Dropdown question
Students choose their answer from a list that opens on click. It takes little space and asks them to recognise the right answer among close alternatives.
When to use it
A dropdown suits short factual answers where the choices are similar: which source dates from a given year, which term fits a definition, which unit belongs to a quantity. The options stay hidden until the student opens the list, so the question takes up only one line on the page.
Setting it up
In a worksheet, use the + between two items and choose Dropdown question.
If the question is not already open, click its pencil, and write the question at the top.
Click Add an answer option for each choice and type its text.
Tick the box in front of the correct option (Mark as correct answer).
Click the tick when you are done.
Options without text are left out of the list students see. Drag an option by its grip to reorder it, or remove it with the bin. Students see the options in the order you put them.
Students always choose a single option from the list. If you tick more than one option as correct, a student who chooses any one of them is marked correct.
What students do
Students open the list, choose an option and click Submit. Until they submit, they can change their choice.
If the presentation has Show correct answers turned on, the dropdown turns green or red after they submit.
Checking the answers
The answer is checked automatically against the option or options you ticked. If you tick none, answers are collected but not marked.
In the presentation, click Results on the question to see which option each student chose. The marks also appear in the grading screen.
Tips
Make the wrong options plausible. A distractor that is almost right, such as a documentary about 1918 among sources from 1918, makes students check the detail.
Vary where the correct option sits in the list from question to question.
If students should produce the answer rather than recognise it, use an open-ended question or a Fill the gaps task instead.