The guide describes how to generate queries with ClassQue.
You will need a copy of the
classquequerycreator.jar file.
Queries
One of the main uses of ClassQue is to pose questions to students and to collect
their answers.
ClassQue refers to these questions as queries.
ClassQue supports five types of queries:
- Choice: Choose one from a list of answers
- Checkbox: Choose one or more from a list of answers
- Integer: Enter an integer
- Free Form: Enter text
- Code: Enter code
Each query has a
prompt (the question),
a
name (the title of the query),
and in the first two cases a list of possible answers.
Annotations can be attached to the prompt or the last of
possible answers.
Queries are typically stored in a query file that contains one or more queries.
These files have a special format and are
created with the ClassQue Query Creator utility,
which provides an intuitive GUI for query creation.
Queries in a file can also be grouped into collections called surveys.
Query Creator Overview
The Query Creator is used to create and modify files containing a collection
of queries.
When you run the Query Creator, initially two windows are available.
The main window (Figures 1 and 2) allows you to read in a file of previously created queries,
create new queries, select one of the queries (the current query) to modify,
make modifications to the current query, and save queries to a file.
The main window has three parts. At the top, the type and name of the current
query are shown and can be modified. The middle section has widgets that allow you
to select parts of the current query to modify, and the bottom sections has an
edit window allowing you to modify a part of the query.
The ClassQue Query Preview (Figure 3) shows the current query in a form similar
to what a student would see. If the
Annotations box of the window
is checked, then annotations are also shown.
Figure 1 shows the main window after a query file has been read in.
The current query is number 1 of 12, as indicated in the upper right corner.
The current query is a choice query and the
prompt is available for editing in the bottom section of the window.
In the preview window (Figure 3) you can see that there are 4 possible answers.
Figure 2 shows the main window after the
Choice radio button has been
chosen and the
Choice Select has been moved to the second choice.
This allows you to edit this choice.
The prompt and choices are entered in HTML format.
Annotations are entered as ordinary text. When editing a prompt or
choice, the
HTML Edit widgets allow you to easily enter some
simple predefined HTML tags. Recall the HTML ignores line breaks in the input
and line breaks are formed using the
<br/> tag. Pushing the return key
when editing HTML will enter this tag.
Another useful window is the
All Queries window, as displayed in
Figure 4. You can show this window by using the
Window menu item of the
main window and selecting
All Queries.
The window shows the prompt for each query and allows you to select the
current query by clicking on it. It can also be used to move, duplicate,
or delete collections of queries. You can select a range of queries by
clicking on one and shift clicking on another.
Running the ClassQue Query Creator
You must have Java installed on your machine to run the
ClassQue Query Creator program.
If you are using windows, you can run the program by clicking on
the
classquequerycreator.jar file on your desktop or from an
explorer window.
On a Linux machine, make sure the
classquequerycreator.jar file
is executable, right click on it and choose the appropiate version of Java
to run it. Alternatively,
from a terminal window, execute:
java -jar path-to-file/classquequerycreator.jar
Figure 5 shows the initial ClassQue Query Creator menu when the program is started.
There will also be a second window labeled
Classroom Query Preview which
we will discuss later.
Each query has a
type, a
name and a
prompt.
The name is used to help you remember which query you are looking at.
The prompt is the actual question.
Most of the controls are on the menu bar at the top of the frame.
Use
File to load or save a file of queries.
Use
New Query to create a new query.
Once queries have been created, use
Previous Query and
Next Query to move among them.
Use the
Type combo box to choose the type of query.
For now, create a new query by pushing
New Query
and choose the
Choice type which represents a multiple choice
question.
Type in a name and write your question in the
Prompt field.
Figure 6 shows the main window after a name and prompt have been filled in
for a
Choice query.
Some new
HTML Edit and
Choice items appear
in the center section of the window.
The text you enter for the prompt is interpreted as HTML. The box shows the
HTML source. When you push the
Return key, that HTML tag
<br/>
is entered to start a new line. The resulting question as seen by the student
is shown in the
Classque Query Preview window.
Recall that normally HTML displays ignore
extra spaces and all new lines in the input.
When you are entering HTML, the
HTML Edit
menu appears, allowing you push a button to insert a line break,
a space, or the special characters
< and
>.
A
Choice query has a list of answers, similar to a multiple choice
question.
When a choice query is being edited, the
Choice menu appears under
the query name.
Each time the
New Choice button (to the right of the type combo box)
is pushed, a new answer field is created.
Saving and loading query files
Use the
File menu item to load or save files.
The options are
Load,
Save,
Import, and
Save as Text.
Choose the
Save menu item.
This will bring up a save file dialog and you can choose the name of the file
for saving the queries.
I like to name these files by the course number and lecture number they will be
used in, but there is no restriction on how to name the files.
Avoid using extensions that are reserved for other file formats such as
.doc or
.html.
I usually use the
.txt extension.
You can load a file into the query creator by using the
Load
item from the
File menu.
This works in a similar way and brings up a load file dialog, allowing you to
choose the name of the file previously created using the query creator.
Note:
Loading files appends queries to the currently loaded queries.
This implies that if you load this file after saving it, you will have two
copies of the queries in the query creator.
Use the
Actions -> Delete All menu items before loading a new file if
you want to replace the queries currently in the query creator.
The
Save as Text menu item from the
File menu will save the
queries in a file that can easily be read. This format, however, cannot be
used by
ClassQue and the
ClassQue Query Creator cannot
read files that were produced in this way. It is useful for printing out
queries or for using a spell checker.
Creating Queries
A new query is added to the current queries in the creator as follows:
- Push the New Query button which is on the menu bar of the main
window.
- Choose one of the query types using the Type combo box.
- Set the name of the query.
The name should be a short string that will remind you of which
query it is.
- Set the Prompt for the query.
(See the section on Editing Prompts and Choices for entering
formatted text.)
- If the type is Choice or Checkbox, select Choice
rather than Prompt. If there are no choices this will create
an empty choice. Additional choices can be created with the New
button in the Choice menu. Use the Select buttons to
choose which choice to edit.
- You can change the order of the choices by using the Move buttons
of the Choice menu.
Editing Prompts and Choices
You can modify the contents of a prompt or choice field by for selecting
it and then typing in the edit area.
The text you type in a prompt or choice field is treated
as HTML source.
You should always look at the
ClassQue Query Preview to see what
the students will see.
When editing these the
HTML menu contains buttons for surrounding
text with
tt,
pre and
Color tags. First select the the
text you wish to modify and the push one of these buttons. If nothing
is selected when one of these buttons is pushed, an empty field will be created
with the cursor between the start and end tags.
Editing Annotations
Annotations are not seen by the students during the class. They can be use used
to insert notes or grading information for the reporting programs.
The annotation area contains simple text (not HTML).
Use the
Return key on your keyboard to start a new line.
You are not allowed to use tabs or back quote characters in an
annotation field.
Working with Surveys
Normally, when you send a query to the students, they only see the query that
was most recently sent.
They cannot work on another query until a new one is sent, and after that time
they no longer have access to the previous query.
A survey is a collections of queries.
When a survey is sent to the students, they have access to all of the queries
of that survey and can move among these queries.
Similarly, the teacher can look at each of the queries in the current survey.
This allows students to work at their own pace.
A survey has a name and a collection of queries.
You create a survey using the ClassQue Query Creator by making a query of
type
Survey Start.
This type of query does not correspond to a question.
It does not have a prompt, but does have a name.
All queries after this one and until a
Survey End query
(or the end of the list) will be in the survey.
A
Survey End query is also created by selecting it in the
Choice
combo box.
A
Survey End query is just a place holder and has neither a prompt or
a name.
You can easily move queries in and out of a survey by creating a
Start Survey query and using the
ClassQue All Queries window
to move queries in or out of the survey.
In the
ClassQue All Queries window, queries that are in a survey
are shown surrounded by a box with a border containing the name of the survey.
Figure 7 shows the
ClassQue All Queries window for a file containing
five ordinary queries and a survey containing five additional queries.
Barriers
Three types of markers (called barriers) can inserted anywhere in a list of
queries. These markers are created by making a new query and chooing one of
the types
Soft Barrier,
Hard Barrier, and
Teacher Barrier.
Each of these restricts the way students can select questions from a survey.
If a
Hard Barrier is reached, students may not continue until all
previous questions have been answered. Once passed, previous answers
may not be changed. A
Soft Barrier similarly does not allow
progress until all previous questions have been answered, but students may
still go back and modify answers. A
Teacher Barrier prevents progress
until the teacher releases the barrier.
Reviews
By default, all queries can be reviewed by students if the teacher
allows student reviews. Reviewing of individual queries can be prohibited
by unchecking the
Reviewable box on the top right side of the
main window. This only affects the ability of students to review this
query and has no effect on teacher reviews.
Grades
If the
Grade Points field (below the
Reviewable checkbox)
in the main window contains a non-zero value, the corresponding query
can be assigned a grade. The teacher can always assign a grade to
an answer, but some types of queries can also be graded automatically
and some can be graded by students.
Choice and Checkbox queries cannot be graded by students.
You can assign a grade for each possible answer once a non-zero
value has been entered in the
Grade Points field.
Figure 8 shows the main window in such a case. The fourth choice is
being editing and it has been assigned a grade of 40 using the
Points field of the
Choice menu items in the middle part
of the window. The corresponding
Preview Window shown in
Figure 9 shows the point values of each answer in parentheses.
These values are not shown to the students. Also, in the
top part of the main menu, the point value of the choices
appear in a comma-separated list.
Integer queries cannot be graded by students. You can assign
a point value associated with a given answer by using the format
answer:grade. A comma-separated list of such values can be
entered in the
Points field that appears in the top section
of the main window once a non-zero value is entered into the
Grade Points
field. This is shown in Figure 10. You can associate a grade with a range
using the format
low-high:grade. Either the
low or
high
values can be omitted, making the range extend to minus or plus infinity.
After editing, invalid entries are removed and overlapping ranges are
combined. As you edit, you can see the resulting list below the edited field.
In Figure 10, an incomplete entry appears in the editing field, but it will not
show in the list below until it has been completed correctly.
Freeform and Code types cannot be graded automatically. These can be assigned
a grade by the teacher. If the
Student Gradeable checkbox is selelected,
as it is by default, students who review the answers to this query can assign
a grade. If no teacher has assigned a grade to this answer, the average
of all student grades assgned will be used.
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