How do I create a short answer/essay question?

This allows for a short answer or essay question to be added to a new or existing assessment. This question type presents users with a question followed by a text box in which they enter the answer. This type of question must be manually graded.

Go to Tests & Quizzes.

Select the Tests & Quizzes tool from the Tool Menu of your course.

Select an assessment.

Questions may be added to any assessment. Select an existing assessment or create a new one.

Note: You may also add a question directly to a question pool.

Create a New Assessment.

Click Add.

Create a new assessment.

For more information on creating new assessments, see How do I create an assessment?

  1. Enter an Assessment Title.
  2. Select the Create using assessment builder radio button.
  3. Click Create.

Or edit an existing assessment.

Select Short Answer/Essay from drop-down menu.

After selecting Short Answer/Essay from the drop-down menu, the program will open additional options for the question.

Set the point value for the question.

Enter the point value for this question. Questions may be worth any point value you choose.  

Tip: Keep in mind that the point value of all the questions in the assessment will equal the point value of the assessment in the Gradebook. So if you want your assessment to be worth a total of 100 points, you should assign point values to your questions accordingly.

Display points?

Do you want students to see the point value as they are taking the test?  If so, leave the default setting of Yes. If you prefer that students do not see the point value for the question, select No.

Add Rubric. (Optional)

Grading rubrics can be selected on manually graded question types. You can select an existing rubric or create a new one by following the steps outlined in How do I add a rubric to an assessment (i.e., test or quiz)?

  1. If you have an existing rubric that you would like to use for grading this question, select the Use the following rubric to grade this question radio button and then select the rubric from the drop-down menu.
  2. If you don't have a rubric, and would like to create one while grading student submissions, select the Create a dynamic rubric to grade this question radio button.

Creating a dynamic rubric

After a student has submitted an assessment and you enter the grading interface for the student submission, you will see a Grading Rubric tab for the question. Select the Grading Rubric tab.

A popup window will display. Select the Edit Criteria button to add criteria to your dynamic rubric.

  1. Click the Add New Criterion button to add criteria.
  2. Click the Edit button for each new criteria to edit the default text and enter points.
  3. Once you have finished adding criteria to your dynamic rubric, select Confirm Criterion Changes to confirm your edits.

Minimum Point Value. (Optional)

This option lets you specify a certain number of points that is awarded automatically to every user who attempts the question, regardless whether or not the user selects the correct answer.

Extra Credit. (Optional)

Selecting this option lets you mark a question as extra credit. This means that the points awarded for this question are not counted as part of the "total points" for the assessment and there are no points deducted for skipping this question or answering incorrectly. However, users answering correctly will receive the question point value added on top of their total points earned in the assessment.

Add Question Text.

Type the Question Text into the text box provided.

Note: To edit with Rich Text Editor, click the hyperlink to open the full menu.

Enter the question text.

Enter the text of your question into the text box provided. You may also use the Rich Text Editor by clicking on the Show All Rich-Text Editors link. The rich text editor allows you to format your question text and/or add images, links, or other resources.  

Add attachment. (Optional)

Click Add Attachments to browse for and select a file attachment if desired.

Is it timed? (Optional)

This setting allows you to specify a time limit for an individual question. If timed, students have until the end of the time limit, or until the Final Submission Deadline, whichever comes first, to submit their work. Their answers will be automatically saved and submitted at the expiration of the timer.

Setting a time limit for an individual question can be useful if you would like to time students' responses per question, rather than setting a time limit for the entire assessment which may contain several different questions.

Short answer/essay style questions are particularly well suited to individual question timing.

Assign to part. (Optional)

If you have multiple parts in your assessment, you may assign the question to a different part.

Assign to pool. (Optional)

If you have an existing question pool and would like to copy this question to the pool, select the pool name here.

Provide model answer. (Optional)

Provide a model answer to the short answer/essay question in order to show students a generic version of the expected answer. It may also assist graders with feedback.

Note: To edit with the Rich Text Editor, click the hyperlink to open the full menu.

Provide Feedback. (Optional)

Feedback is optional text available for students to view after the particular question is graded.

Note: To edit with the Rich Text Editor, click the hyperlink to open the full menu.

Click Save.

Click Save to save the question (or Cancel to exit).