Create and edit fill-in-the-blank questions

For fill-in-the-blank questions, you enter question text as well as one or more blanks that students complete to answer the question.

When creating or editing your question, you can switch among sections at any time. However, you may need to complete one section prior to opening another. If this is the case, a message appears directing you to enter the required information. You can click a section or subsection's bar to expand or collapse it.

The course saves your input as you enter it. To preview your question at any time, click Preview.

Tip: To view an example of the question type, click Sample Question.

To create fill-in-the-blank questions:

  1. As you add an activity or while you are editing it, click Add Questions > Create New Question on the Questions page.

    - or -

    From the Today's View or any other page within a course, click Course Materials > Manage Question Bank and then click Add Course Materials.

  1. Click Fill in the Blank. A page appears with the following sections:
  2. Click to select a question layout. By default, layout 1 is selected.

    The layout specifies where the question text and the question answer appear during question presentation. As shown, layouts have one answer location and can have one or two text fields.

    There are 6 layouts. Layout 1 has two horizontal rows: Text Section A on top of the Answer Location. Layout 2 has two vertical columns: Text Section A to the left of Answer Location. Layout 3 has one horizontal row for Text section A and two vertical columns under that row that include Answer Location to the left of the Text Section B. Layout 4 has one horizontal row for Text section A and two vertical columns under that row that include Answer Location to the right of the Text Section B. Layout 5 has three horizontal rows, with Text Section A on top, Answer Location in the middle, and Text Section B on the bottom. Layout 6 has two vertical columns, with Text Section A as the first column. The second column as Text Section B on top of Answer Location.

  3. In the Edit Question subsection of the Question & Answers section, enter up to 100 characters for the question's title and text.
  1. Add a question narrative.
  1. Enter instructions for the question: 

Note: You can change the question layout at any time. However, if you switch from a layout with two question text fields to a layout with one question field or from a layout with one question text field to a layout with no question field, you are prompted to confirm the switch because some or all of the question text you enter will not appear in the new layout.

To add question text and blanks:

To define your question you can either Add Text or Add Blanks. For example, if your question is "A modem modulates an _____________ to encode digital information" with "analog carrier signal" as the correct answer, you would use Add Text for "A modem modulates" and "to encode digital information" and Add Blank for "analog carrier signal."

Here is how the final question looks to students:

To add question text:

  1. Click Add Text and choose the location to insert the text in the Answer display. Options are:

    In order to enable Add before selected and Add after selected, you must first select a Text or Blank item in the Answer field. If you select multiple items, the new item appears before or after the first or last item in the group.

  2. Type the question text in the entry box of Type Text that appears. To format the text you type, click Edit HTML to open the content editor.

To add blanks:

  1. Click Add Blank and choose the location to insert the blank in the Answer display. Options are:

    Note: To enable Add before selected and Add after selected, you must first select a Text or Blank item in the Answer field. If you select multiple items, the new item appears before (or after) the first (or last) item in the group.

  2. Type the question answer in the entry box of Type Blank that appears. The question answer you enter does not appear when students attempt the question; instead, they see a blank space that they need to fill in.
  3. Select a Blank length. Each blank length is a set number of pixels. The following table shows length options:
    Blank lengthPixel length of blank fieldApproximate number of visible characters
    XX-Small

    25px

    		1-3
    X-Small

    50px

    		3-6 
    Small

    100px

    		7-18
    Medium

    150px

    		11-30
    Large

    200px

    		15-45

    X-Large

    325px

    		24-52

    XX-Large

    450px

    		34-72

    Note: To delete question text or blanks, select their boxes and click Delete. To reorder question text or blanks, use the order icon to drag and drop text or blanks in a new location.

To add answers, scores, and feedback:

In the Edit Score and Feedback section, you can edit the answer text for question blanks or provide alternate answers, and set scores and feedback for correct and incorrect answers.

  1. Click the Add Score and Feedback subsection. The Answer column lists all of the text you defined as Blanks in the Edit Question section.
  2. You can enter answers in the Pre-filled text column. The answer you provide appears in the question blank when students view the question. When answering the question, students can either accept or edit the answer you provide.
  3. To provide Alternative answers, or to edit the current text, click Edit. Enter the alternate answer, click Add, and then click OK.

    Adding alternate answers lets you accept specific spelling, capitalization, or other variations that may occur when students enter their answers.

  4. Enter the Score for correct answer and Score for incorrect answer for each answer.
  5. Enter Feedback for correct answer and Feedback for incorrect answer for each pair. To format the Text, click the Edit button to open the content editor.
  6. To consider text case when grading the question, under Options, select Case sensitive. For example, if enabled, "month" and "Month" are considered different answers.
  7. To consider similar sounding words when grading the question, under Options, select Allow similar sounding words. You cannot select both this option and the Ignore Punctuation (Apostrophes will not be ignored) option.

    The application evaluates similar sounding words based on an algorithm that converts the text string to a code string. The conversion is based on the phonetic sound of the string. If the code string matches the words in the student answer, it is considered to be similar sounding.

  8. To ignore punctuation errors, under Options, select Ignore Punctuation (Apostrophes will not be ignored). You cannot select both this option and Allow similar sounding words. This option is also not available in all courses.
  9. To ignore spaces that the student may have entered in their answer, select Ignore extra spaces. For example, if enabled, "can not" would be graded the same as "cannot."
  10. To set the grading for accents while evaluating the student response, select an Accents option:

To finish creating the question:

  1. Add any hints you want to include for the question.
  2. Set the question's preferences.
  3. Click Save and Close.

On the Questions page, you can use the question's options menu to edit, delete, or try out the question. If you have access to the Course Materials > Manage Question Bank page in the course, you have access to additional question options, such as Preferences and Tryout.

Edit saved questions

To edit questions you have already saved:

  1. When creating or editing an activity, select Edit from the question's options menu on the Questions page.

    - or -

    From within a course, click Course Materials > Manage Question Bank and select Edit from the question's options menu.

  2. Make your changes.
  3. Click Save and Close.

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