Ungraded parts of questions

Ungraded parts of questions

by H Singh -
Number of replies: 4

I am new to using Moodle for exams, but am thinking that I would like the ability to do the following (shuffle is on - and I know if I switched that off, I could perhaps mimic something like this, but to discourage cheating, I want to keep shuffle on - both externally and internally - so please do not suggest "no shuffle+grade%=0 for Part A" as a solution):

1. Design a question with two parts - A and B. Suggests cloze.

2. Part A consists of an essay type response, with MathJax/TeX etc. in which the student puts down the symbolic / numerical solution that he or she came up with.

3. Part B is any type of response, but specifically (and I state this because it does not seem to exist as a question type in cloze) is a calculated type (that means - wildcards and ranges) response. Other possibilities - true/false, short answer, etc.

4. Part A is not graded at all (not even manual grading). Its simply recorded as a student response for the instructor to view if he or she wishes to.

5. Part B is graded.

6. There can be Part C, D, E, etc. treated just like Part B (all graded responses).

The advantage of this would be manifest to anyone conducting exams in sciences and engineering. Very often, we are not only interested in the right answer, but also (or rather, even more) the reasoning that lay behind that answer. Put another way, if the reasoning is correct, but the answer is wrong because of a calculation error, the student should reasonably expect to receive most of the credit for his or her attempt.

Right now, I have a few calculated type questions in an exam I am about to conduct, and I am extremely uneasy about penalizing good students who may make a calculation error in a calculated type question (happens far more commonly than you may think). The absence of a part A means that they have no way of telling me that they get the question but did not manage to crank out the right number. Even if it is a units error (I know there are limited ways to fix that at least), I have no way to know.

I know that nothing like this exists in Moodle currently. Are there any plans to include something like this?

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In reply to H Singh

Re: Ungraded parts of questions

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I think the way one would implement this in Moodle is as a 'question behaviour' plugin. That would show, after each question, an extra "explain your answer" input box. The value would be saved, but would not affect the automated grade calculation. However, teachers could see what was there, and adjust the grade that was assigned if appropriate.

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Ungraded parts of questions

by H Singh -

Just saw your response. I have another thread on this. Instead of something that I would like, this has become a showstopper of sorts as its lack affected many students.

How do I go about adding this behaviour to the calculated question type?

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In reply to H Singh

Re: Ungraded parts of questions

by dawn alderson -

Hi,

oh my, this is something that really interests me (so look out!)...

Been thinking about this.  Pedagogically-absolutely sterling move to have this, really it is.  I have gone on about this elsewhere in the forums and with other online colleague-learning communities...but I can provide the L&T rationale here if need be-just let me know-it is solid I can assure you-but possibly lengthy-number of layers to it.

Anyway...I would say it is not only those said subject-areas that could make good use of this feature, let us call it a reason-behind- the- response- box for now.     

Now, we know there are options to design quizzes that require a qual/wordy answer already in place, but with numerical quiz responses/design there is no text box for respondent's reasoned annotations.  

Now, we also know that most quizzes have description text-box...why not just use that code (tweaked) so student can have a place to annotate answers.  We know qual responses are one thing and are accommodated....and can be graded....but the annotation box would just be that....no need for grading -other than manual if need be.  This way it may be a really nice way to avoid plug-in (a teacher's delight!).  

I say this because they are the ones who will know the 'value added' of this feature for their practice, not least for quiz and teaching but such info can inform planning....'why' students make the choices in the quiz-what they bring to the table in terms of gaps in knowledge as well as what can be built upon for knowledge dev/understanding.  

A winner of a feature for sure.

D   

 

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In reply to dawn alderson

Re: Ungraded parts of questions

by H Singh -

Thanks for the ringing endorsement! Glad to know that I am not the only one seeing this as an essential (must-have) feature. The absence of this really struck me as odd, given how much simpler (relatively speaking, compared to the code for a calculated type question) it must be to have a text box field included with each calculated type question.

In a month, I am supposed to conduct the final exam for my course, and I need to have this available/enabled in some way. I guess a workaround could be to create some dummy questions, which are essay type, have their grade contribution set to zero, and tell the students at exam time to go hunt for the corresponding essay type question to plug their reasoning or steps into. Since shuffle is on (and that is something I will not change), this could result in "question 18" (say), being the justification for the answer in question 3. Really untidy way of doing things, which is certain to lead to wasted student time, and needless time crunch as they frantically search for the right "question" to "answer".

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