Essay quiz question
  • 12 Sep 2024
  • 1 minute to read

Essay quiz question


Article summary

Essay questions pose a question which Learners must answer with free text or by uploading a document, which is then graded manually by the appropriate person. Essay questions are generally used when the Learner is required to provide a longer, more critically considered response.

If you only want Learners to provide a short answer (e.g. one or two words) you should instead use the short answer question type.

To set up an essay quiz question, follow these steps:

  1. In the quiz activity, click Add, then select a new question.
  2. Select Essay, then click Add.
  3. Give the question a name, then enter the question in the Question text field.
  4. Set the Default mark, i.e. the maximum grade.
  5. Configure the Response options as required.
  6. Optionally provide a template to help Learners to structure their answer in the Response template field. This text will be displayed in the text input field.
  7. Optionally provide guidance on the marking criteria in the Information for graders field.
  8. If required, configure the Tags section.
  9. Click Save changes.

An essay question with a file upload field as seen from the Learner's perspective.

Response options

There are a few settings you can configure in the Response options section when setting up an essay question.

SettingDescriptionNotes
Response formatSelect the available formatting for responses from the following options:
  • HTML editor
  • HTML editor with file picker
  • Plain text
  • Plain text, monospaced font
  • No inline text
-
Require textDetermine whether a text response is required.If you have allowed users to include attachments for their response, they may not need to provide text as well.
Input box sizeSet the maximum number of lines of text Learners can enter for their response.-
Allow attachmentsDetermine whether users can upload files as part of their response.-
Require attachmentsIf Allow attachments is enabled, you can choose to make an attachment mandatory.-

There are two courses in the Totara Academy about using quizzes in Totara Learn, Getting started with quizzes and Advanced quiz Using these courses you can learn more on how to use these features, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.


© Copyright 2024 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved. Some content originally obtained via GPLv3 license and continues to be available under GPLv3. All other content is the sole copyright of Totara Learning Solutions. 

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