The Extras section allows you to add more information about the Question, information that we refer to as metadata.
There are a number of fields available: Acknowledgements, Contains math, Distractor rationale, Distractors, Instructor stimulus, Rubric reference, Sample answer, and Stimulus (review only).
You can add in your own custom metadata fields if you wish. If you are using the Author Site, please contact Learnosity support to implement custom fields. If you are not using the Author Site, your development team will be able to configure these fields for you.
Acknowledgements
Copyright acknowledgements can be added here. Content entered in this field can be configured in the Author Site Activity Editor to appear in the Activity outro. This is particularly useful for adaptive activities, as you won't know which Items will appear in the Activity.
Contains math
When this setting is turned on, math is rendered properly in the Question. This setting is turned on by default in both Learnosity math Question types and also when you input any math into the Question using the math editor.
Distractor Rationale
This will allow you to explain the rationale behind each individual response in the Question. Learnosity provides an out-of-the-box way for the rationale to be displayed, or your developers can implement something custom on the assessment page.
If you are using Learnosity's out-of-the-box distractor rationale display, it is possible to preview this in the Author Site: just speak to the friendly Learnosity Support team. It is also possible to preview the rationale if Author API is embedded outside Author Site on your own page for authoring. Please refer to the section on previewing distractor rationale in Tutorial 202 – Displaying Distractor Rationale.
Figure 1: Demonstration of how distractor rationale can be displayed to the learner. This shows both the distractor rationale for the Question and the distractor associated with response option 4.
Distractors
This serves the very same purpose as the Distractor Rationale field above, except that you have the option of having multiple different fields of feedback, rather than just one generic one. For example, if you had a multiple choice Question (MCQ) with three response options, you could have three distractor fields configured so that a different line of feedback will appear to the learner depending on what response option is selected.
If you are using Learnosity's out-of-the-box way of displaying distractor rationale, then each distractor is associated in order. Distractor 1 is tied to the first response option, Distractor 2 is tied to the second response option, and so on, regardless of whether the response options are correct or incorrect. If you do not wish to author a distractor rationale for the correct response option, you should still add a distractor, but leave that distractor field empty. This is necessary to maintain the association between each Question and its distractor rationale.
If your development team has created their own method for displaying distractor rationale, then it is important to note that the distractors can be associated in the way they choose. In this scenario, Distractor 1 is not tied to the first response option. Your development team will do the job of tying the distractors to the responses; numbering the distractor fields in the Question Editor is to assist the author in organising the distractors. Because these distractors are configured on the page by your development team, you will not be able to Preview them in the Author Site, but it is possible to preview the rationale if Author API is embedded outside Author Site on your own page for authoring. Please refer to the example of how the custom Hint field is displayed in Item preview form of Author API.
See our Formative Distractor Rationale demo for more information on the different options for displaying distractor rationale.
Instructor Stimulus
Content entered in this field is intended for review only by the proctor/instructor during the assessment, for example it could be some extra instructions that need to be read out to the learners. This can be previewed in the Author Site, as a blue box above the stimulus.
Figure 2: demonstration of an instructor stimulus
Rubric Reference
Enter details of a rubric you want to use with the Question you are authoring, then your development team will configure this rubric to appear to the test instructor in review mode. Like the Distractor Rationale field, you cannot preview a rubric reference in the Author Site.
Rubrics can be used to aid the instructor in manually scoring the Question, for example the rubric reference field could be a URL for a PDF file that contains key points required for an essay.
Rubrics can also be used to aid the instructor in supplying feedback to the learner, for example the rubric could be an Audio Recorder Question that allows the teacher to record their feedback for the learner to playback. In this case, the Rubric reference field would contain the Item reference for the Item that contained the Audio Recorder rubric, which lets your development team know which Item you want to display as the rubric.
See the Teacher Feedback section of our demos site for more information.
Sample answer
This will allow you to show the sample answer for the Question. Your developers will implement logic showing the sample answer on the assessment page, so you will not be able to preview this in the Author Site. However, it is possible to preview the sample answer if Author API is embedded outside Author Site on your own page for authoring. Please refer to the example of how the custom Hint field is displayed in Item preview form of Author API.
Stimulus (review only)
This is intended as a field that contains an alternative/abbreviated version of the Question's stimulus, that will only display in review mode. This means that the content in this field is not visible to the learner, and it is also not possible to preview it using the Author Site.