Moodle 2.3 Quizzes Creating Quizzes in Moodle 2.3 .............................................................................................................. 1 I. Create Question Pools/Categories....................................................................................................... 1 II. Add Questions to a Category .............................................................................................................. 2 III. Create a Quiz ...................................................................................................................................... 3 IV. Add Questions to a Quiz .................................................................................................................... 4 Instructions for Students ........................................................................................................................ 6 Clearing a Test Attempt .......................................................................................................................... 6 Importing Questions from a Word Document........................................................................................ 7 Importing Questions from a Publisher’s Test Bank ................................................................................ 8 Accommodating Students with Disabilities ............................................................................................ 9
Creating Quizzes in Moodle 2.3 Moodle uses the term "quizzes," but all of these instructions apply equally to tests and exams. For the most flexibility, we recommend using the following basic procedure (complete instructions for each step are provided below): I. II. III. IV.
Create question "Categories" (AKA question banks or test pools). Add questions to your categories. Create a quiz and set options for how and when it is deployed. Add questions from your categories to the quiz.
I. Create Question Pools/Categories Creating pools or categories for your questions is not a requirement. However, doing so will make it easier to set up random blocks of questions in a test, re-use questions in multiple tests, and copy questions from one course to another. To create a category: 1. Click on the Question bank link under Course administration in the Settings block on the left. 2. Click on the Categories link (under Question bank). 3. In the Add category section of the next screen, click on the Parent category drop-down arrow and select Top. 4. Under Name, enter a title for the pool (e.g., Chapter 1 Pool). 5. Click on Add category. 6. Repeat steps 3-5 to create all of the pools you will need to create tests for your course. TIP: Be sure that you correctly identify the parent test pool each time you add a category – Moodle will try to make the most recent category you created the parent for your next category!
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II. Add Questions to a Category Many publishers make test banks available for their texts that can be uploaded directly into Moodle (see page 8). You can also create your own test questions and upload them to Moodle. If you have a lot of multiple choice or true/false questions, it is easiest to create them in a Word document using the Aiken Format (described on page 7) and import them to Moodle. If you have just a few questions to add, it's easier to create them directly in Moodle. You can combine imported questions and manually created questions in the same category. To manually create a question: 1. Click on the Questions link under Question bank on left. 2. From the pull-down menu at the top of the page, select the category where you wish to add questions (e.g., Chapter 1 Pool). 3. Click on Create a new question. 4. Select the type of question you wish to add and click on Next. 5. Complete the required (and optional) fields. The fields listed will depend on the type of question selected. Note the following: • Name your question with a unique name (e.g., Essay1-1 for the first essay question in chapter 1). Students will not see the question name. • Be sure to enter text in the Question text box, even though it is not identified as a required field. Otherwise, students will see a blank question. • All questions have a default "mark" or score of 1. If you would like the question to be worth more points, you can change this to a higher number. Note: You can also control the number of points assigned to each question in a quiz by changing the maximum number of points for the quiz. Moodle will scale the points up or down as necessary. • Moodle provides multiple opportunities for feedback. For example, you can provide specific feedback for each specific answer selected or general feedback for any wrong answer. You may leave the feedback fields empty. • For multiple choice questions, identify the correct answer by selecting 100% in the Grade field. • When you create the quiz settings, you'll have the opportunity to select random question order to ensure that every student takes a different version of the quiz. In addition, if you check the "Shuffle the choices" box, the answer choices will also appear in random order, further customizing the quiz for each student. Be cautious about checking this option if any of the answer choices contain "All of the above," "None of the above," numbers or dates. For all or none of the above, answers can usually be revised to "All of these" or "None of these." In the case of numbers or dates, we recommend leaving these response options in numerical or chronological order rather than shuffling them. • Advanced feature: Moodle allows you to apply penalty to incorrect answers. If you don’t intend to assess penalty points for multiple attempts, you do not need to change the default value provided. When you deploy the quiz, you can indicate that you do not wish to assess penalty points. 6. Scroll down and click on Save changes. See page 8 for information on importing questions from a publisher's test bank.
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III. Create a Quiz Once you have created categories and populated them with questions, you're ready to create a quiz. 1. Go to the course home page and click on Turn editing on. 2. In the module where you wish to conduct a quiz (e.g., Module 1 or Week 1), click on the Add an activity or resource link. 3. Select Quiz and click on Add. 4. Provide a name for the quiz and use the Introduction textbox to provide instructions to your students. Below is an example of the type of information that can be included. This quiz covers Chapters 1, 2 and 3. You may take this quiz only once. If you have not already done so, please read the instructions for taking tests in Moodle before taking this quiz and follow the instructions carefully. Click on the Attempt quiz now button (below) to begin the quiz. Open only when ready to begin. There are 5 pages with 5 questions each (total of 25 multiple choice questions). To move to the next page, click on the page number in the upper left column or on the Next button at the bottom of the page. When you have answered all questions, click on Submit all and finish.
Note: Moodle will automatically indicate any time limits, restriction dates, and number of attempts allowed. 5. Set all quiz options as desired, paying special attention to the notes below. Click on the Help icon i next to each item for more information about that item. Timing: • To set dates to open and/or close the quiz, check the Enable box(es) and select a date and time (24-hour clock). Leave the Enable boxes unchecked to make the quiz available for an indefinite time. • Open and close dates determine when students may view the test questions and submit their responses. These dates do not determine whether students can see the link for the test and the test introduction. Visibility of the test is controlled by "Common module settings" and "Restrict access" settings (see below). • IMPORTANT! Be sure to set the "When time expires" option to Open attempts are submitted automatically. This setting will ensure that students receive credit for the answers they have completed within the time allowed. Layout: • We recommend that you set "New page" to Every 5 questions. This layout makes the test more manageable for students and reduces the chances of a test not getting recorded, as it will force a regular "check-in" with the Moodle server as well as tell the students’ ISP that they're still working on that page. • If an essay question will likely take more than 10 minutes to answer, we recommend that you display only one essay question per page to minimize server timing out problems. Review options: • Indicate what elements you wish your students to see at four key points: while they are taking the quiz, right after they complete the quiz, later while the quiz is still open to others, and finally, when the quiz has been closed. • Click on the i next to each review option in the first column for more information about that review option. • We recommend that correct answers not be displayed until the quiz is closed, if at all. Page 3 of 9
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Require password: • A password is recommended if the test will be proctored. • Tip: Check the "Unmask" box to see the password as you type it. Common module settings: • If "Visible" is set to Show, students will be able to view the test name and instructions, as long as it is permitted by the "Restrict access" dates. Students' ability to see the test questions and submit answers is determined by the "Timing" option explained above. • Visibility is also controlled by the eye icon (open eye or closed eye) next to a quiz on the course home page. • IMPORTANT! If this option is set to Hide, students will not be able to see the test, even if the "Timing " and "Restrict access" settings are set to allow students to open and submit the test. Restrict access: • This section gives you yet another way to control when students can view the test. • You may leave this section blank to have quiz visibility and the ability to view and answer questions determined by the Timing and Common module settings. Read all the notes above regarding these two sections. 6. Click on Save and display to add questions to the quiz shell. Note: You can change the quiz options at any time. To do so, open the quiz and click on Edit settings in the Quiz administration panel at left. TIP: If you intend to create several quizzes, you can use the Duplicate icon to copy the quiz settings from this quiz into additional shells. If you have set a grade category for the first quiz, you'll need to update the grade category information in the new copies.
IV. Add Questions to a Quiz 1. If you are continuing from Step 6 above, the quiz will now be ready for editing. Click on the Edit quiz button or on the Edit quiz link in the Quiz administration panel at left. 2. Click on Question bank contents [Show] to display the test banks. 3. In the right column, select the desired Category (question pool) from the drop-down menu. The question titles will appear under the Category name. • WARNING: Do not click on the "Show all…" [D] link below the question list if there are more than 20 questions in the category. Doing so can prevent you from adding questions from the question pool. Contact us in Moodle Central for a A B work around if this happens to you. C • To preview a question along with answer choices, click on the magnifying glass [C] next to the question. • To revise a question, click on the pencil [B] next to it. 4. To add specific questions to the quiz: D • Click on [A] next to any question. • Check the box in front of multiple questions and click on E Add to quiz [E] below "With selected." Don't confuse this with the "Add to quiz" button in the "Random questions" section (see Step 5 below). Page 4 of 9
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5. To add a random block of questions: • At the bottom of the page, select the number of questions that you want to pull from the pool and click on Add to quiz. • You may have to add more than one random block in order to get the total number of questions you wish to feature on your test, e.g., one batch of 10 plus a second batch of 5 to include a total of 15 questions. Contact us in Moodle Central for assistance if you don't see the question control section below your list of questions. Note: Selected questions will be displayed to the left of the question bank. By default, the Maximum grade for the quiz (shown above the list of selected questions) is set to 100. If you wish, you can enter a different grade in the Maximum grade box and click on Save. You can also adjust the point value for each individual question by entering a score in the Mark box next to the question and clicking on Save. In many cases, it is not necessary to do this, as Moodle will automatically scale all points up or down based on the Maximum grade setting. 6. If you wish, you can click on the Order and paging tab to add page breaks, reorder questions, and make other adjustments to the quiz layout. For example, you can add extra page breaks to limit essay questions to one per page. 7. Click on the Preview link in the Quiz administration panel at left to see how your test will look to students. 8. Verify or change the quiz settings (e.g., time limit, open and close dates, etc.) by clicking on the Edit settings link in the Quiz administration panel at left.
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Instructions for Students Test taking instructions for students can be found at: https://support.sou.edu/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/65/9 We recommend that you include a link to this document in your course. You should also review these instructions so that you become familiar with best practices for taking tests. Note: If students experience a problem with submitting the test, ask them to use the Back button on their browser to return to their test and try to submit again. If the second attempt is not successful, you will need to clear the test attempt to allow the student to re-take the test.
Clearing a Test Attempt If a student experiences problems in submitting a test, follow these steps to clear the test attempt and allow a re-take: 1. Click on the test in the course home page. You'll see the test description and the number of attempts that have been made.
2. 3. 4. 5.
Click on Attempts: #. Check the box in front of the attempt associated with the student's name. Scroll down and click on the Delete selected attempts button. Click on Yes to confirm the deletion.
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Importing Questions from a Word Document If you want to create a number of multiple choice or true/false questions, the easiest way to post them in Moodle is to import them from a Word document using the "Aiken" format. If you need to add just a few questions, it's easier to enter them directly into Moodle without using an intermediate format. (For a large number of other question types, contact us in Moodle Central for recommendations.)
Creating an Aiken Document Follow these steps exactly as shown. Otherwise, the import will not work. 1. Create a Word document and type each question as a single paragraph. Do not include a question number. Do not press the [Enter] key until you get to the end of the question. 2. Introduce each answer choice with a single capitalized letter followed by a period or closing parenthesis and a space. Press the [Enter] key just once after each answer choice. 3. Introduce the correct answer with the word ANSWER in all capitals followed by a colon, one space and the capitalized letter corresponding to the correct answer. 4. Separate questions with just one return ( ). 5. Save the document in UTF-8 format (see instructions on the next page). Your text should look similar to the following example; you can use periods instead of parentheses for each choice. (The ¶ symbols below are shown to indicate where hard returns should be placed. They will not actually be visible in your document unless you have Word set to display paragraph marks.) I want my students to perform a specific task. What element of Moodle should I use?¶ A) Discussion Forum¶ B) News Forum¶ C) Assignment¶ ANSWER: C¶ ¶ Moodle is a product of Microsoft.¶ A. True¶ B. False¶ ANSWER: B¶
TIP: The first few times you create an Aiken document, we recommend creating a sample document with just two or three questions and importing them into Moodle to make sure your formatting is correct before drafting the entire document. The most common error in producing an Aiken formatted document is not using capitals letters for each answer choice or in the word "ANSWER."
Saving in UTF-8 Format After drafting your questions, you must save your document in Plain Text UTF-8 format. This will ensure that your text will be read correctly when it is imported into Moodle. Saving in Plain Text UTF-8 using Word 2003 or 2007 1. 2. 3. 4.
Click on the Office button and select Save As > Other Formats. Name your file to reflect its contents (e.g., chapter 1 pool). Under "Save as type," click on the drop-down arrow and scroll down the list. Select Plain Text (*.txt) and click on Save.
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5. Under "Text encoding," select Other encoding. 6. Select Unicode (UTF-8). 7. Click on OK. Saving in Plain Text UTF-8 using Word 2008 for Mac 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Choose File, Save As. Name your file to reflect its contents (e.g., chapter 1 pool). From the "Format" drop-down menu, choose Plain Text (.txt). Click on Save. In the File Conversion screen, choose Other encoding (under Text encoding). In the box at right, scroll down (if necessary) and select Unicode 5.0 UTF-8. Click on OK.
Importing Aiken Format Questions Once your document has been formatted and saved as a UTF-8 file, you can import it into Moodle. If you have not already created categories (see page 1), you should do so before taking these steps. 1. On the course home page, click on the Question bank link under Course administration on the left. 2. Click on the Import. 3. Select Aiken format. 4. Under Category, select the pool where you wish to add your questions. 5. Drag and drop your Aiken formatted text file into the file box. Or click on Choose a file…, browse for the file and click on Upload this file. 6. Click on Import. If the process is successful, a list of questions will appear. If not, nothing will happen – review your document to make sure you have correctly followed the formatting requirements. 7. Click on Continue at the bottom of the page. 8. Repeat for each additional pool, being careful to choose the correct category each time.
Importing Questions from a Publisher’s Test Bank If a publisher provides a test bank but does not offer one in Moodle format, a test bank saved in Blackboard format can often be successfully imported into Moodle. More information is available at: https://support.sou.edu/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/53/8 Another format that can be imported into Moodle is Respondus. Contact us in Moodle Central if you need assistance with uploading publisher's test banks. CAUTION: Allow several days lead time to upload and prepare a quiz from a publisher’s test bank. Sometimes, the process is quite straightforward and painless, while other times……it really isn’t! A lot depends on the individual publisher. Leaving yourself plenty of time may make all the difference in successfully importing a test bank.
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Accommodating Students with Disabilities You may receive a faculty notification letter from Disability Resources informing you that a student needs additional time to take a test due to a documented disability. Moodle allows you to easily tailor your quiz settings for one or more students. Here's how: 1. Click on the name of the quiz to open the quiz view page. 2. In the Quiz administration block on the left, click on User overrides. 3. Click on Add user override. 4. Use the Search field to locate the desired user or scroll through the list of students to select the student(s) whose access to the test needs to be adjusted.
5. Set the options to reflect the desired adjustments. For example, if the student requires more time for the test, indicate the new time limit. It is not necessary to set the remaining options on this page unless they need to be different than what was set in the test itself. TIP: If you are entering a password, click on Unmask to ensure that you know exactly how the password is being recorded. Click on Revert to quiz defaults to remove the override for the selected student(s). Note: This setting must be applied to each quiz you create; it does not carry over from one quiz to another. Also, this override feature makes it possible to make a quiz available to a student earlier or later than the rest of the class, should the need arise. The quiz will remain off-limits to the rest of the class.
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