New Question type development

New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Number of replies: 15

Hi Tim

I have been reading your notes on How to Write a Question Type Plugin:

http://docs.moodle.org/en/How_to_write_a_question_type_plugin

I am very pleased to see this as there is a question type which we badly need to develop as it is used in many of our currently paper-based courses and I haven't managed to find it anywhere else. 

I note in your article that the template is not complete and that you will continue to update the notes as you go along.

A few questions on this:

  1. What still needs to be done before this will be ready to use?
  2. Do you have a rough estimate of when it may be completed (we all understand "rough estimate" doesn't always happen as planned)?
  3. I have not done any of this type of development before, is there some reading that I should do or things I should be looking up in preparation apart from the obvious things in Developer Docs?
  4. This one is an open question to everyone on the forum - Does anyone else have a need for a question type where the student marks themself against a model answer so that no tutor intervention is required?  This is very useful for allowing a student to see how they are doing in preparation for Exams etc where the answer is not just a single word.

Thanks for the help

Peter

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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Core developers এর ছবি Documentation writers এর ছবি Particularly helpful Moodlers এর ছবি Peer reviewers এর ছবি Plugin developers এর ছবি
I find myself having to put together a new question type in the very near future (ie, days), so I'll keep one eye on the docs.

I'm more concerned about the differences between 1.8 and 1.9. There's clearly some considerations but I'm unsure if they have been documented anywhere yet.
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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Core developers এর ছবি Particularly helpful Moodlers এর ছবি Plugin developers এর ছবি Testers এর ছবি Translators এর ছবি

Hi Peter,

1- The only experience I have in writing a question type plugin was the regexp question type which is basically an extension of the existing shortanswer question type. So I started from the shortanswer question type and did the necessary modifications in its various files. This is of course only possible when a new question type is fairly close to an existing one, at least to start with.

2- I am very interested in you new plugin, although I do not quite see what it might look like from the short description you give: "... a question type where the student marks themself against a model answer so that no tutor intervention is required? " Would it look more like a shortanswer type or a Multiple Choice type? I'm puzzled and would like to see some real-world examples.

Joseph

PS.- I agree with Howard that an important consideration is whether to start developing such new question type plugins for 1.8 or straight away for 1.9, considering the differences.

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In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Hi Peter,

I may have a (non-development) solution for you.... I don't have time to outline it in detail here. I've lost your phone number, can you give me a ring so I can quickly go through it with you and if it works perhaps you could post the method here...

Edit:

Found a simpler way....
1.8
Put each learner in a group.
Use essay question with feedback or general feedback (the model answer)
Set up quiz as desired but ensure that feedback and or general feedback may be reviewed and that quiz is set for separate groups.
Override student role to allow Grade quizzes manually and View quiz reports.

Learner attempts question(s) and submits attempt.
Accesses results, and can see own submission, feedback/general feedback which is the model answer.
Clicks link to manually grade.

Yay! I think that's it. হ্যাঁ

(you may want to edit the language pack a little)

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In reply to Ray Lawrence

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা

Hi Ray

Thanks for the response, I will contact you directly and feedback any progress back to the forum.

Peter

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In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা

Hi Joseph

Thanks for your post.

The question type which I am looking towards would be more like a short answer than a multiple choice question. I have a course which has been paper-based for 30 or so years and we simply want to make an online version of it. It is available in over 50 languages, so having a standard format which would work with Importing questions and answers in a standard format where I am not familiar with the language is key for us.

A question would look somthing like this:

1. What name did Jesus give to the Scripture? (John 10:35)

Type your answer below:

Submit button

Student then sees:

1. What name did Jesus give to the Scripture? (John 10:35)

The student's answer

The model answer

Please score your answer: __/1

The complexities that I see which may cause a problem, but are undoubtably solveable, are that:

  • I would like the student to be able to see a form with the Question, Their Answer, the Model Answer and their score at any stage after the quiz for the purpose of printing it or review;
  • There are also notes to the correct answers, but I presume this is where feedback comes in (I haven't used it up till now);
  •  Some questions have more than one part eg:

20. List four things from the following verses that God’s Word does for His people.

(1) (John 15:3) (Eph. 5:26)

 

(2) (John 17:17)

 

(3) (Acts 20:32)

(4) (Acts 20:32)

 

 

The concept seems so simple to me, but I think that making it a reality may take quite a lot of work.  As you point out, it would be worth keeping the 1.9 developments in mind and I think that while we wouldn't need the funcitionality that the new version brings, it may prevent later upgrade issues?

I have seen Ray's post and have tried to contact him.  While I think that his workaround may help in the short term, having to set up groups and monitor new enrolments etc. is one of the reasons that I would like a new question type which stands on its own without any further intervention required.

Thanks

Peter

 

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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা

Instead of developing a new question type, I have been working on setting up a student marked quiz going along the lines of a suggestion of using the Essay question type and Overriding the student role to be able them to grade the quiz manually and view quiz reports and it works really well, except...

When the student goes back in to the quiz, they are able to see the results tab and view, mark and edit other students' answers.

Can anyone advise me how we can ensure that the student can have those permissions (Grade Quiz Manually and View Quiz Reports) but only see their own results and only grade their own questions? 

I have basically finished setting up the course now, so I would ideally like to move on with this method if at all possible rather than starting again.

I am using Moodle 1.8

Thanks

Peter

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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Core developers এর ছবি Documentation writers এর ছবি Particularly helpful Moodlers এর ছবি Peer reviewers এর ছবি Plugin developers এর ছবি
Not currently possible - unless you put students in groups with one student per group, and switch the quiz to separate groups mode.
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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা

Hi Tim

Excuse my ignorance, but I haven't worked with groups before - can this be set up to happen automatically or is it a manual process?

Thanks

Peter

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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Core developers এর ছবি Documentation writers এর ছবি Particularly helpful Moodlers এর ছবি Peer reviewers এর ছবি Plugin developers এর ছবি
I fear it is probably manual. Although there is some sort of upload interface in admin somewhere, that may be the easiest way to do this.
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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা

Hi Tim and others

I have been in contact with Moodle HQ about building an automatic group creation plugin which would mean that each student would be put into their own group at enrolment.  As I understand it from what Tim and Ray have said in the past, this should mean that they would not be able to see anyone else's Grades etc.

Well, I have done a bit of testing on this, creating different student
profiles and putting them each in their own groups; setting the course
to Separate Groups mode and then doing a quiz in the different student
profiles. 

It appears to me that when I go back into the quiz after
completion (as student) and select the Results tab, the Overview is
affected by the Separate Groups and I only see the logged in student's
quiz, but Manual Grading doesn't appear to be picking up the Separate
Groups functionality. 

Is this a bug or have I missed something?

Thanks

Peter

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In reply to Peter Lindop

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Hi Peter,

I'm going to be working on the documentation in the next week or so, hopefully finishing up by the end of next week. There's nothing wrong with the TEMPLATE type as it stands so you could go ahead and use it as a starting point now, but it would be easier to use with some more documentation, both inline in the code and in the wiki/README, so that's what I'm going to be working on.

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In reply to Adriane Boyd

Re: New Question type development

{$a->নাম} - {$a->তারিখ} দ্বারা
Core developers এর ছবি Documentation writers এর ছবি Particularly helpful Moodlers এর ছবি Peer reviewers এর ছবি Plugin developers এর ছবি
Realistically, I am not going to get time to work on these docs any time soon. Adraine was employed as part of the Google Summer of Code and successfully wrote four question types using the incomplete docs and looking at the code for other questions, so it is not impossible. And it is great that she is going to use her experiences to improve the documentation.

It would be great if other people who have written question types could similarly improve the docs.

I will review any changes made to those docs, and add any clarifications I can.
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