Create Open-Ended Questions

About Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions require students to respond with original answers. These types of questions range from one-word responses to full essays. Typically, open-ended questions are manually graded. To facilitate manual grading, instructors using the new Quiz Evaluation Experience can attach rubrics to individual open-ended questions. Brightspace can also machine grade open-ended questions (new Quiz Evaluation Experience and Classic Mode) provided students' responses are an exact match to the correct answer or if Regular Expressions are used to account for variations. 

Create Fill-in-the-blank(s) Questions

Step 1 

Select Quizzes from the course navbar.

Step 2 

Select the Question Library tab.

Step 3 

Select the name of any Section folder to open it.

Step 4 

Select the New button.

Step 5 

Select Fill in the Blanks Question (FIB) from the menu.

Step 6 

Enter the number of points this question will be worth in the Points field.

Step 7 

If this question has an image, select the Insert Image button to upload it from your computer. Use the Description field to provide information about the image.

Step 8 

Set up the structure of your FIB question. By default, this question consists of a starting text field, a blank, and a finishing text field.

Step 8a

If you want students to have more than one answer blank, select the Add Blank (plus sign) icon

Step 8b

Unless the blank needs to be at the end of the phrase, sentence, or paragraph, you will need to add a text field, which you do by selecting the Add Text (plus sign) icon.

Step 8c

Use the Remove Answer (trashcan) icon to the right of any blank or text field you want to delete.

Step 9

Enter the text of your sentence(s) within the text field(s).

Step 10

Enter the correct answer(s) in the blank field(s).

Step 11

Specify how you want Brightspace to assess this question.

Step 11a

Enter a 100 in the weight field if you have one answer. If you have two or more answers, apportion the weight between answers. Weights must add to 100%.

Step 11b

Select the round radio button to indicate the evaluation criteria you want Brightspace to use for each answer:

• Case Insensitive: capitalization does not affect the score.
• Case Sensitive: proper capitalization is required.
• Regular Expression: uses letters and other symbols to create a pattern that describes a range of acceptable text strings. For an introduction to Regular Expressions, watch this Brightspace video (opens in new tab) and/or see Auto-Grading Options, Regular Expressions. 

Step 11c

Create variations on the correct answer. For example, if the correct answer is "10 cm", you will give partial credit for the answer "10." Select the Add Answer option and assign a partial weight for the additional answer(s).

Step 12

Select the Preview button to see how the question will look to students.

Step 13 

Select the Save button to save your question, or Save and Close to save and return to the Question Library. ​

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Create: Short Answer Questions

Step 1 

Select Quizzes from the course navbar.

Step 2 

Select the Question Library tab.

Step 3 

Select the name of any Section folder to open it.

Step 4 

Select the New button.

Step 5 

Select Short Answer Question (SA) from the menu.

Step 6 

Type or paste your question into the Question Text field.

Step 7 

Select the Add Blank button until you have the desired number of answer choices for this question.

Step 8 

Type or paste the correct answers into the Answers fields—one answer per blank. The order of the answers does matter.

Step 9 

For each answer, use the dropdown menu to select one of the following:

• Text: if the answer is not case-sensitive.
• Case-Sensitive Text: if letter case matters.
• Regular Expression: uses letters and other symbols to create a pattern that describes a range of acceptable text strings. For an introduction to Regular Expressions, watch this Brightspace video (opens in new tab) and/or see Auto-Grading Options, Regular Expressions.  

Step 10 

Enter the number of points the question is worth in the Default Points field.

Step 11 

To designate how points will be assigned to blanks, use the dropdown menu and select one of the following:

• Students will receive part marks: students receive points for every correct answer; Brightspace automatically calculates based on the number of points the question is worth.
• Students must answer all blanks correctly: Brightspace will give points only if a student provides all the correct answers.

Step 12

Preview the question on the right-hand side of the screen to ensure it looks how you want; note that Brightspace automatically shows you how the question will appear on the quiz.

Step 13

Select the Save button to save your question and return to the Question Library.

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Create: Multi-Short Answer Questions

These questions allow for multiple correct answers to a single question prompt. For example, students can be asked to name any 4 of the 50 state capitols. 

Step 1 

Select Quizzes from the course navbar.

Step 2 

Select the Question Library tab.

Step 3 

Select the name of any Section folder to open it.

Step 4 

Select the New button.

Step 5 

Select Multi-Short Answer Question (MSA) from the menu.

Step 6 

Enter the number of points this question will be worth in the Points field.

Step 7 

Type or paste your question into the Question Text field. 

Step 8 

If this question has an image, select the Insert Image button to upload it from your computer. Use the Alternative Text field to provide information about the image.

Step 9 

Create the number of answers in the Input Boxes field – one box for each answer you expect students to provide.

Step 10 

Size the answer fields by adjusting the number of Rows and Columns that will fit each. 

Step 11

Add Answer fields by entering the number of fields you need (e.g., one for each of the 50 state capitols) in the Add Answers field and selecting the Add Answer button.

Step 12

Enter the correct answers into the Answer fields.

Step 13

Enter the appropriate weight in the Weight field. For example, the student must provide four answers in the capital example. That means each answer equals 25% of the question's value (5 answers mean each answer is worth 20%, six answers mean each answer is worth 16.66%, and so forth).

Step 14

Select the round radio button for the Evaluation criteria you want to use for each answer:

• Case Insensitive: capitalization does not affect the score.
• Case Sensitive: proper capitalization is required.
• Regular Expression: uses letters and other symbols to create a pattern that describes a range of acceptable text strings. For an introduction to Regular Expressions, watch this Brightspace video (opens in new tab) and/or see Auto-Grading Options, Regular Expressions. 

Step 15

Select the Save button to save your question, or Save and Close to save and return to the Question Library. ​

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Create: Written Response Questions

Written Response questions allow students to provide answers ranging from a single sentence to multiple paragraphs. This flexibility makes them ideal when students must explain complex ideas, show their work on mathematical problems, or submit files such as images, videos, or supporting documents. While this question type usually requires manual grading, rubrics may be attached to questions (new Quiz Evaluation Experience only) in order to streamline the evaluation process and ensure consistency.

Step 1 

Select Quizzes from the course navbar.

Step 2 

Select the Question Library tab.

Step 3 

Select the name of any Section folder to open it.

Step 4 

Select the New button.

Step 5 

Select Written Response Question (WR) from the menu.

Step 6 

Type or paste your question into the Question Text field.

Step 7 

Enter the number of points the question is worth in the Default Points field.

Step 8 

Select the Options menu.

Step 9 

Select Add Custom Response Box Size.

Step 10 

In the Custom Response Box Size dropdown menu, select the size of the response box you want to appear on the quiz.

Step 11 

Optional: Add an answer key that only graders, TAs, and instructors can view in the Answer Key (for evaluators) field.

Step 12 

To allow students to embed images or to attach files to their answers, select the checkbox for Enable HTML Editor for learner responses and the checkbox for Allow learners to insert images and add attachments. Selecting both checkboxes will allow students to either insert images using the HTML editor or attach images using the Add File option.

Step 13

Optional: Instructors using the new Quiz Evaluation Experience can attach a rubric to a Written Response question. Add a rubric by selecting the Add Rubric button. Choose Create New or Add Existing and follow any additional prompts. For more information on rubrics, visit Rubrics (opens in new tab).

Step 14

Preview the question on the right-hand side of the screen to ensure it looks how you want; note that Brightspace automatically shows you how the question will appear on the quiz.

Step 14 

Select the Save button to save your question and return to the Question Library.

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