Updated: 051110
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Overview:

This form allows you to submit a text file and have my CGI script turn it into a functional, self-grading, multiple-choice, practice quiz like the sample. The quiz is configured so that a student answers the questions and then hits a "submit" button that immediately reports how many of them are correct but does not indicate which are right and which wrong.

The pedagogical logic underlying this is that it is beneficial for a student to go back and re-evaluate the answers given, assess his degree of certainty about the various options, and learn from correct guesses. There is deliberately no provision for reporting any information about the student's efforts back to the instructor.

To reduce mechanical, "process-of-elimination" responses without reference to content, the output quiz refuses to score anything if fewer than half of the questions have been attempted.

The program defaults to a "dark background" color scheme with light gray letters so as to inhibit legible printing on most printers and discourage printing a completed quiz for memorization. For cases when that is not an issue, a more cheerful, light background option is also provided and is probably to be preferred. When all items have been correctly completed, the "submit" button congratulates the student and the screen changes color.

Instructions:

Prepare your quiz material in the correct format (see below) and type or paste it into the box. Then hit "Submit Quiz," and (God willing) it will be turned into a fully functional HTML page.

Be sure to proof your finished quiz and to try all features of it. You may wish to modify it before adding it to your web site. For example, if your multiple-choice answers are quite short and you used the "radio" format, you may decide to put them on a single line rather than in a vertical list. Simply back up to the entry form, modify the "type" for that questions, and resubmit it.

Save the finished quiz onto your own hard disk and put it into your own web site. Be sure to change the name to something ending in ".htm" or ".html" when you save the quiz. Save it as "HTML only," not "complete." (The latter destroys the code in new versions of IE.) Double-check the downloaded version to make sure it works perfectly. (If you have completed the quiz before saving it, click its "reset" button before saving to ensure correct color behavior on the saved copy.)

My program does not keep a copy of your input or of the quiz it creates, so if you do not save it, it is gone.

A sample data set appears when you hit the button marked "Show Sample Data," so you can inspect the question format and then submit the sample to see how it works.

Form to Submit Data:

Question Format Rules:

1. Each quiz contains at least two questions.
2. Each question ends with a %%. (This is optional on the last one.)
3. Each question begins with "type" name followed by the pipe character (|) to show the type of HTML formatting it requires. (If your keyboard lacks the pipe character, you can instead use three exclamation points: !!!) Allowable type names at this time are:
   • radio or ra (This produces radio buttons appropriate for a question with a single right answer. They are arranged above each other to allow long answers.)
   • rs (radio-short) (This is the same as radio, but arranges all answers in a single row, appropriate if they are very short.)
   • droplist or dr (This produces a droplist appropriate for a question with a single right answer.)
   • checkbox or ch (This produces a row of checkboxes appropriate for questions with multiple answers. They are arranged above each other to allow long text.
   • cs (checkbox-short) (This is the same as checkbox, but arranges all answers in a single row, appropriate if they are very short.)
4. The order of elements is:
   type | question | answer | answer | ... | answer %%
   Spaces adjacent to the pipe character or to %% are optional and irrelevant.
5. The correct answer should have a single % immediately before the first letter.

   Examples of Text File Input and Resultant Output

   Radio (ra) Format:	radio | Louey loves | Lola | %Lulu | Lily %%
   	Louey loves Lola Lulu Lily No Answer
   Radio Short (rs) Format:	rs | Louey loves | Lola | %Lulu | Lily %%
   	Louey loves Lola  Lulu  Lily  No Answer
   Droplist (dr) Format:	droplist | Louey loves | Lola | %Lulu | Lily %%
   	Louey loves Lola Lulu Lily No Answer
   Checkbox (ch) Format:	checkbox | Louey loves | Lola |%Lulu | Lily %%
   	Louey loves Lola  Lulu  Lily
   Checkbox Short (cs) Format:	cs | Louey loves | Lola | %Lulu | Lily %%
   	Louey loves Lola  Lulu  Lily

6. Blank lines, with or without blank spaces in them, are irrelevant, except that the first line must not be blank.
7. Single and double quotes are fine in the questions. Accent marks and other special symbols are subject to usual HTML constraints (which more and more means very little constraint). HTML formatting commands like <i> or <b> also work fine in questions and answers.
8. Questions and answers may be of any length.
9. The default answer for radio and drop-list questions is "No Answer" and is added by the program.
10. The program reports "bad format" as the quiz entry when it cannot understand formatting instructions. Typically this is because the format type ("radio" or whatever) has not been indicated at the beginning of the entry. It also adds a note if you fail to indicate which answer(s) should be understood as correct. (Experiment! It's free!)

Limitations

1. Because this format deliberately does not report which items are correct, it is useful only for relatively small blocks of questions. In my experience anything over about 10 questions or a dozen points becomes more discouraging than pedagogical.
2. If the first line is blank, you will get a "bad format" report for the first question. (So don't leave it blank, already!)
3. If you forget to put the %% at the end of each question, the result will come back as a single long question or in a non-web-page format.
4. The code of the finished quiz can easily be inspected using the "view page source" capacity of the examinee's web browser and is formatted and annotated for maximum clarity. This allows you to modify instructions, add pictures, insert JavaScript routines, or make other adjustments. It also potentially allows students to seek answers in the code rather than doing the quiz. If this becomes a problem, you may wish to consider using a program like WebCrypt Pro to conceal the source code of the page.
5. Because three successive exclamation points (!!!) is used as an alternative to the pipe, questions containing them for some other reason will not format correctly. (If you are that emphatic, leave spaces between them and edit the spaces out after the quiz has been created.)
6. The quiz creation date at the top of the generated page is based on USA Pacific Time. You can edit it if that bothers you.
7. Accidentally submitting a blank form creates a server error that I have not been able to replace with a civilized explanation. If you get a server error, that is probably the reason.
8. I take no responsibility if this program screws up your life in some unforeseen way. I was just trying to be helpful.

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