Creating questions
Before you start creating questions, you will need to create the topic structure that will store your questions.
A topic contains a group of questions that relate to a particular subject, level of difficulty, or some other common trait. A topic can contain other topics (called subtopics) and are used for structuring questions into logical groups. For example, you may have a topic called 'Mathematics' containing two subtopics, one called 'Calculus' containing questions on calculus, and one called 'Algebra' containing algebra questions.
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Importing existing questions If you have questions in another format outside of your Perception repository, you can bring the content into Perception in several ways. The method you can use will depend on the format of the content you want to import. For example, you can import questions from earlier versions of Perception, Word-processor files, QTI XML files, Blackboard 6 and higher zip files or ASCII files. For detailed information on how to import existing content into your Perception repository, please refer to the Importing Content chapter of the Perception Version 5 Authoring Guide. |
This section is divided into:
Creating a topic
To create a topic:
- Open Authoring Manager and connect to your local or shared repository
- To create a root topic, right-click Topics in the navigation pane and select Add Topic...
- To create a subtopic of an existing topic, right-click the existing topic in the navigation pane and select Add Topic...
- Enter a name and a description for the topic and click OK.
Topic names must be unique, and should follow a clear and consistent naming strategy.
- The new topic will appear under the 'Topics' folder
You can create as many root topics and subtopics as you require. For example, if you have created a root topic named 'Geography', you might want to create two subtopics named 'Africa' and 'Europe'.
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Working with topics Once a topic has been created, it can be copied, relocated, renamed or deleted from the repository. To perform these operations, simply right-click the topic and select the appropriate option. You can also relocate a topic by dragging and dropping it. Also, access by authors to different root topics can be controlled. For example, you may wish to enable one author to edit questions in the 'Geography' topic, but be unable to edit or even view questions in the 'Science' topic. For more information on topic security, please refer to the Perception Version 5 Authoring Guide |
Choosing a question type
There are 21 different types of question that can be included in Perception assessments, and all can be created with Authoring Manager. Each question type is unique, and before you create your question, you should consider which type is the most appropriate.
The following table provides a description of each question type.
| Question type | Participants answer the question by... |
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Adobe Captivate |
Performing a user interaction with Adobe Captivate content
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Adobe Flash |
Performing a user interaction with Adobe Flash content
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Drag and Drop |
Placing any number of graphical markers on a background graphic
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Essay |
Entering a long, free-range text response into a text box
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Explanation |
Information is given to participants at the beginning of a topic. There is no opportunity for answering
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File Upload |
Uploading a file to Perception
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Fill in Blanks |
Entering text into a number of blank spaces
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Hotspot |
Placing a single graphical marker on a single image to indicate their answer
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Knowledge Matrix |
Selecting one choice for each multiple choice question presented
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Likert Scale |
Selecting a response according to whether they agree or disagree with a statement
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Matching |
Selecting an answer from a drop-down list
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Multiple Choice |
Selecting an answer from two or more choices
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Multiple Response |
Selecting one or more answers from two or more choices
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Numeric |
Entering a number into a box
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Pull-down List |
Selecting an answer from a drop-down list. One or more choices may be presented
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Ranking |
Arranging a list of options in a particular order
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Select a Blank |
Choosing the correct word or phrase from a drop-down list corresponding to a blank area of text
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Survey Matrix |
Selecting a response for each in a series of Agree/Disagree or other Likert Scale style questions
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Text Match |
Entering a single word or a few words
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True/False |
Selecting True or False |
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Yes/No |
Selecting Yes or No |
Creating a question
In this section, we will create a True/False question. The procedure for creating other question types is very similar.
To create a True/False question:
- Open Authoring Manager and connect to your repository.
For instructions on how to connect to a repository, please refer to Creating and connecting to repositories - In the navigation pane, right-click the topic in which you want to create your question and select Add Question... to open the Question Wizard
- Click Next to start creating your question
- Select True/False from the list of question types and click Next
- Enter the question stimulus and click Next
You can include picture files, video files or sound files in the question stimulus. To do so, simply click the
Insert Picture button, 
Insert Video button or 
Insert Sound button and select the file you wish to include.You can format the question stimulus by using the buttons on the toolbar, or, if your question requires more detailed formatting, you can launch the Advanced Editor by clicking the Launch Advanced Editor button. This enables you to edit the HTML code used to display the question stimulus
- Define the score and specify any required feedback for the True and False choices. To do so, select a choice and click Edit...
In the above example, the correct answer score has been defined as 1, and the incorrect answer score has been defined as 0. Appropriate feedback has also been specified
Once you have defined scores and feedback for your choices, click Next
- Enter a description for the question and click Next.
Question descriptions are used to identify individual questions within topic folders. By
- Click Finish to create the question in the repository. The question will appear in the topic in which it was created.
Once a question has been created, it can be copied, relocated, renamed or deleted from the repository. To perform these operations, simply right-click the question and select the appropriate option. You can also relocate a question by dragging and dropping it.
Trying out a question
Once a question has been created, you can try it out. To do so, right-click the question you want to try out and select Tryout
The question will open in a new window, and can be tried out as many times as you wish.
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Editing questions If you would like to edit your question once it has been created, right-click the question and select either Edit with Wizard... or Edit with Editor... This opens either the Question Editor, from where you can edit any aspect of the question, or the Question Wizard. For more information on editing question settings in Authoring Manager, please refer to the Authoring Manager Help |