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Paragraph Test
Introduction
WebCT Help for: Creating Paragraph Questions, German Version, French Version.
This page gives you access to an example of a Paragraph test that lets you experience - in the role of the student - how such a test works in Vista with the aim to encourage you to develop a test version adapted to your course. You will also find a pedagogical reflection and a step by step instruction for setting up such a test in Vista. Further information concerning Paragraph Tests in Vista can be found in Part 4, Chapter 7, Sect: "Assessments and Assessment Manager", Sub-sect: "Creating or Editing Paragraph Questions" in the Designers and Instructors Reference, WebCT Vista 4 (pdf, 2.5 MB) p 96. Get UN & PW at edutech Vista Support.
Click this screen shot and than "Vista Demos - Assessment-Demos" for access to the example.
Usage Comments
With this question type, students answer in a paragraph or essay format. This test type requires students to covers a specific topic in detail and answer more extensively that just with a simple word or list of words.
Reason for using this text type can be that you want to find out
- students summarizing skills
- if students can express a concept, idea or process in their own words.
- the strategy or path students take to solve a problem.
As a automated evaluation is not possible, paragraph questions must be graded manually by the instructor or teaching assistant. This makes scoring time consuming and also nearly makes it impossible to delegate the scoring task to an assistant since the accuracy and quality of the response can only be judged by someone that is highly skilled or informed.
How to do it in Vista
It is more or less a three step process.- Create Paragraph Questions.
- Create an Assessment with Questions
- Editing Quiz Properties
Create Paragraph Questions
A paragraph question requires Students to write a paragraph or an essay as their answer. Section Instructors or Teaching Assistants must mark paragraph questions.
You can create or edit questions from two locations in the Assessments tool: in an assessment or the Question Database.
- Locate and click the assessment or click Go to Question Database.
- Click Create Questions. A menu appears.
- Click Paragraph. The Create Paragraph Questions screen appears.
- In the Title text box, enter a title. The question title identifies the question when searching the Question Database. When Section Students view the question, the question title appears at the top of the question.
- In the Question text box, specify the question text and format. If you want i.e. to use the HTML-creator, select the corresponding check box and wait for the screen to adapt.
- If you want, insert an equation.
- If you want to add an image to display with the question click Browse and select the image you want to add.
- Edit the Answer section in the Pre-fill answer box.
- Edit the correct response in the Correct response text box.
- Editi the settings and indicate the Answer box width and decide the case sensitivity.
- If you want to provide Section Students with general feedback about the question next to More Options, click the Expand/Collapse icon. The More Options section expands.
- All questions are automatically stored in the Question Database. Since the Question Database can contain thousands of questions, it's a good idea to organize questions into categories. If you want to add the question to a category next to More Options, click the Expand/Collapse icon. The More Options section expands.
- To add the question to an existing category, select Specify an existing category, and from the drop-down list, select the category.
- If you want to preview the question to ensure it displays and grades correctly click Preview. The Preview Question pop-up window appears and the question is displayed as it will appear in the Section Student view.
- Click Save. The Questions or Question Database screen appears and the question is added.
Other Resources Concerning this Subject
- For details on the areas for which Paragraph Question tests are most valuable consult Assessment Methods: Essay, Paragraph and Long Answer Tests and Tips and Traps for Long Answer Questions.
- Consult also the HOWTOs: View Assessment Submissions.