Creating Quizzes – Overview

To make a test, start from your course home page with editing toggled on.

• find “Quiz” in the list of activities in the “Add an activity or resource” list at the bottom of each content section in your course.
• review quiz settings to ensure proper delivery to students.

The are many important features to set up in the quiz settings. Here are a few important ones:

• “Marks” must be selected within “After the quiz is closed” under “Review options” for students to see their grades later in semester!

To create questions:

• Go to the “Question Bank” under “More” tab at the top of the course page.
• Create question categories first, then questions. For categories, choose “Categories” option under the drop down selection menu on the main page of the Question Bank.
• With categories created, select  the “Questions” option and then the “Create a new question…” button.
• There are a wide range of question to choose from; selecting a question type from the question type window will give a brief description of each type.
• Even multiple choice questions have a variety of options: randomizing the display of answers, adding specific answer feedback and general feedback, customizing points for correct, incorrect and multiple tries, and advanced layout features for questions and responses (adding video, images, links and other elements).

Once the quiz is created and questions have been placed in categories in the question bank, the last step is selecting questions:

• Get to the question select screen from the quiz home page by clicking on the “Questions” tab.
• You can edit the value of each question, the overall value of the quiz, even the order and display of questions.
• Existing questions can be added from the question bank, new questions can be created and added directly from the quiz screen, and random questions can be added from existing question bank question categories (so that no two students will see exactly the same set of questions).

When using question banks:

• look for “Moodle XML” format for direct import into Moodle.
• If bank can be edited with exam software (e.g. ExamView), look to export from software as “Blackboard 6.0-7.0” or similar.
• Multiple choice and True/False questions can be imported directly from a text file using the Aiken format. For more info about Aiken, click on the “More help” link on the Aiken format tool tip (the question mark icon next to Aiken on the “import questions from file” screen.

Here are a few suggestions for getting the most from quizzes in Moodle:

• randomize: between questions, between answers, choice of questions displayed.
• It can be better to conceive of online quizzes as more of a knowledge check than as a demonstration of subject mastery.
• Open book tests can effectively demonstrate information retention when paired with a reasonable time limit.
• Proctored administration of quizzes can be useful to provide outward demonstration of highest level of academic integrity.

When students take a quiz in Moodle, there are certain things they must keep in mind:

• for timed tests to function properly, students must have javascript enabled in their browsers. If it is not, they will see a warning as they try to enter the test.
• all other browser windows and applications should be closed; external distractions should be minimized.
• a stable broadband internet connection is a must.
• remind students to click “submit all and finish” after completing the quiz before exiting.
• If a student logs out before submitting and time runs out, the quiz may remain in an unsubmitted state!