Text Input Problems

Text input problems require learners to enter text in response to a question, such as a short written answer.

The correct answer is typically one that matches the answer given by staff either specifically, or according to a pattern (such as the same answer but insensitive of case).

Common variations on text entry are typically classified by the expected answer length:

• Short-answer/Single-line: Where the answer is short and does not require any formatting, typically a single sentence.

• Long-answer/Multi-line: where the answer is longer and does not require significant formatting, typically a single paragraph.

• Essay: Where the answer is expected to be significantly longer, typically multiple paragraphs.

These fundamentally do not change the interaction - the learner is still expected to enter text in a box, but the assessment itself is fundamentally different. Typically short-answers can be easily automatically graded, but require a specific answer match, such as. Long-answer questions instead require rules to be automatically graded, such as “Answers must include the words ‘cake’ or ‘death’ and not include the word ‘elephant’.” Essay questions typically require staff grading due to the level of depth involved in the answer.

Text input areas are commonly used for reflection activities, where learners simply type a response to reflective questions with no grading implications. They are also used in all levels of assessment for higher-difficulty questions than multiple choice, as it is possible to guess a multiple choice question and have a chance at getting a correct answer, but is much harder to guess a text input field.

Text input questions typically have settings oriented around just how correct a learner has to be. This can include:

• Alternative answers, which can include common misspellings for short-answer questions and alternative points for partially-correct answers

• Regex patterns, which can dictate patterns to match for correct answers

• Case-sensitivity settings

• Word white- and blacklists for answers to be marked correct or incorrect based on words present in the list that are also present in answers.

  • This can be problematic and not suitable for high-stakes assessment as the question “What colour is the grass?” would be marked correct if a learner answered “The grass is not green” if “green” was on the whitelist, and a learner that answers “The grass is green and the sky is blue” could be considered incorrect if “blue” is on the blacklist.