How to access the Short answer widget

Widgets are the tools with which course administrators create and build the pages of their course.

The Short answer widget can be used to ask the learner to provide a short answer to a question. Note: this is not for an open-ended type of question. The learner must enter one of the anticipated answers you have entered in the widget in order to get it right.

In order to access the Short answer widget:

1. Go to the page in your course where you'd like to add this widget.
2. Select Edit mode.
3. In the lefthand widget menu, choose Quiz, and then click on the Short answer widget icon. (or you can hold and drag it wherever you'd like on the page). 

How to set up the Short answer widget

After adding the Short answer widget to your page, you can set it up by following the instructions below:

1. Click on the Setup tab at the top of the widget.
2. Edit the widget settings:

Title: You can enter your question here. If you'd like to use formatted text or images, you can use the Text widget instead and leave this box empty.

Placeholder text: You can replace the default "My response..." here.

Character limit: If you'd like you can limit the number of characters the learners can use.

Size of input: You can choose the size of the text box between Fullwidth / Small.

Evaluation of student response: Currently only Automatic evaluation is possible.

Automatic evaluation - correct if text entered matches any of the following conditions: You can set up conditions based on which the widget will determine if the learner's answer was correct or incorrect. (Note: if you leave this blank, any answer will be accepted as correct, but we advise this widget not to be used for open-ended questions. Assessment will not be possible.)

Misc options:

Automatically strip spaces from answer: You can check this box to automatically remove the spaces in the learner's answer.

Message displayed when correct: You can change the default "Correct!"

Message displayed when incorrect: You can change the default "Please try again."

Completion settings

Completing activities on a page is how learners make progress and receive their certificates or complete the course.

As the course administrator, you can modify how each widget tracks this progress.

To do this, click on the Completion Settings tab on the widget and choose one of the following options:

No completion tracking: This widget will not count towards completion.

Completed upon any interaction:  This widget will count as completed as soon as the learner completes it - regardless if the answer is right or wrong.

Completed when the answers match the criteria specified in settings: This widget will count as completed as soon as the learner provides the correct answer.

 Pro tip: If you'd like your learners to answer an open-ended question, you should use the Post text widget. While technically you can use the Short answer widget (by removing all the conditions), you will not be able to view learner's replies and assess them.