DCAD Digital Help Guides

Multiple Choice Question

This question type can also be used as a multiple answer.

1. Add the Question Text. Use the text editor to format your content or add images to your question.
2. Enter the answer options. For additional answer options, select Add option.
3. Remember to tick the correct answer(s).
4. If the question has multiple answers you can enable partial and negative credit. In the example below, there are 3 correct answers out of 5 and 6 available marks. Each correct answer will give a third of the marks, i.e. 2. There are no marks and no mark deductions for an incorrect answer.
5. Toggle the Automated Feedback option to add correct and incorrect feedback. Students will see this part of the text when feedback is released.
6. Press Save.

Calculated Formula Question

This question type includes a formula editor to allow you to enter a formula or equation for the students to workout. Where variables are set, include this in the question text, otherwise these can be randomised. These need to be added in brackets, e.g. variable 1 [a] and variable 2 [b].

In the second box, enter the answer formula. Different mathematical symbols are available on the tabs at the top of the formula box. If you wish for the students to see the formula box, ensure the check box below is checked. Once the formula has been added, then click the Next button.

• Answer format: Select whether to require students to express the answer in a standard or exponential format.
• Rounding: Use the dropdown menu to specify whether to count decimal places or significant figures, and provide the number of decimal places or significant figures in the field provided. Check the checkbox to display the place setting or significant figure requirement.
• Allow full credit if answer is within a chosen range: Check this checkbox to allow full credit if a student’s given answer is within a given range of values.
• Allow partial credit if answer is within a chosen range: Check this checkbox to allow partial credit if a student’s answer is within a given range of values:
• Answer units: Check this checkbox to require students to specify the type of units used for the answer.
• Variable ranges: Use the variable ranges fields to specify maximum and minimum values as well as the maximum number of decimal places. If you specified values for the variables in the text, then set both minimum and maximum figures the same as in the example below.
• Number of Answer Sets: Specify the number of answer sets to be randomly generated by the exam. If you have specified values then leave this as 1.

When finished, click the Next link to proceed to the next step.

The final step shows the answers. There will be several here if you have allocated several random values.

If you are happy with the answers then click Save.

Below is an example of the final step where the variables are not stated, these are randomly assigned from a range. This time the number of decimal places has been set to 2 and variable ranges have been added. The number of outputs generated has been set to 10.

In step 3, 10 sample answers have been generated from randomly selected variables within the ranges set. To generate new variables, click the Repopulate answer set. The answers should automatically be recalculated.

Calculated Numeric Question

This question type allows a written mathematical question to be entered as text and then allows for a numeric answer or range of answers to be entered by the student.

Enter the question text and include any diagrams needed for the question.

1. Correct Answer – If the question has a specific answer then enter this into the Correct Answer box.
2. Allow an answer range – if the answer can fall within a range, then tick the Allow an answer range and enter the range value, e.g. if the answer is 100 and the range value is 10, then answers between 90 and 110 will be valid.
3. Automated Feedback – it would be helpful for students to have the solution to the problem, particularly if they got the answer wrong.

Essay Question

The essay question is used when short answer or free-text answers are required. This type of question needs to be carefully considered before use as there is no automated feedback for this type of question and they must be marked manually in the same way as a written assignment. This means that if a test has 9 multiple choice questions and one essay question, automated feedback will not be provided to the student until the final essay question has been marked by the tutor.

Fill-in-the-blank Question

This question type enables simple questions to be constructed requiring the student to enter a word to fill in the blank.

1. Type in the sentence at the top including the blank word in square brackets. If there is more than one right answer then separate these with a semicolon.
2. Select the Response type: Exact match; Contains match; Match a pattern and if required select Case sensitive, particularly if you require a proper noun as the answer. If you have multiple blanks then you will need to repeat this for each blank.
3. Click Next Step. You will then see the question as it will appear to students.
4. Click Save.

Hotspot Question

This question type uses images from which the student can identify elements. In the example below, the student has been asked to identify symbols used on an Ordnance Survey map. Each element is identified by drawing a shape around it. To create a hotspot question:

1. Complete the Question Text box explaining what the student needs to identify.
2. Import the image for the question.
3. Add the hotspots by selecting a shape, in the example below the square has been selected.
4. When the shape appears on the image, move it to the correct location. Resize the shape if necessary.
5. In the Answer Options below type in the name of the hotspot and place a tick for the correct answers.
6. There is a slider if you wish to show students the hotspots from which they can choose.
7. Check the points available and click Save.

Matching Question

This question enables students pair items in the Prompts column to items in the Answers column. The number of items in each column doesn’t have to be equal because you can reuse answers and add additional answers. Additional answers are distractors that don’t match any of the prompts and increase the question’s difficulty. Some instructors use distractors so students can’t guess at answers by the process of elimination. Other types of media can be used here such as images.

1. Type in the Question Text.
2. Decide if Allow partial and negative credit or Allow negative overall score is to be used.
3. Enter the first Prompt on the left, in this case the country, and the Answer on the right, the current capital city. Add as many pairs as you wish by clicking the Add Pair link at the bottom of the screen.
4. If you wish to add any Distractors, add these below, in this case the old capital cities have been added. Click the Add Distractor link to add further distractors.
5. Add Automated Feedback and click Save when finished.

The example below shows images added instead of text. To add an image, click in the Prompt or Answer box and click the + sign on the toolbar which appears. Select Image and then add the image to the question. Be careful with alt text descriptions and titles for the images as you don’t want to give the answer away. You may have to describe the image in detail in the alt text for students with screen readers.

True/False

This question is one of the simplest to create. Enter the statement text into the question box and then select True or False. Check the points available and click Save.

Jumbled Sentence

Jumbled Sentence questions are similar to fill-in-the-blank questions, but instead of typing the answer, require students to select words or phrases from a menu to complete a sentence. The same menu appears for all blanks and can include both correct answers and distractors in the same way as multiple choice questions. You can add a maximum of 100 answers in the menu.

1. Type the sentence into the Question Text box including each of the missing variables in square brackets. Each variable is automatically recognized as the correct answer. Instructors can enable partial credit to award points for partially correct responses. For example, if half of the answers are correct, half of the max points are awarded. Variables can include the following characters: letters, digits (0-9), full stops (.), underscores (_) and hyphens (-). The question text and variable input are validated for syntax correctness, notifying instructors of any errors, such as a missing bracket.
2. Partial credit is allowed, move the slider if you wish to engage this and ensure you have entered the correct number of points.
3. Add any distractors, clicking Add Distractor to add further items.
4. Add Automated Feedback if you require this.
5. Click Save.

This is how the student will see the jumbled sentence question: