Exam items include the questions, prompts, etc. that are included on an exam. Items are stored in folders and can be created through the Questions tab, while creating an exam, or can be imported. To allow other users (e.g., faculty:director, staff:pcoor) to access questions to edit them or use them on exams, you must add permissions to the question folder or question. This is done after the folder or question is created.
A reminder that by default in Elentra all faculty have read access to exam questions.
Only users with Admin roles can create question folders. This is by design to limit the duplication of folders and promote consistent methods in storing items. Note that non admin users will be able to add questions to existing folders.
Navigate to Admin>Manage Exams and click 'Questions' from the left sidebar.
If a new folder is needed, click 'Add New Folder'.
Complete the required information, noting the following:
Click 'Select Parent Folder' if you want to create a subfolder within an existing folder. The permission settings of the subfolder will automatically match the permission settings of the parent folder. Click on the desired parent folder and click 'Move'. Folder Text: Provide the folder title here. This will display when you click 'Questions' and see a list of folders. Folder Description: You will only see this if you open the folder to edit it. Folder Color: The system requires you to select a color.
Click 'Save' to create the folder. You will be redirected to the list of folders but in the dialogue box that pops up you can also click to go to the Edit Folder page and add permissions to the folder.
To copy, delete, edit and manage folder authors, or move a folder, click the the gear icon to the right of the folder name. You will only have the ability to do this if you created the folder or are listed as a folder author.
To add permission for other users to access a folder, select the user type (individual, organisation or course), begin to type in a name and click on the name you want. The selected user will appear on a list below. To remove a permission click the red x beside a name.
Hide the list of question folders by clicking on the eye icon beside the Add New Folder button.
Click on a folder to view its subfolders.
By default, all faculty can view all exam questions, however they can not edit them.
Staff:admin, staff:pcoor and faculty:director users can add and edit questions. They can also work with questions written by others as long as they are given access to the appropriate questions/folders.
If you make a folder accessible to an organisation it means anyone in that organisation with the ability to write/edit exam questions (e.g., staff:admin, staff:pcoor and faculty:directors) will be able to do so in that folder.
If you make a folder accessible to a course, anyone listed in the course contacts section of the course setup page and who has the ability to write/edit exam questions will be able to access that folder.
If a folder has an author permission set, questions created in that folder will inherit the same author permission settings.
Elentra currently supports a variety of question types: Multiple Choice (vertical and horizontal – use ‘multiple responses’ to allow for multiple correct answers), short answer, essay, matching, text, and fill in the blank. Different question types have different templates for their layout.
Notes on question type use:
A text question can be used to provide instructions.
Questions presented in horizontal view to learners will not have the strikethrough feature available when learners take an exam.
Currently essay questions and short answer questions are treated slightly differently in the Learner Feedback Report (available after an exam is completed). Essay questions will show the complete response, while short answer questions will be cut off. We are working on addressing this for our next release.
Within a folder, users can manually add individual questions, import questions in bulk through a free text box, or migrate questions, images, and responses from another exam management tool (this last tool is only available to Medtech Admins). This section addresses how to manually create individual questions; please see additional tabs for information on importing questions. Note that the system stores a record of who created a question and displays this information in the question detail view.
Navigate to Admin>Manage Exams and click 'Questions' from the left sidebar. You will automatically be working under the Questions tab.
Click 'Add New Question'.
Complete the required information noting the following: Question Stem: Type the question text in this section and edit it using the rich text editor. Insert images, tables, horizontal lines, hyperlinks, etc.
To insert an image into a question stem, click the landscape icon in the rich text editor. In the Image Properties popup window select ‘Browse Server,’ drag and drop or choose a file from your computer to upload. After you’ve added the image you can change the name in the Alternative Text field; additionally, you can adjust the Width and Height fields (it is recommended that you click on the lock icon to change the aspect ratio of the image).
To insert media into a question stem, click the film strip icon and paste the embed code into the popup window.
Question Information:
Question Type: Select the required question type. (Note: use ‘multiple responses’ questions if you want to have multiple correct answers.)
Question Description: Add a descriptive title. This will display in the list view of exam items and is helpful when scanning a list of items within a folder.
Rationale: Add a question rationale. Rationale is shown to learners when they get feedback on their exam and can explain a question answer or provide additional detail.
Correct Text: This option will display only when creating essay and short answer questions. It is a space to provide sample answers or list what should be included in an answer. This text is notvisible to learners and is intended to provide information to graders. When a grader corrects a free response question, they will see the correct text on the screen to help them grade the response. If you use this question type and have faculty provide narrative feedback when they grade the questions, you must set the exam to release feedback for ALL questions for learners to be able to see the narrative comments from the grader.
Question Code: This optional code field can be completed according to the guidelines set by your institution. (Every question will also automatically be given a unique identifier within Elentra and that unique id displays when viewing a list of questions within a folder.)
Parent Folder: If you were already in a folder when you clicked 'Add A New Question' this will automatically list that folder. If you were not already in a folder, it is mandatory to assign your question to a specific folder. Click 'Select Parent Folder', click on a folder name, and click 'Done'.
Question Answers:
To add more answer options, click the green 'Add Answer' button. To reduce answer options, click the large checkbox beside the correct response, crossed arrow and lock icons, then click the red 'Delete' button on the left.
Click the existing red checkmark beside a response to turn it green and indicate a correct answer; depending on your question type you can have multiple correct answers for one question.
You can create Rationale for each answer option by clicking on the eye icon beside the Add Answer button. This will open a free text rationale space below each answer option. This does not currently display to learners so is just for information storage at present.
Reorder answer options by clicking on the crossed arrows and dragging and dropping the response item in the appropriate place.
If you intend to later randomize the answer response options for all questions on an exam post and want to lock an answer in place, move it to the appropriate location and click on the lock icon to close it and turn it red. An example for using this might be a multiple choice question where an answer option is "All of the above" and you always want this option to appear last in the list of answer options. (A reminder that you will set up randomization of questions and/or response options when you create an exam post.)
Curriculum Tags: You can add curriculum tags to any question based on the tag sets configured through Admin>Manage Curriculum. Click 'Add Curriculum Tag', click on tag set names to drill down to the tag you require, click on it and it will appear in the list on the right. Some of the exam reporting tools rely on curriculum tags so in addition to mapping your curriculum and assessments, this can be useful to do for reporting on assessment results. Note that you can apply curriculum tags to multiple questions at once using the Actions options after questions have been created.
For certain question types, additional fields and information may be required:
Fill in the Blank Questions: When creating the item text for a fill in the blank question, create a blank by inserting underscore, question mark, underscore. You must have the same number of question answers as you do blanks (you can have multiple correct answers in each question answer if needed). Please note that fill in the blank answers are case sensitive. You may wish to include two answers (e.g. cardiac arrest and Cardiac Arrest) to ensure learners are properly credited for their answers.
Matching Questions
When you create matching questions, please note that the place to provide the correct answer is at the top of each Item Stem option.
When the learner sees the question, they'll get a list of stems and then each stem will have the same dropdown options that they can match to the stem.
Multiple Choice Vertical and Horizontal and Fill in the Blank (multiple responses): Grading Scheme
For these question types you can set the grading scheme as partial, all or none, or partial with penalty. Partial: This will give partial credit for every correct reaction (e.g. selecting a correct answer AND not selecting an uncorrect answer). It divides the total point value across the number of response options and awards credit for each response option which is correctly responded to (selected if correct, not selected if not correct). All or none: A learner must answer all correct answers correctly. If they miss an answer (whether they select an incorrect answer or miss selecting a correct answer), the learner will get 0 points. Partial with penalty: This will give partial credit for every correct reaction and will penalize a learner for an incorrect answer. The system divides the total point value across the number of response options and awards credit for each response option which is correctly responded to (selected if correct, not selected if not correct) and deducts credit for an incorrect answer.
Click 'Save' to save your question.
To add permissions to individual questions, navigate to a list of questions and click the pencil icon beside the question title.
Click the greyed out Question Information heading to open it.
In the Question Permissions section, select the user type (individual, organisation or course), begin to type in a name and click on the name you want. The selected user will appear on a list below. To remove a permission click the red x beside a name.
Only users with admin roles can create grouped questions through the Manage Exams Question menu. Other users will be able to create grouped questions when creating an exam.
The function of a grouped question is to bind a number of items together and have them appear together on an exam. Grouped questions will be stored in the Grouped Q’s tab.
Navigate to Admin>Manage Exams and click 'Questions' from the left sidebar.
Click the Grouped Q's tab just above the Questions heading.
Click ‘Add Group’.
Provide an appropriate group title and then add an optional description if desired. This will display in the list of Grouped Q's.
Add permissions to allow another user to edit this group if applicable. A user must have permission to a question to add it to an exam at a later date.
Click Attach Questions to search for and add existing questions.
Click the checkbox beside each desired question (or select all by clicking the checkbox beside the 'Actions' dropdown menu above the list of items). Click ‘Attach Selected’ in the top right.
Click the down arrow beside Attach Questions to create a new question in the question bank and add it to your grouped item at the same time.
Create a question and click ‘Save’ when done. You will return to the Edit Grouped Question page and can add another question.
After attaching the required questions, reorder them as desired by clicking the crossed arrows and dragging and dropping the questions, and then click the blue ‘Save’ button.
You will see a green success message on the screen and then can navigate to a new location.
To edit an existing grouped question, click on the question title to reopen it. To delete questions from a grouped question, open the question, click the checkbox above the question ID number and click 'Delete Questions'.
To delete entire grouped questions, from the Grouped Q's list click the checkbox beside the grouped Q title and click 'Delete Group'.
You can also group questions from an exam. For more detail on that process, see the Exams>Create help section.
View all questions or questions within a folder in list form or detail form by selecting the different grid icons.
In Question Detail View, quickly show details for all questions by clicking on the eye icon to the left of the 'Add A New Question' button. To review details or make edits to a question click the eye or pencil icon respectively. Note that if an item is part of a grouped Q you will also see a chain icon. Click on it to see the details of the grouped Q.
In Question List View, click the pencil icon to edit a question, click the magnifying class to preview a question, click the chain icon to view grouped Q details, or click the forward back arrows to see an overview of question versions. Note that if an item is part of a grouped Q you will also see a chain icon. Click on it to see the details of the grouped Q.
An important aspect of viewing questions is the ability to turn subfolder view on or off. If subfolder view is off, you'll only see questions in a folder when you've clicked on that folder. If subfolder view is on you'll see all questions within all applicable folders. If you click on a folder that has multiple subfolders this allows you to quickly see all the contents of all subfolders at once.
Select questions by clicking on the checkbox beside their title (or select all by clicking the checkbox beside the 'Action' dropdown menu).
To delete a question, click the checkbox beside the question, from the Action dropdown menu select Delete. Confirm your choice by clicking 'Delete'. The question will be removed from the list.
To move a question to a new folder, click the checkbox beside the question, from the Action dropdown menu select Move, click on the appropriate destination folder, and click 'Submit'. You will see a green success message at the top of the screen.
To change the curriculum tags applied to multiple questions, click the checkboxes beside the questions, from the Action dropdown menu select Tag Questions, choose how you want to change the question tags, click on tag set names to drill down to the tag you require, click on it and it will appear in the list on the right, and then click 'Apply'.
Any time you make a change to a question, a new version will be recorded. A new version will be created for any change—correcting a typo, linking the question to additional curriculum tags, altering a response option, etc.
When creating exams, you can add a question with multiple versions and choose to select an older version if desired. Do this by clicking on the forward/back arrow icon. If a question has changed since you created an exam, you will be given a notification for that and can update your exam to reflect the newest version of that question; however, you can still elect to use the old version of the question if you prefer. If the forward back arrow icon is blue, you’re not using the most recent version of a question on an exam.
Click on a folder title to look for questions within a specific folder. Turn sub-folder view on or off to see more or fewer questions.
Type in a word or phrase to retrieve any questions with matching terms. The search feature looks within question descriptions and stems.
Use Advanced Search to further refine your results by filtering by a curriculum tag, question permissions, or exams. You can apply multiple tags to one search. To use the Advanced Search feature, click 'Advanced Search', click your desired filter type, click through hierarchies and type text within a hierarchy to find your desired filter, scroll down within the advanced search window and click 'Apply Filters'. The tags you've applied will display under the search bar. Remember to clear your filters as needed when you begin a new search. You can click on the x beside a filter name or open Advanced Search and click 'Clear All Filters'.
Toggle between a list view and question detail view of your search results using the icons on the left (beside the subfolder on-off control).
In list view, edit, preview, or view groups for a question by using the pencil, magnifying glass, and chain icons respectively.
In question detail view, quickly view the expanded details of all question by clicking on the eye icon to the left of the Actions button.
If exam questions are stored in Word or other word processing softwares, users can copy and paste the information and bulk import questions to Elentra. Specific formatting is required.
Navigate to Admin > Manage Exams.
Click on ‘Questions’ from the left sidebar Manage Exams section.
Click on the Import sub-tab.
Select a destination folder from the dropdown menu.
Paste in the question(s) text. Note that specific formatting required.
Question type is required for each question.
To format your question types, begin with “type:” followed by a space and then one of the following question type codes:
mc_h for Multiple Choice Horizontal
mc_v for Multiple Choice Vertical
short for Short Answer
essay for Essay
match for Matching text Text
mc_h_m for Multiple Choice Horizontal (multiple responses)
mc_v_m for Multiple Choice Vertical (multiple responses)
fnb for Fill in the Blank
You can also indicate the following information for any question, although it is optional:
description (this is short description or title of the question)
rationale
correct_text (this can be used for short answer or essay questions)
code
locked response(s) - this allows you to lock a response option on a question if you intend to randomize question response options when you post the exam
curriculum tags - this allows you to import curriculum tags with your questions.
To import curriculum tags you must know the curriculum tag id. Ids can be found in Admin > Manage Curriculum. When you open a curriculum tag set, toggle to the table view of curriculum tags (use icons beside 'Add Tag'), and if ID is not a visible field, add a column by clicking the columns selector (under the Import from CSV button) and adding the ID column.
Example: 1. Which are vowels? a. a b. e c. i d. All of the above answer: d type: mc_v folder: /some/folder locked: d curriculum_tags: 3454, 3421
Each question shows the minimal amount of information required. It is recommended that you also provide description, rationale, etc.
Multiple Choice Vertical Multiple choice vertical questions have a type of "mc_v". They include one or more answer choices, and an attribute "answer" for the letter of the correct answer. An example is shown below.
What is your favorite color? a. red b. green c. blue
answer: a type: mc_v folder: /some/folder
Multiple Choice Vertical (multiple responses) Multiple choice vertical questions with multiple responses have a type of "mc_v_m". They include one or more answer choices, and one or more "answer" attributes for the letter(s) of the correct answer(s). An example is shown below.
Which of these are blue? a. sky b. ocean c. trees
answer: a answer: b or answer: a, b type: mc_v_m folder: /some/folder
Multiple Choice Horizontal Multiple choice horizontal questions follow the same format as multiple choice vertical, but with a type of "mc_h". They can have 5 answer choices at most. An example is shown below. Note that questions presented in horizontal view to learners will not have the strikethrough feature available when learners take an exam.
What is your favorite color? a. red b. green c. blue
answer: a type: mc_h folder: /some/folder
Multiple Choice Horizontal (multiple responses) Multiple choice horizontal questions with multiple responses have a type of "mc_h_m". They include 1-5 answer choices, and one or more "answer" attributes for the letter(s) of the correct answer(s). An example is shown below. Note that questions presented in horizontal view to learners will not have the strikethrough feature available when learners take an exam.
Which of these are blue? a. sky b. ocean c. trees
answer: a answer: b or answer: a, b type: mc_h_m folder: /some/folder
Short Answer Short answer questions have a type of "short" and require only the question stem although it is recommended to provide correct text and rationale. An example is shown below.
Where is your favorite color? type: short folder: /some/folder
Essay Essay questions have a type of "essay" and require only the question stem although it is recommended to provide correct text and rationale. An example is shown below.
What is your favorite color and why (3-5 sentences)? type: essay folder: /some/folder
Matching Matching questions have a type of "match". They have one or more answer choices, one or more item stems, and the same number of correct answers as item stems. The answer choices are shown as options for each item stem. The item stems are a piece of text or a question that corresponds to one of the answer choices. The correct answer for an item stem is identified by the answer choice's letter. The correct answer attributes are assumed to be in the same order as the item stem attributes. An example is shown below. Note that when learners answer this type of question the system does not automatically eliminate responses (i.e., a learner can put answer c as a match for multiple stems). When scoring a matching question the system uses an all or none system (for questions where you can give partial scores use multiple choice, multiple responses).
This is the matching question stem. a. This is the first answer choice. b. This is the second answer choice. c. This is the third answer choice. item: This is the first item stem, its correct answer is choice C. answer: c item: This is the second item stem, its correct answer is choice A. answer: a type: match folder: /some/folder
Text Text questions are not questions at all; they are generally used as instruction text for further questions. Text questions have a type of "text" and require no other special attributes. An example is shown below.
The next three questions cover the following scenario: A patient arrives at your family medicine clinic at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon... type: text folder: /some/folder
Fill in the Blank Fill in the blank questions have a type of "fnb". The blanks are indicated by the string "?" in the question stem. Fill in the blank questions can have an "answer" attribute for each blank indicating possible correct answers for that blank; the possible correct answers are separated by pipe characters, "|". These "answer" attributes refer to the blanks in order. An example is shown below, in which the first blank has possible correct answers of "woodchuck", "beaver", or "marmot", and the second blank has possible correct answers of "woodchuck", "hamster", and "groundhog".
How much wood could a ? chuck if a ? could chuck wood? answer: woodchuck|beaver|marmot answer: woodchuck|hamster|groundhog type: fnb folder: /some/folder
Migrating responses from ExamSoft into Elentra allows you to record learner performance on past exams delivered through ExamSoft in Elentra.
Export your learners results from ExamSoft with the following settings as a CSV file.
If your exam does not have essay questions, you can uncheck the Essay Responses category.
From the main page, click to update any questions then proceed to the Posts section.
Create a post of this exam and associate it with a learning event for the cohort that wrote it. (Review the exam posting section for more information).
Once your questions have been imported, return to your Exam Dashboard through the Exam menu located in the collapsible left-hand side bar.
Click on the title of your imported exam to open it.
Go back to the Questions section and select the Migrate Responses tab.
Browse for and select the CSV of the learner results and then click Import Responses.
This can take a few minutes to complete if there are many questions and learners.
Once the results have been imported, the post will be updated so learner results can be reviewed and reports can be generated for the exam.
Migrating Questions from ExamSoft allows you to move exam questions from ExamSoft into Elentra for use on future exams.
Please note that only users with medtech:admin group and role permissions can migrate exam questions from another exam management tool.
Export the exam you would like to import from ExamSoft with the settings below.
Save the document with no spaces in the title.
Using LibreOffice, convert the file into a text and html file.
Note: Currently, only files converted using a Mac can be successfully imported.
Navigate to Admin > Manage Exams.
From the Manage Exams navigation box, click Questions.
Click on the Migrate Q's tab.
Select the question folder you would like the questions uploaded to.
Then, browse for and select your plain text file and click Import Questions.
This will take you to a new page where you can review all the questions that will be imported from the text file
Note: The system will look at the ExamSoft ID's to ensure no duplicate questions are created if questions are used on more than one exam.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Import All Questions to complete the process. This will automatically create an exam in the system that is only accessible via the Exams Dashboard.
Move to the Migrate Images tab.
Browse for and select your html document and all the images for that exam.
Click Import Question Images.
Review that the correct images have imported, then click Confirm Exam Import.
If you tried to import any questions from ExamSoft which were NOT multiple choice you'll need to review them in the Flagged Questions tab. Similarly, questions with images attached will also appear here. Non multiple choice questions are flagged because the import system can't tell if they were supposed to be matching, fill in the blank, or essay type questions. By default they are given a type of essay but this will need to be changed for matching or fill in the blank question types.
Click on the Flagged Q’s tab. On this tab, you will see all of the questions with images and any non multiple choice questions.
Click the pencil icon to edit the format of any questions.
If there are no edits to be made, click the flag to approve the question.
Images will automatically import to the top of the question.
To edit the image position easily, click Source from the text editor box.
Copy and paste the source code to the correct place in the question.
