Add and edit question narratives

Updated 19 Feb 2024

Question narratives are test directions that are shared by multiple questions. The narrative is available from any question that has been associated with it. In your course, question narratives and any related images are stored in the Course Materials Library as HTML page assets; questions are stored in a corresponding folder in the Question Bank.

When viewing questions, you click a link to open and view the associated narrative. The link appears above the question text.

Narratives cannot be used in Flash or file upload questions.

1. When creating or editing a new activity, click Add Questions > Create New Question on the Questions page.

   — or —

   From within a course, click Course Materials > Manage Question Bank and then click Add Course Materials.

2. In the Edit Question section, click Browse to the right of Narrative.
3. Locate and select the file that contains the instructions for the question.
4. Click Add and Close.
5. Continue creating or editing the question.
6. Under Narrative, click Browse.
7. In the Course Materials Library, select the HTML page you want to use as your narrative.
8. Click Add and Close.

The name of the page appears in the question editor. Click the name to preview the narrative.

Narratives cannot be used in Flash or file upload questions.

Edit narratives

You can edit narrative text in the Course Materials Library, just as you would any course text, by selecting the text and then selecting Edit from the options menu.

If you change the narrative title, the new title appears as the narrative link in all questions associated with that narrative.

Associate questions with narratives

When you create or edit questions, you can change the narrative that is associated with questions, or add a new narrative. For details, see the directions specific to the question type.