Source: own illustration
Moodle offers a wide variety of activities to support students in their learning. The “Test” is one of the most frequently used activities in RWTHmoodle. It allows you to create online quizzes with various question types—from multiple-choice and matching questions to math problems. Tests are particularly useful for ongoing assessment of learning progress and self-assessment throughout the semester.
In this post, we’ll introduce you to the most important features of the Test activity and show you the options available for creating quiz questions.
Test vs. StudentQuiz
In a “Test,” quiz questions are created and edited exclusively by administrators and then answered by students. In the standalone “StudentQuiz” activity, however, students can also create their own quiz questions and have them answered and graded by their peers. One advantage of this is that, since both Tests and StudentQuizzes offer the same question types, particularly well-crafted questions can be transferred from a StudentQuiz to a Test if needed.
Create a Test
To create a Test, it makes the most sense to first create the questions in the question bank. This is the central storage location for quiz questions in a learning space. From there, the questions can be incorporated into one or more Tests. In addition to standard multiple-choice and matching questions, the test also supports open-ended and semi-open-ended question types, in which students enter short texts or terms themselves. These answers are automatically checked and compared with stored solutions. This allows, for example, terms, definitions, or short explanations to be automatically evaluated.
For math problems, the test activity offers so-called “calculated questions.” These use a problem statement with variables that are automatically populated with different numbers for each test attempt. This way, students receive individual numerical values but must apply the same calculation structure. The results are then automatically checked against the stored formula.
For more complex mathematical inputs, the STACK question type is available, which can also automatically evaluate mathematical expressions and calculation paths. If you’d like to try out STACK first, you can use the demo room. To gain access, please contact RWTH Moodle Support.
Preparation Is Everything
Questions do not have to be created individually in the question bank; they can also be imported from a file. This allows you to prepare quiz questions in bulk first and then import them directly into Moodle.
To import them, the questions must be in a format supported by Moodle. The Word table format is particularly well-suited for this purpose. Questions and answers are entered into a structured Word table and then imported directly into the question bank. Depending on the question type, other import formats are also available.
If you have any questions about the Test activity or RWTHmoodle, the RWTHmoodle Support team will be happy to assist you.
Responsible for the content of this article is Verena Grouls.
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