Create Fill-in-the-blank Questions

Ask students to provide a word or phrase to accurately complete a statement. You can provide multiple correct answers to account for possible variations and feedback.

Fill in the blank questions can be added to assessments and practice questions activities.

1. Add the Assessment or Practice Questions activity.
2. Add a matching question to the activity.
3. Follow the directions below.

Question content

1. Use the drop-down to choose from the following Answer types:
   • Normal, which looks for an exact match (including letter case).
   • Case insensitive, which looks for an exact match, without concern about uppercase/lowercase discrepancies.
   • Number, which looks for numbers.
     • By default, any number within 1% of the correct answer is considered correct. You can specify your own match range if you use two dots between the start and the end value of the correct answer. For example: 3.14..3.1416.
     • On the Interaction card, you can specify a required number of Significant figures (aka significant digits) students must enter to get the question correct.
   • Regular expression, which allows you to set up custom matching criteria (e.g., you may want to look for a specific term and disregard everything else). (Contact support for additional assistance.)
   • Math expression - Exact, looks for answers to mathematical equations that exactly match the calculated answer. If the question were 2+2=, 4 is the only correct answer even though 6-2 yields the same value. 
   • Math expression - Equivalent, which enables equation buttons for each answer and accepts any equation that results in the same mathematical value. For example, if the question were 2+2=, any equation that equals 4 would be accepted.
2. Specify the number of Blanks you want in the question.
3. Define the Width of the blanks by the number of letters that can fit.
4. Specify how many Points the question is worth.
5. Click Add answer to set the number of blanks you want in the question.
6. Enter the question as you want it displayed to students. Click Insert blank to place the blanks where you want them; this button appears whenever you've added more answers than there are blanks.
   • Note: To remove the blanks, Remove the answer as described in Step 8; the platform then prompts you to Remove extra blanks as described in Step 9.
7. Enter the correct answer(s) in the field(s) below; they correspond with the blanks above in the same order they appear.
8. Click the more menu next to an answer to Remove it or Add alternative answer to it. Adding an alternative answer creates another line where you can enter another correct answer for the question. 

9. If you remove an answer that already has a blank above, you are prompted to remove the extra blank.

10. This section pictures and explains the default visual editor; enable the Text editor to create and edit questions with the advanced Text editor.

Feedback

Select Add feedback to create various types of feedback. Choose the feedback type from the drop-down and enter the desired content in the field below. You can choose:

1. Feedback for When answer is correct.
2. Feedback for When answer is incorrect.
3. Feedback that is Always delivered.
4. Custom feedback for questions from specific Groups and/or when a specific Condition is met. This option allows you to set up conditions (contact support for additional assistance).

Interaction

To manage the question's Interaction:

• If use Number as your Answer type,  you can specify a required number of Significant figures (aka significant digits) students must enter to get the question correct.
• Check the Show correct answer box to allow students to immediately see how they performed on the question.
• Check Display workspace to give students a rich text editor where they can record their notes and processes as they work on the question.
• If one or more passages have been included in the activity, you can select one to attach to this question from the Include passage drop-down.
• Provide a Custom question definition (contact support for additional assistance).

Metadata

Add the question to an existing Group with the associated ID, or create a new one. Groups allow you to vary settings for different questions.

Learn more: How do I vary attempt limits by question?

Objective mastery

Select Choose objective in the Objective mastery card to review and align the question with objective(s). Note: Objective Mastery is not available for all courses.

Once selected, you can:

1. Use the Filter field to search for specific objectives.
2. Check the boxes next to objectives to align them with the question. This makes it possible to set up Formative and Remediation assessments.

Score

Use the Score card to indicate:

1. If you want to allow for Partial credit.
   • And, if so, if you want to automatically Round the score.
2. If you want the question to count as Extra credit.

Variables

With the Variables section you can create a range or list of variables for use in the question.  

Calculator

Check the appropriate box(es) to provide students with one or more of the following calculators to use with this question (Basic, Standard, and/or Scientific). This can also be specified for the entire activity with the Assessment activity editor.

Companion Material

Select Add material in Companion Material to attach any supplemental documents students need to complete this question. You can do this by:

1. Pointing to existing resources in the course.
2. Uploading new files (PDFs only).