WebRespond: Question File
The question file contains information about a specific question for a quiz
or survey. You can choose between a multiple choice and a true false format.
With the proper options the appearance of the questions can be fixed or allowed
to take a random value.
The master file uses a tagged information format similar to HTML. Each piece
of information must be enclosed within a recognizable tag. If any text lies
outside a recognizable tag, it will be ignored. This allows you to make
comments within your master file without affecting the readability of the file
by WebRespond.
The acceptable format for a tag consists of three parts
- Opening - This consists of a left angle bracket, a tag name and a
right angle bracket. If you want to open a tag called "Title", you
must use a tag opening of <Title>.
- Message - This consists of a string of text. Depending on the tag,
this text may have to conform to a specific value.
- Closing - This consists of a left angle bracket, a forward slash, a
tag name and a right angle bracket. If you want to close a tag called "Title",
you must use a tag closing of </Title>.
Putting these three parts together we could set the question title to "Blood
Pressure" by using the tag <Title>Blood Pressure</Title>.
Notice that the name of the tag's opening must match the name of the tag's
closing. Embedding of tags within other tags is not supported at this time.
Case is not important when naming a tag (i.e. Title, title, TITLE, ... );
however, the tag's opening and closing names must match exactly (including
case).
Tags used by the Question File
The easiest way to set up a question file is to modify either the
true false template file. The
following tags are recognizable in the question file and are listed
in order of importance. You can get by with just the <Type>, <Question>,
<Correct>, or <Incorrect> tags, but you will have better control
over your quiz if you use some of the other tags.
- <Type>question type</Type> - This tag determines the
type of question contained in this file. The text string between the tag's
opening and closing must be either Multiple Choice, MC, True
False, or
TF. If the type tag is not present, WebRespond will not be able to load
this question.
- <Type>Multiple Choice</Mode> - This tag sets the
question type to multiple choice. The alternate tag <Type>MC</Mode>
serves as an obvious short cut. Multiple choice questions may have multiple
incorrect answers and only one correct answer. A maximum of 6 answers are
allowed. If more than one of those answers are indicated as correct answers,
only the last will be recognized as correct. If any answers over 6 are supplied
only the first 6 are used.
- <Type>True False</Type> - This tag sets the question
type to true false. The alternate tag <Type>TF</Mode>
serves as an obvious short cut. True false questions may have both correct and
incorrect answers. If both are provided, WebRespond randomly chooses one of the
statements to display. If more than one correct or incorrect answer is supplied,
only the last of each type is used for asking the question.
- <Question>question text</Question> - This tag contains
the main body of the question. The text string between the tag's opening and
closing may contain any characters but it is recommended that you avoid using '&',
'<', and '>'. This part of the question may contain any background
information needed to answer the question or instructions needed by the student.
If this tag appears more than once, then the text of the last tag is used.
- <Correct>statement of the correct answer</Correct> -
This tag sets the text of the correct answer. This text string may consist of
any characters; however, it is recommended that you avoid using '&', '<',
and '>'. If this tag is used in a multiple choice question, it may be a
single word or a short phrase which answers the text specified in the <Question>
tag. If this tag is used in a true false question, it will more likely be a
full sentence which may be displayed by itself without use of the <Question>
tag. If this tag is used more than once in a multiple choice question, any
previous calls using this tag will be considered incorrect answers and only the
most recent use will be recognized as correct. If this tag is used more than
once in a true false question, any previous calls using this tag will be
ignored.
- <Incorrect>statement of the incorrect answer</Incorrect>
- This tag sets the text of the incorrect answer. This text string may consist
of any characters; however, it is recommended that you avoid using '&', '<',
and '>'. If this tag is used in a multiple choice question, it may be a
single word or a short phrase which incorrectly answers the text specified in
the <Question> tag. If this tag is used in a true false question, it will
more likely be a full sentence which may be displayed by itself without use of
the <Question> tag. In a multiple choice question this tag may be used
more than once. For multiple choice a maximum of 6 statements (correct and
incorrect) may be made. If this tag is used more than once in a true false
question, any previous calls using this tag will be ignored.
- <Title>text of the title</Title> - This tag gives the
question a name. This name appears at the top of the question in text which is
10 points larger than the text of the rest of the question. The text string
between the tag's opening and closing may consist of any character; however, it
is recommended that you stay away from the use of '&', '<', and '>'.
If this tag is called multiple times, only the last call to this tag is used by
WebRespond.
- <Name>name of the question file</Name> - This tag
specifies the name of the question file. The text string between the tag's
opening and closing should match the name of the question file exactly.
Although, a consistency check between the value of the <Name> tag and the
question file name is not performed, it may be enforced in future versions of
WebRespond. Also when reporting results of the students responses, the question
file name is used to identify the individual questions.
- <Tutorial>tutorial web address</Tutorial> - This tag
specifies the web address of a tutorial or useful information related to this
question. The text string between the tag's opening and closing should match
the format of a properly formed web address. This string of text is displayed
on the review portion of the question. Currently this text is not an active
link and the student will need to type this address into a web browser to get to
this tutorial.
- <Order>answer order</Order> - This tag determines the
order in which multiple choice answers are displayed. This tag only applies to
multiple choice questions and will be ignored in true false questions. The text
string between the tag's opening and closing must be either fixed or
random. If the order tag is not present, WebRespond will assume the
answers should be placed in random order.
- <Order>fixed</Order> - This tag forces the answers
provided by the <Correct> and <Incorrect> tags to be placed in the
same order in which they appear in the question file. This option works well
with questions where you want to list answers from smallest to largest. It also
is useful it you want to guarantee that every student sees identical quiz
questions.
- <Order>random</Order> - This tag randomly determines
the order in which answers appear on a question. Once the question is
displayed, the order is fixed and will appear the same if the student comes back
to this question. However, the advantage of this option is that each student
could see the answers in a different order. This does not complicate the
grading factor since WebRespond does the grading for you.
The following tags have no immediate use; however, they may be used to
document various aspects of the question file. Some of these tags help to
categorize the subject material being asked. In future versions of WebRespond
it is hoped that these categories may be used to diagnose areas where the
student is weakest.
- <Author>name of the question's author</Author> - This
tag specifies the author's name for this particular question. The text string
between the tag's opening and closing may consist of any characters. It is
recommended that you stay away from '&', '<', and '>'. This tag is
provided to designate ownership of this question.
- <Date>question creation date</Date> - This tag
specified the date on which the question was written. The text string between
the tag's opening and closing may consist of any characters. It is recommended
that you stay away from '&', '<', and '>'. This tag is provided to
document when this file was created.
- <Subject>subject area related to this question</Subject>
- This tag specifies the main subject area of the question. Suggested subject
areas might be 'Physics', 'Grammar', or 'Early American History'.
- <Topic>topic area related to this question</Topic> -
This tag specifies the topic within the main subject area of the question.
Suggested topics within 'Physics' might be 'Waves', 'Electricity', or
'Gravitation'.
- <Concept>key concept examined by this question</Concept>
- This tag identifies the key concept being tested by this question. This tag
helps to narrow the focus of the question to its main purpose.
- <Assoc>associated concepts related to this question</Assoc>
- This tag identifies additional concepts that are embodied in this question.
This tag could extend to concepts which lie outside the subject matter being
quizzed. In physics it is difficult to quiz a student without requiring a
knowledge of algebraic concepts.
- <Comment>documentation comments</Comment> - This tag
allows the writer to include comments in a formal fashion. Comments may be
added between tags and not affect the operation of WebRespond; however, comments
sprinkled through the file in this fashion will not be supported by auxillary
programs which may only recognize formal comments. It is recommended that you
stay away from '&', '<', and '>'.
Example: Multiple Choice Question File
A sample multiple choice question file is included so you may become
familiar with the look of the file. Also an image of WebRespond displaying the
question is given so you may see the connection between the specified tags and
the appearance of the question.
<comment>A sample quiz question for illustrating WebRespond</comment>
<name>biology.m1</name> *** name matches the file name
<type>multiple choice</type> *** this is a multiple choice question
<title>Cellular Systems</title> *** title of the question
<author>Steven Gollmer</author> *** name of the author
<date>September 18, 1997</date> *** date the quiz was written
<subject>Biology</subject> *** this is a biology question
<topic>Cytology</topic> *** more specifically cytology
<concept>Organelles</concept> *** more specifically organelles
<assoc>Cell metabolism</assoc> *** linked to metabolic processes
<question>Which of the following organelles supplies
energy for the cell?</question> *** this is the question to be asked
<correct>Mitochondria</correct> *** here's the right answer
<incorrect>Golgi Complex</incorrect> *** here's a wrong answer
<incorrect>Vacuole</incorrect> *** here's a wrong answer
<incorrect>Nucleolus</incorrect> *** here's a wrong answer
<order>random</order> *** place the answers in random order
The image included below was taken while this quiz question was displayed.
Notice that the title appears in a larger font and is at the top center. Four
possible answers may be chosen and the presented order is not the same as the
order in the question file. At the lower left corner you can see that the
student decided to chose answer A.
Example: True False Question File
A sample true false question file is included so you may become familiar
with the look of the file. Also an image of WebRespond displaying the question
is given so you may see the connection between the specified tags and the
appearance of the question.
<comment>A sample quiz question for illustrating WebRespond</comment>
<name>busstat.t1</name> *** name matches the file name
<type>true false</type> *** this is a true false question
<title>Data Collection</title> *** title of the question
<author>Steven Gollmer</author> *** name of the author
<date>September 18, 1997</date> *** date the quiz was written
<subject>Business Statistics</subject> *** this is a business stats question
<topic>Statistical Measures</topic> *** more specifically statistical measures
<concept>Variance</concept> *** more specifically variance
<correct>Increasing the number of data samples
does not guarantee that the variance of the data
will decrease.</correct> *** a correct answer
<incorrect>Increasing the number of data samples
always causes the variance of the data
to decrease.</incorrect> *** an incorrect answer
The image included below was taken while this quiz question was displayed.
Notice that the title appears in a larger font and is at the top center. One of
the possible answers is displayed. At the lower left corner you can see that
the student decided the answer was true.
