I'm trying to put together the typical reading comprehension exercise by using the quiz module but I'm finding that it is a bit too rigid for what I need. Most likely the problem is that since I'm totally new to Moodle I just haven't learned the right trick, so I would like to get some help from the more experienced Moodle quiz builders.
My problem is the following. Before the student is asked to answer a question (be that multiple choice or True/False), s/he must be presented with a text. So the first thing I'd like to know is how to generate a screen of text without any questions. Once the user reads the text, s/he could click a button to go to a different screen and start answering. Furthermore, to improve usability, I would like to use larger fonts. That creates a problem when a text is too long, because the user has to keep scrolling and scrolling until s/he reaches the end of the text. I would like to be able to do is to split the text into different parts so that each one of them could be viewed in a single screen with very clear big enough fonts. The user could keep advancing or go back to a previous screen with the appropriate buttons.
There is even something more "sophisticated" that I would like to achieve. When the students are already answering the questions, I would like for them to have the option to visualize the appropriate segment of text that is relevant to answer the question. For this I would need to add a button next to the questions which would be linked to some sort of pop up window where the appropriate paragraph or segment would be displayed. It would also be a good idea to have a way to make the user pay a little "penalty" if s/he resorts to this kind of help by opening this window (this encourages more careful reading,).
Is this something that is very easy to do (even if I have to fiddle with the web pages generated by the quiz module) or am I asking too much from the quiz module in its present state. Perhaps for people in other fields this is not such an important feature, but people working in language teaching do make a lot of use of reading comprehension exercises and I think the format I am suggesting would be a nice addition to the quiz module if there was an easy way to implement it.
Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciate it.
Josep M.
Firstly, to insert texts among questions use a question ot type "Description".
Secondly, you really should look into the Lesson module ... one of its major purposes is comprehension testing.
Secondly, you really should look into the Lesson module ... one of its major purposes is comprehension testing.
Dear Josep, (this reply was originally posted here in the Moodle for Language Teaching forums)
I am already doing both of the reading comprehension points you requested in my Moodle quizzes, though not as elegantly as you hope. Also, be sure to try Martin's suggestion to use the Lesson Module--it has a lot of flexibility and features.
1. Presenting a Text: I use the "Description" item as mentioned by a number of folks. If you need help implementing this, let us know and we will walk you through it. Stephen's suggestion to put the text in the Introduction field is also an excellent approach, especially if you have one question for one text or if you want to do question shuffling (see below).
2. Pop-up Window of Relevent Text: Instead of a pop-up window, I use the "Feedback" box in each M/C answer. If a student answers wrong, they get feedback. In the feedback, I give the relevent text and say, "Look here and try again". The penalty is simply that the student must try again more times. If you want a penalty in points, then set the quiz to 'average' all the attempts. Then a person who requires more attempts will get a lower average score than the person who gets it right with a few attempts.
For me, the purpose of a quiz is to recycle activities done in class. I have one class a week and usually give one follow-up quiz per week along with other activities. Here are my typical settings for quizzes.
I am already doing both of the reading comprehension points you requested in my Moodle quizzes, though not as elegantly as you hope. Also, be sure to try Martin's suggestion to use the Lesson Module--it has a lot of flexibility and features.
1. Presenting a Text: I use the "Description" item as mentioned by a number of folks. If you need help implementing this, let us know and we will walk you through it. Stephen's suggestion to put the text in the Introduction field is also an excellent approach, especially if you have one question for one text or if you want to do question shuffling (see below).
2. Pop-up Window of Relevent Text: Instead of a pop-up window, I use the "Feedback" box in each M/C answer. If a student answers wrong, they get feedback. In the feedback, I give the relevent text and say, "Look here and try again". The penalty is simply that the student must try again more times. If you want a penalty in points, then set the quiz to 'average' all the attempts. Then a person who requires more attempts will get a lower average score than the person who gets it right with a few attempts.
For me, the purpose of a quiz is to recycle activities done in class. I have one class a week and usually give one follow-up quiz per week along with other activities. Here are my typical settings for quizzes.
- unlimited attempts: I tell each student they should try for 100%
- count highest score: no penalty for many attempts
- show feedback: and give relevent text, (and often put in funny comments as well
) - build on previous attempts: this way they don't have to reclick answers they get right.
- do not show correct answers: if they see the correct answer right away, they stop thinking and stop trying.
- allow review: I want them to go back and study the quizzes for a later test.
OK, thanks a lot to everybody again. This will help. I had totally missed the 'lesson' module. When Martin suggested this is what I could use, I searched the forums and I saw a previous discussion where there were suggestions to change its name. I would kind of agree with that. Because of its name, it didn't even occur to me that it would do what it does. I think I'll
try what Martin and Don suggest, though, and use the description to insert the text. I've done
a little test and it works quite well.
I still need some time to figure out how the grading system works. I don't understand how setting the quiz to 'average' would work to get points taken out. In my ideal quiz (that someday I will be able to build, hopefully within Moodle --I'm hooked now, there is no going back) I would like to have some sort of a counter at the beginning of an activity and a certain amount of points would be taken out depending of what kind of help is used or what type of mistake is made (the creator of the activity would be able to decide whether ther is a penalty or not and, if there is, how many points are taken away). In my experience students have enjoyed some mild form of competitiveness even if it is with themselves. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and makes the activity more challenging. If what you say about setting the quiz to 'average' does that, then I don't need to do anything else.
By the way, I guess there is no way of doing cross-postings in these forums. I posted this call for help in two different forums and I realize now how hard it is to keep track of all the places where I have contributed. Sure, separating topics keeps things more organized but there are sometimes where a contribution might be relevant in different forums. I certainly obtained useful help in the two places where I asked for information about how to adapt the different modules to my needs.
Well, anyway, thanks so much to everybody. I hope I will be soon be able to help others.
Josep M.
try what Martin and Don suggest, though, and use the description to insert the text. I've done
a little test and it works quite well.
I still need some time to figure out how the grading system works. I don't understand how setting the quiz to 'average' would work to get points taken out. In my ideal quiz (that someday I will be able to build, hopefully within Moodle --I'm hooked now, there is no going back) I would like to have some sort of a counter at the beginning of an activity and a certain amount of points would be taken out depending of what kind of help is used or what type of mistake is made (the creator of the activity would be able to decide whether ther is a penalty or not and, if there is, how many points are taken away). In my experience students have enjoyed some mild form of competitiveness even if it is with themselves. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and makes the activity more challenging. If what you say about setting the quiz to 'average' does that, then I don't need to do anything else.
By the way, I guess there is no way of doing cross-postings in these forums. I posted this call for help in two different forums and I realize now how hard it is to keep track of all the places where I have contributed. Sure, separating topics keeps things more organized but there are sometimes where a contribution might be relevant in different forums. I certainly obtained useful help in the two places where I asked for information about how to adapt the different modules to my needs.
Well, anyway, thanks so much to everybody. I hope I will be soon be able to help others.
Josep M.