Author an adaptive question

An adaptive question is authored with multiple sections that are presented to a student one at a time to moderate the student's progression through a specific question.

Each adaptive section within a question contains one or more student response components.

The student's progression through each adaptive section of the question is determined by their performance on each previous section.

Adaptive questions are authored using the Question Editor, with the following additional features:

Student response components are grouped into adaptive sections
Properties are defined for each individual adaptive section
There's a one-way workflow such that students can't return to previous sections within the adaptive question

The properties that you can define for each adaptive section are:

The number of attempts allowed at the student response components in the section
Whether the student can skip the section
The passing score required for that section to be marked as correct
Whether there's a penalty for using extra attempts
The weighting of the section
Whether the correct answer is displayed for the section after completion
Whether the section remains visible to the student after completion
If the question is considered complete once the section being attempted is complete

To author an adaptive question

To author an adaptive question:

Navigate to the Question Editor as if you were going to author a regular, non-adaptive question.
TIP: Check out Author a question for reminders on how to access the Question Editor.
Author your question statement and all student response components for the question.
TIP: An adaptive question can still have the following features, just like a non-adaptive question:
- Hints (check out Author a hint)
- Feedback (check out Author feedback)
- A mixture of different question types (Check out View available question types)
- Algorithms (check out Author an algorithmic question)
Place your cursor where you want to insert an adaptive section.
NOTE: The adaptive section separator will be inserted as a gray divider to the right of your cursor and on the next row within your question. Each adaptive section is comprised of all of the preceding content from the adaptive section separator until the preceding separator (or beginning of the question if it's inserted as the first adaptive section separator).
Click Insert/Edit Adaptive Section from the Visual Editor toolbar to insert an adaptive section separator.

Define the properties for the inserted adaptive section. There are three groups of properties to define for an adaptive section in the Edit Adaptive Section window:

Section properties apply to the overall attempt at the adaptive section:

Section property	Default setting	Description
Attempts	`1`	Maximum number of allowed attempts at the adaptive section. Must be a positive integer. NOTE: An attempt is used when the student clicks Verify, no matter how many responses they've entered.
Allow Skip	Disabled	Enabled — The student can click the Next Part button to skip all their attempts and proceed to the next adaptive section. NOTE: A student's entered response is still graded if Next Part is clicked instead of Verify. If no response is submitted and Next Part is clicked instead of Verify, it's treated as if the student submitted an incorrect response. NOTE: If the student clicks Next Part and the question is considered complete if an incorrect response (or no response) is entered, the student won't be taken to the next section of the question and their attempt at the question is considered as complete. Disabled — The Next Part button isn't visible.
Passing Score	`1.0`	Section grade — A normalized value arrived at using the relative weightings of all student response components within an adaptive section. NOTE: All components within an adaptive section are authored with a relative weight that's normalized to equal a value between `0.0` and `1.0`. Example — An adaptive section with `two` components both with relative weights of `1` are normalized such that each is worth `0.5` of the adaptive section's grade. If a student only answers `one` correct, their section grade is `0.5`. The section grade is then compared to the Passing Score. If the section grade is greater than or equal to the Passing Score, the response is considered correct and the Correct properties of the adaptive section are followed. If the section grade is less than the Passing Score, the response is considered incorrect and, if no available attempts remain (or all remaining attempts have been lost), the Incorrect properties of the adaptive section are followed. TIP: Check out the Grading details for adaptive questions section of this help topic for more information on grade calculations based on the Correct and Incorrect properties.
Penalty	`0.0`	Determines the penalty to apply for each additional attempt at the section when more than one attempt is permitted for the section. Must be an value between `0.0` and `1.0`. NOTE: When a penalty value is defined and the student can click Next Part, their grade for the section is calculated by multiplying one less than the total allowed attempts at the section by the penalty value. Check out the Grading details for adaptive questions section of this help topic for more information on how the penalty value affects the student's grade calculation.

Correct properties apply to what happens when the student's section grade is greater than or equal to the Passing Score:

Correct property	Default setting	Description
Weight	`1.0`	Absolute weighting of the adaptive section in the overall question if the section is answered correctly. Must be a value between `0.0` and `1.0`. IMPORTANT: Be sure that any combination of adaptive section grades achieved by your students upon question completion doesn't exceed `1.0`.
Show Answer	Disabled	Enabled — The correct answer is displayed when the section is completed and answered correctly. Disabled — The correct answer isn't displayed when the section is completed and answered correctly.
Display	Disabled	Enabled — The section remains visible to the student after it's completed and answered correctly. Disabled — The section is no longer visible to the student after it's completed and answered correctly.
Question Complete	Disabled	Enabled — The question is considered complete when this specific section is completed and answered correctly. Disabled — The question isn't considered complete and the student is navigated to the next question section when this specific section is completed and answered correctly. TIP: Be sure to select the Question Complete check box for the last adaptive section within your question so that the student is able to exit the question and continue to the next part of their activity.

Incorrect properties apply to what happens when the student's section grade is less than the Passing Score:

Incorrect property	Default setting	Description
Weight	`0.0`	Absolute weighting of the adaptive section in the overall question if the section is answered incorrectly. Must be a value between `0.0` and `1.0`. IMPORTANT: Be sure that any combination of adaptive section grades achieved by your students upon question completion doesn't exceed `1.0`.
Show Answer	Disabled	Enabled — The correct answer is displayed when the section is completed and answered incorrectly. Disabled — The correct answer isn't displayed when the section is completed and answered incorrectly.
Display	Disabled	Enabled — The section remains visible to the student after it's completed and answered incorrectly. Disabled — The section is no longer visible to the student after it's completed and answered incorrectly.
Question Complete	Disabled	Enabled — The question is considered complete when this specific section is completed and answered incorrectly. Disabled — The question isn't considered complete and the student is navigated to the next question section when this specific section is completed and answered incorrectly. TIP: Be sure to select the Question Complete check box for the last adaptive section within your question so that the student is able to exit the question and continue to the next part of their activity.

Click OK to insert the adaptive section separator.
Perform steps 3 to 6 as many times as needed for the number of adaptive sections you want to use in your question. Example — This question has three adaptive sections with a total of four student response components (a free body diagram component and three Maple-graded components):
TIP: You can also add adaptive sections as you progress through authoring the question, before adding the components.
Click Save to save your new question. Your new question is now stored in the Questions pane of the Content Repository.

Grading details for adaptive questions

Adaptive questions permit partial grading by:

Each adaptive section having its own defined weighting based on correct or incorrect responses
Applying grade penalties when more than one attempt is used at an adaptive section

The total grade for an adaptive question is the sum of the grades for each individual adaptive section.

The grade of an individual adaptive section is calculated using the following formulas:

Correct Response calculation
Incorrect Response calculation

The section grade is compared to the Passing Score to determine which calculation to use for the individual adaptive section.

Correct Response calculation

A student's response is considered correct when the section grade is equal to or greater than the section's Passing Score.

The Correct Response calculation is then used to determine the grade for the individual adaptive section:

NOTE: Here are some examples of how the Correct Response calculation is used:

Example — Consider the following scenario:

An adaptive section has two student response components (both with a relative weight of 1), three allowed attempts, a passing score of 1.0, and a penalty of 0.1
The adaptive section has the correct response weighted as 0.8
The student:

Achieved a section grade of 1.0 by answering both components correctly
Used only one attempt
Therefore receives an individual adaptive section grade of 0.8 based on the Correct Response calculation because the section grade was equal to the Passing Score

Example — Consider the following scenario:

An adaptive section has one student response component, three allowed attempts, the student is permitted to skip the section using the Next Part button, a passing score of 1.0, and a penalty of 0.1
The adaptive section has the correct response weighted as 0.8
The student:

Entered the correct response on their first attempt but clicked Next Part instead of Verify (the student's response that's entered into the Answer field is still graded without clicking Verify)
Received the warning message that skipping the section will apply a penalty (if defined) and all remaining attempts become unavailable
Therefore receives an individual adaptive section grade of 0.6 based on the Correct Response calculation because the section grade (even though Verify wasn't used) was equal to the Passing Score

Incorrect Response calculation

A student's response is considered incorrect when the section grade is less than the section's Passing Score.

If no available attempts remain (or all remaining attempts have been lost), the Incorrect Response calculation is then used to determine the grade for the individual adaptive section:

NOTE: Here are some examples of how the Incorrect Response calculation is used:

Example — Consider the following scenario:

An adaptive section has two student response components (both with a relative weight of 1), three allowed attempts, a passing score of 1.0, and a penalty of 0.1
The adaptive section has the incorrect response weighted as 0.6
The student:

Used all three attempts
Achieved a section grade of 0.5 on the final attempt by only answering one component correctly
Therefore receives an individual adaptive section grade of 0.1 based on the Incorrect Response calculation because section grade was less than the Passing Score

Example — Consider the following scenario:

An adaptive section has two student response components (both with a relative weight of 1), three allowed attempts, a passing score of 1.0, and a penalty of 0.1
The adaptive section has the incorrect response weighted as 0.6
The student:

Used all three attempts
Achieved a section grade of 0.0 on the final attempt by answering both components incorrectly
Therefore receives an individual adaptive section grade of 0.0 based on the Incorrect Response calculation because section grade was less than the Passing Score