I would be really grateful if you could all take a look at these proposals and give us your comments. Obviously, with a fairly major change like this, it is important to get it right. I know that lots of you have lots of experience in using the quiz and will be able to say how well this might work in practice. And the chances are, you can think of ways to improve what we suggest.
We definitely want to achieve a consensus on this. We feel that these changes, or something like them, are essential to make Moodle quiz work effectively for us, but it is not feasible for us to make these changes in an OU-only way. (But surely, I'm quiz maintainer, I can do anything I want!
Those of you who want to find an ulterior motive in this, or a conspiracy theory, need look no further than our other online assessment system: OpenMark (which, incidentally, is now Free Software). What we are proposing does make the Moodle quiz more like OpenMark. We think this is a good thing. We have been using OpenMark, (or systems like it) for over 10 years, and found that they work really well in practice. We think we have taken the lessons learned from developing OpenMark, and and used them to suggest a way to improve the Moodle quiz in a way that is consistent with the traditions of the Moodle quiz.
Finally, I will just note that I have timed starting this discussion really badly, because I am off on holiday from tomorrow until next Wednesday, so I won't necessarily be able to join in any discussion that takes place. I just hope I have explained everything clearly enough.
(I am heading up to Dundee, Scotland. If there are any Moodlers near there who are interested in meeting up, email me before about 9:00am tomorrow, UK time.)