Silvia Proaño Stone
Silvia is an instructional designer who is available to consult with faculty members about using CLE activities and resources to support online teaching and learning.

Creating Quizzes in the CLE

New to online assessment? Did you know that the UCSF Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) provides a tool that can be used to create assessments of all kinds, from short knowledge checks to more robust exams?

Take a few minutes to read through these resources and then try setting up a quiz on your own.

Set Up Your Quiz

Setting up your quiz is a two-part process that begins by adding the quiz activity to your course. Read our help center article for step-by-step instructions on how to add a quiz to your course or watch the video below:

Add Quiz

Quiz Settings

Quiz settings specify the rules for interacting with the quiz, such as password-protecting it or making it available during a specific date and time. Read our Help Center article for details on how to configure your quiz settings. Once your quiz is set up, it’s time to add questions.

Adding Questions to Quizzes

There are two ways to add questions to your quiz. The first is editing your quiz and adding new questions. The video below will walk you through the steps on how to add a question directly to your quiz

Add questions directly to quiz

The other way to add questions to quizzes is to create a question bank first, then add questions to the quiz. Question banks are very useful resources for managing CLE quiz questions. Each course in the CLE has a question bank which can be organized by category — this is helpful way to manage questions and build quizzes from one class to the next.

This video will walk you through the steps outlined to start creating a question bank:

Add question bank

Once your question bank is set up, you can add questions to your quiz.

Add questions from question bank

Writing effective questions

Let’s take a few steps back and think about the questions being added to assessments. Adding questions is simple — writing questions can be the most time-consuming part, so carve out some calendar time!

Effective assessments measure content mastery while reinforcing learning. There are a multitude of question types to choose from in the CLE quiz tool; consider which question types are most appropriate for your course content. Try to include a mix of question types to minimize student weakness with certain question types, though keep in mind that each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some question types can be automatically graded in the CLE while others cannot.

Commonly Used Question Types

Short answer question

  • Allows a response of one or a few words that is graded by comparing against various model answers, which may contain wildcards
  • Can be difficult to autograde
Short answer screenshot
Short answer

Essay question

  • Allows a response of a file upload and/or online text
  • Cannot be autograded — must be graded manually
essay screenshot
Essay

OU Multiple Choice Question

  • Allows the selection of multiple answers; recommended if your question has more than one right answer
  • Can be autograded
ou screenshot
OU Multiple Choice

Matching question

  • The answer to each of a number of sub-questions must be selected from a list of possibilities
  • Can be autograded
matching screenshot
Matching

Multiple Choice Question

  • Allows the selection of a single or multiple responses from a pre-defined list
  • Can be autograded
multiple screenshot
Multiple Choice

Numerical Question

  • Allows the selection of a single or multiple responses from a pre-defined list
  • Can be autograded
numerical screenshot
Numerical

True/False

  • A simple form of multiple-choice question with just two choices (T/F)
  • Can be autograded
true screenshot
True/False

Don’t forget!

  • Assessment questions should reflect course learning objectives. Make sure learning objectives are clearly communicated to students so they have a better idea of what to expect in their assessments.
  • Frequent assessments can support learners. Think about including low stakes knowledge checks in addition to quizzes and larger exams. Provide feedback whenever possible.
  • Some students may need extra accommodations when taking assessments in the CLE. Any student can be given extra accommodations – go to Grade a Quiz and click on the ‘Override a Grade’ tab for step-by-step instructions.

Congratulations! You’ve learned how to add a quiz to the CLE. If you need any additional information or want someone from the Learning Tech Group to review your quiz, contact us.

Instructional Designers are available to meet with you to support you in this online learning journey. Visit the instructional design web page for more details.