedback (optional)" field, you may offer question-level feedback.
- 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.
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Copy from Question Pool
To copy a question from a question pool, follow these steps:
- In the Questions screen, from the "Add Question:"
drop-down list, select
Copy from Question Pool
.
- Click the name of the pool from which to import the question.
- 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
.
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