QuizSite Instructor Documentation

Overview
Example Items
Syntax of Items
HTML and Links
Images
Sounds and Videos
Uploading Items
Adding Items
Deleting Items
Displaying and Downloading Items
Editing Items
Composing Items
Online Syntax Checker
Writing Good Test Items

1. Overview

In QuizSite instructors maintain a database of items, group them in activities (exams, quizzes, or surveys) and schedule the activities for on-line administration.

The items supported by this version of QuizSite are mostly objective (multiple-choice, matching, numeric, and fill-in-the-blanks, which can be graded automatically by the system) but essays and short answers can also be collected by QuizSite and graded by instructors on-line.

Items are kept in item banks and they can be indexed by topic or by any other criteria on a which a suitable taxonomy is based; instructors have the freedom to base their item banks on any taxonomy they like.

2. Example Items

Here are a few examples of questions to get you started.

SELECT question with question ID 1, that includes an image and has the correct answer The Arboretum.

SELECT[1](demo)
(IMAGE URL=http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadmit/admissions/tbarbor.gif)
<p>This pastoral locale,once the site of IU's Memorial 
Stadium, is called
@- The IU Airport
@- Camp Swampy     
@+ The Arboretum       
@- The Spaghetti Bowl

OPEN ended (short answer, fill-in-the-blank) question with question ID 2 and with correct answer Education (spelling matters, case is ignored)

OPEN[2](demo)
(IMAGE URL=http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadmit/admissions/soe.jpg)
<p>This relatively new campus building houses the School of
@+(Education)

NUMERIC question whose correct answer is in between 4500 and 5500.

NUMERIC[3](demo)What is the approximate total number of 
courses offered on the IUB campus?
@+(4500:5500)

RADIO question.

RADIO[4](demo) Indiana University was founded (as the Indiana 
State Seminary) in what year?
@+ 1820
@- 1824
@- 1832
@- None of the above

ESSAY question, with non-anonymous answer (@!). To set the answer collection to anonymous replace @! with @?.
```
ESSAY[5](demo) Assume that you know a high school senior who is 
planning to attend college. Write a short paragraph designed to 
persuade her or him of the virtues of IUB.
@!
```
ESSAYs are not objective questions and cannot be automatically graded in QuizSite.

3. Syntax of QuizSite Question Items

See the complete description of the item types.
(This document is 92 kilobytes and may take awhile to load in your browser.)

4. HTML and Links in QuizSite

Almost any HTML code can appear in the stem of questions.

Links to external web pages can be used to refer to large amounts of content. You can make external pages pop up in a separate window by using a TARGET attribute.

Here is an example of the HTML code for a new window:

<a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~best/" TARGET="mywindow">BEST</a>

Here is how it would look to the user:

BEST

5. Images in QuizSite

Images, photographs, charts, graphs, and other visual displays can be included in all questions that QuizSite displays.

Remember that QuizSite is offered over SSL (encrypted line) so if your images are also stored on a secure server all you have to do is to include the reference to the image through a regular <img src=...> tag.

To illustrate here is a RADIO display type with such an image:

RADIO[1](demo) This image 
<img src=https://accounts.ucs.indiana.edu/icons/KeyLogo.gif> <p> 
@- the image of a lock with two keys
@- the image of a lock with three keys
@+ the image of a lock with one key
@- the image of a lock with five key

In the example above the URL of the image indicates it is coming over an encrypted channel (https). For an image whose URL does not indicate encryption use the following QuizSite tag to include the image as part of the question:

(IMAGE URL=<url>)

where <url> is an actual URL.

For example:

SELECT[1](demo)
(IMAGE URL=http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadmit/admissions/tbarbor.gif)
<p>This pastoral locale,once the site of IU's Memorial 
Stadium, is called
@- The IU Airport
@- Camp Swampy     
@+ The Arboretum       
@- The Spaghetti Bowl

Images can appear in the alternatives of a multiple-choice item.

Note that students can see the file name by viewing the HTML source in their browser, so you may want to rename the file if you do not want to give the file name as a hint.

6. Sounds and Videos in QuizSite

QuizSite questions can link to sound or video files that you put on the Web. This could be useful for language listening comprehension, for example.

Here is an example of a question using a sound file:

RADIO[24616](media)
What sound is <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~best/quizsite/drip.au">
this</a>?<br>
@- Gong
@- Clink
@+ Drip
@- Swoosh

Here is how the question will appear for students:

Notes:

Links to sounds and videos can appear in the alternatives of a multiple-choice item.
To hear the sounds or see the videos, your students must have the appropriate audio and video hardware and software on their computers. In a computer classroom such as a language laboratory you could assure relative uniformity of equipment.
There are many different audio and video file formats.
In the above example, the student can see the name of the file when the mouse cursor is on the link. If the purpose of the question is to identify the sound or video, you should probably name the file so that the answer is not given away.

7. Uploading Items

To upload your file with questions, from the Main Menu please follow these steps:

Under Questions, select Upload. Click Proceed.
Locate your file with the help of the Browse button or type the absolute path in the file upload field. If your screen does not have a Browse button your browser needs to be upgraded, because you will not be able to upload the file.
Click Proceed.
On the next screen you will see if the parsing was successful or not. If it is not then the first error in the file is indicated on the screen. Go back to your file, fix the error, and re-send the file to QuizSite.
If the parsing is successful then scroll down the screen and look for warnings, typos, errors, and any other informative messages. If you are satisfied with how your items look click the Proceed button at the bottom of the page.
Only after you click the Proceed button at the bottom of the page will your items be uploaded. This action should also take you to the Main Menu screen.

8. Adding Items

To add questions, simply add them to your question file and upload the file again.

You can have as many question files as you want, but for simplicity of organization we recommend keeping all questions in a single file for your course unless your file becomes very large. You could then use one question file per activity.

9. Deleting Items

You cannot completely delete a question, but you can make it invisible by uploading it again with no topics (an empty list of topics). Such a question will never be selected as part of an activity and will therefore be invisible. For example, if you had a question like this:

RADIO[1](geography,capitals)
Quel est le capital de la Belgique?
@- Frankfurt
@- Prague
@+ Bruxelles
@- Strasbourg

you could "disable" the question by removing the topics geography and capitals and uploading it:

RADIO[1]()
Quel est le capital de la Belgique?
@- Frankfurt
@- Prague
@+ Bruxelles
@- Strasbourg

This version of question 1 will replace the previous question 1. Since there are no topics, it will not appear in any activity, even if the activity is about geography or capitals.

Note that you do not have to use the same question type to eliminate the question. You could use this, for example, which is equivalent but shorter:

ESSAY[1]()
@!

10. Displaying and Downloading Items

Follow these steps to display or download a set of items:

On the Main Menu screen, under Questions select Display.
Click Proceed
Identify the items by their topics or IDs, or choose All questions.
Click Proceed.
In your broswer click File | Save As ... and save as text (.txt).

11. Editing Items

Warning: If you use this editing feature, it is your responsibility to make sure that you keep the questions in your question file on your computer the same as the edited questions in QuizSite.
There is a danger that you might accidentally overwrite your edits by uploading an older version of your question file.
After editing the questions, you might want to download them.

Follow these steps to edit a set of items:

On the Main Menu screen, under Questions select Edit.
Click Proceed
Identify the items by their topics or IDs, or choose All questions.
Click Proceed.
Make changes to the questions and click Preview.
If there are no problems, click Upload.

12. Composing Items

With this feature, you can quickly add one question at a time without having to remember the syntax of question items or upload a question file.

Once you create the question, you can:

Display the question in order to learn the question syntax. (This will be helpful to new users, though not all possible features of question syntax are available here.)
Upload the question to your question pool.
Save the question to your own question file, which is a text file on your microcomputer that you can then upload. (Advanced users who learn the syntax will rarely use this screen. They will find it more convenient to compose and upload several questions at once in a text file. Also, it is important to keep your question file in sync with the uploaded question pool.)

From the Main Menu, under Questions select Compose and click Proceed.
You should now see the Question: Select Type screen.
Select the type of question you want (multiple choice, true-false, etc.).
You may want to change any of the options or select extras, but normally you can just ignore them and accept the defaults.
Click Proceed.
You should now see the Question: Compose screen.
Type in the Question ID, topics and question stem.
If the question has items, type in the text of the items.
If the question has choices, type in the text of the choices and click the choice that should be scored as the correct answer.
Click Proceed.
You should now see the Question: Upload screen.
QuizSite has generated the proper syntax for the question.
Check that the question is correctly typed and that any choices and items are completed.
Click Proceed.
QuizSite will double-check the syntax for blank items or choices.
You should now see the Questions: Upload screen.
If there is a syntax error, click the Back button of your browser and make corrections.
To upload the question to QuizSite, click Proceed.

13. Online Syntax Checker

To practice the use of question syntax, or if you are unsure of the exact syntax but have a good guess and don't want to look up the question format in the on-line documentation, you can use the On-line Syntax Checker, which parses one or more questions and provides instantaneous feedback without causing any harm to your account or databank.

Use this screen to check if the syntax of your question items is correct. QuizSite will notify you of any mistakes.
Consult the QuizSite documentation to learn the syntax of question items.
Instead of typing a question in the box, you can:
Create a question file using a word processor or text editor.
Copy one or more question items from your question file.
Click in the box above and click Edit->Paste.

You cannot upload questions from this screen.

14. Writing Good Test Items

It is important not only to be able to create a quiz, but to be able to create a good quiz. For helpful tips, see the articles How to Write Better Tests and Test Reliability.