Quizzes in Moodle can help assess student learning. They can be used as a formative exercise that includes feedback and multiple attempts or a summative test with a strict time limit and shuffled questions. Learn how to create essay questions in quizzes with this article.
For more information on quizzes, adding questions, and the question bank:
For information beyond these articles, please visit Moodle documentation here and here.
1. Navigate to the course in which you would like to create questions. Locate your desired quiz or open the question bank, and add a question.
- If you are unsure of how to add questions to quizzes or to the question bank, please visit the articles listed at the top of this page.
2. You will be immediately directed to a window to choose your question type. Select "Essay", and then click "Add" at the bottom of the window.
3. Select the category in which you would like to place this question.
- Category: Select the category you would like the essay question to go into. For example, you may with to categorize questions by subject, unit, use in a midterm or final exam, etc.
4. Enter the question name and question text.
- Question name: Give the essay question a descriptive name. You will use the name to track your questions later, so "Question 1" is not a good idea. The name will be used in the question lists on the quiz editing page or in the lesson as a page title. It will not be shown to the students, so you can choose any name that makes sense to you and possibly other teachers.
- Question text: Create the question text. This is where you might write prompts, include relevant links, photos, etc.
5. Enter the question status, points, and general feedback.
- Question status: This allows you to set the question as a draft, or one that is ready to be used.
- Default points: Set the default question mark (grade).
- General feedback: If you wish, add general feedback. This text will appear to all students after they have answered the question, if you have allowed immediate feedback in the quiz settings. This is different than specific feedback, which will depend on the question type and response. For example, you might use this to provide students a fully worked example and links to resources about the material.
6. Select necessary Response options settings.
- Response format: Select how you would like students to respond to this question. There are several options for students to enter text directly into the response field (either HTML or plain text), or you can remove the option to add online text.
- Require text: This option is only available if you have made the response field available. You can choose between requiring students to type text in the response box or having it be optional.
- Input box size: Decide how many lines you would like students to see in their text box. This is used to indicate the length of the answer expected. This box will get larger, if needed, as students are typing their response.
- Allow attachments: Select whether you would like to require attachments, and the number of required attachments. If you do not make the response field available, please allow students to attach files as this will be the only way they are able to provide any answer.
- Information for graders: Add information for graders, as appropriate.
7. Enter any necessary text into the response template.
- Response template: Any text entered here will be displayed in the response input box when a new attempt at the question starts. For example, you may wish to prefill prompts or other information students will use in their response.
8. Enter any necessary text for Grader information.
- Information for graders: Add information for graders, as appropriate. For example, you might include a rubric or guidelines for scoring an essay.
9. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Save changes" button.
- You have now successfully added an essay question to your Quiz in Moodle!
- For information on other question types, see the articles below: