Open Answer

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SimQuest 6.4 help

Open Answer

An open answer assignment is a simple assignment in which the author asks a question which the learner can answer by typing text in a text box. The author can set one initial state.

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Modifying an Open Answer assignment

Modifying an Open Answer assignment

To modify an assignment, you have to fill out a number of tab sheets. To access these, you select the assignment in the Application window, click right and choose Edit from the menu that appears. The tab sheets you have to fill out differ per type of assignment.

General

1.	Select the General tab sheet.

2.	In the Name box, you can specify a name for the assignment which the learner will see in the learner view. As the author, you will still see the original name in the Application window.

3.	In the Description box, type a short description of the assignment The learner will see this description in the learner environment when he or she selects the assignment, but does not (yet) start it.

4.	Under Language, select the language in which you enter the assignment texts.

5.	Click Apply.

Control On

In the Control On tab sheet you can make the assignment perform certain actions with regard to other elements in the application. You can for instance change the settings in such a way that once a particular assignment is closed, another one will open. Also, you can make explanation elements pop up after all attempts have been used. This chapter will help you smoothly control elements in your simulation.

First, set the Start-up state of the assignment:

1.	Select the Control On tab sheet.

2.	Select the Start-up state using the radio buttons on top of the tab-sheet:

Activated: the assignment will open when the simulation is opened in the learner view.

Enabled: the assignment is visible to the learner in the learner view.

Disabled: the learner can see the assignment, but not (yet) activate it.

Invisible: the learner cannot see nor activate this assignment.

To set the control structure of an assignment, follow these steps:

1.	Decide WHEN you want something to happen. Select one of the elements from the first list.

Activated: the elements below will be activated, enabled, aborted, disabled, or hidden when the assignment is started

Succeeded: the elements below will be activated, enabled, aborted, disabled, or hidden when the assignment is performed correctly

Failed: the elements below will be activated, enabled, aborted, disabled, or hidden when the assignment is performed incorrectly

Exited: the elements below will be activated, enabled, aborted, disabled, or hidden when the assignment is closed before all attempts are used up.

2.	Select a command for the simulation:

No command to: the simulation stays as it is

Compute: the simulation calculates the output value for the given input. Only when ‘Recompute output variables every time a value changes’ is not selected in Simulation Properties.

Compute and Record: the model runs with the current input values and the results are displayed.

Record Value: only for static models: the most recently computed value is recorded on screen. By default, this happens automatically, but you can change it under Simulation Properties.

Reset: all variables in the simulation will be reset to their initial value.

3.	Decide and select WHAT you want to happen.

Activate: The elements that you dragged into the box below will be started/opened.

Enable: The elements below will be presented in the learner view but not started. The learner has to start them.

Abort: The elements below will be closed.

Disable: The elements below will be presented in the learner view but the learner cannot start them.

Hide: The elements below will not be visible in the learner view.

Please note! The element itself is automatically added to the Exited-Enable page. Therefore, when all attempts have been used up, the assignment will be visible and available.

Example: Setting overall feedback

If the learner has not been able to find the correct answer within the set maximum number of attempts, a general, or overall feedback can be given. Such an explanation element can contain text like 'You have not been able to find the right answer, the right answer should have been..'. You can tell SimQuest to do this by going to Control, selecting Exited from the top menu (the other two can be left as they are) and dragging an Explanation Element of your choice from the Application window into the white area at the bottom of the Control tab sheet. The result should look like this:

overall_feedback

Setting overall feedback

For additional information plus examples of the Control structure, click here.

Control Overview

You can use the Control Overview tab sheet to check the controls you set in the Control On tab sheet. You can quickly see what will happen if you activate, succeed, fail, or exit the assignment.

1.	Select the Control Overview tab sheet.

2.	Click on Activated, Succeeded, Enabled, Failed, or Exited.

3.	Look at the controls you specified in each category.

Initial State

In do them & explicitation assignments, you can determine as many initial states as you want. Here, too, you can specify the number of attempts the learner gets to answer the question

1.	Select the Initial State tab sheet.

2.	In the Set Name box, type a name for your initial state set

3.	In the Set here? column, mark the variables you want to set the initial state of

4.	In the Value boxes of the variables you just selected, type the initial state value

5.	If you want to make another set of initial states, click New Set and repeat from step 3

6.	Click Apply.

Command

In the Command tab sheet you can type the actual assignment. Make sure that the assignment you type is not too long, and to the point.

1.	Select the Question tab sheet.

2.	Untick the Show assignment text checkbox if you do not want to use any text, but merely to show a whiteboard in which learners can enter remarks.

3.	In the Text box, type the text you want to present to the learner, for example an assignment or question.

4.	If you want to lay-out parts of the text differently, select a word or phrase, click right and select a lay-out. Here you can for instance make the text bold, underlined etc.. Consider for instance to make the actual task in your assignment bold.

5.	If you want a sound-file to be played when the assignment is started, click the Play sound checkbox, click Browse, select a sound-file, and click OK. The sound file must be in WAV-format.

6.	If you want a picture to be displayed when the assignment is started, click the Show Image checkbox, click Browse, select an image, and click OK. The image must be in GIF-format.

7.	Click Apply.