Creating Quiz Questions

Overview 

As a best practice, questions are recommended to be built in the Question Library. This allows an instructor to create question banks and to use question pools that allows to randomize questions. It also makes it easier to update questions over time. See Building a Question Library for more information. 

In D2L, there are many different types of questions that can be created for use in Quizzes and Surveys. The most popular question types are True or False, Multiple Choice, Multi-Select, and Written Response.

1. In a course, select the Assessments dropdown.
2. Select Quizzes.
3. Choose the Question Library tab.
4. Select the New dropdown.
5. Choose the type of question to create.
6. After all the questions have been created, select the Done Editing Questions button.

Question Types

NOTE:  when assigning a value for the answers, a correct answer will typically be assigned a value of 100, and an incorrect answer will be assigned a value of 0.  The total value for the correct answers must equate to 100. 

True or False (T/F)

1. Question Text: enter a statement you wish your students to evaluate.  
2. Answers: select whether the correct answer is True or False. 
3. Points: modulate the amount of points you would like to make this question worth. 
4. Options:click on the drop-down arrow to Add Feedback, Hint, Short Description and/or Enumeration. 
5. Click on Save to finish setting up the question. 

Multiple Choice (MC)

1. Question Text: enter a statement you wish your students to evaluate.  
2. Answers: enter various answers and select the box with the correct answer. 
3. Add Answer: add additional options if needed. 
4. Randomize answers for each student: this randomizes the options for each student 
5. Points: modulate the amount of points you would like to make this question worth. 
6. Options:click on the drop-down arrow to Add Feedback, Hint, Short Description, Custom Weights and/or Enumeration. 
7. Click on Save to finish setting up the question. 

Multi-Select Question (M-S)

This question type allows for more than one correct answer. You will be prompted to enter the question text, the possible responses and select which of the options are correct. You can then add some extra, optional features to the question.  

1. Question Text: Enter a statement you wish your students to evaluate. As Multi-Select and Multiple Choice questions may look quite similar, you can help your students by indicating in your question text that this question requires multiple answers or enter a prompt that says “Select all that apply”
2. Answers: Enter various answers and check the box beside each correct answer.
   (Optional) Click Add Answer to provide more answer options. Check the Randomize answer order box to display the answers in different order for each student. To Add Feedback, Hint, Short Description and/or Enumeration, click the Options button at the top.
3. Points: Assign the “out of score” or “total number of points” for this question.
4. Choose how points are assigned for the question. Under How are points assigned to blanks, there are 4 options. D2L will automatically distribute the points according to the grading method you choose:

• All or Nothing: Students earn full points only when all correct answers are selected and all incorrect answers are left blank. Students cannot earn partial points.
• Correct Selections: Points are evenly distributed across all answers. Students earn partial points for each answer correctly selected and left blank.
• Correct Answers, Limited Selections: Points are evenly distributed across correct answers only. The number of selections allowed is limited to the number of correct answers. Students earn partial points for each correct answer selected.
• Right Minus Wrong Selections: Points are evenly distributed across all answers. Learners earn partial points for each answer correctly selected and left blank. Learners lose points for answers incorrectly selected or left blank. Students cannot receive less than 0 points.

5. Click on Save to finish setting up the question.

Written Response (WR)

This question type allows students to give a lengthy response to the question. This can be used for essays or when students are required to enter text and/ or attach a file to their response.

1. Question Text: enter the question. 
2. Enable HTML Editor for student responses: students will be able to upload pre-existing files with their responses to this question. Moreover, if this feature is enabled, student will be able to upload various file types in response to the question such as video, audio, or photo. 

Students can upload more than one file and the limit for the total upload is 100 MB.

1. Custom Response Box Size: You will also be able to choose the amount of writing space student have to answer this question. You can choose for them to submit a paragraph, a sentence, or a long form essay. 
2. Points: modulate the amount of points you would like to make this question worth. 
3. Options: click on the drop-down arrow to Add Feedback, Hint, Short Description, Answer Key, Remove Custom Response Box Size and/or Initial Text. 
4. Click on Save or Save and New or Save and Copy

Short Answer Question (SA)

This requires students to create a one word or brief answers in response to open ended questions. 

1. Question Text: enter the question and leave blanks in between if needed. 
2. Answers for blank: enter the answers for the blank and click on the X beside the answer to delete it. 
3. abc: click on the drop-down arrow to select if the answer is Text, Case-Sensitive Text or Regular Expression. It is recommended that you select Regular Expression so that students are not marked as incorrect for variations in spelling and case. (For example, if the answer you enter is “color” and you select “Regular Expression”, “color” “Color” and “colour” will all be considered correct). If spelling and case are important for this response, you can select Case Sensitive text. 
4. Add Blank: click on this to add more blanks. 
5. Points: modulate the amount of points you would like to make this question worth. 
6. How are points assigned to blanks: select if students will be passed if they answer all questions correctly or if all blanks should be answered correctly to get a pass mark. 
7. Options: click on the drop-down arrow to Add Feedback, Hint and/or Short Description. 
8. Click on Save or Save and New or Save and Copy. 

Note: As a best practice, D2L recommends that the weight of each possible solution equals 100% if you require only one answer. If your question requires multiple answers, and each answer has several possible solutions, we recommend that the combined weight of each answer’s most correct solution be equal to 100%.

Multi-short answer Question (MSA)

Multi-short answer (MSA) questions require respondents to answer a multi-solution question and input their answers into individual input boxes. Respondent’s answers are checked against each possible answer stored in the answer fields. D2L recommends that the required number of answers corresponds with the number of input boxes provided.

An MSA question’s maximum point value is reflected by a 100% weight. As a best practice, D2L recommends that each possible answer’s weight calculation equals 100% divided by the number of answers required by the question.

Multi-short answer questions differ from short answer (SA) questions in that the multi-short answer question enables you to create multiple answer boxes which all relate to one answer set; short answer questions also support multiple answer boxes, but each requires a distinct set of possible answers. The short answer question type is ideal if you need to create a multi-part question that cannot share the same answer pool.

For example, the question “Name 3 state capitals” displays three input boxes to users. Each answer users submit is checked against 51 possible correct answers stored in the answer fields and each answer field has a weight of 33.3%.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Multi-Short Answer Question (MSA).
2. In the General area, enter your multi-short answer question details.
3. In the Options area, do the following:
   • In the Input boxes field, enter the number of required answer fields you want your question to have. You can assign the number of rows and columns for each answer field.
   • In the Answer fields, enter the correct answers for your question, the weight for each answer (you can set different weights if some solutions are more correct than others), and how you want the answers to be evaluated.
   • To assign more possible answers for the question, click Add Answer.
4. To verify your answer, click Preview.

Fill in the Blanks Question (FIB)

This question type allows students to fill in one or more missing words for an incomplete sentence, statement, phrase and others. 

NOTE: As a best practice, we recommend that answers in blank fields be no more than one or two words to ensure auto-grading accuracy.

1. Enter a Title. Enter a Points value. Select a difficulty level in the Difficulty drop-down list.
2. Click Add Blank to create additional blank fields. Click  Add Text to create additional text fields. Your listed order of blank and text fields correspond with the sequence displayed to users.
3. Enter the start of your text in the first Text field.
4. Set the display Size for the Blank field.
5. Click Add Answer if you accept more than one possible solution for the Blank field. To reduce the number of possible solutions for each Blank field, you can click the  Remove Answer icon for a corresponding Answer option.
6. For each possible solution of a Blank field, enter an Answer and set a weight in the Weight (%) field. You can set different weightings if some solutions are more correct than others.
7. Select an Evaluation field for each possible answer:
   • Case InsensitiveAuto-grading searches for a matching character pattern in the answer text with or without letter case correctness.
   • Case SensitiveAuto-grading searches for a matching character pattern in the answer text that must have letter case correctness.
   • Regular ExpressionAuto-grading uses meta-characters to search for one or more matching strings in the answer text’s character pattern. What you set as meta-character parameters helps determine letter case sensitivity. See Understanding regular expressions for more information.
8. Click Check Answers to validate answer fields with regular expressions.
9. You can click the  Remove Blank and  Remove Text icons to delete blank and text field entries.
10. Provide comments and suggestions in the Question Hint and Question Feedback fields.
11. Click Preview to view your question.
12. Click Save to return to the main page, click Save and Copy to save and create another FIB question that retains the copied properties, or click Save and New to continue creating new FIB questions.

NOTE: An FIB question’s maximum points value is reflected by a 100% weight. As a best practice, the combined weight of your answers should equal 100%. If your FIB question has multiple blank fields and each blank field has several possible answers, we recommend the combined weight of each blank field’s most correct answer equals 100%. 

Matching Question (MAT)

Matching (MAT) questions require respondents to choose from a set of possible match choices from drop-down lists and correctly pair them with related items. This question type enables you to assess users’ recognition of information and demonstrate comprehension of specific relationships.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Matching Question (MAT).
2. In the General area, enter your matching question details.
3. In the Choices area, do the following:
   • Select the grading method for the question.
   • In each Value field, enter a choice.
   • To add additional values for the question, click Add Choice.
4. In the Matches area, do the following:
   • In each Value field, enter a choice.
   • To add additional matches for the question, click Add Match.
   • From the drop-down list for each matching value, select the corresponding Correct Choice.
5. To verify your question, click Preview.

Ordering Question (ORD)

Ordering (ORD) questions require respondents to arrange a series of items into a correct sequence or order.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Ordering Question (ORD).
2. In the General area, enter your ordering question details.
3. In the Options area, do the following:
   • Select your grading method.
   • In each Value field, enter a choice. To add more values, click Add Item.
   • From the Correct Order drop-down list for each value, set the order of the values. The first value in the correct order should be “1”.
4. To verify your question, click Preview.

Understanding grading options for matching and ordering questions

There are three possible grading options for matching and ordering questions:

• Equally weighted – The total point value is divided equally among all possible correct matches. Users receive equally weighted points for each correct answer.
• All or nothing – Users receive full points for the question if they select all of the correct answers and none of the incorrect answers. Users receive zero points if they miss any correct answers or select any incorrect answers.
• Right minus wrong – Users receive points equal to the number of right answers they choose minus the number of incorrect answers they choose. To determine how much each answer is worth, the system takes the total number of points assigned to the question and divides it by the total number of answer choices. For example, if a question is worth 10 points and has 5 answer choices, each correct answer is worth 2 points, and each incorrect answer is worth – 2 points (10/5 = 2). If a user gives 3 correct answers and 2 incorrect answers, 2 is the total number of points received for the question [(3*2)+(2*-2)]. Users can receive a minimum of zero on a question; they cannot receive a negative mark.

Arithmetic Questions (2+2)

Arithmetic questions enable you to assess users’ knowledge and comprehension of mathematics and number theory. You can ensure each respondent receives a unique question by including variables enclosed with curly braces that randomly generate numbers within the problem. For example, if you set variables x, y, and z with a Min 1 to Max 5 number range in 1-step increments, the question “You have {x} green marbles, {y} red marbles, and {z} blue marbles. How many marbles do you have in total?” will randomly generate a rational number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) for {x}, {y}, and {z}.

As a best practice, D2L recommends that you create written response (WR) question types for arithmetic problems that require users to demonstrate their calculations and show their work.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Arithmetic Question (2+2).
2. In the General area, enter your arithmetic question details using the supported operations, functions and constants. To verify your formula before sharing it with learners, click Test.
3. In the Variables area, do the following:
   • Create any variables you want to use with your question by giving the variable a Name, a minimum value in Min, and a maximum value in Max.
   • Set the number of decimals to provide in the Decimal Places drop-down list.
   • To set the system’s incrementing steps as it generates numbers from the range set by the Min and Max fields, enter a number in the Step field.
4. To verify your question, click Preview.

Significant Figures Question (x10)

Significant figures questions require respondents to answer in scientific notation and provide solutions that contain a specified number of significant figures. Math and science courses commonly use this question type. You can ensure each respondent receives a unique question by including variables enclosed with curly braces that randomly generate scientific notations within the problem.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Significant Figures (x10).
2. In the General area, enter your significant figures question details. To verify your formula before sharing it with learners, click Test.
3. In the Variables area, do the following:
   • Create any variables you want to use with your question by giving the variable a Name, a minimum value in the Min field, and a maximum value in the Max field.
   • To set the system’s incrementing steps as it generates numbers from the range set by the Min and Max fields, enter a number in the Step field.
4. To verify your question, click Preview.

Understanding arithmetic and significant figures question components

In arithmetic questions, use answer precision to limit the number of acceptable decimal places allowed in a response. You can require that correct answers contain a specific number of decimal places.

In significant figure questions, you can select a percentage of the answer’s score to deduct for including incorrect significant figures in a response.

Use tolerance levels to accept near-accurate, estimated, or rounded answers.

Understanding Brightspace Learning Environment rounding rules

When rounding, Brightspace Learning Environment automatically applies the Round to Half Even rounding rule when assessing answers that contain decimal places that end with “5”. Currently, there are no options to change rounding rules. Applying the Round to Half Even rule, answers with decimal places that end with “5” will round down instead of round up.

Example One: 3.41 * 25 = 85.25

If you create an arithmetic question and set the Answer Precision to 1, the correct answer using Round to Half Even is 85.2.

Example Two: -3.41* 25 = -85.25

If you create an arithmetic question and set the Answer Precision to 1, the correct answer using Round to Half Even is -85.2.

You can enter a unit type (mm, cm, grams, inches, etc.) to assess if answers include correct units of measurement. For significant figures questions, you can select a percentage to assign a weighted points value to the measurement unit. If you use units in your question, you can set the following Evaluation options:

• Case Insensitive – Auto-grading searches for a matching character pattern in the answer text with or without letter case correctness.
• Case Sensitive – Auto-grading searches for a matching character pattern in the answer text that must have letter case correctness.
• Regular Expression – Auto-grading uses meta-characters to search for one or more matching strings in the answer text’s character pattern. What you set as meta-character parameters helps determine letter case sensitivity.

Create Likert questions (LIK)

Create Likert (LIK) questions to measure subjective information such as personal opinions, knowledge, abilities, and attitudes. Likert questions enable you to create surveys that evaluate the intensity of respondents’ feelings towards statements presented to them.

There are seven measurement scales available to Likert questions: One to Five (1 to 5), One to Eight (1 to 8), Agreement Scale (Disagree–Agree), Satisfaction Scale (Dissatisfied–Satisfied), Frequency Scale (Never–Always), Importance Scale (Unimportant–Important), and Opposition Scale (Oppose–Support).

You can only access Likert questions through the Surveys tool and Question Library. Similar to self assessments, all question types you import into surveys automatically omit point value and difficulty level indicators.

1. In the Question Library, from the New button, click Likert Question (LIK).
2. In the General area, enter your Likert question details.
3. In the Questions area, do the following:
   • Select the Scale you want the question to use.
   • In each Value field, enter a statement. To include additional statements, click Add Option.
4. To verify your question, click Preview

Add an Image or media to a Question

1. In a course, select the More dropdown.
2. Select Quizzes.
3. Choose the Question Library tab.
4. Select the New dropdown button.
5. Choose the type of question to create.
6. In the “Question Text” box, select the camera icon to insert an image or the insert stuff icon to insert media.
7. Select My Computer.
8. Select Upload to choose the file.
9. Select Add.
10. In the popup window, enter text to describe the image in the “Alternative Text” box or select the “This image is decorative” checkbox.
11. Select OK.
12. Complete the question setup based on the question type chosen.
13. Select Save.
14. After all the questions have​ been added or created, select the Done Editing Questions button.