Introduction to Moodle Quiz question types

The Moodle Quiz activity provides a variety of different question types to select from, depending on your preferences and assessment requirements. Quizzes can be comprised of several different types of questions, some of which can be marked automatically (e.g. multiple choice; true/false; short answer, numerical) while others must be manually marked (e.g. essay type questions).

Click to expand the Question types section below to see a comprehensive list of the question types currently available in the Moodle Quiz activity in the UOW online learning environment. Visit the Moodle Quiz questions collection for information on implementing the various question types.

Why?

When choosing question types for a quiz, we should consider pedagogical requirements and the assessment’s purpose. In formative assessments, quizzes allow learners to practice and apply their knowledge, which reinforces understanding. Question types such as multiple choice and true/false are effective in this context. For summative assessments, the focus is on evaluating student competency. To ensure learning outcomes are comprehensively assessed, we can incorporate a variety of question types, including multiple choice, short answer, and essays. This practice is supported by research which suggests using diverse question types can enhance student engagement and critical thinking (Gamage et al. 2019). Additionally, it’s essential to pitch the questions at an accessible level and cater to different knowledge levels (Gamage et al. 2019; Haigh, 2007).  

In practice, your choice of question types is also influenced by time constraints and assessment efficiencies. While creating multiple choice questions can be time-consuming, Moodle provides solutions to streamline the process. This includes the tools to bulk-import any pre-made questions into your Question bank, as well as functionality for automated marking and feedback provision which is crucial for enhancing online assessments (Gaytan & McEwen 2007).   

To summarise Moodle’s affordances, once your quiz questions have been designed and refined, your workload can be streamlined through: 

1. “Having a database of resources to teach and assess course content—such as complicated mathematical calculations and course-specific terminology—which can be modified with minimal academic effort
2. Customised and automated feedback which provide adequate and prompt responses to students
3. Automated marking which reduces academics’ workload
4. Randomising and shuffling quiz questions, together with monitoring Moodle logs, which enable academics to address issues of plagiarism more effectively and efficiently.”

(Gamage et al., 2019, p. 8)

How?

Some general support resources for dealing with questions in a Moodle Quiz are as follows.

To first create a Moodle Quiz activity, please refer to the Moodle Quiz collection.

Once you have created your quiz, you will need to add questions to it. For general step-by-step instructions on how to add questions to a quiz that you have already created, please refer to:

• IMTS Knowledge Base Article – Adding questions to a quiz

In Moodle, questions used in a quiz are automatically stored within the Question bank. In a new, empty Moodle site, there is only one category in the Question bank, which is called Default. It is good practice to create custom categories and sub-categories with meaningful headings in your Question bank as questions are uploaded. This hierarchy of categories can simplify finding specific questions in the database, and the random selection of questions to be added to a quiz, which automates your workflow. For step-by-step instructions on how to add and edit Question bank categories, please refer to:  

• IMTS Knowledge Base Article – Add and edit question bank categories

For information on specific question types that are most commonly used at UOW, please refer to the Moodle Quiz questions collection.

References