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For current information please use the current ExamSys documentation

Ranking

Description

Allows a candidate to rank a number of options in order.

Rationale

Be able to create questions to elicit knowedge of order.

Fit Criterion

Presentation

  • Presentation order should allow:
    • Display order as entered in the editor
    • Alphabetic - automatic by Rogo
    • Random - randomly shuffled at display time
  • Students should be stopped from selecting the same rank for multiple options (apart from 'N/A')
  • 'N/A' should only be an option if 'N/A' is one of the answers.

Marking

Two basic marking methods are possible:

Mark per OptionThe question is marked out of the number of correct options.
Mark per QuestionAll options have to be correctly answered for the mark
Allow partial MarksAllow partial marks allows the academic to specify their own number of marks for this category. Students will receive partial marks if they are one away from the correct rank. For example, if we were ranking the position of planets then a position of 2 or 4 for the Earth would receive partial marks.
Bonus MarkThis is a fairly mis-understood method. It was initially asked for by the Medical School. It basically works in two phases: 1) mark as per a Multiple Response question, then 2) if all the rank positions are correct apply the bonus mark. The 'Bonus Mark' method of marking should only be used when asking students to rank less options than the overall number presented.

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.

A note on student abstaining when Mark per Question:

When negative marking is enabled if a student does not answer any part of the question (they abstain) then they will receive 0 marks. If they do not abstain but do not complete the question they will get a negative mark.

If negative marking is disabled if a student does not answer any part of the question (they abstain) then they will receive 0 marks. If they do not abstain but do not complete the question they will get 0 marks.

Feedback

Feedback includes:

  • Tick/Cross show what the student has got right/wrong
  • Bold options show the correct answers (positions)
  • Student mark out of possible number.
  • Textual feedback is available for the question as a whole
  • 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 answers
  • Marks available
  • Feedback
  • 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 the number (i.e. rank) of that option. One equals 1st, two 2nd and so on. In some situations a lecturer may include distractor options that should not actually be ranked. The answer to these should be set to 'N/A'. These are stored in the database as zero.

Student Answer

A single record in the relevant log table is used to store the student answer to all the options within one ranking question. Each option to be ranked is separated with a comma. The numbering is the same as above.

  • zero = N/A
  • u = student left option blank (Unanswered)