Create and edit drag-and-drop questions

Updated 19 Feb 2024

With a drag-and-drop question, you define the question blanks (or drop spots) and available answers that students can drag and drop into the blanks.

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.

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

You must have the appropriate Java browser applet (see System Requirements) in order for the drag-and-drop question type to work correctly in your course.

  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.

    2. Notes The best way to add activities (create assignments) is with the Course Materials Wizard. To access the wizard, select Course Materials from the menu bar. This wizard lets you add assignments by taking you to the Course Materials Library, copy materials from another course using the Course Materials Library, and manage your content library. Refer to Using the Course Materials Wizard for more information.You can also add activities from the Course Materials Library and then move them to the My Course list where you can set appropriate scheduling. Use the Course Materials wizard to access the library.Another option is to add an activity to the My Course list. If you do that, you will be prompted to save the new activity to the Course Materials Library. In this case, navigate to and select the Course Materials Library folder where you want to save the activity and then click Add and Close.

  2. Click Drag and Drop.
  1. In the Edit Question section, enter a Question title of up to 100 characters to identify the question in the Question Bank.
  2. Add a question narrative.
  3. Select either Text-based or Image-based as the question format. The option you select determines whether students drag and drop text-based or image-based elements.
  4. For text-based questions only, enter the Applet Dimensions in pixels for the applet Height (from 200 to 500 pixels) and Width (from 200 to 600 pixels). By default, the applet is 500x600 pixels, which is the maximum size allowed.
  5. In the content editor, enter the Question text, or record a message for your question.
  6. Click Continue.

    A screen opens with additional subsections and the Hints and Preferences sections.

  7. Click the appropriate link below to complete your question.

    To define the answer blanks for text-based questions:

    1. In the Edit Answer subsection, highlight the word in the question text that you want to define as the blank and click Define blank. The word you selected as the blank appears in the answer box.
    2. If you want to define more than one blank, repeat the previous step until you have defined all of your blanks.

      To permanently remove defined blanks, click Reset blank.

    3. In the answer box, enter the score for both correct and incorrect answers.
    4. Enter any feedback you want to display for the student for correct and incorrect answers. To format the feedback, click Edit to open the content editor.

    To select the background graphic for image-based questions:

    1. In the Edit Graphic subsection, to select a Background graphic and Marker ID from the available assets, click Choose. Next, select your graphic from the Course Materials Library.

      The background image dimensions should not exceed 500x325 pixels, and the file may not exceed 10240 kilobytes.

      The marker ID image dimensions cannot exceed the background image dimensions.

      To add the required number of marker IDs to your question, click Add. Repeat the previous step to select graphics for each marker ID.

    For more information on adding graphic assets to the Course Materials Library, see Select graphic assets.

    Add or edit solutions

    To position the marker IDs in the answer locations for image-based questions:

    1. Click the Add Solution subsection.
    2. Set the answer by positioning the marker IDs on the background graphic.

    Add or edit outcomes

    To define scores and any optional feedback for image-based questions:

    1. Click the Add Outcome subsection.
    2. Enter a score for each marker.
    3. Enter feedback for each marker. To format the feedback, click Edit to open the content editor.
    4. Set the tolerances for marker coordinates by entering the coordinate values for X-value and Y-value.
  8. Add any hints you want to include for the question.
  9. Set the question's preferences.
  10. 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.

  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.