Question Writer Manual/Print Version

Introduction

Question Writer is a quiz authoring tool for Microsoft Windows. It allows the user to:

• create online quizzes with a variety of question formats,
• publish the quizzes online (or in a range of other formats)
• receive results by email and
• review quiz results in a results database

Three versions of the software are available:

Basic: available free but limited to multiple choice questions only
Standard: all you need to create quizzes complete with 7 question types – Multiple Choice; Multiple Response; True or False; Fill in the Blank; Matching; Sequencing; Essay
Professional: fullest version of the software with added features including the partial credit question type, the plugin question type (which in effect gives you the opportunity to create almost any question type you need) – and the facility to create sections and explanation pages; add your own background and loader images and adjust image quality.

Question Writer 4 Professional Version has several features in addition to those described for the Standard Version. Explanation of how these features can be used will appear alongside the explanation for the related Standard Version feature with a PRO symbol to highlight that the explanation relates to Professional Version only.

How Help Works

This manual contains a Quick Start Tutorial which should help you create your first quiz but there are also 5 chapters which describe how to use the software in more detail. The Extras chapter outlines some new or different ways to use the software. If you experiencing some difficulties you might find some useful information in the Frequently Asked Questions chapter.

You can print this manual if you prefer. There is an on-demand PDF and HTML version on the front page. Both versions are fully up to date and we recommend using the PDF version if you're printing the whole manual.

In addition you can:

• visit the support pages of Question Writer online at http://www.questionwriter.com/support.html

• ask your own question in the Question Writer Forum at http://www.questionwriter.com/qwforum/

• check for the latest developments at the Question Writer blog at http://www.questionwriter.com/blog/

Before you start

Have your quiz ready – think about what type of questions you want to write and above all be sure that you know the correct answer!

Basic Navigation

The normal screen view has 4 parts:

1. At the top there is the menu bar with drop down menus and
2. a tool bar with buttons for a selection of the most frequent actions from the menu.

The rest of the screen is split in two -

3. on the left is the action panel where you can see the questions you have added in a tree structure and
4. on the right is the preview panel where the quiz will be displayed if preview is selected.

As you take actions, eg adding a question, a properties window will pop up and you can tick boxes or enter text as required.

When you click on Preview you will get a preview of whatever you have selected so if have first clicked on the Quiz icon (in the left hand pane or Action Panel) you will be given a preview of the whole quiz. If you have selected a particular question in the Action Panel when you click on Preview you will see a preview of that question only.

You can also right click on either the quiz icon or the individual questions in the tree structure and you will be able to choose an action from a drop down menu.

Quick Start Tutorial

This Quick Start Tutorial takes you through the 5 basic steps you need to take to create a new quiz. Once you have created your quiz you can go back over the menu options and add whatever refinements you want.

At any point in your work you can preview how your quiz will look by clicking on the Preview button.

---

Step 1 – Set up a new quiz

When you first open Question Writer you will see the following screen:

Most of the screen appears blank but at the top there is the title bar (which tells you that you have opened Question Writer and which version); a menu bar with 3 menu options and below that a tool bar with 2 buttons.

To start creating your first quiz, click on the button New Quiz.

---

Step 2 - Add Questions

Simply click on the add question button on the menu bar

and select the type of question you want to use.

Or click on the relevant question button on the tool bar

When you select the question type a properties window will open. As well as entering the specific details of the question and answer, the properties window for each question type gives you the option to add an image, set the score and decide on the appropriate feedback for that particular question.

---

Step 3 – Choose a Theme

Both the Standard and Professional version of Question Writer come with a range of themes. To add or change the theme of your quiz you just select Theme from the menu bar or click the Switch Themes button. A list of themes will appear and you can select whatever seems appropriate to you. If you double click on the theme a dialogue box will appear telling you that the theme has been changed.

You can then Preview the quiz to see how it looks.

---

Step 4 – Save your Quiz

As with all Windows software to save your file simply select File and Save (or Save As if you wish to change the name) from the menu bar or click on the Save Quiz button on the tool bar. All quizzes are saved with a .qwz extension.

---

Step 5 – Publish your Quiz

To publish your quiz online select Publish from the menu bar. You are given a variety of options:

If you select Publish for the Web, Question Writer will create HTML files for you to publish your quiz.

If you select Publish to Question Writer Tracker, your quiz will be available online immediately and you will be given a link to post on your website or to send to your quiz takers.

If you select Publish for Printing Question Writer will create a set of HTML documents showing the quiz and the feedback for you to print.

If you select SCORM1 .2, Question Writer will create a file for export to SCORM

If you select Questions in Text Format, Question Writer will create a text file containing all of your questions in text format. You can amend this file (as long as you respect the formatting) and then re-import it to Question Writer. This option is only available if you are using Question Writer Professional.

If you select Inside PDF your quiz will be published to a pdf file. This option is only available if you are using Question Writer Professional.

If you select QTI 1.2 Question Writer will create a set of files specially formatted to be compatible with QTI 1.2 which can then be used in other systems. This option is only available if you are using Question Writer Professional.

There is more information on all of these options in the Save and Publish Chapter.

---

Congratulations that is all you need to do. You have created your first Quiz!

Introduction to Quiz Options

When you first open Question Writer you will see the following screen:

Most of the screen appears blank but at the top there is the title bar (which tells you that you have opened Question Writer and which version); a menu bar with 3 menu options and below that a tool bar with 2 buttons.

To start creating your first quiz, click on the button New Quiz.

Double click on the Quiz-Untitled icon in the action panel. A properties window will open; this is where you will define the settings for your quiz.

Alternatively you can click on the Properties button on the tool bar while the Quiz is highlighted.

Quiz Details

Introduction to Quiz Details

When you click on the quiz properties the following screen will open where you can input the basic settings for your quiz.

</noinclude>

Title

Enter the name of your quiz in the quiz title box. You can change this (and any other of the properties later if you change your mind).

The title will usually appear at the top of the page throughout your quiz. You can opt to stop the title from appearing on every page by unticking a box in General Question Properties

The title can also be used to identify your quiz if you're using the online results server to collect responses and scores.

Pass Score Percentage

Enter the passing % score as a number – you can set this figure as high or low as you like. The default is set at 80%. Only enter the number here - you won't be able to enter the percentage(%) sign.

Feedback Method

You can select from the 3 choices in the drop down box:

• After Each Question
• End of Quiz
• No Question Feedback

If you select After Each Question, the quiz taker will see if they answered correctly as soon as they click on the next question button.

If you select End of Quiz, the quiz taker will be shown their performance on each question as a review at the end of the quiz.

If you select No Question Feedback, the quiz taker will not receive feedback on individual questions.

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer there is also a tick box where you can opt to Show Question Feedback For Incorrect Answers only – if the quiz taker gets an answer correct they will not be given feedback for that question.

Time Limit the Quiz

If you want to limit the time that can be spent on the quiz tick the box and then enter the time in seconds, minutes or hours. After the time limit is up, the quiz taker will be automatically forwarded to the end of the quiz to review their results and any feedback given.

Randomization

Randomization is useful if you are expecting quiz takers to re-sit the quiz repeatedly. You can create a quiz with a large pool or bank of questions and set Question Writer to randomly select a specific number of questions from this bank. The more questions in your question bank the better as it reduces the chances that they will see the same questions time after time.

If you tick the box to use randomization, the quiz will automatically select a random set of questions from the total question bank in the root level of your quiz. You also specify how many questions you want to ask. This will be reflected in the number of questions you add to your question bank. For example you might set the value to 10. 10 questions will then be selected from the question bank for this quiz and asked in a random order. If you have 10 or fewer questions in the question bank, then all of the questions will be asked, but still in a random order.

Randomization works by generating a specified number of randomized quizzes when you publish the quiz - then one of these 'pre-randomized' quizzes is selected for the user to take when they access the quiz. You set or change the number of pre-randomized quizzes to be loaded as part of the Quiz Details set up. Remember to upload all of the files generated when you publish the quiz online.

With the Professional Version you can randomly choose which sections are used too. Quiz randomization randomizes what's directly inside the quiz and doesn't change what is inside sections or subsections. (Either a whole section will be asked or not asked and count as one selection.) Section properties also allows you to further randomize what appears inside sections. Randomization Seed If you want to create a randomized quiz and have an identical paper copy you will need to use this feature which provides "consistent randomization". When you tick the box the quiz will be randomized in the same way each time. To change the randomization, just choose a different the seed number - each seed number creates a different, but predictable randomization.

Number of Pre-Randomized Quizzes

If you're using any randomization in your quiz or sections, Question Writer handles this by generating a number of pre-randomized quizzes when you publish. One of these is selected at random each time a quiz-taker accesses the quiz. It is usually better to have more rather than less of these pre-randomized quizzes as this minimizes the possibility that two quiz-takers will see the same quiz or the same quiz-taker will see the same quiz twice in a row.

Balance this against the time it takes to publish your pre-randomized quizzes and the space that the pre-randomized quizzes will take up.

See [[../../../Frequently Asked Questions/Randomization|Frequently Asked Questions]] for an idea of how this can be used.

Introduction

This page allows you give initial instructions to the Quiz Takers and collect basic identifier information from them. The “next” button will not appear until all the input fields have something entered in them – so forcing the quiz takers to supply you with their id information.

Display Instructions

If you tick the Display Instructions box a short message will be shown to the quiz taker at the start of the quiz. You can amend the text of this message if you wish.

You can also include an image (or audio or video as .swf) in this screen. You do this by browsing for the required image, uploading and then adding it. For more detailed instructions see [[../../About Questions/Adding Questions|Adding Questions]].

User Identification

A Tick box gives you the option collect personal identifiers for your quiz takers, eg Name or ID number.

User Identification With the Professional version, tick boxes allow you to set and collect up to 5 different identifiers for your quiz takers, eg Name, ID number, Email address, Company, Location. You can change the information that you collect by changing the name of each identifier in Other Labels. These identifiers will appear in the results reports. Field Length for User Data The Professional version also allows you to input the field length for the user identification fields. You can enter anything you feel appropriate - but remember that space on a web page is limited.

General Question Properties

This properties window contains a series of tick boxes relating to the appearance of the question on the screen, most of which are self explanatory.

Show Question Number

The question number can be displayed at the top of each question page using this option

Randomize Question Options

This randomizes the order in which answer options are displayed in Multiple Choice, Multiple Response and Partial Credit question types. In Sequencing and Matching question types, options are always randomized.

Display Point Values For Questions

The number of points awarded for each questions is shown to bottom right hand side of the question if this option is selected.

Display Title With Each Question

This option displays the title of the quiz at the top of each question page.

Use Image Zooming

When an image or piece of Flash is displayed with a question, it can optionally be shown in the top left hand corner and zoomed to full size when the mouse moves over it. If this option is not selected, the image appears at its default size at the top of the question.

Never Show Back Button with Questions

When this box is ticked the back button will not appear in each question, this means that quiz takers will not be given the option to go back over earlier answers.

Force Attempt at Every Question

When this box is ticked the quiz takers will have to enter an answer before they can proceed to the next question. This ensures that they attempt each question in the quiz.

Question Scoring Options

Award Partial Credit for Sequencing and Matching Questions

This tick box allows you to give quiz takers credit for an answer that is not 100% correct in the sequencing and matching question types. For matching questions a score based on the number of correct matches is awarded. For sequencing questions, a more complex scoring method is used by calculating the number of correct relative pairs sequenced. (There's a blog article here that goes into more detail, [1]).

Allow Overall Negative Marks From Partial Credit Questions

You can choose whether or not you allow negative scores for Partial Credit Questions. These negative scores will the be set against positive scores achieved in other questions. If you don't allow negative scores, the minimum score that can be awarded for any question is 0.

Allow Overall Negative Mark for Whole Quiz

If you tick this box and you have used negative scoring you will be able to award an overall negative score for the quiz.

Fill in the Blank Question Options

Fill In The Blank Answers Must Use Correct Capitalization

This determines whether the scoring for Fill In The Blank style questions is case sensitive. If Correct Capitalization is required and the required answer was 'Blue' but the quiz taker entered 'blue' - they would not score any points.

Award Points for Answers with Spelling Errors A very big drawback to Fill In the Blank questions is having to identify the exact characters that a quiz taker must type in to get a question right. This feature allows you to award full or partial marks to quiz takers who come close enough. You can also specify how close they have to be. The default setting is 30%, meaning 3 errors in a 10 letter word or 1 in a 4 letter word. An error is either Wrong letter (Necessery) Missing letter (Necesary) Extra letter (Neccessary) Two letters switched around (Recieve) Where case-correct answers are required, switching the case of a letter is also marked as a single error. (washington) You can still define multiple correct answers, and the one with fewest errors compared to the student's answers will be used Award only Partial Credit for Spelling Errors This tick box enables partial credit to be awarded for partially correct answers.

Jpeg Image Quality

Quiz authors using the Professional version can use this option to adjust the quality of any jpg images used. Set the size/image quality balance to suit your own quizzes. If your quiz is designed for use on a CDROM - you won't mind having a large file size and usually you'll want to have high quality images. If the quiz is to be available over the internet you'll often want a smaller file size to minimize quiz download times and so might choose to have a lower quality image.

Publish as Flash Version

You can choose which version of Flash your images will be saved and published as - by selecting from the drop down box. The higher the version number that you select, the better the image quality will be.

Audio

This gives you the option to disable button sounds. This is especially useful if you have a lot of students taking a test at the same time in the same place.

Override Background Images

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer you can add your own background images (or piece of Flash) in place of the Quiz Background, Loader Background or Finished Background images found in the theme. See also [[../../../Look and Feel/Change Background and Loader|Background Image]] for more information about the images you can use.

Override Feedback Images

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer you can change the images that appear to indicate a correct or incorrect answer in the feedback.

Text Settings

This section allows you to use HTML or a variety of embedded fonts (selected from a drop down box) and to select a different font or font size for your title or body text to replace the default fonts set up within the theme used.

Use HTML To Format Text

In the Standard version of Question Writer 4 this option can be found under Quiz Properties - Appearance Settings

When this option is switched on, you can change the way text is displayed by using HTML formatting.

<b>bold</b>

This will make the text inside the tags bold.

<i>italic</i>

This will make the text inside the tags italic.

<font face="Arial" size="24" color="red">Arial Red at point size 24</font>

This will make the text inside the tags point size 24, color red, font face Arial. Relative sizes can be used - eg -2,-1,+1,+2 to make the text relatively larger or smaller. Absolute sizes can be used also - eg 36. Absolute sizes smaller than 8 are treated as HTML sizes (1 is very small, 7 is very large). Font colors can be HTML colors(red, yellow, white etc) or RGB style colors (color="#FFCCFF")

<p align="center">Center Alignment</p>

This causes a new paragraph to be created and any text in that paragraph to be aligned in the center.

<br>

This creates a new line.

<sup>superscript</sup>
E = MC<sup>2</sup> 

This will make the enclosed text appear as a superscript.

<sub>subscript</sub>
The chemical symbol for Oxygen is 0<sub>2</sub>

This will make the enclosed text appear as a subscript

HTML formatting can be used in all text fields with one exception - it cannot be applied to the text that appears on next and back buttons.

Respect Newlines in HTML If you are using the Professional version of Question writer you can tick this box is ticked so that you can use HTML text formatting but still respect newlines in the text. Optimize Text for Small Screens Ticking this box is especially useful for small fonts and small screens like mobile devices.

Embed Font

In the Standard version of Question Writer 4 this option can be found under Quiz Properties - Appearance Settings

When the quiz taker enters text at the keyboard, the quiz can either use a system font or (with this option checked) an embedded font. Using an embedded font guarantees that the font will be used and the chosen characters will be available. You can ensure that all the letters and accents that a user might want to enter are embedded by choosing the right character set for the quiz taker's language.

The embedded font is used in the Fill in the Blank and Essay style questions. It is also used when the user is prompted for Name/UserID at the start of the quiz.

For text entry in Japanese and other languages with large character sets, it is usually better to switch off this option as the number of characters is very large and leads to a very large file size.

Body Text Font

In the Standard version of Question Writer 4 these options (apart from Override Body Text Font Color) can be found under Quiz Properties - Appearance Settings

Override Body Text Font

By ticking the box and selecting a font you can override the default font used in the theme, for example if you want to customize the appearance of the quiz

Override Body Text Font Size

You can override the default font size used in the body text. This might be useful eg if you have particularly long questions and have trouble fitting them on to a single page.

Override Body Text Font Color

Professional version users can override the default font color used in the theme body text.

Title Text Font

If you are using the Standard version of Question Writer 4, these options (apart from the Override Title Text Font Color) can be found in Quiz Properties - Appearance Settings.

Override Title Text Font

Each theme defines a different font to use in the quiz for titles - you can override that selection by choosing your own font here.

Override Title Text Font Size

As well as changing the font used you can also change the default font size for the titles. This could be useful eg if you want to display your quiz using an OHP and need to make sure everyone in the room can read the text.

Override Title Text Font Color

Quiz authors using the Professional version also have the option to change the color of the title text.

Override Feedback Text Colors

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer, you can use change the default colors used by the theme. This can be useful if the default colors are not clearly seen against a customized quiz background.

Introduction to Web Settings

The Web Settings Properties box allows you to define how the quiz acts when it is viewed online.

Send Results over the Internet

Send Results via Website to Email

If you tick this box you will be able to enter an email address in the text box. Make sure that you input the correct address of the email account where you would like the results to be sent. By default, all results sent to that email address will be automatically received and stored by the Question Writer Tracker server. To change the settings so that the results are only emailed and not stored by the Tracker server you must register with Question Writer Tracker and change the account preferences associated with that email address.

Please note that if you publish your quiz on the Question Writer Tracker service, this setting will be ignored, and all results will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your Question Writer Tracker account.

Send Results Before Showing Any Feedback

If you tick the Send Results Before Showing Any Feedback box, the results will be sent to the server before any feedback is displayed to the quiz-taker. This prevents the quiz-taker from shutting down the quiz after he sees what his score is, but before his results have been transmitted.

Use a Custom Results Server

If you're using your own script to process results, you can enter the address of your own server and results will be sent here. By default, Question Writer's server address will appear in this box.

Use a Customs Results Backup Server

You can also define the backup server, which is used if the main server can't be reached. If you're not using a backup server, just make this the same as the main server, and the quiz will continue to try to reach the main server until it is reachable. By default, Question Writer's server address will appear in this box.

What must the server reply?

If your custom server successfully saved the results, it must imperatively reply "<OK/>". If you do not reply anything, QW will consider that there is a problem and try again and again.

After Quiz

If you wish you can direct the quiz taker to a new web page when they complete the quiz. You do this by ticking the box in the After Quiz section and entering the relevant web address. Please note, the automatic forwarding will only work when the quiz is published - not during the preview.

If the quiz opened as a pop up window, you may want the quiz window to close when it is complete. This is useful for situations where the quiz taker needs to go back to their previous window that may not be web based. Enter this URL http://www.questionwriter.com/common/close.html to attempt to close the quiz window.

Browser Options

Browser Options

If you tick the Maximise Quiz in Browser tick box this will ensure that the quiz expands to fill as much of the browser window as possible. Sometimes this stretching will distort the quality of a bitmap (jpeg/gif) style background and you may prefer to have the quiz always shown at its default resolution.

User Responses Recovery

A lot of things can go wrong during a test. The power can get cut, hardware can fail, the browser can crash, the test taker can close the browser by mistake, the internet connection can go down, the whole internet can go down, the results server and backup server can fail. By ticking this box you can ensure that if something goes wrong while a user is taking a test, they can just bring the test up again, and all their answers will still be there. The timer will be set at the correct value too. The responses are saved locally in the browser every 10 seconds, and the responses are deleted when the user successfully exits the test. The only time you might not want to use this feature is if you're collecting sensitive information, and you don't want to have this information stored on the user's computer. The feature also works in combination with randomization, so it'll bring up the correct pre-randomized version of the test when the user re-enters the quiz.

URL Protection

By ticking the field Only Allow Quiz to be Loaded from This Domain and entering the relevant website address you can specify the website from which your test can be viewed. This helps to prevent people re-publishing your tests on different websites. Like all copyright protection measures, this isn't a panacea and a determined copyright thief will be able to circumvent this measure, but it will deter the vast majority of casual abuse.

Metadata (SCORM)

If you publish your quiz as SCORM you can add Metadata to your quiz. Metadata will be used to identify your content in the Learning Management System (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). You can add the following 4 metatdata elements to the question:

• Title
• Description
• Identifier
• Keywords

Report Options

A series of tick boxes allow you customize the appearance of the results screen, with the option to add your own message for quiz takers who have passed or failed. You can also choose not to show the results at all.

The results screen will be shown at the end of the quiz along with any feedback that you have chosen when setting up the [[../../Quiz Details/Feedback Method|Feedback Method]] in Quiz Details.

The option to display the system date and time is available only to quiz authors using the Professional version of Question Writer.

Report Export Options

Allow User To E-mail Report to

You can give the quiz taker the option to press a button on the final report screen to email their report. This will use the user's e-mail client and the user will have the opportunity to change the e-mail address / report details.

This is a convenience for the user - the results by e-mail service offered in the [[../../Web_Settings/Send_Results_over_the_Internet|Web Settings]] is much more reliable for most purposes.

Allow User To Print Report

You can give the quiz taker the option to press a button on the report screen to print their report. This can be a good way to provide a certificate for the quiz-taker.

Report Labels

This section allows you to customize the text labels that appear on the report screen.

The option to display the system date and time is available only to authors using the Professional version of Question Writer.

Other Labels

This section allows you to customize other text labels giving you the maximum opportunity to personalize your quiz.

About Questions

Introduction to Questions

The Standard version of Question Writer allows you to set 7 different types of question.

• Multiple Choice
• Multiple Response
• True/False
• Fill in the Blank
• Sequencing
• Matching
• Essay

---

The Professional version of Question Writer has an additional 3 question types: Partial Credit Explanation Plugin

---

Question Writer allows you to randomly select the questions asked in a quiz from a question pool. You can have a very large number of questions in a pool (tested up to 10,000) from which to create a random quiz. However, you should limit the number of questions actually asked in a quiz to 200 questions without question feedback, or 100 with feedback.

If you need your quiz to have more questions, it is best to create multiple quizzes of around 100/200 questions and link them together using the After Quiz option.

Another way to include a large number of questions is to use Pages. Where you are using pages, the above limit applies to the number of pages, not to the number of questions. For example, you could have a 100 page quiz, with 5 questions per page and full feedback.

About Questions

Introduction to Questions

The Standard version of Question Writer allows you to set 7 different types of question.

• Multiple Choice
• Multiple Response
• True/False
• Fill in the Blank
• Sequencing
• Matching
• Essay

---

The Professional version of Question Writer has an additional 3 question types: Partial Credit Explanation Plugin

---

Question Writer allows you to randomly select the questions asked in a quiz from a question pool. You can have a very large number of questions in a pool (tested up to 10,000) from which to create a random quiz. However, you should limit the number of questions actually asked in a quiz to 200 questions without question feedback, or 100 with feedback.

If you need your quiz to have more questions, it is best to create multiple quizzes of around 100/200 questions and link them together using the After Quiz option.

Another way to include a large number of questions is to use Pages. Where you are using pages, the above limit applies to the number of pages, not to the number of questions. For example, you could have a 100 page quiz, with 5 questions per page and full feedback.

Adding Questions

It is easy to add a question to your quiz. This can be done either by clicking on Add Question on the menu bar

and then selecting the type of question:

Or by clicking on the icon on the tool bar for the particular question type that you wish to add.

Or by right clicking when your mouse is over the quiz icon and selecting Add, then select your question type.

For each question type a properties window will open where you can add relevant information along with the question text. Each question type allows you to:

• add an image
• set the number of points that a correct answer will score and
• give appropriate question level feedback.

To add an image, simply tick the include image box and then use the browser to select and insert the image of your choice. The image should be in a .jpg or .gif format. Once you have selected the image you want using the Add Files... button you click the Use File button and the image will appear in your question.

After you have entered your question details you can see a preview of how it will appear onscreen by clicking on the preview button at the bottom of the properties window.

There are some handy tips on how to improve the quality of your images in our blog [[2]].

Once you are satisfied with the question properties click OK. You will then be returned to the Action Panel and will be able to see the questions already added.

Adding Pages

You can add pages directly to a quiz or within sections of a quiz and display several questions on a single page. For example, this feature can be used if you use an Explanation type question to set a passage of text and then ask a series of questions about that text. To add a page, right click when your mouse is over the Quiz (or section) and select Add - Page. You can also add a page from the Add Question drop down menu. You can name your page by right clicking your mouse while on page, selecting Properties and adding a page title in the popup. You can also move your page up or down the menu by right clicking your mouse while on page, selecting Move Up or Move Down. Once you have added the page you can add questions to the page by right clicking and then selecting Add-Question, or by dropping and dragging from elsewhere in the quiz or from another quiz. If you are using pages within a quiz, you will not be able to give your quiz takers the option to zoom images. Images will be displayed in line as it can be confusing to have multiple zooming images.

Question Options

Question Options allows you to offer different types of content as answer options. For example you could ask a user to sequence a list of images, or match images to names or use animations of sounds as options for answers. You can add Options to the Partial Credit, Matching, Sequencing and Plugin question types. To add an option you right click on the question and choose Add - Option. You can then add text, images, sounds or animations. Here is a link to a short quiz on British Design Classics featuring the options feature [[3]] Question Writer still uses the text answers you have defined but adds the options. For matching question types, each match follows the choice. The plugin questions can be programmed to use the option content in any way. For example the Horizontal Slider Plugin Question uses the first option as the slider background and the second option as the slider button. Here is a step by step description of how to add images to a matching question. First add your question, it must be either a Partial Credit, Matching, Sequencing or Plugin question types but for this example we are using a matching question. In the question properties you can type in the Question, eg “Match the colours to the images?” You do not need to add any text into the choices or matches fields. The next step is to add options to the Question. With your mouse over the question, right click and select Add and then, from the drop down list that appears, select Option You need to add an option for each possible answer option you want to give, ie the choice and it’s respective match. After you have added your first option you can add your image to that option. So with your mouse on the option, right click and select Add and then Image You can then add the option to match with that image, eg a text option, though it could be another image or a sound. When you have added all your choices and matches you can preview your question.

Multiple choice

First enter the text of the question in the Question Body text box and then enter the options from which the quiz taker will have to choose. You can enter up to 99 options. Remember you must check the box beside the correct option. Only one option can be correct for a Multiple Choice Question and the user will either get full marks for a correct answer or no marks for an incorrect answer.

Select Individual Option Feedback to give the quiz-taker feedback that is specific to the option selected.

Multiple Response

As with the multiple choice question, you enter a range of answers for the quiz taker to choose from. This time there can be more than one correct answer. Remember to tick all the answers that are correct. The quiz-taker only receives points if he selects all the answers that are correct - otherwise he gets no points. If you want to award points for a partially correct answer, use the Partial Credit question.

True or False

In this question type you can enter a statement rather than a question. The quiz taker then has to decide if the statement is true or false. Remember to tick the correct option.

Fill in the Blank

For this type of question you can input a range of possible correct answers. For example if there are abbreviations commonly used you can include them, with all possible varieties of punctuation - if Saint Peter was the answer, you could allow for St Peter; Saint Peter; and St. Peter.

In the Question Options properties window you can opt to require that the [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/Fill in the Blank Question Options|capitalization]] of the answer be correct.

You can change the length of the "blank" by adding as many underscores _______ as you need.

In addition if have you the latest Professional Version of Question Writer you can opt to allow some error and to award full or partial marks to students who come close enough. You can specify how close by changing the %error allowed. The default setting is 30%, meaning 3 errors in a 10 letter word or 1 in a 4 letter word. An error can be one of the following: Wrong letter (Necessery) Missing letter (Necesary) Extra letter (Neccessary) Two letters switched around (Recieve) Where case-correct answers are required, switching the case of a letter is also marked as a single error. (washington) This is set up as part of the Quiz Properties in [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options|Question Options]].

Sequencing

In this type of question you will be asking the quiz taker to place a selection of statements in the correct order. You should be sure that there is only one correct order (unlike the example!). The quiz taker will be able to drag and drop the answers into a grid.

You can opt to award marks only to quiz-takers who get the entire sequence correct - or you can award partial credit where some pairs have been correctly sequenced relative to each other. [[../../Quiz Options/Advanced Settings/Question Scoring|Question Scoring Options]]

See the Question Writer Blog article for detailed information on how the partial credit scoring works with Sequencing Questions. [4]

Matching

With this type of question you are asking the quiz taker to match pairs; for example countries and capital cities or heroes and heroines. The quiz taker will be able to drop and drag one element of the pair to make the match.

You can opt to award marks only to quiz-takers who get the all the matches correct - or you can award partial credit proportional to how many correct matches have been made.

You can also limit the number of matches that are displayed each time a questions is used. This is useful if you have a large data set and a single question showing all the possible matches would not be feasible. You can use this feature to limit the number of matches and then reuse the question either in the same quiz or in a different quiz. This example [[5]] contains all 50 US states and capitals but you could also for example use this feature for periodic table symbol questions or indeed for any other large datasets.

Essay

In this question type you can ask the quiz taker to write a short Essay. The subject of the essay is described in the Question Body box and you can limit the height of the text box entering the number of lines. Essay questions are not automatically scored and so the feedback for these questions is limited to a single piece of text, written in advance. You can switch this feedback off by unticking Display Feedback Page for Essay Questions in [[../../Quiz Options/Other Labels|Quiz Options - Other Labels]].

Partial Credit

The Partial Credit question type is a powerful multiple choice question that allows you to specify the number of points awarded for each option and also the number of answer options that the quiz taker can choose. This allows you to award partial credit for partially correct answers and implement negative marking schemes to discourage quiz-takers from guessing answers. For more information see Scoring Questions and [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/Question Scoring Options|Question Scoring Options]] in Quiz Set Up.

Explanation

The Explanation question is not really a question type. You can use it to add text and/or an image to a page in the quiz, without needing to have an interactive element of score. This is useful if you want to: add an introduction or explanation to a section give the quiz taker a break in the middle of a long quiz, or provide some reading material for a comprehension question

Plugins

The plugin question type allows for an unlimited number of question types. Anything that can be programmed in Flash (up to version 8) can be used as a question type. Plugin Questions allow you to ask any type of question, with any type of layout or display, and any type of scoring logic. Plugin Questions can also use content that is entered in Question Writer. This means that a programmer is only required to create the initial question type – the content can be supplied through the usual Question Writer interface. And once a Plugin Question is created, it can be used over and over again in different quizzes Three sample Plugin Questions are provided with Question Writer. Check in the samples directory to open the 'PluginQuestions.qwz' file in Question Writer. View the quiz here[[6]], to see how the questions integrate seamlessly into a quiz.

Plugin Questions are created as .swf files - this file contains all the layout code and scoring logic. Question Writer then provides the file with the parameters and options of the question. Take the Horizontal Slider Plugin Question provided with Question Writer for example.

The parameters are used to tell it the maximum and minimum values that the slider can take and whether to display the slider's current value. The first option is used to provide a background graphic, and the second option is used to provide the slider button. In this way, the Plugin Question is programmed once, but virtually any type of slider can be created with it using the parameters and options.

To create your own Plugin Question, you'll need the services of a Flash programmer. The interface is described in Plugin Question Requirements, and you can also download the source code (.fla) to a sample Plugin Question (The Cycle Plugin Question) as a basis to work from [[7]].

Plugin Question Requirement

Plugin Questions need to follow certain rules very closely in order to function correctly within the Question Writer environment.

Plugin Question Specification

Plugin Questions are Flash components and are created in exactly the same way. If you are not familiar with creating Flash MX components, there is a good tutorial at

http://www.flashcomponents.net/tutorials/triangle/triangle.html

Constructor

The following values are made available in the constructor:

this._maxScore (String, points for fully correct answer)

this._isFeedback (String, either true or false, indicates whether feedback is being displayed)

this._responseid (String, response name)

this._listener (String, path to listener)

For each response option, a symbol id will be provided in the variables,

this._option0, this._option1, this._option2 and so on.

For each response option, an identifier will be provided as Strings in the variables,

this._option0ident, this._option1ident, this._option2ident, and so on.

A number of tabIndex values will be provided as Strings in the variables,

this._option0TabIndex, this._option1TabIndex and so on.

Also, for each response option, an accessibility String will be provided in the variables,

this._option0access, this._option1access, this. _option2access, and so on

The name/value pairs specified in the parameters of the Plugin Question are also made available in the constructor. All the values are provided as strings.

Requirements

Your component should implement the following methods.

isFullyAnswered()

This method should return a boolean, true/false. It is primarily used when the user is required to answer all the questions on a page. Question Writer will use this method to ask the Plugin Question if the question can be regarded as being in a 'fully answered' state. Note, this state has nothing to do with the answer being correct, just that a full attempt has been made.

getAnswers()

This method should return an Array of Strings containing the score as the first element of the array followed by the current response(s) in subsequent elements of the array. If the responses relate to the options that have been passed into the question, the strings that represent these options are available in the constructor as the variables, this._option0ident, this._option1ident, this. _option2ident, etc.

If you aren't using options as your answers, then it is fine to return meaningful string(s) as the response(s). This must return an array of Strings - even if the question deals with numbers, it should convert those values to strings before returning them as answers.

The plugin should also use this function to store the answers to be used when question feedback is provided. It can do this by calling this method:

this.respObject.setPair(this._responseid+"answers",answerArray);

setAnswers(Array)

This method should set the state of the Plugin Question based on the answers in the Array. This array will either send an empty array (when no attempt has yet been made on the question), or will return the Array that it had previously received when calling the 'getAnswers' method.

If the plugin is shown as feedback, it must access the answers from a stored location using the following method,

answerArray=this.respObject.getPairValue(this._responseid+"answers");

　

A final requirement is that your Plugin Question should call this code when the state of the component changes.

eval(this._listener).updateFlash(this._responseid);

Sequence of events

This is the order in which events happen when the Plugin Question is placed on screen.

1. The user clicks the next button and moves onto a page that contains the question.
2. Question Writer places the question on screen, calling the Plugin Question's constructor.
3. Question Writer calls the setAnswers(Array) method. If this is the first time this instance is appearing on screen, the Array will be empty.
4. The user makes an attempt at the question
5. The question calls 'eval(this._listener).updateFlash(this._responseid);'
6. Question Writer calls 'getAnswer()' method and stores the array.
7. Repeat steps 4 – 6 many times.
8. The user clicks 'next' to move out of the page.
9. Question Writer removes the question from the screen, destroying all information apart from the last answers array, which it stores.

Packaging

To package your component, first need to create a blank flash file. Drag your component onto the stage and then delete it. Your component should then be present in the library. Compile the flash file (as version 8 or less) as a .swf and this file is your finished Plugin Question.

Filename

The filename must be the same name as the symbol used for the Flash component plus the file extension (.swf). The filename also contains additional parameters, as per the following example.

QWPQ-0-20-0-ComboBoxV1_7.swf

First Parameter: (0) - This tells Question Writer how much on-screen space to allow for the Plugin Question. It should have a value of either: 0 - To indicate that Question Writer should allocate as much space as the largest option requires

1 - To indicate that Question Writer should allocate as much space as the first option requires

2 - To indicate that Question Writer should allocate enough space to display all the options

3 - To indicate that Question Writer should not allocate any space based on the option sizes

Second Parameter: (20) - This is the number of additional pixels in width that QW understands your component to require.

Third Parameter: (0) - This is the number of additional pixels in height that QW understands your component to require.

　

Identification

To make your component easy to use, you can change the dimensions of your flash file to 200x200 and add the following actionscript to the first frame in the main timeline to identify the symbol name, version and copyright information:

Note: It is best to make the check (this._parent==null), rather than (this==_root) as _root is replaced by Question Writer.

if(this._parent==null){ this.createTextField("version", 10, 0, 0, 200, 200); this.version.multiline = true; this.version.wordWrap = true; this.version.text = "Symbol: QWPQ-0-20-0-ComboBoxV1_7.swf\nVersion 1.0\nCopyright 2003-2010 Central Question Ltd."; }

Scoring Questions

As you enter each question you can assign the points awarded for that question. This allows you to apply a different weighting to each question. You can also choose whether or not to display the points awarded for each question in Quiz Options - Question Options - General Question Properties.

You set the pass score for the quiz as a percentage of the overall mark by entering the percentage as a number in the [[../../Quiz Options/Quiz Details|Quiz Details]] properties.

Partial Credit style questions allow you to assign different points for different answer options. Negative points for answer options can also be awarded this way. You can also choose whether those negative points are set against the overall points for a quiz by checking the Allow Overall Negative Marks box in the [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/Question Scoring Options|Question Scoring Options]] section of Question Options in the Quiz properties. Partial credit scoring can also be used with Matching and Sequencing questions to allow you to award partial credit for partially correct answers in these question types. The partial credit scoring for Matching questions is straightforward enough - it is proportional to the number of correct matches the quiz-takers makes. When Partial Credits are applied to sequencing questions you can give most of the marks where the quiz-taker knows the basics and extra credit for those fully in command of the topic. The scoring is based on correct relative pairs; the number of possible pairs depends on the number of elements or choices. If you have 6 elements you will have 15 possible relative pairs. The scoring works by subtracting the number of incorrect pairs from the number of correct pairs and maps it to the number of points available for the question. The mark is given rounded to the nearest whole number. For more detail on how this works see the February 2008 blog posting[8]. Multiple Scores Question Writer 4 lets you define multiple scores for all question types - except Explanation or Essay type questions where there is no automatic scoring. You can use this to show the scores for different topics within a quiz or keep track of different factors in a Myers-Briggs type questionnaire. Right click on a question to add one or more scores to the question and give the score a name in the properties box. Question Writer will track the overall score for the quiz but you will also be able to reference scores defined by name when showing feedback or displaying scores on screen. Scores can also be evaluated according to your set conditions and Custom Feedback can be shown according to the values of different scores. You can read some more about multiple scores in this August 2011 blog article.[[9]]

Custom Feedback

With Custom Feedback an evaluation is made of the answer given and feedback is displayed depending on the evaluation. The evaluation usually checks a score against a particular value, and feedback is displayed depending on whether or not conditions that you have set are met. In this example the aim is to show separate feedback for different groups of questions. The questions have been labelled as either Geography or History and the feedback shows the scores that the quiz taker has achieved in each group as well as the overall score. This indicates potential areas of weakness. NB There are no conditions set so the evaluation is always true and the feedback is always shown. The second piece of feedback evaluates the geography score, and if it is less than 20, the condition evaluates to 'true' and so displays the simple message. The third piece of feedback does the same, but for the history score. The Condition can contain And, Or and Not nodes, so evaluations can take place that depend on multiple scores, or one thing being true and another being false, or any one of a number of things being true. The feedback can also redirect the user to another part of the quiz - maybe to bounce the user back into the question if he answered incorrectly, or to skip a question based on a response given by the user. You can find out more about this in Skipping and Branching. You can try out this sample quiz in your browser [[10]] or download the source file (.qwz)to have a close look at the set up [[11]].

Skipping and Branching

You can use the feedback mechanism so that quiz takers are automatically taken to another part of the quiz based on an evaluation of their answer. The jump can be to another question, to another page or to another piece of feedback. The evaluation will usually be whether a single score is greater or less than a particular value, but can also include more complex conditions (And, Not, Or). You can try out this sample quiz in your browser [[12]]. In this quiz the quiz taker is asked a first question (the Screener). If the quiz taker does well, they skip to an advanced question; if they do poorly, they jump to an easier question. There are a few things happening here. Firstly the score variable 'Screener' is associated with the Partial Credit question. Any score achieved here is associated with this score variable and used to make an initial evaluation. In the feedback node, we check to see if the score is greater than 6 - if so, we branch to the Population question. If not the user moves onto the Multiple Choice question skipping the more difficult Population question. NB the Population and Vatican questions have metadata associated with them - this is so we can give them specific names. The name must the same in the Branch action as it is in the Question Metadata Title, the Page Title, or the Feedback identifier. You can download the source file (.qwz) of this example to have a closer look at the set up [[13]]. Feedback You can set a new Redirect URL at the end of the quiz based on a user's score. For example, if the user passes, you might send him to one webpage, and if not to another. The setting is in the Branch element - the Branch is activated when the associated condition evaluates to true. You can place the feedback in the report section instead of between the questions. This is useful if you want to send the results to the server before giving feedback to the user. If you're displaying question feedback too, the custom feedback will appear in the position you place it between the questions. For example, if you place the feedback between questions 2 and 3 and check the 'Report Section' option, the feedback will appear between the question 2 feedback and question 3 feedback. Here’s a sample quiz [14] with a full worked example. (Right click and ‘Save As). It forwards the user to one of four different Wikipedia pages based on the score achieved. You might need to publish the quiz in order to see the redirect in action, as a local security sandbox may prevent the quiz from redirecting to a new page.

Question Display

You can choose how much information is displayed with each question by ticking the appropriate boxes in [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/General Question Properties|Question Options, General Question Properties]] or amending the text displayed via [[../../Quiz Options/Other Labels|Other Labels]] - both sections of the Quiz Properties.

Question Metadata

Metadata is data about data. It is useful if you are organising a lot of questions, you can use metadata to describe each question. You can add Metadata to any question by right clicking while your mouse is over the question in the Action Pane and selecting the add option. The metadata properties window will open and you can add four metadata elements to the question: Title Description Identifier Keywords The question will then appear with the blue circle information icon below it in the quiz tree.

The Title you use in the metadata will be used as an identifier for the question in the Question Writer Tracker as well as when setting conditions to evaluate scores for Custom Feedback.

Sections

Introduction to Sections

You can only use sections if you have the Professional version of Question Writer. Grouping questions into sections opens up many possibilities. Each section can be individually randomized and have its own time limit. Sections can also contain subsections, allowing a tree structure for a really detailed control over question selection and timing.

Sections

Introduction to Sections

You can only use sections if you have the Professional version of Question Writer. Grouping questions into sections opens up many possibilities. Each section can be individually randomized and have its own time limit. Sections can also contain subsections, allowing a tree structure for a really detailed control over question selection and timing.

Sections

Introduction to Sections

You can only use sections if you have the Professional version of Question Writer. Grouping questions into sections opens up many possibilities. Each section can be individually randomized and have its own time limit. Sections can also contain subsections, allowing a tree structure for a really detailed control over question selection and timing.

Question Balancing

You can use sections to balance the questions in a quiz. For example you want to set a quiz with easy, medium and hard questions and randomly select 30 questions from a pool of 90. You will want the generated quiz to have 10 easy, 10 medium and 10 hard questions. Even with a random selection of questions you can guarantee the balance by grouping the questions under 3 sections (Easy, Medium and Hard) and then choosing to ask 10 questions selected randomly from each section.

Mandatory Questions

Sometimes you will want to make sure that the quiz takers always answer certain questions but want the other questions in the quiz to be randomly selected. For example, if you collect information from the quiz taker at the start of the quiz (in addition to the 5 identifiers included in the introduction) eg email address, gender, age. You can easily achieve this by leaving these questions outside the sections, and apply randomization as part of the section properties.

Time Limit Sections

If you want to time limit some questions but not others, you can easily achieve this by applying a time limit within the sections. For example if you have included some extra information gathering type questions, mentioned in Mandatory Questions, you will not want to time limit this part of the quiz.

Linking Questions

Some questions are linked to each other, for example in a reading comprehension quiz you could have 5 questions grouped around one reading passage. If you create the reading passage and the linked questions within a section you can then generate a random selection of sections and quiz takers will find a different reading passage each time they try the quiz but always have the right questions for that reading passage.

Themes

The simplest way to change the look of your quiz is to choose a new theme. This is very easy to do.

Both the Standard and Professional versions of Question Writer come with a range of themes.

You can find out when new themes are released by subscribing to the Question Writer Newsletter, or you can read the regular updates on the blog. [15]

To add or change the theme, click the 'Switch Themes' button. A list of themes will appear and you can select a different theme. A dialogue box will appear telling you that the theme has been changed.

You can then Preview the quiz to see how it looks with the new theme.

Fonts (choice, embedded)

You can change the fonts and the font sizes used in the quiz in the text settings. See [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Text Settings|Text Settings]] for more details.

Text Formatting using HTML

You can choose to use HTML text formatting to change the appearance of text in your quiz, or to add special symbols. See Text Settings for more detail.

Include Image

You can add an image to each individual question by ticking the 'Add Image' checkbox in the question property details. You can follow the same steps to add audio or video content to your quiz.

To add an image, simply tick the include image box and then use the browser to select and insert the image of your choice. The image should be in a .jpg or .gif format. Once you have selected the image you want using the Add Files... button you click the Use File button and the image will appear in your question.

If you want quiz takers to be able zoom the image with their mouse, tick the 'Use Image Zooming' checkbox in General Question Properties.

If you have a Professional license,you can also adjust the image quality in [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Jpeg Image Quality|Appearance Settings - Jpeg Image Quality]].

Adding Images as Question Content

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer you can also add images as part of the question (as well as the above method) and/or as part of the answer options. If you right click on the answer option on the relevant answer, and select Add then Content. By right clicking on Content you can then select Image. A window will open where you can add the image file that you need. Adding images in this way gives you the option of setting the size of the image and it's alignment in the page. You can read more about adding content in Question Options.

Adjust Image Quality

If you have the Professional version of Question Writer, you can adjust the image quality of jpg images using the sliding scale in the [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Jpeg Image Quality|Appearance Settings-Jpeg Image Quality]] properties window.

In both Standard and Professional versions, you can also adjust the Flash Version of the published images in [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Publish as Flash Version|Appearance Settings - Publish as Flash Version]]. Flash saved as version 8 will display a better resolution image.

Adding Flash Animation

You can add flash animations to a question by creating your animation with a Flash tool, exporting it as Flash 8 (or earlier) and attaching it to your question. You add your Flash animation file in the same way as you would add an image, see the section on [[../../About Questions/Adding Questions|Adding Questions]] for more information.

Image zooming also applies to Flash content - if you want quiz takers to be able zoom the Flash content with their mouse, tick the 'Use Image Zooming' checkbox in the Question Options [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/General Question Properties|General Question Properties]]. Usually if the Flash is interactive, you'll want this switched off.

Using Flash content is a good way to include audio and video in your quiz.

Adding Audio

The steps that you will take to add audio to a question will vary depending on which version of Question Writer you are using. If you are using Question Writer 3 please follow this link.

You can add audio files to both the Question and to the Answer options (if you are a user with a Professional license) and the files can be in either MP3 or .swf format.

Adding Audio to a Question

There are two possible ways that you can add audio to a Question, though the second method is only available to users with a Professional license.

The first method is to follow the steps for adding an image, only instead of an image file you add your audio file.

The second method is to right click on your question and select Add - Content and then Add-Audio and select your audio file. If you use this method you can adjust the alignment of the audio player in the page.

Adding Audio to Answer Options

You can add audio to answer options in Partial Credit, Matching, Sequencing and Plugin Question types. To add audio to the Answer Options follow the steps shown in the Adding Options section of the About Questions chapter.

You will be able to see an example of an audio quiz online by following this link [16].

Adding Video

There are three ways to add video to your quiz.

1. Embed a video file in the quiz
2. Upload a YouTube video
3. Embed a video player in the quiz

Embed a video file in the quiz

To do this, you must first convert the video to the .swf format. You’ll need an additional tool to do that. There are many tools that can help you do this, here are links to a few if you don’t already have one: [17]; [18].

Once you’ve made the .swf, you can include it in your quiz in the same way you would include an image.

Upload a YouTube video This method uses a piece of flash that points at the correct YouTube video. The video will be displayed inside your quiz, but it will be loaded from YouTube. You can choose which YouTube video by editing the parameter, change the part after the /v/ to select the correct YouTube video. Also, it doesn’t necessarily need to point to a YouTube video – it will work with any online Flash video (version 8 or less). Here is a sample quiz made using this method [19] The easiest way to use this style of question is to Download the sample quiz [20] and open it in Question Writer Drag and drop the video question into your own quiz Customize it by changing the video parameter and question text/options. Embed a video player in the quiz This way allows you to upload your video to your website, but embed a player in the quiz. Here’s an example video quiz so that you can see what it looks like [21]. The advantage to this method is that you can keep your own video format, and don’t need to upload it to a site like YouTube, and your quiz loads quickly because it doesn’t have the bulk of embedded video. To use this method you need to include the videoplayer.swf [22] as content within your question and then give it a parameter ‘video’ with your url. You can also give it a parameter ‘autoplay’ as false if you don’t want it to autoplay. Here’s the source for a sample quiz [23] if you want to see how it all works in Question Writer. Drag and drop the question into your own quiz to use it. Some technical notes. 1. You can use the latest and greatest codecs that the Flash Player can handle including h264 and the FLV file format. While QW creates Flash 8 quizzes, if the user has a more recent Flash player, it will load the new codecs without a problem. I recommend you use h264 for all your videos for best results. 2. Usually you won’t want to use browser resizing when using video files, the resizing can make the video look blurry. 3. You can use video of any dimensions, but make sure to enter the dimensions in the Flash content element in Question Writer.

Change Background and Loader Image

If you own the Professional Version you can customize the appearance of your quiz by adding your own background image and by changing the screen loader image. This is done as part of the Quiz Properties in [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Override Background Images|Override Background Images]]. You add the images in the same way that you add an image to a question ([[../../About Questions|About Questions]]). You can use any .gif,.jpg or .swf (v8 or earlier). This means that your quiz can fit seamlessly into your website or corporate brand. For best results, use images with the same dimensions as the theme you are using. The most common size is 800x600. Higher resolution is generally better - but often a jpeg/bitmap style background won't look so good when it is resized for the browser. Instead - switch off the web setting, 'maximize in browser', or even better, use vector images inside a Flash file for the best results. What Dimensions To Use To find out the right dimensions for the theme you're using - deselect the web setting 'maximize in the browser', then publish for the web and have a look at the html code in the published file . . . there will be a line similar to, writeFlash("v"+rand(10)+"italy.swf","800","600" The 800 and 600 are the exact dimensions that the theme uses. Alternatively, you can also look at the .qws or .qwz files directly with notepad to find the values . . . they look like <pair name="flashmoviewidth" value="800" /> <pair name="flashmovieheight" value="600" />

Save your Quiz

When you are happy with the content, set up and appearance of your quiz, or for security while you are still working on it, you can save it. As with all Windows software to save your file simply select File and Save from the menu bar or click on the Save Quiz button on the tool bar. All quizzes are saved with a .qwz extension.

If you wish to save the quiz under a new name, eg you have made some changes or additions to an existing quiz use the Save As option under File on the menu bar.

Question Writer Tracker

Question Writer Tracker is a free service from Question Writer. It allows you to track and analyze the results for all your quizzes published on line and also provides webspace where you can upload your quizzes for easy access.

Once your quiz is published online you can create user tokens to restrict access to the quiz, eg to people who have paid or have reached some other criteria. See the Question Writer blog for more detail on this [24]

To use this service you will have to register on the Question Writer website [25]. Enter your email address as your user name and a password (one that you will remember!).

An email will be sent to your email address asking you to confirm that it is really you that is registering and once you have verified that, you will be able to publish quizzes to Question Writer Tracker and login and view your results.

You also have the option to amend your account details at any time. This includes your contact details, your Google Analytics ID and the automatic emailing of all results (even if you have not ticked the box in [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|Web Settings]]).

If you want to have results sent to the Tracker you will have to use the same email address in the set up to [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/Send Results over the Internet|Send Results over the Internet]] as you used to set up your tracker account. You can use the Question Writer results service for all quizzes, whether they are published using the Question Writer Tracker webspace or your own website. More information on the results service can be found in the Results section of this chapter.

Publish to the Web

Before you go ahead and publish to the web check the Web Settings properties and make sure that you have ticked the [[../../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/Browser Options|Browser Options]] box to maximise the quiz in the browers and given a link for quiz takers to jump to after completing the [[../../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/After Quiz|quiz]].

When you select Publish to the Web, Quiz Writer will create files for you to load your quiz onto your website.

You will be asked if you would like to open the directory with the files. Say Yes and you will see a directory with at least 3 files:

• an HTML document (*.html )
• one or more Shockwave Flash file (*.swf)
• And a Jscript Script File (*.js)

If you are using pre-generated random quizzes there will be an .swf file for each quiz generated.

All the files contained in the directory have to be uploaded to your website in a new folder or directory. The actual process for doing this will depend on your website. If you do not already have a website see [[../../Create a Web Page|Create a Web Page]] for some help in making your own website and publishing your quizzes online or you could just Publish to Question Writer Tracker.

Publish to Question Writer Tracker

Before you go ahead and publish Question Writer Tracker you must set up your Tracker account. Details on how to do this are shown in Question Writer Tracker.

When have registered you will have 100MB storage space and a monthly bandwidth allowance of 1GB (1024MB) for free. All the quizzes you publish this way will be automatically tracked for you, so you can log on any time to see the results and analyse the responses to questions.

When you select publish to Question Writer Tracker, Question Writer will ask you to enter the email and password that you used when you registered for your Tracker account.

Question Writer will then automatically create the files and publish them on the Question Writer Tracker web page. A pop up box will appear monitoring the progress. When this has been completed a message will appear confirming the success of the operation.

You can then paste the link directly onto your own website, or into an email or other document for distribution to whoever you want to access your quiz.

If you click yes on this message you will be taken directly to your quiz.

The quiz will be listed in Question Writer Tracker under the name that you gave as the Title to the Quiz in Quiz Properties, not the name that you have saved the quiz file under. If you generate a new version of the same quiz, any older version will be overwritten in Question Writer Tracker, unless you give the new version a new name as Quiz Title. When you publish to tracker with the same quiz title you will be given a prompt to confirm that you do want to overwrite an existing quiz.

When you next you log into Question Writer Tracker, go to the Quizzes page. Here you will be able to see all the quizzes you have uploaded to Tracker along with information about how much of your free space you have used. You can also copy the link for any of your published quizzes, use the link to go to the quiz or remove the quiz by clicking on the red cross beside it.

At the top right hand of the screen you will see menu options allowing you to view or amend the details of your Tracker Account, go to the Results page or Log Out.

Publish for Printing

If you select the Publish for Printing option in the Publish menu you will create an HTML based document optimized for printing. The print option respects randomization - so you will create a different print document for each randomized version created.

Additionally two versions of each quiz are created - one with room for the quiz taker to write answers, and one which also includes the feedback and scoring.

You can use your default browser to print the quiz - Internet Explorer and the Opera browser will create the best results. As the document is HTML, it is fairly easy to change if you want to edit your quiz after publishing it.

Question Writer uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for the print option so you can completely change the design of the printed document. The template files are located in 'C:\Program Files\Question Writer\Publishing\Print' - any changes you make to these files will be reflected in all of your future printed quizzes.

Publish to SCORM

If you choose to publish to SCORM, Question Writer will create single file. This will be a zip file and is a SCORM 1.2 compliant package. You'll be able to import this file into your SCORM compliant LMS (Learning Management System) / VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).

When users attempt the quiz in the LMS/VLE, the quiz will send back the overall score and the results for each individual question to the LMS/VLE.

If you are using Question Writer with a LMS you might also want to read this blog article from August 2011 on things to check if the import process is not going smoothly [[26]].

Publish Questions in Text Format

Quiz authors using the Professional version of Question Writer can publish questions to text format. This can be useful if you need to find out how to format your questions for import (and create a basis for importing future changes to the quiz) or to export your questions for use in another system. Respondus in particular can import this kind of text format. The text format just includes the raw questions - none of the theme, properties or section settings.

Publish to QTI 1.2

QTI stands for Question and Test Interoperability. It is an exchange format used for transferring questions and tests between different systems. So content that you create with Question Writer Professional can now be exported in QTI 1.2 format for re-use in other systems. When you select Publish to QTI 1.2 a series of files are generated in their own folder for you to use as appropriate.

Create a Web Page

Even if you do not already have a website it is quite simple to put your quiz online. There are many different ways to do this without having any technical knowledge or having to pay for someone else's expertise.

There are many free website creation sites online, you can easily find them in any search engine. Before you go too far in setting up your new website make sure that you can load all the files that are needed to run your quiz. Be warned, while there are probably more that will let load the .swf files that you need to run a single quiz, finding one that will permit you to load .html files is a bit more difficult.

These files are needed to create a single link and run multiple random generated quizzes. So if you are using the Randomize option you will need to create a website where you can upload .html files.

Using Spanglefish

A free website provider that will allow the upload of .html files is Spanglefish.com.

The site creation is not automated, but the team at Spanglefish react very speedily (less than 10 minutes in my case) to the requests for new sites.

Once you have your site created you can download their own online manual to help with creating pages and editing text, although it is very straightforward.

To put your quiz online, you first of all need to open the Library page where you can upload your files. To start with this will not be a visible page, to make it visible you go to the Switch Pages On/Off tab in Site Admin and select Visible for the Library page.

File:QW3 Spanglefish page settings.png

Once in the Library page you can easily upload your quiz files. If you are going to be uploading a lot of files to your website you will probably want to create a folder for the quiz.

File:QW3 Spanglefish doc library admin.png

You do this by clicking on the New Folder button.

File:QW3 Spanglefish new folder.png

When you are ready, click on the Upload File button. A window will pop up asking where you want to upload the document to, you browse and select the appropriate folder.

File:QW3 Spanglefish document folder.png

When you click Continue you will be able to browse for the Question Writer files that you need.

File:QW3 Spanglefish browse.png

Remember to upload all the files created when you published your quiz - there should be at least 3.

File:QW3 Spanglefish loaded.png

Once you have finished uploading the files you will probably want to make the Library page invisible to your public and only accessible to those with administrator privileges on your web page. This is achieved in the Switch Pages On/Off tab in Site Admin, this time choose Protected.

File:QW3 Spanglefish page settings 2.png

You can add a link to your quiz as part of your home page, or by creating a new page:

File:QW3 Spanglefish add text.png

In the editing box click on the hyperlink symbol

File:QW3 Spanglefish hyperlink.png

And browse in other to find the .html file that you just uploaded.

File:QW3 Spanglefish link to file.png

Your quiz is now loaded and available online.

You can see the web page created for this tutorial at http://www.spanglefish.com/questionwriter/

Publishing SCORM exams to Ecampus or WebCT

Learning Management Systems (LMS) allow authenticated student access to exam and other materials under a variety of protocols. This section describes release of published Question Writer SCORM exams under Blackboard learning Systems Ecampus, one of a number of current LMS systems in use in academia.

Setting up QW SCORM exams in Ecampus

SCORM modules may be published and released under Ecampus. This requires four main steps

1. Upload the Question Writer SCORM export to Ecampus

You do this by using the Ecampus File Manager package to upload the Question Writer files from the local computer to your Ecampus storage area for the specific class in question. You can keep the original filename of the SCORM module created by Question Writer, or you can rename it at this stage.

2. Create a SCORM

You do this in the Ecampus SCORM package, by hitting the "Create SCORM module" radio button and giving the module a title (i.e. "Exam #1", etc), specifying the file location of the uploaded Question Writer SCORM, and setting navigation control/table of contents options. This is the SCORM that is linked to from the Course Content area, and is the Question Writer SCORM with a wrapper.

3. Link to the SCORM from the Course Content area

Navigate to the Course Content area, and specifically to the folder where the exam will be placed. Then "Add Content Link...SCORM Module" allows browsing of the SCORM created in step (2).

4. Selective release of the SCORM link

The SCORM created in (3) can, by default, be executed by any class member (including students) if no selective release criteria are specified, as may be done in the Selective Release package. Here, editing the selective release criteria may be done by Ecampus member (individual), group (a number of members), or by date/time interval. If no criteria are added, then Ecampus will release unconditionally.

In addition to selective release, the folders in the course area as well as the links themselves may all be individually "HIDDEN" or "SHOWN". This is also controlled in the selective release area.

This means that if an exam link named "bar" lies within a folder named "foo", then one can HIDE foo and, even if bar has no selective release criteria set, no student will be able to see the link or execute the exam. HIDE is not member or group specific and is in effect a quick way to make the folder inaccessible to all (even the course designer).

Limitations of selective release: as of this writing (11/2008), there is no selective release of SCORMs by IP address. This is in contrast to the selective release allowed for Ecampus's own assessment modules. If you want to have selective release by IP address (i.e., to accommodate exam administration only in a proctored lab), then the instructor must create a "check in" group and release the exam to students by adding their names to this group after they have admitted the students to the lab. This is a serious drawback of using SCORM modules within Ecampus for this type of exam administration, and hopefully will be amenmded in future versions of the LMS.

Nature of Question Writer exam execution in Ecampus

Question Writer SCORM exams will run very similarly to how they do as an html. They run in their own applet window, which is initially minimized by default and must be maximized manually by the student if a full-sized window is desired. But in all other ways, Question Writer exams will look and feel just as they did while being viewed in Question Writer itself.

Reporting of results

Question Writer transfers exam results as a final average (expressed as a percent of 100%, only) truncated at the integer percent below the grade. Thus, 78.9% will report as "78". It will report to the SCORM gradebook, using the Title of the Question Writer exam entered under "Quiz Details" in Question Writer, e.g. "Exam 2", etc. If the same exam is run multiple times, only the most recent grade is retained. If a 2nd SCORM exam is uploaded with the same Title, then the grade listing is saved as a new field in the SCORM gradebook, such as "Exam 2(1)".

Somewhat frustratingly, SCORM gradebook fields may only be added by a SCORM module being run, and once created may not be edited or deleted by the Instructor. They may, however, be used to calculate user-created fields in the regular gradebook (non-SCORM) for the course.

Of course, grades may be submitted externally to a results server outside Ecampus, as for other environments. This may require that a current version of Java is installed on the exam computers and that no firewall or local network restrictions are applied to prevent this.

Summary

SCORM module execution of Question Writer exams under Ecampus is reasonably robust and produces exams that are very close facsimiles of what one sees in Question Writer itself. Execution in a LAN environment of suitable speed is clean, fast, and robust. Potential drawbacks do (as of 11/2008) exist:

a) SCORM results are limited in quantity in Ecampus; external results service is virtually required

b) no IP address filtering may be performed to allow secure lab exam administration

c) exams terminated prematurely/unintentionally may not be restarted with retention of completed questions

d) exams <may> be restarted without retention of earlier questions, and may be done so multiple times (Ecampus does not limit re-execution)

Item (d) may be addressed by modifying the index.html within the /Publishing/SCORM folder of Question Writer. A modified index.html may prevent re-taking of the exam or require password override to retake.

Despite the shortcomings, Question Writer exams are still generally higher in quality than those available in most LMS assessment packages, and all of the shortcomings above may be worked around.

Question Writer SCORM exams in Ecampus are a viable alternative to LMS-based testing.

Quiz Results

Once you have published your quiz online and invited your quiz takers to participate, you will start to get results.

Email Results

If you ticked the Send Results Over The Internet options in [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|Web Settings]] and added your email address, you will receive an email with the results for each participant.

Sometimes an over zealous email client will post your quiz results to your spam box, so if you are not receiving expected emails, the first place to check is your spam box.

The email subject line will contain the participant's name, their overall score and their % score. The email content will look something like this – the exact appearance will depend on your email client though the content will remain the same. (The picture shown here does not give the full email message.)

At the bottom of the email is a link to the Question Writer results service website.

If you asked an essay question, the answer written by the participant will appear but there will be no score against this question. The quiz cannot automatically score an essay question and you will have to decide for yourself what the score an individual answer will receive.

Note that if you have published your quiz to Question Writer Tracker, your results will be e-mailed to the address associated with your Question Writer Tracker account and the e-mail address entered here will not be used.

Question Writer Tracker - Results Server

If you click on this link at the bottom of an emailed result you will be taken through to the online results server at http://www.questionwritertracker.com/quizdata . The first time you use this service you will have to register. See Question Writer Tracker for more information on this service.

When you login and select results you will see the results screen with a line for each quiz that you have published with the results server in the setup.

To the right of the quiz title you can see 3 icons:

• A red cross – this will remove the quiz results from the server
• A white question mark in a blue circle – this will take you to a list of the questions and from there an analysis of the responses (see picture at the end of this section)
• A green Excel icon - for exporting your results

If you have entered a Question Title in the question Metadata (professional version only) it will appear here, if not Question Writer will automatically the title as the first 60 characters of the actual question.

Exporting Quiz Results

When you click on the export to .csv file option a download window will appear on your screen asking if you want to open or save the file. If you click Open, Excel will be opened and your results appear, with a line for each quiz taker. You can then manipulate the data as you wish.

If you have set an essay type question you can enter the mark for each participant and then recalculate the total score.

View Results online

If you click on the quiz title you will be taken to the results page.

Clicking on any of the column headings will sort the results in ascending order and then with another click descending order according to that column, ie alphabetical in order of name or number order for the % or pass score etc.

Clicking on the red cross beside the result will delete that individual result.

Clicking on the result will produce a Summary Report for that individual.

If you click on any of the questions within that Summary Report you will be shown an analysis of all answers given to that question.

Drag and Drop Questions between Quizzes

Question Writer makes it easy to drag and drop questions between quizzes. For example if you are writing a new quiz on capital cities and already have a quiz about European cities, you can simply open drag and drop the relevant questions into your new quiz.

Question Writer API

There is a code library to help creating Question Writer quizzes. If you'd like to export to the Question Writer format from your .NET application or website, you can use this QW_API.dll - there's also full documentation on how to use it [27]

Importing Questions

Question Writer Professional supports importing questions in two formats (click on the item to see more detail about formatting requirements): Moodle XML format Text Format (.txt and .rtf) If you want to import a file, you simply select Import from the menu bar and click on either Text Format or Moodle XML. A pop up window will appear asking you to select the file that you want to import.

A new quiz window will appear containing the questions that you have imported. You will have to enter your Quiz Title and Introduction Screen details, and set the quiz up for feedback etc.

The importer doesn't always work perfectly - there can be a lot of variation in the way questions are formatted. If you experience difficultly importing a set of questions - send the file you're importing to support@questionwriter.com and we will do our best to correct any problems with the import routine.

Moodle XML format

Question Writer supports importing questions from Moodle XML format. See Moodle.org for more information [28].

Text Format

Question Writer supports the import of questions from text files. These may be saved from MS Word in .txt or .rtf files or from Notepad, but you must follow the format as described on this page. Question Writer text import supports the following question types: Multiple Choice Multiple Response True or False Paragraph Fill in the Blank Matching Explanation Sequencing Partial Credit The import format for multiple choice questions has required elements and optional elements, each of which is described below. This is followed by an explanation of the formatting required for true-false, paragraph, short answer, matching and multiple response questions. As well as importing the question and answer text you can also import your question feedback and any image that you wish to include in the question.

Multiple Choice (required elements)

Each question must begin with a question number with dot “.” or parentheses ”)”. There must be at least one space between the number and question wording.

Example: 3) Who was the 1st president of USA?
Example: 3. Who was the 1st president of USA?

Each answer choice must start with a letter (a-z) and dot ”.” or parentheses “)”.

a. Bill Clinton
b. Richard Nixon
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. George Washington

Multiple Choice (optional elements)

Title

Each question can include a title. The title will be included as part of the question body. The title must be placed before the question wording and prefaced by “Title:”.
Example:

Title: 1st president of USA

3) Who was the 1st president of USA?
a. Bill Clinton
b. Richard Nixon
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. George Washington

Correct answers can be indicated in two ways:

• An asterisk character “*” can be placed in front of the correct choice (no space between it and ordering letter)
• A list of correct answers can be placed at the end of a quiz file. Its start is indicated with a keyword “Answers:“. Answer should be placed directly following this line (no blank lines between!). These answers are the last element of a document, everything that is placed after answers will be ignored.

Example:
Answers:
1. A
2. D
3. D
4. C

If you do not provide any answers, Question Writer will set the correct answer as the first option by default.

Question Feedback

Another optional element is question feedback. This can be placed right after the question. Feedback for a correct answer must start with “@” character. It must be followed be a space!

Example:
Title: 1st president of USA
3) Who was the 1st president of USA?
a. Bill Clinton
@ No. He was 42nd president!
b. Richard Nixon
@ Far away… he was 37th…
c. Thomas Jefferson
@ Close, but still not right – he was the 3rd president of the United States.
d. George Washington
@ Exactly!

Feedback doesn’t need to be specified for every available option. Also, general feedback for the whole question can be placed right after the question wording – before the first choice. It is also prefaced by a “@” character with a space for Incorrect answer feedback and by a "~" for correct answer feedback.

Example:
Title: 1st president of USA
3) Who was the 1st president of USA?
~ Correct, George Washington was the 1st president. He took the office on April 30, 1789 and left it on March 4, 1797. He was not a member of any party.
@ No, in fact George Washington was the 1st president. He took the office on April 30, 1789 and left it on March 4, 1797. He was not a member of any party.
a. Bill Clinton
b. Richard Nixon
c. Thomas Jefferson
*d. George Washington

Importing an Image with the Question

You can include an image for display with the question by adding:

Example:
[img: "filename.jpg"]

immediately after the question number. The image must be saved in the same folder as the text file for importing.

Importing Multiple Response Questions

Simply follow the guidance for Multiple Choice questions and indicate all the correct answer options. Question Writer will recognise this as a Multiple Response question.

Importing True or False Questions

Importing "true or false" questions is similar to importing multiple choice questions (see above). These examples show the right way to do it.

Example:
3) Was George Washington the 1st president of USA?
*a) True
b) False

Example:
3) Was George Washington the 1st president of USA?
*a. T
b. F

The “True” or “T” choice must be placed first, before the “False” or “F” answer. This helps the Question Writer to correctly identify the question as true or false question type. If the order is different, the question will be interpreted as a multiple choice question.

Other elements of a question (title, feedback) can be added in the same way as described above for multiple choice. The same rules apply when indicating the correct answers.

Importing Essay Questions

When importing an essay question, all elements must be prefaced by an expression “Type:P”.
Example:
Type: P
Title: Richard Nixon resignation.
4. Why did Richard Nixon resign from the presidency?

Question Writer doesn’t support sample answers for essay questions, so the answer should be left blank.

Example:
a)

Example:
Answers:
1. A
2. B
3. C
4.
5. B

Importing Fill in the Blank Questions

Fill in the Blank questions must begin with a “Type:S” expression. All other parts of a question are handled in the same way.
Example:
Type: S
Title: Election in 1961?
5. Who was elected as the 35th president of USA in 1961?

Question Writer allows only one correct answer for each question, but it allows multiple forms of that answer.
Example:
Type: S
Title: Election in 1961?
5. Who was elected as the 35th president of USA in 1961?
a. JFK
b. John F. Kennedy
c. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Answers can also be placed at the end of document, in a similar way to multiple choice questions.

Multiple forms of an answer are indicated by repeating the question number.
Example:
Answers:
…
4. A
5. JFK
5. John F. Kennedy
5. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Importing Matching Questions

The process of importing a "matching" question is again similar to importing multiple choice questions, but there are some key differences. The first line of formatting must start with "Type: MT".

Each answer (which contains both portions of a match) must begin with a letter followed by a dot "." or a parentheses ")". Both parts are separated by an “=” character. Each pair should not contain new line characters, blanks etc.

Example:
Type: MT
Title: Presidents and parties
4) Match the correct president and political party he was a member of.
a. Dwight D. Eisenhower = Republican
b. Woodrow Wilson = Democratic
c. William H. Harrison = Whig

Spaces before or after the "=" symbol are optional, but it is important that an answer only uses it for a purpose of separation. If you plan to list correct answers for other questions at the bottom of the document, simply skip the number for all questions that are of the matching variety.

Importing Explanation Questions

This kind of question should be prefaced with “EX” character in the type section.

Example:
Type: EX
Title: Quiz explanation.
4. You have 10 minutes for all questions – please be accurate and fast.

This question type shouldn’t have a particular answer specified, so it must be left blank just like the answer for paragraph question.

Importing Sequencing Questions

To import a sequencing question, use the ‘Type: SEQ’:

Example:
Type: SEQ
Title: Italian cities’ population.
5. Order these Italian cities by population – largest population at the top.

Example:
A. Rome
B. Milan
C. Naples
D. Turin
E. Palermo
F. Genoa

The correct answer is indicated by the way in which the elements are ordered. If you plan to list correct answers for other questions at the bottom of the document, skip the number for any sequencing questions.

Importing Partial Credit Questions

Partial credit question type must be prefaced with a type declaration "Type: PC".

The maximum number of answers that can be selected can also be defined. The syntax of this part is = Max{x} where x is the integer. If no maximum is declared, the default value is 1. Note: This doesn’t need to be the number of correct answers, just the maximum number the user may select.

Each of answers must be followed by a “=” sign and the number of points. If there are no points specified, the default value is 0.

Example:

Type: PC
Title: Example partial credit question.
6. Which of the following answers is the most correct? = Max{2}
a. The best answer = 10
b. More or less fine = 5
c. Not too good = 1
d. Wrong! = 0

Partial credit questions can also include general feedback. However it is only possible to define the correct answers (and points) for Partial Credit questions in the question, not at the end of the document.

Sample Import File

You can find a sample of an .rtf document containing questions on the Question Writer Website [29]. You can use this to try out importing questions to a quiz, or even as a template to prepare your own questions and answers for importing.

You can also export or [[../../../Save and Publish/Publish your Quiz/Publish Questions in Text Format|publish a file in text format]], and use that file as a reference for future import files.

Language Selector

You can change the language of Question Writer by using the language selector. You select the language you want to use in the Language menu that is visible before you've opened or created any quizzes in the interface.

After you've changed the language, you need to restart the application for the change to kick in. The languages currently supported are:

• English
• Danish
• French
• German
• Icelandic
• Italian
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Japanese

Flash Lite 2

Flash Lite 2 is a Flash player for mobile phones [30]. Flash Lite 2 can manage basic Question Writer quizzes as long as the theme is kept simple and the questions are limited in number (about 10 with no feedback or 5 with feedback). This will improve as phones use more memory and better processors.

There is some sample Question Writer content for FlashLite 2 [31](double size in browser, click here to download .swf to try on your phone [32]).

The sample uses the scenario of an estate agent (or realtor) entering details of a new rental property. It works well as a quick and easy form - it can be used for form filling in a situation where a keyboard isn't practical. It uses the texting mechanism so can be completed with one hand. Here's the theme download (.qws) [33]

Android 2.2 supports Flash 10 and this is an excellent way to run your quizzes on mobile devices. The quizzes will run on Android 2.2 phones in the same way that they run on desktop browsers. Question Writer includes a theme with a 320x480 resolution that can be used for best effect with mobile phones.

You can read some more about this and see Question Writer running on a phone using an Android app here: [34]

PlayStation Portable

The Playstation Portable is a mobile gaming device that now supports Flash 6, and so you can run Question Writer tests and quizzes on it. It has a large screen for a mobile device, with widescreen proportions (480x272). You can use the existing themes with the PSP, but it looks best with a theme that is specifically designed for it.

Here's a sample quiz that we've made for the PSP, [35] (or here, stretched for desktop use [36]), the source for the quiz [37], and the theme (.qws) [38] file too.

Kudos to Radu Chiotan [39] for creating a great theme and Delia Mihai [40] for the cool background.

When publishing for the PSP - there are a few things to take into account:

1. Turn off the [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/Browser Options|Maximize in browser]] option - this will ensure the quiz appears at the correct size.
2. Users can't use the keypad to tab between the buttons. Users must use the pointer device and X button.
3. It's a good idea to avoid the use of scrollbar, this will help to preserve memory on the device.
4. You'll get between 5 questions with feedback or 20 questions without running out of memory - it depends on all the factors that go into your quiz - more question types, with scrollbars and feedback, and complex buttons and themes all increase pressure on the memory and can lead to an 'out of memory' error on the device.
5. Users have to click once on the Flash before starting the quiz to focus/activate it.
6. Users can download tests and quizzes to use offline, or live on the internet.
7. The PSP runs quite a bit more slowly than desktop flash, users will have to wait a second or two after clicking a button for the effect to show up.
8. PSP supports Flash 6, but Flash 6 doesn't allow sending results to our service. There is a way around this if you send the results back to your own server. Flash 7 is required to use the 'Results by Email' service.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section aims to help you to get the best out of Question Writer by answering some of the questions that users ask. You can also visit the support pages of Question Writer online [41]. This features: The Question Writer Forum [42] where you can ask your questions and get answers from the Question Writer Support Team and other users The Question Writer blog [43] where you can keep up to date with the latest developments.

Why am I not receiving E-mail results?

There can be a number of reasons why you might not be receiving the results by e-mail.

1. Quiz Set Up

Check you have ticked the box in [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/Send Results over the Internet|Send Results over the Internet]] and given a correct email address for the results to be sent to.

Important Note: If you are publishing your quiz to the Question Writer Tracker service, this setting will be ignored and the e-mail address associated with your Question Writer Tracker account will be used instead.

You should make sure that the url for the results server and back up results server are correct. If you are not using your own custom server, the address for the server should be - http://www.questionwritertracker.com/collator/results.php?email=
and for the back up server - http://www.xquestion.com/results/resultsqw3.php?email=

Note: Don't add your e-mail address to the end of these links. That will be done automatically.

You should then choose the [[../../Save and Publish/Publish your Quiz/Publish to the Web|Publish to the Web]] option in Publish menu and upload all (at least 3) files to your website. See [[../../Save and Publish/Create a Web Page|Create a Web Page]] for more information on uploading files to your web page.

2. Quiz Taker Set Up

The quiz taker needs to have internet access to send the results through to our server. Check they can access these websites to ensure they have access to the main server and backup server.
http://www.questionwritertracker.com
http://www.xquestion.com

The quiz taker should access the quiz through the webpage (index.html) for results to be sent by e-mail. See Create a Web Page for an idea of how you can do this.

3. E-mail Box Set Up

We send a lot of e-mails with results and some mail programs get confused and think these e-mails are spam. Check your spam box and any e-mail filter rules to ensure that the results are not being sent to spam. In some instances, your e-mail service provider may not forward the e-mails to you if it identifies them as spam. If this happens we recommend you alert your e-mail service provider, but often the fastest way to correct this is to set up another e-mail box to receive the e-mail. Many people have had good success with Gmail. http://www.gmail.com

4. Set up your results server account

You might find it easier to view your results online with the results server [44]. You can register to view your results online. You may also subscribe/unsubscribe from the results by email service here.

There is more information about the results service in the chapter on [[../../Save and Publish/Results|Results]].

How Can I Enter Chemical or Maths Symbols?

You can enter most symbols and equations using the HTML formatting feature. The formatting allows subscripts and superscripts which are particularly useful for mathematical and chemistry formulae. See [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Text Settings|Text Settings]] to learn how to include HTML formatted text.

If you need to enter symbols which are not included in the current HTML set, you can write your equation using some other software eg in MSWord and then take a snapshot. You can then load this image to the question. For more information on adding images see [[../../About Questions/Adding Questions|Adding Questions]].

I would like to add a fun quizzes to my website to keep visitors coming back - how can I make sure they won't get the same questions everytime they log in?

You can have more questions in your quiz than are asked at each attempt. Use the [[../../Quiz Options/Quiz Details/Randomization|randomization]] to select a number of questions from a larger bank of questions in the quiz on each attempt.

If you're asking 10 questions on each try - set the quiz up to ask 10 questions randomly selected from the 100 or 1,000. Or have sections containing 10 questions each, and randomly select one from each section.

The default for generating pre-randomized quizzes is set at 5 - you can increase this to, eg, 50-100 to ensure a good random spread for 10 from 1000.

Is it possible to download the quiz results in Excel format?

Yes! This is a feature of the online interface. You can access it here http://www.questionwritertracker.com You'll need to register and log-on to view the results. You'll see a small Excel icon beside the quizzes - click on this to download the results as an Excel file.

See the chapter on [[../../Save and Publish/Results|Results]] for more information.

What software can I use to create my own theme for use in a quiz?

The Professional version allows you to use any .jpg or.gif file as a background image. You can also use any Flash image/animation (up to Flash version 8) as a background.

You can set this up as part of the quiz properties, in Appearance Settings - Override Background Images. You will see a section called [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Override Background Images|Override Background Images]] where you can change the background image of the quiz, the loader or the finish screen by browsing for and selecting the file name of your image.

You can use Photoshop or Paintshop to create the images and Flash Studio to create Flash files. See also Background Image for more information about the images you can use.

Question Writer also provides a commercial custom theme creation service. There are more details here http://www.questionwriter.com/pricing/custom-development.html

Can I Import questions from or Save results to a MySQL database?

You can't import data directly into Question Writer from a database. However you can export from the database to the [[../../Extras/Importing Questions|Text Import Format]] and import these files into Question Writer.

If you're using the 'results by e-mail' service, in addition to sending you the results by e-mail, we also store all of your results for you in a database. Once you're logged into this service, you can also download the results and responses as a excel file. See the Chapter on [[../../Save and Publish|Save and Publish]] for more details on this.

If this functionality doesn't suit your needs, you can have the quiz send the results and responses to your own server using the [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings/Send Results over the Internet|Custom Results Server]] - however you may need a programmer to help process the results into your own database.

To help with this, we have made available a small PHP application that allows you to have results from your Question Writer quizzes written to your own MySQL database.

You can download it here [45]

It comes with installation instructions, but you'll need to be able to set up a database and upload some files to your webserver. It stores the data it receives in two tables - one table for the quiz results, and one table that stores the responses to the individual questions. Once the data is in your database, you'll need to decide what to do with it. We have kept it fairly basic - you won't need anything more than MySQL 4+ and PHP 5+ and you might well get away with less.

Why can't I use Enter to move to the next question?

There is a keyboard navigation facility in Question Writer - it uses the standard keyboard navigation commands - use TAB to choose the right control and enter to hit it.

As the enter key (or return key) is used in essay questions, it can't be used solely for advancing through questions, but the TAB/Enter is a well known and supported keyboard navigation method.

I would like to set a different set of questions to people depending on how they answer the first question, for example different questions for male or female contestants. Is it possible to ask a branching or dynamic question?

Yes, using the latest version of Question Writer 4 you can ask different questions based on previous responses by setting conditions and evaluating the scores based on these conditions. You can read more about this in Custom Feedback and Skipping and Branching.

I have several large question banks and it is becoming difficult to sort out repeat questions from new entries. Is there a way to sort questions alphabetically within a quiz?

Unfortunately there is no automatic search feature. You can set up the questions in sections or some kind of section hierarchy which would help to find similar questions.

Another idea is to scan for duplicate questions. You can do this by opening the source file (the .qwz) in Word or a text editor and search for the search term - this will help you at least know if the question is present. (Do not resave in the text editor)

What are all the different versions of Question Writer, and which is best for me?

There are currently 3 versions of Question Writer available:

• Basic - this is available free for personal use
• Standard
• Professional

For full features and prices of the three versions see the website [46].

You'll also find a description of these versions in the [[../../Introduction|Introduction]] to this manual.

If you have not used Question Writer before you can download the Trial version and try it out. Download from the Question Writer Website. [47]

You may also see mention of 'Personal' and 'Publisher' Edition in the blog or Support Forum. The Personal Edition was the version 2 equivalent of (and has now been replaced by) the Basic Version. Publisher Edition was designed for use by developers and is no longer available to license.

Does Question Writer 3 support "right to left" script?

Unfortunately, at present Question Writer 3 does not support right to left text.

Even if a right to left ISO embedded font is used, any right to left text that is entered will be flipped over when the quiz is viewed.

It is possible, if you have time and determination, to input your right to left text with all words and letters in reverse order.

The example given below shows part of the front page of the Italian quiz sample with arabic script. The resulting quiz shows the script characters in their standalone form, which makes reading much slower. If you attempt this workaround, you will also have to make sure that you do not use any question types which require a written answer (fill in the blank or essay types).

How do I uninstall Question Writer 3?

Automatic Uninstall

You can usually uninstall the software satisfactorily by using

Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs (Windows XP / 2000)

Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall Software (Windows Vista)

Choose the 'Question Writer 4' entry and the software will be uninstalled.

Manual File Deletion

You should always try to automatically uninstall the software first when removing the software. Following that, you can also try to manually delete all the files associated with Question Writer.

You'll need to choose your system setting 'Show Hidden Files And Folders / System Files'. There are steps on how to do that here http://www.xtra.co.nz/help/0,,4155-1916458,00.html

Remove the following directories from your file system -

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4 Basic

(Windows 2000 / Windows XP)

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Central Question Ltd

(Windows Vista)

C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Central Question Ltd

Replace 'Your Name' with your user name or the profile name with which Question Writer was installed.

Why do I get an error message when I try to activate my License?

Note: This problem tends to apply only to Question Writer 3 licenses.

This problem is probably caused by the license file being corrupted somewhere in the e-mail process, either the e-mail server or e-mail client. The likely culprit is an over-zealous anti-virus program. You will probably be getting a message like this -

"A valid license could not be obtained for QuestionWriterLicense. Please contact Central Question Ltd. for assistance. DETAILS: Unexpected error. Could not load license pack: The root element is missing."

The problem can be solved by sending the license file inside a zip file. If you do get this message or experience similar difficulties, please contact us at support@questionwriter.com to discuss alternative ways of getting your license to you.

What happens at the End of the quiz?

Often users ask why nothing happens at the end of the quiz or occasionally report that the quiz "gets stuck on "Finished" - with a loading bar in an endless loop going from 0 to 100"

That loading bar is actually just an animation - to get rid of it and to save any confusion on the part of your quiz takers, it is best and tidiest to redirect the quiz takers to another web page after the quiz is completed. You can do this using the [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|After Quiz]] setting. You can tell people that this will happen using the Finished Quiz Screen Text in [[../../Quiz Options/Other Labels|Other Labels]].

What is the maximum number of questions I can have in a quiz?

You can have up to 100 questions with question feedback or 200 questions without question feedback in a quiz. Having too many questions in a quiz will slow down the performance and may cause unexpected problems with the quiz.

If you need more questions - a good idea is to split the quiz into parts of around 100 questions each and link each part automatically by adding a URL to the [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|After Quiz]] option in Quiz Options - Web Settings. You can either do this invisibly or you can add some explanation and give the quiz taker the opportunity to have a comfort break - by adding some text into [[../../Quiz Options/Other Labels|Finished Quiz Screen Text]] in Quiz Options - Other Labels.

This problem can also be overcome using Pages. You can have up to 200 pages in a quiz and those pages can have multiple questions per page. We don't recommend a quiz that large though! However you'll find for a 100 question quiz, it is usually better to have a quiz of 20 pages with 5 questions each for performance reasons.

Can I treat users differently at the end of the quiz, depending on whether or not they passed?

When you set a pass mark for the quiz you can customize the pass or fail messages that appear in the report screen at the end of the quiz. Enter your messages in [[../../Quiz Options/Report Settings/Report Options|Report Options]].

If you want to refer your quiz takers to another website depending on how well they did in the quiz, and have a Professional license, you can use the [[../../About Questions/Question Evaluation|Custom Feedback]] feature.

Otherwise you can add a link within the Pass/Fail messages in the Report Settings. The user will be able to click to go to the right location after the quiz.

Remember to switch on 'Use HTML to format text' in the [[../../Quiz Options/Text Settings|Text Settings]].

The HTML you need to use will look something like this:

<a href="http://www.yourwebaddress.com">Click Here To Continue</a>

Can I get a hard copy of the questions?

Yes, Question Writer has the option to "Publish for Printing" which creates an HTML document. You can find out more about this in [[../../Save and Publish/Publish your Quiz/Publish for Printing|Publish for Printing]].

An alternative approach is to start from the other end.  If you write the questions in a Word document, you could reformat them slightly and save the document as a .txt or .rtf file then import the questions into Question Writer. See [[../../Extras/Importing Questions/text format|Text Format]] for more details on this.  

What are the system requirements to run Question Writer?

For the quiz author, Question Writer requires:

• Windows XP / Vista (any version) / 7
• .NET 2+
• Flash 6+

We recommend:

• Processor of 1Ghz
• Ram of 1GB

We do not currently have a Mac version of the software, however some of our users have had success using the Parallels for Mac software with Windows XP and the latest version of Question Writer. You can read about this on our forum [48]

People taking the quiz will need to have an internet ready pc with Flash 6 (Flash 7+ is recommended). Quiztakers using Macs should be able to access the quizzes online without any problems.

How can I install my Question Writer License?

Many users decide to buy Question Writer after experimenting with a free trial version. The downloaded trial version is exactly the same as the full version, but will expire after 30 days if a license isn’t purchased. When the license is purchased you can continue using the same downloaded software – assuming that the license is for the same version that you have been trialling (Standard or Professional). You do not need a license for the Basic Version.

When you purchase Question Writer your license will be emailed to you, usually within 1 working day of your purchase. If your license has not arrived within a reasonable period, first check your spam. Many email servers will not recognise the email containing the license as valid mail. If you are sure that you have not received your License get in touch with Question Writer by emailing support@questionwriter.com.

The next steps that you take will depend on which version of Question Writer you are using.

If you are using Question Writer 3 please click on this link: Question Writer 3 License

Question Writer 4 License

When you purchase Question Writer 4 we will send you an email with your licence file attached. You should save this in your Question Writer 4 Program Folder. The exact steps that you follow will depend on your operating system.

1. Finding your Question Writer 4 Program Folder
The Question Writer Folder will have a name like

"C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4"

or

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Question Writer 4"

You can find it by opening Windows Explorer or “Documents” and looking on your C drive for "Program Files", then looking down the list for "Question Writer 4". Alternatively you can search your computer for "Question Writer 4".

2. Download the license file from your email
You will not be able to open this file – you need to save it instead.

Depending on your Operating System you may be given a choice to Open or Save in which case choose Save and save the license file to your Question Writer 4 Program Folder.

The file my be downloaded automatically to your default location – your Downloads Folder. Again you cannot Open the file but can choose to Show in Folder. From there you can drag and drop it to your Question Writer 4 Program Folder.

3. Check that the license file is in the Program Folder
You should then be able to see the license file in the Question Writer 4 Program Folder – it will have your name (or the name in which you bought your license) as part of the file name. The full file name is:

“Your Name – Organization Name – Question Writer 4 – Version.license”

The version will be eg Professional Academic or Standard Commercial depending on the version purchased

4. Select your Version
When you first open Question Writer, before you open any quizzes, you will see on the menu bar the options File, Import, Language, Version and Help.

Click on version and select the version for which you are licensed. Question Writer will then close. You should then restart it. This time it will recognise your license and open the version that you have purchased.

If you are still given the message about a the number of days left in the trial then it is most likely that either the license file is not in the Program Folder or that you have selected the wrong version eg you have selected the Professional version but only have a standard license.

Occasionally the license file sent to you will get corrupted in the mail system and you might see an error message. If this happens get in touch with us and we will send your license again, usually in a zipped file. See Why do I get an error message when I try to activate my License?

Can I save and publish the quiz on a CD?

Yes, you can easily save the .qwz files to a CD eg for back up, and you can also save your published .html and .swf files to CD. Just follow your normal procedure for saving files to CD. Users can then access the quiz from the CD via their browser.

You can also first convert the .swf files to a .exe file using software known as a Flash Projector and then save them to CD. This way Windows users will be able to access the quiz even if they do not have flash installed on their pc. You can go online and easily find Flash Projector software to download free of charge.

See the chapter [[../../Save and Publish/]] for more information on saving and publishing your quiz.

Can I send results to more than one email address?

When you are setting up your quiz, you can only enter one email address in [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|Send Results Via Website to E-mail]].

If you need to circulate the quiz results to a number of different people you can do this by creating a new email account that will automatically forward all emails to a list of addresses. Gmail is one email service that will do this successfully. You can then enter that email address in the quiz set up.

See [[../../Save and Publish/Results|Results]] for more information on results.

How can I add good quality images to my quiz?

You add an image to a question as part of the question properties, see [[../../About Questions/Adding Questions|Adding Questions]] for more detail or as part of the answer options, see Question Options. The images can be in either .gif or .jpg format

If you want quiz takers to be able zoom the image with their mouse, tick the 'Use Image Zooming' checkbox in the Appearance Settings [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Jpeg Image Quality|Jpeg Image Quality]].

Flash saved as version 8 will also display a better resolution image, so change the [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Publish as Flash Version|Flash Version]] to '8'. Most people have Flash version 9 or better by now so this should not be a problem.

If the images in your quiz are blurry or of a low quality, there's a couple of extra things that can help a lot with image quality if you have the Professional version of the software. Most importantly, change the [[../../Quiz Options/Appearance Settings/Jpeg Image Quality|Appearance Settings - Jpeg Image Quality]] to a high value - 100 is the top value. Be careful with this though - the higher this is set, the larger the file size will become. You can also force the image to be displayed at its native resolution by switching off the [[../../Quiz Options/Question Options/General Question Properties|Use Image Zooming in General Question Properties]], and then in [[../../Quiz Options/Web Settings|web settings]], switch off 'Maximize Quiz in Browser'.

You will need to republish your quiz after changing any of the options to see the new results.

What is Question Writer Tracker?

Question Writer Tracker is a free service from Question Writer. All users of Question Writer can register for the Question Writer Tracker service and use it to track and analyze the results for all your quizzes. By selecting to 'Send Results Via Website to E-mail' the quiz takers score and responses will, by default, be recorded and stored by the Question Writer Tracker system. You can select to turn this off if required. Question Writer Tracker also provides 100mb free webspace where you can upload your quizzes with a single click.

For more information on Question Writer read the [[../../Save and Publish/Question Writer Tracker|Save and Publish]] chapter of this manual, and especially [[../../Save and Publish/Results|Results]].   There is also a lot of information on Question Writer Tracker in our Blog [49] - you can easily find relevant articles by entering Question Writer Tracker in the blog search box.

What is the reason for this error message I get when I try to publish to Question Writer Tracker?

This error message indicates that Question Writer is having difficulty connecting to the internet. This can be for a number of different reasons.

Internet Connection

First of all you should check that you can access other websites on your computer, if you can then your internet connection is okay.

Firewall

It might also be that your firewall or security software is preventing access to the internet from Question Writer. This is likely to be the problem even if you can connect to the Question Writer Forum. The forum link launches your browser, but the quiz upload accesses the internet directly from within the software.

Try disabling the firewall temporarily to see if that helps (and confirm if that is causing the problem) but remember to enable it again as it is not a good idea to keep your firewall switched off.

Usually an alert will be displayed (from your firewall) asking you if you want to let the software (Question Writer) connect to the internet - you've got to tell it 'Yes'. If it doesn't ask, it might have an exception list where you can add Question Writer to the list of exceptions. The steps to follow will depend on the firewall you're using - but if you've got Vista or XP, you can access the built in firewall at

Start->Control Panel->Security Center->Windows Firewall->Allow a Program Through Windows Firewall->Add Program->Browse

and Choose,

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4\QuestionWriter.exe

Your firewall might also be on your router or corporate network in which case you may have less control over it. You should speak to your systems administrator for help in resolving the problem.

Proxy Settings

If your computer is on a network that uses a proxy to connect to the internet and you're using .NET 1.1, this can cause difficulties for Question Writer. If you think this might be the problem there are two ways to resolve the problem.

1. Uninstall the .NET 1.1 framework. You can do this in Add/Remove programs, and the relevant entry is 'Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1'. You'll need a more recent version of the framework installed too. You may already have one installed - try starting Question Writer to find out. If not, you can download .NET 2.0 from Microsoft. [[50]]

2. Change your proxy setting in Internet Explorer so they are are set statically, rather than dynamically. You can do this in Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Lan Settings -> Proxy Server.

Make sure 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' is checked.

The values for 'Address' and 'Port' should be available from your system administrator.

See [[../../Save and Publish/Publish your Quiz/Publish to Question Writer Tracker|Publish to Question Writer Tracker]] for more information on Question Writer Tracker.

Why is it that when I try to preview my quiz I only see one question?

When you press the preview button, you will get a preview of whatever you have got selected. If you just want to see how one question will appear when published, click on that question in the left hand pane (1) and then click on the preview button (2).

Question Writer caches older previews of questions and quizzes separately - updating a preview of a question will not update the preview of the whole quiz.

To preview the whole quiz, select the quiz by clicking on the green Quiz icon in the top left,(3) and then click preview.

Another point to note is that running the preview is not the same as publishing the quiz. The preview will show you how the quiz will look when it is published, but in order for the quiz to be read and used by other people you will need to [[../../Save and Publish/Publish your Quiz|Publish your Quiz]].

How can I use Question Writer to create a survey?

It is easy to create a survey type questionnaire using Question Writer, using either multiple choice;

True/False;

or Essay type questions;

If you want to use the questionnaire to measure overall satisfaction numerically you could also use Partial Credit questions with variable scoring, eg

In the Quiz set up you need to

1. Set [[../../Quiz Options/Quiz Details/Feedback Method|feedback]] to “No Question Feedback”
2. Untick Display Points Value for Questions in [[../../Quiz Options/Advanced Settings/General Question Properties|General Question Properties]]
3. Disable the [[../../Quiz Options/Advanced Settings/Report Options|Display Report page]]
4. Enter an appropriate message in [[../../Quiz Options/Other Labels|End of Quiz]]

As with all Question Writer quizzes, the results can be sent to Question Writer Tracker and then downloaded to Excel if you want to do further analysis.

What do I need to do to load a new version of Question Writer?

To find out which version of the software you currently have, you can click on Help and About in the Question Writer Menu Bar, the version number will also appear on the top left of the application window.

To install a new version you have to take 2 steps:

1. Uninstall the old version
2. Download the new version

Uninstall the Old Version

Before you can load a new version of the software you should uninstall your existing version. This can be done automatically via your computer's operating system (eg Windows Vista or Windows XP) or manually. We recommend that you try the automatic uninstall option first.

Automatic Uninstall

You can usually uninstall the software satisfactorily by using

Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs (Windows XP / 2000)

Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall Software (Windows Vista)

Choose the 'Question Writer 4' entry and the software will be uninstalled.

Manual File Deletion

You should always try to automatically uninstall the software first when removing the software. Following that, you can also try to manually delete all the files associated with Question Writer.

You'll need to choose your system setting 'Show Hidden Files And Folders / System Files'. There are steps on how to do that here [51]

Remove the following directories from your file system -

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4 Basic

(Windows 2000 / Windows XP)

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Central Question Ltd

(Windows Vista)

C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Central Question Ltd

Replace 'Your Name' with your user name or the profile name with which Question Writer was installed.

Download the New Version

This is relatively straightforward. You will find a link to the download on the newsletter or email that we sent informing you of the update, or on the relevant Blog article. In addition the download link on our website will always download the latest version of the software: [52]

When you click on the link the download will start automatically (unless your browser prompts you to take some action). Once the file is downloaded, you can simply open or run the file and the Question Writer Installer will install the program - you will be prompted to answer some questions about where the files should be stored and who should be given access to the software (if there is more than one person using your pc.)

Question Writer will automatically detect if you have a valid license and install it. If your license is not valid for the upgrade, you can purchase an upgrade online.

Can I limit the time allowed on each question?

You cannot set a time limit for quiz taker to complete a question within the question set up, however you can time limit the whole quiz as part of the [[../../Quiz Options/Quiz Details/Time Limit the Quiz|Properties set up]].

If you need to time limit some questions but not others or need different time restrictions to apply you can set time limits for [[../../Sections/Time Limit Sections|sections]] within the quiz (Professional version only) and place the questions within different sections.

So to time limit a single question, just place the question in its own section and time limit the section.

How can I change the color of the tick and cross in the answer feedback?

If you have the Professional Edition of Question Writer 4 you can change the images used in feedback as well as the font color. This is part of Quiz Properties - Appearance Settings.

Here is a link to an alternative set of icons for you to use [[53]] - though you can use other images if you prefer.

If you have the Standard Edition it is not possible for you to change the text colour for the feedback from within the Question Writer interface.

Can I Upgrade?

Yes of course you can. There are two types of upgrade possible:

1. Upgrade to the latest version of Question Writer from an older version
2. Upgrade from Standard version to Professional version

Upgrade to latest version of Question Writer

If you have an older version of Question Writer you can upgrade to the latest using the link on our website:

When you receive your new license you should uninstall the old version of Question Writer. See the FAQ on how to uninstall for some guidance on this.

You can then download the new software from our website [54] and follow the instructions in the FAQ on Installing a license to load your new license.

Upgrading your license

Once you have purchased your upgraded license, you'll need to save your new license into your Question Writer directory (C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4\) and delete the old license from this directory in order to complete the upgrade.

You do not need to open the file.

The next time that you open Question Writer the software will detect your upgraded license and open as the upgraded version.

There is step by step guidance on installing the license in this FAQ

How Can I Install my Upgraded License?

The answer to this FAQ will depend on whether you are installing a license for Question Writer 3 or Question Writer 4. The steps for both installations are described below:

Question Writer 4 License

When you purchase Question Writer 4 we will send you an email with your licence file attached. You should save this in your Question Writer 4 Program Folder. The exact steps that you follow will depend on your operating system.

1. Finding your Question Writer 4 Program Folder
The Question Writer Folder will have a name like

"C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4"

or

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Question Writer 4"

You can find it by opening Windows Explorer or “Documents” and looking on your C drive for "Program Files", then looking down the list for "Question Writer 4". Alternatively you can search your computer for "Question Writer 4".

2. Download the license file from your email
You will not be able to open this file – you need to save it instead.

Depending on your Operating System you may be given a choice to Open or Save in which case choose Save and save the license file to your Question Writer 4 Program Folder.

The file my be downloaded automatically to your default location – your Downloads Folder. Again you cannot Open the file but can choose to Show in Folder. From there you can drag and drop it to your Question Writer 4 Program Folder.

3. Check that the license file is in the Program Folder
You should then be able to see the license file in the Question Writer 4 Program Folder – it will have your name (or the name in which you bought your license) as part of the file name. The full file name is:

“Your Name – Organization Name – Question Writer 4 – Version.license”

The version will be eg Professional Academic or Standard Commercial depending on the version purchased

4. Select your Version
When you first open Question Writer, before you open any quizzes, you will see on the menu bar the options File, Import, Language, Version and Help.

Click on version and select the version for which you are licensed. Question Writer will then close. You should then restart it. This time it will recognise your license and open the version that you have purchased.

If you are still given the message about a the number of days left in the trial then it is most likely that either the license file is not in the Program Folder or that you have selected the wrong version eg you have selected the Professional version but only have a standard license.

Question Writer 3 License

You'll need to delete the old license from your Question Writer directory (C:\Program Files\Question Writer 3\) and save your new license into this directory in order to complete the upgrade.

You do not need to open the file.

The next time that you open Question Writer 3 the software will detect your upgraded license and open as the upgraded version.

Can I include a back button in every page, even with feedback after the question?

There is a way you can do this, but it is not a standard option within the program.

You need to edit this file (with a program like notepad):

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 4\Publishing\quizresources\styles.xml

You'll find a section

<style id="aftereachquestion">

<pair name="displayitemfeedbacknextbutton" value="true"/>
<pair name="displayitempresentationnextbutton" value="true"/>
<pair name="displayitemfeedbackbackbutton" value="false"/>
<pair name="displayitempresentationbackbutton" value="false"/>

</style>

change it so that all the values are true, like so

<style id="aftereachquestion">

<pair name="displayitemfeedbacknextbutton" value="true"/>
<pair name="displayitempresentationnextbutton" value="true"/>
<pair name="displayitemfeedbackbackbutton" value="true"/>
<pair name="displayitempresentationbackbutton" value="true"/>

</style>

Can I include a link to another website in my quiz?

Yes this is possible. You can edit just about every text field in your quiz and insert html tags to include a link to another webpage.

To edit labels open Quiz Properties - Report Labels or Quiz Properties - Other Labels

Remember to switch on Use HTML to format text in the Appearance Settings and the HTML you need to add will look something like this:

<a href="http://www.yourwebaddress.com">Click Here for more information</a>

Can I password protect my quiz?

Yes, if you publish your quiz to Question Writer Tracker, you can use a [Single Use Token] as a password for entry to a quiz.

After you have created the tokens you can click on the "excel" button to download the list of tokens in .csv format so that they can be opened by MS Excel.

Now rather than just giving the participants a web link you can then direct them to a login page - https://www.questionwritertracker.com/quiz/ - with their own token to use as password for logging in. The Quiz ID is the Assessment ID, the password is the token number.

You can record which token was sent to which participant and then later check who has completed the quiz.

Can I add video content to a quiz?

Yes, you can add video content to your quiz in three different ways. Read more about it in our Look and Feel chapter.