Asking Open-ended Questions in LearnDash Quizzes

True story. The first time I created a quiz in LearnDash, I spent nearly 1 hour (41 minutes to be precise). At first, I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to add the quiz questions. Then I referred to the User Guide (thank-you Justin). And then went back to my settings page, and through each setting option, to then finally update a quiz with 8 odd questions.

The entire process was time consuming because of the very many setting options provided, combined with my impatience to read the entire ‘Creating a Quiz’ guide in one go. But worry not. The process is quite simple once you get the hang of it.

The Advanced Quiz Module in LearnDash

In November 2013, LearnDash came up with a new update which included some major changes to LearnDash quizzes. The result was the ‘Advanced Quiz’ module.

The Advance Quiz module provides me several options to create different types of quizzes. I can create:

1. A single choice question
2. Multiple choice question
3. A “Free” choice question
4. Sorting type question
5. “Match the Column” type question
6. A “Fill-in-the-blank” question
7. Assessment type question

Answer Types in LearnDash

For each question, I can award points for the correct answer, or for every possible answer. I can set a time limit for the entire quiz as well.

There are several other settings, using which I can block user progression (if an incorrect answer is picked), set a limit on the number of attempts a user has, and award certificates.

But for me, the major advantage the LearnDash quiz module provides, is the option to save my quiz or question settings as a template. I can easily use these saved templates for additional quizzes I create, to save time. For example, if I choose the quiz settings I need for a beginner level quiz. I can then save the settings as a ‘Beginner’ template. And then instead of having to set options for subsequent beginner level quizzes, I simply have to select and load the ‘Beginner’ template.

Undoubtedly for me, subsequent quiz creation has become quite simple, since I have a few templates saved. But there is one minor problem I do not have a solution for.

Open-ended Questions in LearnDash Quizzes

In LearnDash, I can easily set up questions with a set of possible answers. But the problem arises when I have to ask an open-ended question. With open-ended questions there isn’t a predefined answer. These are the ‘Why’ or ‘Explain’ type of questions.

The ‘Free’ Choice type of question could kind of help me out here, but there is another problem. The problem is that the ‘Answer’ field is always required. And I can’t specify an answer, because there is no definite answer.

The Workaround

The way I see it, there is one workaround. Instead of my open-ended question, I have to rephrase or divide it into several questions, to test the student’s response. For example, say the original question was ‘Why is the sky blue?’. I have to rephrase it to a ‘Fill in the blank’ type of question, asking students ‘The sky is blue because __________’ and providing possible options.

Or, say for example, the question ‘State Newton’s laws of motion’, would have to be divided into 3 single-choice questions, asking about each law.

So basically I have to modify my quiz questions, which is time-consuming and not always feasible.

The Ideal Solution

What I would ideally prefer, would be an option to add a question, which accepts a multiline answer. This answer would have to be verified by the admin or group leader.

I haven’t implemented a solution yet, but here is what Bharat, a LearnDash developer here at WisdmLabs has said is possible:

1. The LearnDash plugin will have to be tweaked to create a new ‘Answer Type’
2. A new page could be created with a list of all quiz submissions with user details
3. This quiz submission list will have to be fetched using quiz meta from each user
4. The admin will then have a possibility to review the answers provided by a student
5. There can be two buttons provided to either Approve/Disapprove the quiz submission.

To me, this still seems like a workaround because I’d prefer LearnDash coming up with an update to support this. However, I can live with this. I’ll try it out and let you know if this works for me. But here’s how you can help. You could let me know if I’ve missed out something, or if you have a better solution, I’d be happy to hear about it. So do feel free to leave your comments and suggestions in the comment section below!

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