M12e - Multiple True/False Question Type (MTF)

Keywords: quiz, question, true, false, exam, multiple choice, e-exam, e-assessment, summative, formative, instant feedback

What is it

A Multiple True/False Question Type (MTF) is one of the question types that can be included in a Moodle quiz to formatively or summatively assess your students. 

With this question type, tutors can create a question and have more than one True/False question  in the same stem. 

Why use it?

• Separate validation and assessment, allowing for complex formative feedback and line by line evaluation of student responses.
• Tutors can use the MTF question type when a question or problem requires the evaluation of multiple aspects simultaneously. 
• This saves time when creating new questions for each stem, especially when you have an essay/text followed by many statements/questions.

Who can use it?

• Tutors 
• Course Administrators

Before I start...

Think about:

• Is each option/statement clearly and unambiguously true or false? 
• Do I want to apply a penalty for wrong answers?
• Do I want to randomise my questions?

Meeting the baseline

The UCL Connected Learning Baseline suggests the following for Orientation : 

The Assessment category suggests that you should: 

How do I set one up?

Step 1: Create a quiz 

Step 2: Add a Multiple True/False Question

Within a question bank or quiz:

• Click Create a New Question or Add a new question.
• Select Multiple True/False Question (MTF).
• Select the relevant Category.
• Give the question a meaningful and descriptive Task title. You'll use the Task title to track your questions later. It will be used in the question lists on the quiz editing page or in the lesson as a page title. It will not be shown to the students, so you can choose any name that makes sense to you and possibly other tutors.
• Enter the Max. points for the question (the default mark is 1).
• Write the question text in the Stem field. The stem is the part of the question that is the same for all choices that will follow. State precisely what the student needs to do in order to get the question right. Some students may need more detailed information than others. You can format the question just like a Word document using the editor.
• Select an image to display if you want to add a picture to the question. The available images are those you have uploaded to the main Moodle files area. For the students, the image appears immediately after the question text and before the answer options.  
• It is usually a good idea to add an appropriate general feedback paragraph.
• Choose if you want to add a numbering scheme for the statements.

• Choose the scoring method between:

   Subpoints

  The student is awarded subpoints for each correct response. This is the default and recommended scoring method.
   MTF1/0

  The student is awarded full points if all responses are correct and zero points if one or more responses are incorrect. This scoring method is rather unpopular with students as they are used to getting half the points for choosing half of the correct choices. We only recommend using this scoring method if missing one of the statements should have a big impact on the students' marks. 

   and if you enable Shuffle Options, the order of the options is randomly shuffled for each attempt, provided that Shuffle within questions in the quiz settings is also enabled.

• The default Judgement Options are True and False, but you can also replace them with any other two characteristics such as Likely and Unlikely, or Blue and Red.
• Write your first option and check whether it is true or false.
• If you wish, you can add feedback for each option. It's good practice to tell students why each answer is right or wrong using the feedback area, so they can analyse their own thinking and begin to understand why an answer is correct. Your feedback will only be displayed if you select Show Feedback in the quiz body settings.
• Repeat the last step for each option and add your feedback.

• If you are allowing multiple tries you can add a penalty for each incorrect attempt. 

   Click here to expand...

  The penalty is a proportion of the question grade so if the question is worth 3 marks and the penalty is 0.3333333, then the student will score 3 points if they answer the question right first time, 2 points if they get it right second try and 1 point if they get it right on the third attempt.

Click Save changes and continue editing to add more questions.

Caution

• Students will need to be instructed on how to answer questions correctly. Digital Education recommends having a formative or practice quiz to familiarise students with the process of completing and submitting a quiz attempt. Guidance on this can be found on the documentation page.

Examples and case studies

Questions & Answers

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Further information

The Plugin is developed and maintained by  ETH Zurich. 

This guide was adapted from the official documentation, which provides a detailed walk-through with examples for the MTF question type. Accessed on the 26 January 2021.

More information on the pedagogy behind the MTF question type is available in the following articles:

BioScience, Volume 68, Issue 6, June 2018, Pages 455–463 . Accessed on the 09 February 2021.

International Journal of STEM Education, Edition 6, Issue  16 (2019) . Accessed on the 09 February 2021.