Multiple Response

Description

A question type, similar to an MCQ, but one which allows multiple options to be correct.

Rationale

One of the limitations of an MCQ is that it is limited to a single correct option only. In many situtations (such as 'Countries in Europe') multiple correct answers are needed.

Fit Criterion

Presentation

• The UI should present options as checkboxes to allow multiple correct answers to be selected.
• If negative marking is used then an 'abstain' option is automatically added to the interface by the system when the paper is taken. This option should be at the end of the user definable options and should be visually different for students to recognise it (e.g. <abstain> in dark red colour).
• When a student selects the <abstain> option all other checkboxes should clear.
• When a 'normal' option is selected the <abstain> checkbox should be cleared.
• When 'Mark per Option' is employed the system should stop students checking more than the correct number of options (this check is not needed in 'Mark per Question'). This is designed to stop students checking all options and getting 100% of the marks.
• When a user clicks on the option text (as opposed to the checkbox) the option should be toggled from black to grey strikeout. This is so that students can dismiss options they know to be wrong to aid the cognitive process.
• Below the question should be displayed the total number of marks available for the question.
• If negative marking is used then the marks label should include the text 'negative marking'.
• The "include 'other' textbox" option only works with surveys. It presents an additional option with a blank textbox to allow the user to specify an unlisted option. When a student enters a textual answer it should automatically select the checkbox.

Marking

Two basic marking methods are possible:

In either marking method academic staff should be able to specify the number of marks to award if correct and the number (possibly negative) if wrong. Marks correct should range from 1 to 20 and marks incorrect from 0 to -10 with the addition of -0.25 and -0.5.

Feedback

Feedback includes:

• Tick/Cross show what the student has got right/wrong
• Bold options show the correct answers
• Student mark out of possible number.
• Textual feedback is available for each option (different feedback can be written if the student gets it right as opposed to wrong)
• If standard setting has been used this should be displayed
• List of learning objectives that the question is linked to

Limited Save

After a question has locked it should only be possible to change the following aspects:

• The correct option checkboxes
• Status - only 'Normal' or 'Retired' (not 'Incomplete', 'Experimental' or 'Beta')
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Keywords
• Teams

Standard Setting

• When 'Mark per Option' is used it should be possible to rate each correct option.
• When 'Mark per Question' is used there is only one rating per question.

Data Format

Correct Answer

Each option has its own record in the options table. The 'correct' field holds 'y' if the option is correct or 'n' if it is not.

Student Answer

There is only one records stored for an MRQ question in the relevant log table. The 'user_answer' field holds a concatenated set of characters, one for each option:

• y = student ticked this option
• n = student left it unticked

If negative marking is used an 'abstain' option will automatically be included. When this is selected one 'a' character will be stored in 'user_answer'.