Set preferences for a specific question type

Updated 19 Feb 2024

Question preferences let you categorize a question's type and define information specific to the question.

You can also set question preferences at the folder level for all questions in a folder. For details, see Set question folder preferences.

Changing question preference settings when you create a question is optional; all preferences have a default setting.

  1. When creating or editing the question, click Preferences on the Create Question page.

    This choice appears on the Course Materials > Manage Question Bank page if you select Preferences from a question's options menu.

  2. Select from the following options. Options appear in alphabetical order. Your course may include some but not all of the options listed.

    Asset path -- (available for Flash questions) Enter the asset URL. This is the path to the folder stored on the media server or content repository. You can also copy and paste the URL. The path can be up to 1024 characters.

    Copyright -- Enter relevant copyright information of up to 250 characters.

    Description -- Enable display of the Difficulty option.

    Difficulty -- Enter up to 100 characters to describe the question's level of difficulty.

    Difficulty-based -- Choose a level of difficulty from the list:

    1- Easy

    2- Moderate

    3- Difficult

    Hide Flash Response in activity feedback mode -- (available for Flash questions) Prevent students from viewing their response to Flash questions after they submit the activity or when they view their submission.

    Hide question -- Hide the question from the selection list when adding questions to an activity.

    Keywords -- Enter keywords that relate to the question. Separate multiple keywords with commas; for example: keyword1, keyword2. You can enter up to 100 characters and can include extended ASCII characters.

    Local Standard -- This option appears but is not used by Higher Education.

    Locale -- (available for Flash questions) Choose a language/locale from the list.

    Media Category -- Enter up to 100 characters to categorize the question's media type.

    Media Type -- Enter a name of up to 100 characters for the name of the question's media type.

    Media Subtype -- Enter a name of up to 100 characters for a second level name for the media type.

    Miscellaneous -- Enter a brief record or note of up to 100 characters about the question. The note can included extended ASCII characters.

    Multimedia Link -- Enter an external resource link of up to 100 characters that a student can use to answer the question.

    National Standard -- Enter the national standard related to the question. You can enter up to 100 characters, and can include extended ASCII characters.

    Notes -- Enter a note of up to 100 characters about the question. The note can include extended ASCII characters.

    Objective -- Define a question objective of up to 100 characters.

    Page Reference -- Enter up to 100 characters of book page references for the question.

    Question ID -- Enter a question ID of up to 100 characters.

    Scoring Attribute -- View the question's scoring attribute—system scorable, manually scorable, or not scorable. You cannot edit this option.

    SCO Category -- Enter up to 100 characters to categorize an SCO question.

    Skill -- Enter up to 100 characters to indicate the question skill level.

    State Standard -- This option appears but is not used by Higher Education.

    Subtopic -- Enter a question subtopic of up to 100 characters. If you enter a subtopic you must first enter a topic.

    Testing -- Select this option to indicate that the question should be used for testing purposes. This option is useful in the following scenarios:

    • When you create an activity, you can select the Include only Testing option on the Activity Details page. When you do, the resulting activity includes only questions that you indicated you wanted to use for testing.

    • If you have access to MyTest functionality, select this option to include the question in the MyTest testbank view. If the question is saved in a folder, you must also select the folder's Display this folder in Testbank view of MyTest option to view the question and folder in MyTest. 

    Time to answer -- Select a time option:

    • Unlimited: (default) Student has unlimited time to complete the question.

    • Restricted: Lets you enter the length of time in minutes and seconds (MM:SS) that students have to answer the question.

    Video Chat Options -- Set or change any of the following options for LiveChat sessions:

    • Minimum number of participants: Set the number of participants who must login to begin a LiveChat sesssion. Default is 2.

    • Maximum number of participants: Set the maximum number of LiveChat participants. Default is 6.

      Because LiveChat sessions employ both video and audio, they can require substantial bandwidth; consider limiting the number of participants if video quality becomes compromised.

    • Minimum length of recording and Maximum length of recording: Indicate the length, in MM:SS, for the LiveChat session.

      Select minimum and maximum times to match assignment complexity. For exampe, if you want each of six students to speak or respond in complete sentences at least times during a session to earn a grade, you might set the minimum length to 5 minutes and the maximum length to 20.

    • Enable multiple tries for recording: Select to allow students to record more than one LiveChat session. You set the number of attempts to allow WHERE? Clear to allow only one attempt per LiveChat assignment.
    • Save text chats: Select to save chat window text entries as well as video and audio recording. Clear to save only video and audio.

    Vocabulary -- Enter up to 100 characters of related vocabulary words.

    XML path -- (available for Flash questions) Enter the XML URL that opens the activity XML file. You can also copy and paste the URL. The path can be up to 1024 characters.