Mutiple choice grading problem

Mutiple choice grading problem

by Si Wooler -
Number of replies: 13

Hi everyone

I have a challenge regarding multiple answer, multiple choice questions. I need to be able to make a grade/mark contingent on giving ALL of the potentially correct answers which means that if there are 4 out of five answers that are correct then checking all of them is the only way to get a score for that question. Otherwise the score must be zero, even if you get 3 out of the 5. I understand how to make the fifth (incorrect) answer give a "fatal" result but is it possible to make a correct answer contingent on checking ALL that are correct?


Regards

Si

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In reply to Si Wooler

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Chris Halweg -

AFAIK this is not possible.  I too would like to do this.  The only way is to make each correct answer worth 25%.  If you make the 5th answer -100% and they only choose it they can get negative credit for the problem.  This was a recent change to Moodle that is problematic.  If you don't make some choices worth negative credit, then the student can just select all choices and always get full credit.

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In reply to Chris Halweg

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Emma Richardson -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

I thought there was an all or nothing question type out there that did exactly this...

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In reply to Emma Richardson

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Si Wooler -

Hi Emma

That's exactly what I need.


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In reply to Si Wooler

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Si Wooler -

I found it!

https://moodle.org/plugins/pluginversions.php?plugin=qtype_multichoiceset

Sadly it's for 2.6 which will involve an upgrade for me sad

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In reply to Si Wooler

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Your students won't like it at all when they get 3 out of 4 items correct but get zero credit. I speak from experience.

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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Si Wooler -

The question requires that they get all of the elements correct in order to earn a mark for that particular question. They are made aware of that and it's a tough and challenging test. That's just the way it is. No "easy button" with us ;)

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In reply to Si Wooler

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by jay lopez -

I wanted to make a similar question in the past and since it can't be done, I worked around it. My solution is like this:

What are the primary colors?

a. red, green, blue

b. blue, violet, red

c. red, yellow, blue

d.....

It might be the closest solution without upgrading ;)

Maybe this will be good enough for your purpose?

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In reply to jay lopez

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

It was not about easy or hard, it was about fairness and credit. Students simply felt cheated of the knowledge  they had demonstrated. They don't mind not getting marks for things they don't know or mistakes they make, but they resent having credit taken away when they have demonstrated some correct responses. But its your quiz, your quiz, your pedagogy. I was relaying my extensive experience with that type of question.

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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Steve Ambro v3.8 -

I run into problems of realism with situations such as this.  After all, I would not want a heart surgeon or an architect to be 75% correct and be considered successful.  Would you?

Maybe it can be an all-or-none grading but show which responses were incorrect, no?

I have heard the students squawk about this but, sooner or later, do they not have to learn to separate academia from reality?

The one time I used CBM and the reaction was almost violent.  (-:




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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Si Wooler -

I respect your experience in your organization Marcus. I wouldn't dream of questioning it. Ours is a program for professionals in their field who experience non of the resentments you suggest as their motivation is to gain all of the knowledge available. We run tests in other environments that support this as the "students" are always shown which elements of the question they got right and which ones they didn't ( as in our context a comprehensive understanding without omission is important to us and to our students). Without exception they all find that a useful learning tool which generates discussion and debate which is handled positively and progressively. As an organization we are extremely experienced and skilled in delivering positive reinforcement learning and do so in many ways, not just in the way we manage our quizzes. I'm not clear what is "unfair" about that but thank you for your input

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In reply to Si Wooler

Re: Mutiple choice grading problem

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

I was just thinking about this in the gym (how very non geek). The reason I used to use these type of questions was it was the default with the commercial VLE I was working with. From a teacher perspective I was mainly (exclusively?) interested in formative assessment, i.e. working out what they did and did not know and where they misunderstood things. 

Analysing the results from questions where credit was only given when all correct options were selected was difficult. As I said the students resented not getting credit for the items where they had shown correct knowledge, they were mainly aged between 16 and 22. Giving feedback on each item as you do is a very, very good idea.

But existence of the "all or nothing multiple choice" question type shows the glory of Free/Libre GPL software where people can create solutions that address their requirements. I really don't like it when software makes assumptions about how I am going to use it, it is amazing the variations on peoples needs.

I created a version of the Cloze question type (called Gapfill) and have been delighted with the different ways people have used it and the requests for features that I could create that allowed it to be used in ways I would have never considered.

I am working on a new release at the moment that has a tiny new feature that can really enhance how it is used. I would never have thought of it unless someone had asked in these forums.

As I mis typed in my last post, it's your teaching, your questions, your quiz, your pedagogy, go for it.

In the words of the philosopher king Martin Dougiamas "Moodle loves teachers"

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