Organizing and Utilizing Questions: The Role of Moodle's Question Bank

What is a question bank?

A Moodle question bank is a feature within the Moodle learning management system where educators can create, store, and organize a variety of question types (such as multiple choice, short answer, essay, etc.) for use in quizzes, exams, and other assessments. Question bank allows the teacher to create a collection of questions, with the capability to preview or edit the questions in a database, and use them in the Quiz. Questions are systematically organized into categories and subcategories like how files are organised within folders and subfolders.

Creating question bank categories

In Moodle, creating question bank categories involves organizing and structuring the repository of questions by grouping them into different categories based on topics, difficulty levels, or any other relevant criteria. This helps educators to efficiently manage and navigate their collection of questions when creating assessments. Both the administrator and the teacher have the ability to create or edit the question bank.

To access the question bank, simply navigate to the course navigation on the main course page "More" > "Question Bank" from the drop-down menu.



And navigate to the left-side dropdown menu and select the "Categories" option. Next, click on the "Add a category" button. This action will prompt the display of the page for adding a new category.



Here we'll explore the process of adding a new category to a question bank. First, we see the parent category which is a way to store questions under a category like storing files in folders.

Creating questions in the question bank

To create questions in the Moodle question bank, educators can navigate to the Question Bank within their course, select the desired category, and then use the "Create a new question" option to choose from various question types such as multiple choice, true/false, short answer, essay, etc. They can then input the question text, options (if applicable), correct answers, and any other relevant details before saving the question to the bank for later use in assessments.

What is a Parent category?

In Moodle's question bank, a parent category is a top-level category that can contain subcategories and individual questions. It serves as the main organizational unit for grouping related content within the question bank. Subcategories can be created within parent categories to further organize questions based on topics, difficulty levels, or any other criteria deemed relevant by the educator. This hierarchical structure helps educators efficiently manage large collections of questions and facilitates navigation and organization within the question bank. Here, we have three types of parent categories available in the dropdown menu.

• Course Level - Organizes questions specific to a particular course or module within Moodle
• Category Level - Allows for broader organization of questions beyond individual courses, such as grouping questions by subject area or topic.
• System Level - Provides a top-level organizational structure for questions that applies globally across the entire Moodle system, useful for questions that can be used across multiple courses or categories.
  
  
  • Top Level: Selecting "Top" will display the new category at the top of all existing categories.
    
  • Default Level: Opting for "Default" and creating a new category will automatically set it under the default category.
    

Moving one category to another

After choosing the category and question you want to move in Moodle's question bank, click the "With selected" button, choose "Move to," then pick the new category from the dropdown menu, and confirm to complete the move.

Add a Questions from the Question Bank:

To create questions in the Quiz module using the question bank, first, navigate to the Quiz module page, then click on the "Add question" button, choose "from question bank" from the "Add" drop-down menu, select a category from the "Select a category" drop-down menu, and finally, choose the questions you want to include and click "Add selected questions to the quiz."



To create a question, in a question bank by
Course: This represents the Parent Category. If we're using the question bank within a specific course, we utilize this course category. It ensures that the questions are organized within the context of that particular course.

Category: Parent Category
If the question bank is intended for use across all courses, we create the question under this category. Doing so allows access to the question bank across all courses nested under this parent category.

System: Parent Category
If we choose the system as a parent category our question bank will show on all the courses and categories Returning to the process of adding a category, proceed by providing a name for your category. Additionally, input a category ID and description if necessary. Finally, click "Create" to establish the category.