Before delving into the Quiz activity itself and the different configuration options, it’s perhaps worth initially looking at the different question types – after all, what’s a quiz without questions?!

When adding a new question to the Moodle question bank, you are prompted to choose from over 20 different question types. On selecting a question type from the list, Moodle provides a handy overview of what that question type does and how it might be used.

Below I’ve picked out just five of the most useful (in my opinion, of course!) question types.

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1. Multiple-choice

The most commonly-used question type is Multiple choice.

It’s usually the most straight-forward one to configure as you can include numerous options from which your student is tasked to select the correct answer.

You can choose to grade it quite simply by awarding a mark only for the correct answer, but you also have the ability to award, say, half-marks for the student having selected an option that has some merit even though it is not the best answer.

The question can also be configured where more than one option needs to be selected to be correct (in other words, “multiple-choice multi-select”) but I feel it works best with the ‘one right answer’ configuration. If you need a multi-select option then the ‘All or nothing’ question type is worth a look as an alternative.

For details of specific settings related to the Multiple-choice question type, please visit: Multiple Choice question type (MoodleDocs).

2. Numerical

This is a useful question type if you are you students arrive at a specific answer through some form of calculation.

One great feature of the numerical question type is that you can define tolerances so you are able to award a grade or a portion of a grade if the student’s answer is within a specific range from the correct answer.

Just as with the multiple choice question, you can also present different feedback depending on how close the student is to the correct answer.

For details of specific settings related to the Numerical question type, please visit: Numerical question type (MoodleDocs).

3. True/False

One of main benefits of using the True/False question type is that is really simple to set up. A quiz should ideally have a mix of question types to vary the experience for the student and so including a True/False question can help to “mix it up” as well as providing for an easy way to check high-level understanding of a particular point.

For details of specific settings related to the True/False question type, please visit: True/False question type (MoodleDocs).

4. Drag-and-drop into text

Sometimes, you might want to introduce a “Fill in the blanks”-type question type. There’s the third-party plugin question type, Gapfill or the CLOZE question type but this requires a little coding (which can sometimes be a little intimidating to some); however, in my opinion the most effective is Moodle’s own ‘Drag-and-drop into text’ question type.

It’s typically used when presenting a passage of text with some key terms missing; the student is then expected to select the correct words and drag them into the placeholders to complete the passage:

For details of specific settings related to the ‘Drag-and-drop into text’ question type, please visit: Drag-and-drop into text question type (MoodleDocs).

5. Drag-and-drop image

Taking the drag-and-drop feature a little further, Moodle’s ‘Drag-and-drop onto image’ question type takes things to the “next level” since it provides for more flexible uses around dragging a dropping.

Example 1: If you need to label a diagram, then provide an un-labelled diagram as an image, and then ask your students to complete the diagram by dragging the text into the correct placeholders:

Example 2: If you need your students to complete a table, provide an image of a table and ask students to complete it, again by dragging the text into the correct placeholders:

For details of specific settings related to the ‘Drag-and-drop onto image’ question type, please visit: Drag-and-drop onto image question type (MoodleDocs)

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Bonus: Description

So I admit it’s hard to pick just five (and I’m sure other people may pick a different five) but my excuse is that the ‘Description’ question type is not really a question at all – it is, however, often forgotten about and provides for a way to structure and present your quiz effectively.

Essentially it works like Moodle’s ‘Label’ resource in that you can include a mixture of text, images, videos, links etc.

You might like to include a ‘Description’ question type at the top of a new page of questions to set the context for the questions; or perhaps to embed a video which the students would be expected to watch and answer the subsequent questions that are based on that video.

For details of all the settings related to the Description question type, please visit: Description question type (MoodleDocs)

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These are just some of the question types available to you; to check out the other available question types, visit the ‘Question types’ page on MoodleDocs.