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Configuring Quiz Settings in Moodle: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators

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Introduction

  • The Quiz activity in Moodle is a robust feature that allows educators to create assessments tailored to various learning objectives. By leveraging Moodle's extensive configuration options, educators can design quizzes that enhance student engagement, evaluate learning outcomes effectively, and maintain academic integrity.

  • This blog explores the theory behind configuring quiz settings, ensuring you have the foundational knowledge to create quizzes that meet your educational needs.


Setting Default Quiz Configuration as an Administrator

To set default values for quiz configurations, navigate to:
  1. Site Administration → Plugins → Activity Modules → Quiz → General Settings.
  2. Here, administrators can define default settings for various quiz parameters, including time limits, grading methods, and attempt rules.
  3. These default configurations streamline the quiz setup process for course creators, ensuring consistency across the platform.

Step 1: General Settings

  1. Start by giving your quiz a clear and concise title that accurately reflects its purpose or topic. Use the description field to provide essential details such as covered topics, time limits, attempt rules, and any special instructions.
  2. Enabling the option to display the description on the course page ensures maximum visibility, helping students understand the quiz's scope and expectations right from the start.

Step 2: Timing

  1. Timing settings are critical for managing when and how students access the quiz.
  2. Open and Close Quiz: Define the availability window, allowing you to schedule assessments in advance.
Time Limit

Enforce a duration to test students' ability to answer under timed conditions.


Automatic Submission On Time expiry:

  • If a student does not complete the quiz within the specified time limit, their progress will be automatically submitted. This ensures that any answers provided before the time expires are saved and included for grading. Students must manage their time effectively to answer all questions before the deadline.

Grace Period:
  • Provide a brief grace period for students with technical issues, ensuring fairness.

When time expires:

    Open attempts are submitted automatically:
  • Once a student attempts a question, if they do not manually submit it, Moodle will automatically submit their responses once the time limit expires.
  • If a student navigates away from the question page or any other pages during the quiz, their answers will still be automatically submitted when the time limit expires. There is no requirement to remain on the current page for automatic submission to occur.
    There is a grace period when open attempts are submitted, but no more questions are answered:
  • Currently, if a 1-minute time limit is set for the quiz, the Grace Period option allows students extra time to complete their attempts. The Submission Grace Period setting should be enabled, and the appropriate duration for the grace period must be specified.
  • Once the time limit expires, the system will wait for the defined grace period, allowing students to submit their quizzes within that additional time window.
  • Maximum 1 minute only has to be set as a grace period.
    Attempts must be submitted before time expires, or they are counted:
  • If a student is on the question page and does not submit their answers, Moodle will automatically submit the quiz when the time limit expires. However, if the student navigates away from the question page without submitting it, the quiz will not be automatically submitted.

Step 3: Grading Options

  • Grading options help align the quiz with your course’s assessment strategy.
  • Grade Category: Organize your quizzes effectively by assigning them to predefined categories in the Gradebook. This not only ensures better structure but also makes it easier to manage and analyze student performance across different assessments. Proper categorization helps in grouping similar quizzes, applying specific grading rules, and generating clear, organized reports.
  • Attempts Allowed: Select the appropriate attempt option based on the quiz's purpose:
    • Single Attempt: Ideal for evaluation or high-stakes assessments, ensuring students focus on their best effort.
    • Multiple Attempts: Suitable for practice quizzes, allowing students to improve their understanding and refine their skills through repeated attempts.

  • This flexibility ensures that the quiz aligns with your learning objectives.
  • Grading Method: In quizzes with multiple attempts, the grading method determines how the final score is calculated. Moodle offers three options:
    • Highest Grade: The best score from all attempts is recorded as the final grade.
    • Last Attempt: Only the score from the most recent attempt is considered for grading.
    • Average Grade: The final grade is the average of all attempt scores.

Step 4: Layout

  • The layout determines how students navigate through the quiz.
    • Question Order: Shuffle questions to reduce the chance of cheating.
    • New Page: Choose to display one question per page or group several questions together.

Never all Questions on one page:
  • Repaginate:
  • Choose to display one question per page or group several questions together. This setting determines the number of questions displayed per page during the quiz. It allows instructors to control the quiz layout, enhancing navigation and the overall student experience.
  • By specifying the number of questions per page, you can streamline the assessment process and reduce cognitive load for learners.

Navigation Method:
  • Free:
  • The Free Navigation option allows students to move freely between pages during a quiz. For example, if a student has completed the questions on the first page and moved to the second page, they can return to the first page by clicking the "Previous" button to review or modify their answers before submitting the quiz. This feature provides flexibility and ensures students can make adjustments as needed.
  • Sequential:
  • The sequential Navigation option allows students to move between pages during a quiz. However, if a student has completed the questions on the first page and moved to the second page, they cannot return to the first page to change their answers once the questions have been answered.
  • In this case, the "Previous" button will no longer be available for that page, ensuring the answers remain final after submission.

Step 5: Question Behavior

  • Question behavior settings define how students interact with quiz questions.
  • Shuffle Answers:
  • When creating multiple-choice questions, the Shuffle Questions setting ensures that the order of questions is randomized for each student. This feature is commonly used in standardized exams, such as government examinations, to present unique question sequences to each student in the same testing environment. It enhances fairness and prevents collaboration during the assessment.
  • These settings are only used in option-type questions.

How Questions Behave:

  • Adaptive Mode:
  • Instant feedback is provided after each submission, guiding students to understand and correct their mistakes. Feedback can be customized to offer hints or explanations for incorrect answers.
  • Students can review their answers on the question page immediately after submitting each response. For example, once a student answers a question, they can check if their response is correct right away, providing instant feedback on their performance.
  • Adaptive mode(no penalties):
  • If the answer is incorrect, the penalty mark will be displayed at the bottom of each question. This penalty is calculated based on the total marks available for the question and is subtracted from the overall score the student can achieve, providing a fair deduction based on their performance.
  • Interactive Mode:
  • Encourage learning by providing feedback immediately during the attempt. Depending on the settings, students may be allowed to attempt the same question multiple times if they initially provide a wrong answer. This iterative approach helps reinforce learning through practice.
  • Interactive with Multiple Tries:
  • This setting operates similarly to Adaptive Mode. If a student selects an incorrect answer, a pop-up will appear below the question with the option to "Try Again." Enabling this feature allows students to revise their answers, but instructors are required to provide a hint for guidance. Additionally, only three hint options can be made available to the student.
  • Deferred Feedback:
  • Ideal for exams, where feedback is given only after the quiz is submitted. The feedback will be displayed only after the student has completed and submitted all questions. This ensures that students receive comprehensive feedback on their overall performance, rather than individual responses, fostering a more structured review process.
  • Deferred Feedback(with CBM):
  • It will show the certainty on the question page.
  • Immediate Feedback:
  • Once a student selects an incorrect answer, they will no longer be able to change or modify their response. The option to edit the answer will be disabled, ensuring that the answer remains final.

Step 6: Review Options
  • The review settings control what students see during and after the quiz. These options will work only a few minutes after the attempt is completed. These options work only when the Timing options are enabled.
  • During the Attempt:
  • You can control the visibility of feedback during the quiz by either allowing or restricting it based on your preferences. Enabling feedback visibility during the quiz gives students immediate insights into their performance after each question, which can aid their learning process.
  • Conversely, restricting feedback until after the quiz submission ensures that students focus solely on completing the quiz without being influenced by immediate responses. This flexibility allows you to customize the quiz experience based on your teaching objectives.
  • After Submission:
  • Displaying scores, correct answers, and feedback after a quiz reinforces learning by providing students with clear insights into their performance. Showing the correct answers allows students to understand their mistakes and learn the right concepts, while feedback helps clarify why certain answers were correct or incorrect.
  • Additionally, displaying scores motivates students to track their progress and identify areas for improvement, fostering a more effective and interactive learning experience.

Step 7: Appearance and Accessibility
  • Decimal Places
  • You can control the precision of displayed grades in Moodle by setting the number of decimal places shown. This allows instructors to adjust the level of detail in grading visibility, ensuring that students see grades in a format that suits the assessment's nature.
  • For example, if you want to display grades with higher precision, such as up to two decimal places for more granular assessment, you can configure Moodle accordingly. Conversely, you can limit the precision to whole numbers for simpler grading presentations. This flexibility helps ensure that grades are displayed in a way that aligns with your grading policy.
  • User Picture
  • Displaying student photos during exams can help verify their identity, ensuring that the correct individual is taking the quiz or exam. This feature is especially useful in online assessments to maintain academic integrity and prevent impersonation.
  • By enabling student photos to be visible during the exam, instructors can easily confirm that the student is who they claim to be, adding a layer of security to the assessment process.
  • Show Blocks During Quiz Attempts
  • The setting in Moodle allows you to display additional blocks or resources during a quiz attempt, such as navigation aids, feedback, or instructions. This feature can enhance the quiz experience by providing students with easy access to helpful information without leaving the quiz page. For example, you can display a timer block to keep track of the remaining time, or a glossary block for quick reference to terms used in the quiz.

Step 8: Overall Feedback
  • Tailored feedback significantly enhances the learning experience by providing students with personalized insights into their performance. By offering specific feedback messages for different score ranges, you can guide students on areas that need improvement and highlight their strengths.
  • Positive reinforcement, such as acknowledging progress and encouraging further effort, motivates students to continue learning and striving for better results. This targeted feedback approach not only helps students understand their mistakes but also boosts their confidence and fosters a growth mindset.
  • Example Feedback:
  • 90-100%: "Outstanding performance! Keep it up!"
  • 70-89%: "Great job! Review areas you missed to aim for excellence."
  • Below 70%: "Don’t be discouraged. Review the material and try again."
  • Practical Use Cases
  • Formative Assessment: Enable unlimited attempts with interactive feedback to help students practice concepts.
  • Summative Assessment: Set strict time limits and deferred feedback for fair and secure evaluation.
  • Adaptive Learning: Combine shuffled questions and immediate feedback to provide a dynamic learning experience.

Step 7: Appearance and Accessibility

  • Conclusion

  • Configuring quiz settings in Moodle is both an art and a science. By carefully adjusting each parameter, you can create assessments that are fair, engaging, and aligned with your course objectives. Whether for practice, evaluation, or feedback, Moodle’s quiz settings empower educators to design assessments that support student success.

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