--- /dev/null
+<p align="center"><b>Handling of Re-takes</b></p>
+
+<p>When students are allowed to re-take the lesson, this option allows the
+ teacher to show the grade for the lesson in, for example, the Grades page,
+ as either the <b>mean</b>, this is average, of the grades over the first
+ and subsequent tries or as the grade from the students' <b>best</b> tries.</p>
+
+<p>This option can be changed at any time.</p>
+
--- /dev/null
+<P ALIGN=CENTER><B>Importing new questions</B></P>
+
+<P>This function allows you to import questions from
+ external text files, uploaded through a form.
+
+<P>A number of file formats are supported:
+
+<P><B>GIFT format</B></P>
+<ul>
+<p>GIFT is the most comprehensive import format available for importing
+ Moodle quiz questions from a text file. It was designed to be an easy
+ method for teachers writing questions as a text file. It supports Multiple-Choice,
+ True-False, Short Answer, Matching and Numerical questions, as well as insertion
+ of a _____ for the "missing word" format. Various question-types can be
+ mixed in a single text file, and the format also supports line comments, question names,
+ feedback and percentage-weight grades. Below are some examples:</p>
+<pre>
+Who's buried in Grant's tomb?{~Grant ~Jefferson =no one}
+
+Grant is {~buried =entombed ~living} in Grant's tomb.
+
+Grant is buried in Grant's tomb.{FALSE}
+
+Who's buried in Grant's tomb?{=no one =nobody}
+
+When was Ulysses S. Grant born?{#1822}
+</pre>
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formatgift.html&module=quiz">More info about the "GIFT" format</a></p>
+</ul>
+
+<P><B>Aiken format</B></P>
+<ul>
+<p>The Aiken format is a very simple way of creating multiple choice questions using a very clear human-readable format. Here is an example of the format:</p>
+<pre>
+What is the purpose of first aid?
+A. To save life, prevent further injury, preserve good health
+B. To provide medical treatment to any injured or wounded person
+C. To prevent further injury
+D. To aid victims who may be seeking help
+ANSWER: A
+</pre>
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formataiken.html&module=quiz">More info about the "Aiken" format</a></p>
+</ul>
+
+
+<P><B>Missing Word</B></P>
+<UL>
+<P>This format only supports multiple choice questions.
+Each answer is separated with a tilde (~), and the correct answer is
+prefixed with an equals sign (=). Here is an example:
+
+<BLOCKQUOTE>As soon as we begin to explore our body parts as infants
+we become students of {=anatomy and physiology ~reflexology
+~science ~experiment}, and in a sense we remain students for life.
+</BLOCKQUOTE>
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formatmissingword.html&module=quiz">More info about the "Missing Word" format</a></p>
+</UL>
+
+
+<P><B>AON</B></P>
+<UL>
+<P>This is the same as Missing Word Format, except that after importing
+ the questions all Short-Answer questions are converted four at a time
+ into Matching Questions.</P>
+<p>Additionally, the answers of multiple-choice questions are randomly
+ shuffled during the import.
+<p>It's named after an organisation that sponsored the development of many
+ quiz features</p>
+</UL>
+
+
+<P><B>Blackboard</B></P>
+<UL>
+<P>This module can import questions saved in Blackboard's export
+format. It relies on XML functions being compiled into your PHP.</P>
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formatblackboard.html&module=quiz">More info about the "Blackboard" format</a></p>
+</UL>
+
+<P><B>Course Test Manager</B></P>
+<UL>
+<P>This module can import questions saved in a Course Test Manager test bank.
+It relies on different ways of accessing the test bank, which is in a Microsoft Access
+database, depending on whether Moodle is running on a Windows or Linux web server.</P>
+<p>On Windows it lets you upload the access database just like any other data import file.</p>
+<p>On Linux, you must set up a windows machine on the same network with the Course Test
+Manager database and a piece of software called the ODBC Socket Server, which uses XML
+to transfer data to moodle on the Linux server.</p> <p>Please read the full help file below before
+using this import class.</p>
+
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formatctm.html&module=quiz">More info about the "CTM" format</a></p>
+</UL>
+
+<P><B>Custom</B></P>
+<UL>
+<P>If you have your own format that you need to import, you can
+ implement it yourself by editing mod/quiz/format/custom.php
+
+<P>The amount of new code needed is quite small - just enough
+ to parse a single question from given text.
+
+<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=formatcustom.html&module=quiz">More info about the "Custom" format</a></p>
+</UL>
+
+
+<P>More formats are yet to come, including WebCT, IMS QTI and whatever else
+ Moodle users can contribute! </p>
<p align="center"><b>The Maximum Number of Answers in a Lesson</b></p>
<p>This value determines the maximum number of answers the teacher can use.
- The default value is 4. If the lesson uses only TRUE or FALSE
+ The default value is 4. If the lesson uses only, say, TRUE or FALSE
questions throughout then it is sensible to set this value to 2.</p>
-<p>It is safe to change this value in a lesson with existing content.</p>
+<p>This parameter also sets the maximum number of Branches that can be used in
+ a Branch Table.</p>
+
+<p>It is safe to change the value of this parameter in a lesson with existing
+ content. In fact if you want to add a question with many choices or a long
+ Branch table changing this parameter will be necessary. After the (unusual)
+ question or BranchTable has been added this parameter can be reduced to a
+ more "standard" value.</p>
--- /dev/null
+<p align="center"><b>The Minimum Number of Questions in a Lesson</b></p>
+
+<p>When a lesson contains one or more Branch Tables the teacher should
+ normally set this parameter. Its value sets a lower limit on the number of
+ quesions seen when a grade is calculated. It does <b>not</b> force students
+ to answer that many questions in the lesson</p>
+
+<p>For example, setting this parameter to, say, 20, will ensure that grades are
+ given as though the students have seen <b>at least</b> this number of
+ questions. Take the case of a student who only looks at a single branch in
+ a lesson with, say, 5 pages and answers all the associated questions
+ correctly. They then choose to end the lesson (assuming there is that option
+ in the "top level"Branch Table, a reasonable enough assumption).
+ If this parameter were left unset their grade would be 5 out of 5, that is
+ 100%. However, with it set to 20 their grade would be reduced to 5 out of
+ 20, that is 25%. In the case of another student who goes through all the
+ branches and sees, say, 25 pages and answers all but two of the questions
+ correctly, then their grade would be 23 out of 25, that is 92%.</p>
+
+<p>If this parameter is used, then the opening page of the lesson should say
+ something like:<p>
+
+<p><blockquote>In this lesson you are expected to attempt at least n questions.
+ You can attempt more if you wish. However, if you attempt less than n
+ questions your grade will be calculated as though you attempted n.</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>Where obviously "n" is replaced by the actual value this parameter
+ has been given.</p>
+
+<p>When this parameter is set students are told how many questions they
+ have attempted and how many they are expected to attempt.
the lesson in a logical way, beginning at the start and ending at the end.</p>
<p>However, the lesson module can also be used as a type of <i>Flash Card</i> assignment.
- The student is show some information (optional) and a question in basically a random
+ The student is shown some information (optional) and a question in basically a random
order. There is no set beginning and no set end. Just a set of <i>Cards</i> shown one after
another in no particular order.</p>
<p align="center"><b>Overview</b></p>
<ol>
-<li>A lesson is made up of a number of <b>pages</b>.
-<li>A page contains some <b>content</b> and it normally ends with a <b>question</b>.
+<li>A lesson is made up of a number of <b>pages</b> and optionally <b>branch
+ tables</b>.
+<li>A page contains some <b>content</b> and it normally ends with a
+ <b>question</b>. Thus the term <b>Question Page</b>.
<li>Each page normally has a set of <b>answers</b>.
<li>Each answer can have a short piece of text which is displayed if the answer is
chosen. This piece of text is called the <b>response</b>.
(Although if the jumps are <i>not</i> changed from their default values
the two are strongly related.) The teacher has the option to check the
navigation order.
-<li>When displayed to the students, the answers are always shuffled. That is, the
- first answer from the teacher's point of view will not necessarily be the
- first answer in the list shown to the students. (Further, each time the same
- set of answers is displayed they are likely to appear in a different order.)
+<li>When displayed to the students, the answers are usually shuffled. That is,
+ the first answer from the teacher's point of view will not necessarily be
+ the first answer in the list shown to the students. (Further, each time the
+ same set of answers is displayed they are likely to appear in a different
+ order.) The exception is sets of answers for matching-type questions, here
+ the answers are shown in the same order as input by the teacher.
<li>The number of answers can vary from page to page. For example, it is allowed
that some pages can end with a true/false question while others have questions
with one correct answer and three, say, distractors.
to that page may well be different for the two answers.)
<li>In the teacher's view of the lesson the correct answers have underlined Answer
Labels.
+<li><b>Branch tables</b> are simply pages which have a set of links to other
+ pages in the lesson. Typically a lesson may start with a branch table which
+ acts as a <b>Table of Contents</b>.
+<li>Each link in a branch table has two components, a description and the title
+ of the page to jump to.
+<li>A branch table effectively divides the lesson into a number of
+ <b>branches</b> (or sections). Each branch can contain a number of pages
+ (probably all related to the same topic). The end of a branch is usually
+ marked by an <b>End of Branch</b> page. This is a special page which, by
+ default, returns the student back to the preceeding branch table. (The
+ "return" jump in an End of Branch page can be changed, if
+ required, by editing the page.)
+<li>There can be more than one branch table in a lesson. For example, a lesson
+ might usefully be structured so that specialist points are sub-branches
+ within the main subject branches.
+<li>It is important to give students a means of ending the lesson. This might
+ be done by including an "End Lesson" link in the main branch
+ table. This jumps to the (imaginary) <b>End of Lesson</b> page. Another
+ option is for the last branch in the lesson (here "last" is used
+ in the logical ordering sense) to simply continue to the end of the lesson,
+ that is, it is <i>not</i> terminated by an End of Branch page.
+<li>When a lesson includes one or more branch tables it is advisable to set the
+ "Minimum number of Questions" parameter to some reasonable value.
+ This sets a lower limit on the number of pages seen when the grade is
+ calculated. Without this parameter a student might visit a single branch
+ in the lesson, answer all its questions correctly and leave the lesson
+ with the maximum grade.
+<li>Further, when a branch table is present a student has the opportunity of
+ re-visiting the same branch more than once. However, the grade is
+ calculated using the number of <i>unique</i> questions answered. So
+ repeatedly answering the same set of questions does <i>not</i> increase
+ the grade. (In fact, the reverse is true, it lowers the grade as the count
+ of the number of pages seen is used in the denominator when calculating
+ grades does include repeats.) In order to give students a fair idea of
+ their progress in the lesson, they are shown details of how many questions
+ they are answered correctly, number of pages seen, and their current grade
+ on every branch table page.
<li>The <b>end of the lesson</b> is reached by either jumping to that location explicitly
or by jumping to the next page from the last (logical) page of the lesson. When the
end of the lesson is reached, the student receives a congratulations message and is
- shown their grade. The grade is (the number of correct answers checked / number of
+ shown their grade. The grade is (the number of questions correctly answered / number of
pages seen) * the grade of the lesson.
-<li>If the end of the lesson is <i>not</i> reached, when the student goes into the
- lesson they are given the choice of starting at the begining or picking up the lesson
- where they answered their last correct answer.
-<li> For a lesson which allow re-takes, students are allowed to re-take the lesson until
- they have achieved the maximum grade.
+<li>If the end of the lesson is <i>not</i> reached and the student just leaves,
+ when the student goes into the lesson again they are given the choice of
+ starting at the begining or picking up the lesson where they answered their
+ last correct answer.
+<li> For a lesson which allow re-takes, the teacher has the choice of using the
+ best grade or the average of the grades as the "final" grade from
+ the lesson. That grade is shown on the Grades page, for example.
</ol>
+
then the students should not be allowed to re-take the lesson.</p>
<p>When the students are allowed to re-take the lesson, the <b>grades</b> shown
- in the Grades page are the grades from their <b>best</b> attempts of the lesson.
- However, the <b>Question Analysis</b> always uses the answers from the
- first attempts of the lesson, subsequent attempts are ignored.</p>
+ in the Grades page are either their <b>average</b> grade over the re-takes
+ or their <b>best</b> grade for the lesson. The next parameter determines
+ which of these two grading alternatives is used.</p>
+
+<p>Note that the <b>Question Analysis</b> always uses the answers from the
+ first tries of the lesson, subsequent re-takes by students are ignored.</p>
-<p>By default this option is <b>Yes</b>, meaning that students are allowed to re-take
- the lesson. It is expected that only in exceptional circumstances will this
- option be set to <b>No</b>.
+<p>By default this option is <b>Yes</b>, meaning that students are allowed to
+ re-take the lesson. It is expected that only in exceptional circumstances
+ will this option be set to <b>No</b>.
projects / moodle.git / commitdiff