Open-ended questions

Use an open-ended question when you want the reasoning, not just the result: why something happens, what a student would do and why, an explanation in their own words. Writing it out shows the thinking that a list of options hides.

It also suits short recall answers, such as a single word or a name, which Praktikal can check for you if you list the answers you accept.

1. In a worksheet, use the + between two items and choose Question.

2. Click the pencil to open it and write the question in the field at the top.

3. Leave Answer format on Text. Under Text format, choose Rich text if students may need formatting, and set a Character limit if you want the answer kept short.

4. If the answer is short and predictable, click Add correct answer and type it. Add another accepted answer adds a second wording.

5. Click the tick when you are done.

Without a correct answer the question is not marked automatically, and every answer comes to you to read.

Students type their answer in the box under the question and click Submit. With a character limit, a counter shows how much of it they have used, and an answer over the limit cannot be submitted.

If you wrote a model answer with Add solution and the presentation has Show correct answers turned on, students can open it after they submit.

Open Results on the question, during the presentation or afterwards, to read every answer. Identical answers are grouped with the students who gave them.

If you added correct answers, each answer is also marked. It is correct when it matches one of them exactly, ignoring capital letters and spaces at either end. It is partially correct when it contains an accepted answer as a separate word, or is itself part of a longer accepted answer. Anything else is incorrect. Without correct answers, you give the points yourself in the Grading Dashboard.

• Make the question concrete. "Why should everyone be asked about the class outing?" gets better answers than "Why ask for opinions?"

• Add correct answers only for one-word or one-phrase answers. A full sentence almost never matches exactly, so the check would mark good answers wrong.

• A correct answer left empty turns automatic checking off for the whole question. Delete any you do not need.