Educational Software Cooperative 4

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Educational Software Cooperative 4 / Educational Software Cooperative 4.iso / quiz303 / quiz.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-01-31 | 23.5 KB | 553 lines

CREATE A QUIZ Description: CREATE A QUIZ is an easy to use, comprehensive program that can generate multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes. Although the teacher can generate hardcopy printed quizzes, CREATE A QUIZ's speciality is its ability to create ON-SCREEN, INTERACTIVE quizzes. The quizzes are graded automatically as the user takes a quiz behind a computer. Yes, your very own on-line, interactive teaching tutor! Special features: 1) Pop-up menus, mouse support, full line text editing capabilities make using CREATE A QUIZ simple and fun. 2) Both multiple-choice and fill-in-the blank questions can be used in the same quiz. 3) Quizzes and/or questions can be printed out in several formats to meet the needs of both teacher and student. The solutions to each question can be suppressed or displayed on a printout. Students can receive an echo printout of each question they take on- screen. Teachers can review their database of questions by printing out all the questions or by defining a range (from # to #) to print. 4) Dozens of command line instructions allow the program to be "fine-tuned" by a teacher to meet the needs of a student. These command line instructions can force a student to answer "x" number of questions before they are permitted to exit the program. Or the teacher can set up a time limit for the student so that after "x" number of minutes have elapsed the program will quit. There are dozens of customizations that you add to make Create A Quiz fit your individual teaching and learning needs. 5) Progress charts are kept for each quiz that will record the best 10 students' quiz results. This is an excellent way for a teacher to track the progress of a student. A separate progress chart is maintained for each quiz created. 6) Up to 9 students can participate in the same quiz at a time. Great for contests! 7) Display ASCII text files prior to each question. A full screen display of a pre-defined ASCII text file can be displayed and scrolled prior to a question, and then after the user has read the text file, they will be confronted with a question dealing with that text. 8) Businesses and organizations can use a command line instruction that will turn CREATE A QUIZ into a stand-alone display for customers or prospects. This can make a great advertising tool and counter display, testing a prospect's knowledge of your product. The program will even prompt each user for his name, address and phone number that can be retrieved later for follow-ups. 9) The quizzes that are created can be password protected and encrypted to prevent students from altering a teacher's questions. 10) You can include high-resolution .PCX graphic images within your quizzes. Requirements: No special requirements are necessary for most computers. A DOS version of 3.0 or higher is necessary (although it is possible that some 2.x versions will work, but not guaranteed). The program can be used on both monochrome and color monitors. A printer is the only option that is required IF you wish to create quiz printouts. To start: To start the program type ---> QUIZ then press the [ENTER] or [RETURN] key at the DOS prompt. The program will load itself into memory in seconds. After an opening screen or two, a Main Menu will appear. Menus: Selections from the Main Menu (or any menu) can be made by moving the highlighted bar to the selection of your choice, then pressing the [ENTER] or [RETURN] key. Selections also can be made by pressing the corresponding first letter for each option in the menu list. If you press the [ESC] key instead, the user will be taken to the previous menu (if any). To create a quiz: From the Main Menu the user can create a NEW quiz by choosing the "Create a new quiz" selection. The user will then be prompted for a filename, under which all questions will be stored to disk. The filename entered will automatically receive the extension ".QZ". Do NOT enter the ".QZ" extension! Pressing the [ESC] key at this filename prompt will take the user back to the Main Menu. After a new filename has been entered, the user must give the quiz a title and description, and may elect to enter their name as the quiz creator. Once this preliminary information has been entered the user will be prompted to enter a question. Questions can be up to six lines in length. You can move from one question line to another by using the cursor control keys (the keys with the up and down arrows), or by using the [ENTER] key. To move to the answer field, press the [F10] function key. This key will cause the input prompt to leave the question field, allowing the user to enter possible answers to the previous question. Should the user need to jump back to the previous question to make any necessary changes then press the [F9] function key. Pressing the [F10] function key from the answer field will instruct the program to continue to the next step (if any). Multiple choice questions: The multiple choice question format is the default format when you enter questions. Each multiple choice question can have up to 5 possible answer choices and as few as 2. After entering the desired number of answer choices, the quiz creator must verify which of the possible answers is in fact the correct answer. This verification step will display the question and possible answers in a play screen. After verifying the correct solution, the user can enter a reference note. Such notes will be display- ed after a student takes the quiz at play time. Fill-in-the-blank questions: Fill-in-the-blank questions are different from multiple choice questions in that only one possible answer can be entered. The way CREATE A QUIZ distinguishes between a multiple choice question and a fill-in-the-blank question is that the latter has an UNDERSCORE "_" character (ASCII 95) somewhere in the question. This underscore character is NOT to be confused with a "dash" or "hyphen". If an underscore character exists ANYWHERE in the question, then that question automatically becomes a fill-in-the-blank question, and will as a result accept only one answer when the time comes to input an answer when creating the quiz. You can enter one "_" underscore by itself or a string of underscores (e.g., "______"). The result is the same - one word will be prompted for during the quiz. The following are acceptable in creating a fill-in- the-blank question: 1. George _ was the first president of the United States. 2. George Washington was the first _____ of the United States. 3. Name the first president of the United States?: __ Please be aware that trailing underscores will be removed from printouts and from quiz play displays. In other words, if you want the underscore to appear or print, then place the underscore(s) somewhere in your question BESIDES at the end of the question. In examples 1 & 2 above, the underscores will appear exactly as you entered them. In example 3, however, the two trailing "__" characters will be stripped and will not be seen by the student taking the quiz, nor on any printouts. Keep in mind the difference in formats between multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions: "DECEMBER 25 IS:" This will result in a multiple- choice question. "DECEMBER 25 IS _" This will result in a fill-in- the-blank question. If you want to convert an existing fill-in-the-blank question to a multi-choice question, simply remove ALL the underscores. Likewise, to convert an existing multi-choice question to a FITB question, just ADD an underscore. You can enter alternate or multiple answers for fill-in-the-blank questions by separating each acceptable answer with a comma ",". For instance, if a fill-in-the- blank question prompts: "How much is 50 cents added to 50 cents? _", the quiz creator can anticipate several possible answers by entering "$1, $1.00, 1 buck, 4 quarters" in the answer field. Note that each solution is separated by a comma ",". When a student in confronted with this question on the screen during an interactive quiz, the student will receive a "correct" response if they enter any of the 4 answers: $1 $1.00 1 buck 4 quarters Should your correct response have a comma in it, then use another comma to keep the phrase from being separated into individual words. For example, if your question was, "What is a common English expression for good-bye?" and the answer was "Bye, bye" (one phrase, not two words), then enter the correct answer as "Bye,, bye" when you are preparing your quiz for your students. References (optional): If you would like to have a reference note appear after each question during an interactive on-screen test, enter your notes at the "Reference:" prompt line. If you (the teacher) would like to display an ASCII text file PRIOR TO A SPECIFIC QUESTION during an on-screen quiz, then enter a filename (and path if needed) with a pair of {} brackets. For instance, {MY_TEST.ASC} is valid, as is {DATA\HISTORY.92}. If you would like to have the ASCII text display start at a particular line number, enter a comma followed by the line number. For example, if you wish to have the text file {MY_TEST.ASC} pop-up on line 8, enter {MY_TEST.ASC,8}. We have included a fine example of this extended reference usage in a quiz file on this disk. Retrieve the file "COMMANDS.QZ" and take a good look at it. Better yet, try taking this quiz to understand what this is all about! You can also define the LAST line to be displayed in the reference file by adding another comma and the ending line number (e.g. {MY_TEST.ASC,15,25} where only lines 15 to 25 of this ASCII file will be displayed as an reference introduction to a specific question. If you would like to enter a lengthy reference note that can be displayed AFTER a specific question during an on-screen quiz session, use the [ALT+M] keys to maximize the reference input field. This will make data entry much easier for the teacher. Pointers (optional): Some teachers may wish to force a specific question based upon the student's on-screen response with the use of "pointers" or "directives". Here's an example. Let's say that you have a TRUEFALS.QZ file with 25 true and false questions you wish a student to use on a test. You wish to present the questions in sequential manner, starting at question number 1. From the command line (or batch file) you start the proram --> QUIZ TRUEFALS.QZ STARTAT=1 The first question the student is presented with is let's say: ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Q: 5 quarts is equivalent to 1 gallon? │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌──────────┐ │ True │ <-- Possible answers │ False │ available to student └──────────┘ If you wish to have the student's answer to this question DETERMINE WHAT QUESTION HE GETS NEXT, then you could use "pointers". For instance, if the student picks "False" for this question, then you may wish to display question # 2. But is the student picks "True", then he should be presented with question # 3 instead, skipping over question #2. How does the program know to do this? By the use of "pointers". A "pointer" is placed by THE TEACHER WHEN YOU ARE CREATING OR MODIFYING A QUIZ. A pointer consists of a pair of {} brackets, enclosing a question NUMBER. For instance, {10} would be a pointer to question # 10. Pointers are placed BEHIND the answer choices as shown below: Choice: True {3} Choice: False {2} Edit an existing quiz: If the user wishes to modify, change, or add a question to an existing .QZ quiz file, then select the "Edit existing quiz" option from the Main Menu. This feature will permit the user to change any question or answer that had been previously entered. If the user has dozens or hundreds of questions in a .QZ file, and wishes to edit just one question, but is uncertain as to its position in the file, the user can "list" all the questions in the file quickly by pressing the [L] key. A pop-up menu list will appear that will list all the questions in sequential order. If more questions exist than can appear in the menu, use the cursor control keys to scroll down the menu list. Once the question is located in the menu, press [ENTER] and that question and its corresponding answers will be displayed in their entirety. Press the [C] key to make any necessary "changes". Note: Once a question has been entered as a "fill-in- the-blank" type question, it is possible from within the program to convert it to a multiple-choice question. To make the switch, remove the "_" underscore character. This will allow the user to add the usual five possible answer choices. You can also make the switch from an existing multiple-choice to a fill-in-the-blank question by simply inserting an "_" underscore character anywhere in the question itself. Adding graphics to your quizzes: It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true, then you may wish to add some graphic images to your quizzes. Each question in your quiz can have an image associated with it, if you so desire. When creating or editing your .QZ file, you will notice to the right of the "Reference:" field is a "Graphic file:" field. It is here that you can enter the name of an existing .PCX file. .PCX is a popular file format that is used in most paint programs. If the .PCX file resides in the current directory, but you have forgotten its name, you can use the [ALT+V] hot key to display a pop-up pick list. This list will show all the .PCX files in your directory. By selecting a .PCX file from this list you will also be shown how the image will be displayed on the screen. In other words, the file pick list is also an image viewer. .PCX images should be no large than 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high. Also, only 16 color .PCX images are supported currently, so make sure you convert any 256-color images to 16-color before using them with Create A Quiz. Images can be much smaller than 640 by 480, however you must keep the width of your .PCX in even 8 pixel increments. In other words, 32, 40, 80 and 120 pixel wide images are permitted, but images that are 34, 41, or 79 pixels wide will be displayed with a distracting white border. This 8 pixel increment requirement only pertains to the width dimension. The height of the .PCX can be 1 to 640 pixels. All images smaller than 640 by 480 will be positioned in the center of the screen. The default action of Create A Quiz is to display any associated images just PRIOR TO the actual question that the image is linked to. In other words, when your student uses your quiz, first your .PCX image will appear, followed by a "Press any key to continue" prompt, which is then followed by the actual question related to that image. Should you wish to have the image display AFTER the question and answer have been input, you must add the following suffix to your .PCX files: {A} The {A} suffix, will specify that the associated .PCX be displayed AFTER the question and answer input, rather than prior to the question. Example: MY-PICT.PCX{A} If you wish to have the image display BOTH prior to AND after each question, append the {BA} suffix to your .PCX file name in the "Graphic file:" field. Quiz printouts: There are two ways to obtain printed quizzes using CREATE A QUIZ: 1) Before taking an actual quiz, the user can select the "Print quiz:" choice from the "Take/use a quiz" sub- menu. Once the "Print quiz:" option is toggled "ON", all questions that are displayed on the screen during the course of the quiz will also be echoed to a printer attached to port LPT1: The solutions to these printed quizzes will appear after every two pages of questions. 2) From the "Create a new quiz" and "Edit existing quiz" selections from the Main Menu, the user can press the [P] key to print a range of questions. The quiz creator can then enter the beginning question number and the ending question number. This range will then be sent to the printer. The quiz creator also has the option of displaying the correct answer on these printouts, or to suppress the correct answer. Correct answers are marked by an asterisk symbol "*". Repeat errors: Before taking a quiz, the user can select the "Repeat errors:" option from the "Take/use a quiz" sub-menu. When the "Repeat errors:" option is toggled "ON", then questions that have been answered incorrectly will be saved into memory and recalled at random during the remainder of the quiz session. Scoreboard: When a user has finished with a quiz and wishes to exit to DOS, their score will be entered into a scoreboard file and then displayed on the screen in a "Top-Ten" chart if they have one of the ten best records for that quiz. Each quiz that you create has its own scoreboard ".SCB" file. For example, if you have a student using a quiz named "MUSIC.QZ" then the student's quiz results will be kept in "MUSIC.SCB" as he finishes the quiz. The "*.SCB" scoreboard files are encrypted to prevent dishonest students from changing their scores. To reset a specific scoreboard file back to zero, eliminating all player's histories, just delete the scoreboard file from the DOS prompt. Possible conflicts: There is a font file that was distributed with CREATE A QUIZ that may give a small number of users some problems. The QUIZ.FNT is used with systems running VGA graphics. If you do NOT have VGA graphics you may wish to delete this file ONLY IF YOU ENCOUNTER VIDEO PROBLEMS. Disclaimer: The author makes no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the quality of performance of this program. The author will not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of CREATE A QUIZ. Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to this disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. Shareware and distribution: CREATE A QUIZ is being distributed as shareware. Shareware is a "try before you buy" software marketing concept that allows the user to obtain fully functional copies of programs for evaluation. The distribution and copying fee that you may have paid to obtain this disk does not cover the cost of the software contained on this disk. Shareware programs such as the one that you are about to try require separate payment to the author if it is found to be a useful product and if it is used beyond a reasonable evaluation period. Individuals can make copies of this program and pass them on to friends and acquaintances as long as the program is NOT sold and the concept of shareware is made known to them. Commercial distributors and vendors should contact the author BEFORE distributing CREATE A QUIZ publicly IF THE DATE/TIME STAMP OF THE QUIZ.EXE FILE IS OVER 2 YEARS OLD! Distributors and vendors who wish to receive the latest unregistered version of CREATE A QUIZ can do so by contacting the author AND SUBMITTING A COPY OF THEIR PRODUCT CATALOG or download QUIZ*.ZIP from our BBS (see below). Site licenses: Businesses, groups and schools must obtain a site license for CREATE A QUIZ if this program will be used on more than one personal computer. Teachers who plan on making more than one copy of their registered Teacher's version of CREATE A QUIZ must likewise obtain a site license. Contact the author for more details or see the QUIZ.FAQ file. We also have a student's version of CREATE A QUIZ that can provide a teacher with a very inexpensive way of distributing (or even selling) their own quizzes. Program Author: Philip Kapusta 406 Monroe Avenue Falmouth, Va. 22405 Other programs: If you are interested in other programs written by the author, an illustrated catalog is available. Most of our programs are family or Bible oriented and very affordable. Mail 4 U.S. first class postage stamps to cover materials and shipping to the above address, and request a catalog. If you are registering and wish to receive a catalog, don't mail any stamps - the catalog is free IF you ask for one to registrants. A stripped down version of CREATE A QUIZ is available directly from the author, and is intended for use by your students. This "student's edition" of CREATE A QUIZ is nearly identical to the version that you are now using, with the exception that the user (student) canNOT create or edit any quizzes. The "student's version" allows the user to TAKE an existing quiz generated by you, but that is all. The student's version can be licensed so that you may sell or distribute your quizzes royalty free. This license arrangement pertains only to the STUDENT'S version. The TEACHER'S version that you currently have (when registered) is NOT to be distributed to others! If you would like to receive a trial copy of the "student's version" contact the author, enclosing 8 U.S. stamps, and state the disk size your computer supports. We also have a special version of CREATE A QUIZ that is used to generate SCANTRON smart quizzes. SCANTRON are the type of "bubble" format quizzes that you often use with SAT style tests. Again, contact the author if this would be of interest to you or your school. Your feedback: We welcome all feedback - positive and negative. We will consider your suggestions for future program enhancements. Many of the features in this current version are a result of users' suggestions. If you desire a reply, enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope when writing. Be warned, however, that a written reply will take MUCH, MUCH longer than an electronic response. If you have a modem, you may wish to leave an e-mail message to "SYSOP" on The Mustard Seed BBS at (540) 372-9680 or via the Internet at 74170.3550@compuserve.com