Activities | Essay answer
"Essay" questions allow students to write their own answers.
This type of questions does not offer self-correction, so they are only appropriate if they are going to be assessed by a teacher or mentor. The student answer is sent to the LMS and this platform will be required to interpret this information correctly and send it to the mentor. If intelligent systems like Netex SmartContent are used, it will be possible to assess and grade student answers.
This type of activity is divided in two areas:
A. Wording area. It includes a sample text by default, but other components like images, audios, and videos can be added as well.
B. Writing area to answer questions. Students write their answer in this field.
Setup process
- Step 1. Set up activity properties
- Step 2. Set up the wording
- Step 3. Set up the writing area
- Step 4. Advanced layout design: how to add columns
Step 1. Set up activity properties
After adding the activity, go to the "Properties" tab and configure them:
PROPERTY
DESCRIPTION
Title
Activity title.
Mastery
Score required so we can mark activities as complete and get a positive feedback. Getting a 100% score is required by default.
If the unit is published in the LMS, 100% score will be given by default as soon as the student answers the question.
If the unit is published in other solutions supporting teacher assessment (such as SmartClassroom) the teacher will be able to give a score to the student (depending on their answer).
Attempts
Number of attempts available for students to find the right option. Once a student finds the right answer, attempts will expire automatically. If you want unlimited attempts, write "0" attempts. (It will only be finished after overcoming the activity).
Competences
This property allows choosing what skills or academic goals are achieved after completing this activity. This option is useful when the platform used to publish a unit keeps record of these data.
Step 2. Set up the wording
1. Write the text for the question.
2. Optionally, you can add more components within the wording. Make sure you select the wording (you will easily find it within the breadcrumb trail) before going to the "Add" tab and including the components you need.
Step 3. Set up the writing area
3. Select the page and access the "Properties" tab. This text field behaves like a column, so we can change its size and position, if needed:
PROPERTY
DESCRIPTION
s
El campo de texto se comporta como una columna, por lo que, por defecto ocupa 12 espacios en pantalla (el 100% del espacio disponible). Podemos modificar la cantidad de espacios que ocupa, de 1 a 12, lo que nos permite que ocupe porciones diferentes de espacio.
Compensación
Esta opción permite crear un espacio de separación a la izquierda de la opción, pudiendo configurar de 1 a 12 espacios.
Es última columna
Permite indicar que esta opción será la última de la fila. Así, aunque otra columna posterior cupiese en el espacio disponible, se le obligará a colocarse debajo.
4. Si lo necesitas, podrás añadir más campos de texto a la actividad.
Step 4. Advanced layout design: how to add columns
Normally wordings and text fields are enough to configure activities correctly, but sometimes we want to add especial elements (images, audios, etc.) and create more complex layout designs. So, we will be able to add "Columns".
Columns can be inserted anywhere: after wordings, after answer options, etc.
Within a column, we can add different elements: images audios, videos, texts or answer options. Within the "Properties" tab, we can configure properties like "Size", "Offset" and "It's the last column" (as mentioned in Step 2).
Use of columns allows creating complex layouts like the following:
