Quizzes: Synchronous Quizzes


NEW: Synchronous Quizzes

Until recently, only asynchronous quizzes could be created in Brightspace. Now, instructors also have the option to create synchronous quizzes – quizzes where all students start and finish at the same time. This feature is particularly helpful for quizzes scheduled to take place during class time.

IMPORTANT:
When creating a new synchronous quiz or converting an existing (asynchronous) quiz to a synchronous format, instructors must ensure that the following quiz parameters match:

– the interval between ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘, and
– quiz ‘Time Limit‘.

Example: If you schedule a 45-minute quiz with a 9 a.m. ‘Start Date’, the ‘End Date’ should be set to 9:45 a.m.

> Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Quizzes in Brightspace

The differences between synchronous and asynchronous quizzes in Brightspace are summarized in the table below.

Quiz SettingsSynchronous QuizzesAsynchronous Quizzes
‘Start Date’The date and time when a quiz starts for all students.

If a student starts a quiz 10 minutes after ‘Start Date‘, they will have 10 minutes less to complete the quiz.
The date and time when the Start Quiz button becomes available in Brightspace.

Regardless of when a student starts a quiz between ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘, they have the whole time allocated for the quiz to complete it.
‘End Date’The date and time when a quiz ends for all students.

If a students starts a quiz 5 minutes before ‘End Date’, they will only have 5 minutes to complete the quiz.
The date and time when the Start Quiz button becomes unavailable to students.

If a student starts a quiz one minute before ‘End Date‘, they still have the whole allocated time to complete it.
TimerLaunches at ‘Start Date‘ for all students.Launches when a student clicks the Start Quiz button, which can be at any time between ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘.
DurationMay vary among students.

If a quiz is set for 60 minutes with a 9:00am ‘Start Date‘, a student who starts at 9:30am will only have 30 minutes to complete the quiz.
Same for all students.

Regardless of when a student starts a quiz between the ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘, they will have the entire allocated time to complete the quiz.

> Creating a Synchronous Quiz

To set up a synchronous quiz in Brightspace, follow the steps below.

  1. In your course navbar, click Assessment and select Quizzes from the dropdown menu.
Image: Quizzes tool in Brightspace
  1. On the next page, select New Quiz.
Image: New Quiz button
  1. In the quiz creation window, go to the Timing & Display widget on the right, and click on it to view the settings.
Image: ‘Timing & Display’ widget
  1. Select ‘Set time limit‘ and enter the amount of time you want students to have to complete the quiz. After that, click Timer Settings.
Image: ‘Timing & Display’ options
  1. In the Timing box that pops up, select ‘Synchronous: Timer starts on the start date‘ and click OK.
Image: Synchronous quiz option
  1. Now, go to the Availability Dates and Conditions widget and click to expand and view settings.
Image: ‘Availability Dates & Conditions’ widget
  1. Set the ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘ for the quiz, and select ‘Add availability dates to Calendar so that students can view this information in the course calendar.

NOTE: Make sure that the ‘Start Date’ and ‘End Date’ match the ‘Time Limit’ you set for the quiz.

Image: Availability dates for synchronous quizzes
  1. Finish setting up your quiz and click Save.

> Best Practices for Using Synchronous Quizzes

  1. When scheduling synchronous quizzes, instructors should be mindful of students’ other time commitments and potential scheduling conflicts. Therefore, in courses with specified class times, synchronous quizzes should only be scheduled to take place during class time and/or designated exam time.
  1. It is crucial that students be made aware of upcoming synchronous quizzes. Instructors can communicate this information to students in one or more of the following ways:
    • In the quiz creation window, under Availability Dates & Conditions, select ‘Add availability dates to Calendar’ so that students can view the information in their course calendar. Alternatively, you can manually create an event in the course calendar with quiz details (mandatory start time, the length of the quiz, a link to the quiz etc.).
Image: ‘Add availability dates to Calendar’ option
  • Create an announcement in Brightspace with information about an upcoming synchronous quiz.
  • When converting existing (asynchronous) quizzes to a synchronous format, review quiz settings carefully to ensure that the ‘Start Date‘ and ‘End Date‘ match the ‘Time Limit‘ you set for the quiz.

Please contact the CITL Support Centre with any additional questions about synchronous quizzes.

Quizzes: Granting an Accomodation

Granting an Accommodation

NOTE: If a student requires extra time or a different Due/Start/End Date for a single assessment in a course, you should grant them Special Access to that assessment.

Some students require extra time for every quiz in a course rather than just for a single assessment. Those students can be granted an Accommodation in Brightspace – a one-time adjustment that automatically applies to all quizzes. To grant an Accommodation, follow the steps below.

  1. Log in to Brightspace and go to your course site.
  2. In the course navbar, click Communication and select Classlist from the dropdown menu.
Image: Accessing the Classlist
  1. Locate the name of the student who needs an accommodation.
  2. Click the downward arrow next the student’s name, and select Edit Accommodations from the menu that opens.
    Image: Classlist
  1. In the pop-up window, select the Modify Time Limit box and choose one of two options:
    • You can multiply the original quiz time by entering the multiplier in the box, or
    • You can manually enter the amount of extra time (in minutes) the student needs for each quiz.
Image: Edit Accommodations window
  1. Click Save.

NOTE: The Special Access setting overrides the Accommodations setting. That is, if you give a student an Accommodation AND Special Access to a quiz, the Special Access settings will be applied during the quiz.  

Quizzes Tool: Creating a Quiz


Setting Up a Quiz

Step 1: Create a New Quiz

To start creating a new quiz, navigate to the Quizzes tool in Brightspace.

  • Go to your course site and click Assessment in the course navbar.
  • Select Quizzes from the dropdown menu.
  • On the next page, click ‘New Quiz’.
Image: Creating a new quiz
  • The quiz creation window will open.
Image: Quiz creation/editing window

Step 2: Configure Quiz Settings

In this section, you can find details on each setting numbered in the image above. Click each box to expand.

> 1. Quiz Name

Give your quiz a title.

If you want to create a corresponding grade item in the Brightspace grade book, clicking Save at the bottom of the window will automatically create a grade item with the same name as the quiz.

> 2. Grade Out Of & Link to the Grade Book

The default setting for new quizzes is ‘Not in Grade Book’.

Image: Default grade setting in a quiz

Consider the two scenarios below and proceed accordingly:

  1. If the quiz is not a part of your course evaluation, and you do not want to link it to the grade book (e.g., it is only a practice quiz), leave the ‘Not in Grade Book’ setting in place.

NOTE: If you leave ‘Not in Grade Book’ selected, the ‘Grade Out Of‘ box will stay ‘locked’, i.e. you will not be able to enter the point value for the quiz manually. The number will change automatically once you start adding questions to the quiz, and it will reflect the total number of points available to score.

  1. If the quiz is part of your course evaluation, and you do want to link it to the grade book for automatic grade transfer, click the downward arrow next to ‘Not in Grade Book’. Two options will appear.
Image: Add to grade book options

OPTION 1: ‘Edit or Link to Existing‘ – Select this option if your Brightspace grade book is already populated with grade items. In the window that pops up, select ‘Link to an existing grade item‘ and choose the grade item to which you want to link the quiz from the dropdown menu. Then click OK.

Image: Adding quiz to an existing grade item

NOTE: The ‘Grade Out Of‘ field will now display the same point value as the grade book item to which it has been linked.

OPTION 2: Add to Grade Book‘ – Select this option if your Brightspace grade book does not yet contain a corresponding grade item. Selecting this option will prompt you to enter the point value for the quiz in the ‘Grade Out Of‘ field. This value will apply both to the quiz and to the grade book item.

Image: Adding quiz as a new grade item

Once you click Save or Save & Close at the bottom of the quiz creation windown, a grade item with the same name as your quiz will be created in the grade book.

> 3. Due date

You can set a Due Date for your quiz, i.e. the date and time when you expect students to complete the quiz. The Due Date will be visible in the course calendar in Brightspace. After that date, students will still be able to access and complete the quiz, but their submissions will be flagged as late.

NOTE: Due Date is for information purposes only. To restrict access to a quiz before and/or after a certain date, set a Start and End Date under ‘Availability Dates & Conditions on the quiz creation page.

> 4. Description

Clicking the Description field opens a text box where you can enter instructions for the quiz.

For more information on using the Brightspace HTML editor, please visit our resource on this topic.

> 5. Questions

For information on available questions types and how to create them, please refer to other pages in this resource available in the sidebar menu.

> 6. Availability Dates and Conditions

‘Availability Dates and Conditions‘ are located in the top right corner of the quiz creation window. Click to expand the box and view all available settings.

Image: Availability Dates & Conditions

In this section, you can set the following quiz parameters:

  • Start Date (and Time) – This setting controls when the ‘Start Quiz!’ button should become available to students. Until then, students can see the Start Date in the course calendar, but cannot begin the quiz.
  • End Date (and Time) – This setting controls when the ‘Start Quiz!’ button should become unavailable to students.

NOTE: The Start and End Dates set for a quiz are unrelated to the amount of time students have to complete the quiz. These dates only control the time interval in which students can begin the quiz. If a student starts the quiz one minute before the End Date/Time, they will still have the entire time allotted for the quiz in the Timing & Display section.

Consider Due Date, Start and End Dates, and Timing carefully. For example, if you want to set up a quiz for a typical 50-minute lecture period, you could choose:

Due Date: 2:50 PM (quizzes submitted after 2:50 PM will be submitted but flagged as late)
Start Date: 2:00 PM (students can start the quiz any time between 2:00 PM and 2:50 PM)
End Date: 2:10 PM (after 2:10 PM students will not be able to start the quiz)
Enforced time limit: 50 minutes (each student will have 50 minutes to complete the quiz, regardless of then they started)

  • Release Conditions – For information on release conditions, please visit this Brightspace resource.
  • Special Access – You can adjust quiz configurations for students with accommodation requests or those who require an alternate submission date/time.  
  • Password – You can set a password for the quiz as an additional security measure. Most often, the instructor would display this password in the room where the quiz is taking place.
  • IP Restrictions – You can add multiple IP address ranges to ensure that users can only access a quiz from IP addresses in the specified IP address ranges.

> 7. Timing & Display

Click the ‘Timing & Display‘ box on the right to expand and view all settings available here.

Image: Timing & Display options

In this section, you can set the following quiz parameters:

  • Set Time Limit – By default, this option is unselected. If this is a practice quiz, you may wish give students unlimited time to complete it. Otherwise, select ‘Set Time Limit‘, and you will be prompted to enter the Time Limit for the quiz and, if applicable, adjust Timer Settings.
    Image: Setting Time Limit

Clicking Timer Settings will cause a ‘Timing’ window to appear. Here, you can choose:

  • whether the quiz should be synchronous or asynchronous, and
  • what should happen to the quiz when a student reaches the set time limit. The options are:
  1. Automatically submit the quiz attempt (selected by default) – When a student reaches the time limit, the quiz will be submitted automatically.
  2. Flag as “exceeded time limit” and allow the learner to continue working – Students can continue working on the quiz after reaching the time limit, but their submissions will be marked as late.
  3. Do nothing: the time limit is not enforced – Students have unlimited time to complete the quiz.
Image: Options for what happens to a quiz when time limit is reached
  • Paging – you can decide how many questions per page you want students to view when taking the quiz:
    • All questions displayed together (default)
    • 1 questions per page
    • 5 questions per page
    • 10 questions per page
    • a separate page for each quiz section (if your quiz is divided into sections)
    Image: Quiz pagination options
  • Shuffle Quiz – this setting randomizes the order of questions in the quiz, so each student will have a different version of the quiz.
Image: Shuffle Quiz option
  • Display – this setting allows you to control if students can:
    • view hints, if you have previously created them for your quiz
    • access Brightspace email, Instant Messages, and alert functions while they are completing the quiz (not recommended for practice quizzes).
Image: Quiz Display options
  • Header and Footer – You can opt to enter messages that will be displayed at the top and bottom of every page in the quiz.

> 8. Attempts & Completion

Click the ‘Attempts & Completion‘ box on the right to expand and view all settings available here.

Image: Attempts & Completion

The options you can set in this section are:

  • Attempts – The number of times students can take the quiz. If you allow more than one attempt, options for calculating the overall score will appear (highest/lowest score? average of all scores? etc.)
  • Category – If your course involves multiple quizzes, you may consider organizing them into categories.
  • Notification Email – You can opt to receive an email each time a student completes a quiz (not recommended).

> 9. Evaluation & Feedback

Click the ‘Evaluation & Feedback‘ box on the right to expand and view all settings available here.

Image: Evaluation & Feedback

In this section, you can specify whether to: when the quiz scores should be sent to the grade book, whether or not to display questions and answers to students etc.

  • Auto-publish attempt results immediately upon completion – If the quiz is linked to a grade book item, selecting this box will allow students to see their quiz score immediately after they complete it. NOTE: This applies only to the auto-graded portion of the quiz, not to questions that need to be graded manually such as ‘Written Response’.
  • Synchronize to grade book on publish – With this option selected, any changes or updates to the quiz score will be automatically updated in the grade book.
  • When published, display to learners – you can customize what the students will be able to see once the quiz results are published (if they can view scores per attempt, correct/incorrect questions, correct/incorrect answers etc.)

You can also link the quiz to your Learning Objectives. For information on creating learning objectives, please visit this Brightspace resource.

NOTE: Once you configure and save your quiz, you can return to it and modify the settings at any time.

Video Instructions

Quizzes: Randomizing Quizzes

Randomizing Questions and Answers

Brightspace allows you to create quizzes where each student gets a different version of the same quiz. You can randomize the sequence of both questions and answer choices for each student. Randomizing quizzes increases the integrity of your assessment as students are less likely to turn to academic dishonesty if presented with different versions of a quiz.

There are several ways to create randomized quizzes in Brightspace (listed below). You can use one method at a time, or you can use them in combination. Click the items below to view details.

1. Randomize answers within a question

You can randomize the sequence of answer choices for two types of questions:

  • Multiple Choice (M/C), and
  • Multi-Select (M-S) questions.

This option is available both in the quiz itself and in the ‘Question Library’.

Image: ‘Randomize question order’ option

NOTE: In Ordering (OR) and Matching (MAT) questions, answer choices are randomized by default.

2. Shuffle questions within a quiz

You can shuffle questions at the quiz level. That way, every quiz-taker will get the same set of questions but in a different order. To enable this feature:

  • Open a new or existing quiz.
  • In the quiz creation window, expand the ‘Timing & Display‘ section on the right.
  • Select Shuffle Quiz. Each student will now get the same set of questions on the quiz but in a different order.
Image: ‘Shuffle questions’ option

NOTE: If questions in your quiz are organized into sections, selecting Shuffle Quiz will NOT shuffle questions within those sections. To shuffle questions within sections, please refer to option 3 below.

3. Create sections in a quiz & shuffle questions within them

You can organize questions in your quiz into sections (same as in the ‘Question Library’). Sections can be based on topic/module, question type, level of difficulty etc. You can hide the division into sections from students, or you can make it visible; you can also have a combination of both. Each section can also have a different title and set of instructions.

If you use sections in a quiz, you can randomize the order of questions within each section.

NOTE: It is recommended that you create sections for your quiz in the ‘Question Library’. You can then simply import those sections into the quiz. For instructions, please refer to the ‘Using the Question Library’ page in this resource.

To create sections directly in a quiz, follow the steps below.

  1. In your Brightspace course site, click Assessment in the navbar and select Quizzes from the menu.
Image: Accessing the Quizzes tool
  1. Open a new quiz or an existing one.
  2. In the ‘Questions’ area at the bottom of the page, click Create New and select Section from the menu.
Image: Creating a new section in a quiz
  1. On the ‘New Section’ page, enter the Section Title. Optionally, enter a description in the Section Text field. Then customize the following settings:
    • Hide Section Title from learners: Select if you do not want students to see the section title during the quiz.
    • Hide Section Text from learners: Select if you do not want students to see the section description during the quiz.
    • *Shuffle questions in this section*: Select if you want to randomize the order of questions in the section for each student. Note that if you have created sub-sections within a section, questions in those sub-sections will not be randomized.
Image: Shuffle questions within a section option
  1. Click Save.
  2. Once your section is created, create questions directly in the quiz or import them from the ‘Question Library’.
  3. Then, move the questions into the correct sections in one of two ways:
    • Move question one-by-one by using the drag-and-drop icon: .
    • Select all the questions you want to move, click Move To, select Section and choose the correct section from the menu.
Image: Moving questions into sections
  1. Save your quiz.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates the process of creating sections.

4. Shuffle sections within a quiz

If your quiz is organized into sections (see point 3 above), you can randomize the order of those sections for each student.

  • Open a new or existing quiz.
  • In the quiz creation window, expand the ‘Timing & Display‘ section on the right.
  • Select Shuffle Quiz. Selecting this option also shuffles sections in the quiz.
Image: ‘Shuffle questions’ option

NOTE: Selecting ‘Shuffle Quiz‘ will randomize the order of sections, but NOT the order of questions within those sections. For information on shuffling questions within sections, please refer to point 3 above.

5. Create question pools for a quiz

Creating question pools allows you to generate quizzes where each student gets a random selection of questions from a larger ‘pool’ of questions. For example, you can create a pool of 50 questions on a particular topic in your quiz, and set the quiz to be populated with 20 randomly selected questions from that pool. Using question pools helps ensure that each student’s quiz is different and thus promotes integrity of the assessment.

NOTE: In order to create a question pool, you should already have questions in the ‘Question Library’ for your course. While creating your question pool, you will be prompted to select questions from the library to add to the pool. You can also select questions from existing assessments.

To create a question pool:

  1. In your course navbar, click Assessment and select Quizzes from the menu.
Image: Accessing the Quizzes tool
  1. Open a new or existing quiz.
  2. In the ‘Questionsarea at the bottom of the page, click Create New and select Question Pool from the menu.
Image: Creating a question pool
  1. On the ‘New Question Pool’ page:
    • Enter the Question Pool Title
    • Enter the number of questions you want students to answer in the quiz.
    • Enter point value for each question. NOTE: All questions in a question pool have the same point value.
    • Click Browse Question Library.
Image: Creating a question pool
  1. The ‘Question Library’ will open. Select individual questions or entire sections you want to add to the pool you are creating. Alternatively, you can add questions from existing quizzes and surveys. When finished selecting, click Import.
Image: Creating a question pool
  1. Click Save.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates the process of creating question pools.

Quizzes: Adding Questions to a Quiz

Creating Questions Directly in a Quiz

This page provides step-by-step instructions for creating every question type available in Brightspace quizzes.

NOTE: Once you save your quiz, you can return to it and add, delete or edit the questions at any time.

Getting Started

Creating any question type in a quiz always begins the same way:

  1. In your Brightspace course site, click Assessment in the course navbar and select Quizzes from the menu.
Image: Accessing the Quizzes tool
  1. Create a new quiz by clicking ‘New Quiz‘ or open an existing quiz.
  1. At the bottom of the quiz window, click ‘Create New‘ and select ‘New Question’ from the menu. A list of available question types will open. Select the type you want to create and proceed with instructions for that question type located below.
Image: Adding quiz questions in the new interface

Creating Different Question Types

Click the items below for detailed instructions on creating each question type.

> Create a Multiple Choice question (M/C)

Multiple choice questions present a statement or question with a list of possible answers. Learners must choose the best possible answer – only one answer for each multiple choice question.

If you create a multiple choice question that has more than one possible answer, you can assign different weights depending on the level of correctness of each possible answer.

For example, if two answer choices out of five options are accepted as correct, both can be weighted 100% and the other three options can be weighted at 0%. If all five answer choices are accepted as correct but some are more correct than others, each can be weighted differently with the most correct answers weighted more than the others (see Custom Weights* below).

To create a multiple choice question:

  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Enter all possible answers.
  • Select the correct answer.
  • Optional: Click Add Answer to add more possible answers.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the M/C question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Optional: Click Options to add: Feedback, a Hint, a Short Description (not visible to students), Custom Weights*, Enumeration.
  • Optional: Select Randomize answer order if you want the answer choices to appear in a different order for each student.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

> Create a True or False question (T/F)

True-or-false questions present a statement, and learners must determine if that statement is correct or incorrect.

  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Select the correct answer (either True or False).
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the T/F question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Optional: Click Options to add: Feedback, a Hint, a Short Description (not visible to students), and Enumeration.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a true-or-false question.

> Create a Fill-in-the-Blanks question (FIB)

Fill-in-the-blanks questions present an incomplete sentence, statement, phrase, list, or key terminology. Students are required to fill in one or more missing words in the blank space(s) in the statement, phrase etc.

NOTE: As a best practice, D2L recommends that answers in blank fields be no more than one or two words to ensure auto-grading accuracy.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • In the Question Text section enter the following:
    • In Text #1, enter the first part of the sentence/statement students will be asked to complete.
    • In Blank #1, enter the answer (1 or 2 words) you want students to provide. If more than one answer is possible, click ‘Add Answer‘. Add all possible correct answers.
    • Optional: In Text #2, enter the second part of the sentence/statement.

NOTES:
1. You can have as many/few text fields and blanks as needed. Use ‘+Add Blank/Text‘ to add, and trash can icons to delete them.
2. The sequence of your text fields and blanks is the same sequence that will be displayed to students.

  • Enter the weight for each possible Answer in the Weight (%) box.

NOTES:
1. The total weight of your answers in each Fill-in-the-Blanks question should equal 100% (e.g., you can have one answer worth 100%, two answers worth 50% each, three answers worth 50%, 25%, and 25% etc.).
2. Some answers may be more correct than others. In that case, you can set different weights for the answers, as long as the total weight of most correct answers is still 100%.

  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a fill-in-the-blanks question.

> Create a Multi-Select question (M-S)

Multi-select questions require learners to identify one or more correct answers in a list of possible answers. Unlike multiple choice (MC) questions, multi-select questions allow students to select more than one answer.

  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Under Answers, enter all possible answers. (You can add more answer choices by clicking Add Answer. You can delete answer choices by clicking X next to each answer box.)
  • Select the correct answers.
  • Optional: Select Randomize answer order if you want the answer choices to appear in a different sequence for each student.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Determine how you want to assign points to answers by opening the ‘How are points assigned to blanks?‘ menu and choosing the most suitable option. (For more information on each option, click ‘Which grading method should I choose?‘ on the screen).
  • Optional: Click Options to add: Feedback, a Hint, a Short Description (not visible to the student), and Enumeration.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a multi-select question.

> Create a Matching question (MAT)

Matching questions require students to choose from a set of possible match choices from dropdown lists and correctly pair them with related items. This question type enables you to assess users’ recognition of information and demonstrate comprehension of specific relationships.

NOTE:Matches’ are the statements you create, and ‘choices’ are the options that students choose from to match each statement. Matches are randomized for quiz-takers.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the MAT question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • Choose what grading option you want to apply:
    • Equally weighted: Students earn points for each correct answer they select, up to the total point value of the question.
    • All or nothing: Students will only get full points if they select all correct answers and no incorrect answers. Missing any correct answers or selecting any incorrect answers will result in a score of zero.
    • Right minus wrong: A student’s score is calculated by adding the number of correct answers and then subtracting the number of incorrect answers they choose. A negative score is not possible.
  • Enter the Choices.
  • Enter a Match for each of the Choices — pay attention to the numbering to be sure that they are matched correctly.
  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a matching question.

> Create an Ordering question (ORD)

Ordering questions require learners to arrange a series of items into a correct sequence or order.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • Choose what grading option you want to apply:
    • Equally weighted: Students earn points for each correct answer they select, up to the total point value of the question.
    • All or nothing: Students will only get full points if they select all correct answers and no incorrect answers. Missing any correct answers or selecting any incorrect answers will result in a score of zero.
    • Right minus wrong: A student’s score is calculated by adding the number of correct answers and then subtracting the number of incorrect answers they choose. A negative score is not possible.
  • Add items for students to order in the Value fields. (To add more items, click + Add Item. To delete items, click the trash icons.)
  • If necessary, adjust the order of the values by using the Correct Order dropdown menu. Note that the first value in the correct order should be “1”.
  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create an ordering question.

> Create an Written Response question (WR)

Written response questions require learners to write detailed answers in response to open-ended questions. You can enable users to respond in multiple sentences, paragraphs, or mathematical explanations and calculations. Users can also respond in HTML code.

NOTE: HTML code is sometimes stripped from saved written responses if a learner refreshes the page while taking the quiz. As a best practice, encourage users to save a version of their HTML response locally in case they need to refresh the page.

Written response questions cannot be auto-graded. When students complete a written response question, they automatically receive a score of ‘0’, and it displays as incorrect in the ‘Submission View’. You have to manually grade each answer and enter a score to the answer.

  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
    • Optional: Enable HTML editor for student responses.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Optional: Add Feedback a Hint, a Short Description, an Answer Key, a Custom Response Box Size, or Initial Text. If you need students to submit a filled-in table, make sure you provide the table for them to fill in as the ‘Initial Text’.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a written response question.

> Create an Short Answer question (SA)

Short-answer questions require learners to create one word or brief sentence answers in response to open-ended questions.

  • Enter the question in the Question Text field.
  • Enter the Answers for Blank #1.
  • From the abc dropdown menu, select the auto-grading option for the answer:
    • Text – the answers will be scored as correct regardless of whether upper and lower case letters are use correctly
    • Case-Sensitive Text – upper and lower case letters have to be used correctly for the answer to be auto-graded as correct, or
    • Regular Expression (click here for more information).
  • If you want to add more blanks, click Add Blank and enter your answer(s) and the auto-grading option.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
    • If you have more than one blank, choose one of these options from the drop down list: How are points assigned to blanks?
    • If you have more than one blank, choose one of these options from the drop down list:
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

> Create an Arithmetic question (2+2)

Arithmetic questions enable you to assess students’ knowledge and comprehension of mathematics and number theory. You can ensure each student receives a unique question by including variables enclosed with curly braces that randomly generate numbers within the problem. For example, if you set variables x, y, and z with a Min 1 to Max 5 number range in 1-step increments, the question “You have {x} green marbles, {y} red marbles, and {z} blue marbles. How many marbles do you have in total?” will randomly generate a rational number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) for {x}, {y}, and {z}.

In arithmetic questions, use answer precision to limit the number of acceptable decimal places allowed in a response. You can require that correct answers contain a specific number of decimal places.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Enter the question in the Question Text field. Enclose variables in curly braces { }.
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • Enter the formula that is required to generate a solution — use the variables enclosed in { } per the problem text.
  • Refine the answer criteria.
    • Answer precision — set the acceptable number of decimal places for the answer
    • Tolerance — indicate whether you will accept near accurate, estimated, or rounded answers
  • Enter the variables for the question — give each variable a Name, a Min value, a Max value, the number of Decimal Places for the variable, and the Step value (increment amount for the variable).
  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create an arithmetic question.

> Create a Significant Figures question (x10)

Significant-figures questions require students to answer in scientific notation and provide solutions that contain a specified number of significant figures. Math and science courses commonly use this question type. You can ensure each respondent receives a unique question by including variables enclosed with curly braces that randomly generate scientific notations within the problem.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Enter the question in the Question Text field. Enclose variables in curly braces { }.
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • Enter the formula that is required to generate a solution — use the variables enclosed in { } per the problem text.
  • Enter the variables for the question — give each variable a Name, a Min value, a Max value, the number of Decimal Places for the variable, and the Step value (increment amount for the variable).
  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

Video Instructions

The video below illustrates how to create a significant-figures question.

> Create a Multi-Short Answer question (MSA)

Multi-short-answer questions require students to answer a multi-solution question and input their answers into individual input boxes. Students’ answers are checked against each possible answer stored in the answer fields. D2L recommends that the required number of answers corresponds with the number of input boxes provided.

An MSA question’s maximum point value is reflected by a 100% weight. As a best practice, D2L recommends that each possible answer’s weight calculation equals 100% divided by the number of answers required by the question.

Multi-short-answer questions differ from short-answer (SA) questions in that the multi-short-answer question enables you to create multiple answer boxes which all relate to one answer set. For example, the question “Name 3 state capitals” displays three input boxes to users. Each answer users submit is checked against 51 possible correct answers stored in the answer fields and each answer field has a weight of 33.3%.

  • Optional: Give the question a title in the Title field.
  • If applicable, modify the point value for the question in the Points field (the default is 1 point).
  • Select the difficulty level of the question in the Difficulty dropdown menu (on a scale from 1 to 5).
  • Optional: Click Insert an Image if you want to add an image to the question. You can enter Alternative Text for the image.
  • Enter the number of input boxes for the answers — set the box size using the Rows and Columns dropdown menus.
  • Add all possible answers, their corresponding weight, and the evaluation method. Note that the number of answers does not have to match the number of input boxes.
  • Optional: Add a Hint and Question Feedback.
  • Click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy at the bottom of the page.

When finished, click Save and Close at the bottom of the page.

For additional information about question types in Brightspace quizzes, please refer to this Brightspace resource.

Importing Quiz Questions from a File

Importing Questions from a File

It is not necessary to create quiz questions manually in the Brightspace Quiz tool. If your publisher has provided you with a test bank, or if you have created a collection of questions yourself, you can import them from a file into Brightspace in two different ways.

Option 1: Import questions into Brightspace using Respondus

Respondus is a quiz-building application that allows you to import questions and assessments that you have already created in Word, or other text formats, into the Brightspace Quizzes tool. For details on using the Respondus Quiz Builder, please visit this resource.

Option 2: Import a file directly into the Quiz Tool

Instructions coming soon.

Video Instructions

The following video illustrates the process of creating a new quiz with imported questions.