The Constructed Response/Oral type items have no Answer Options. The information for the candidate prompt must be placed in the Question Stem box. The question response is either gathered orally or via a test delivery system once the item is exported out of ExamDeveloper. Typically, the scoring criteria, the sample responses, and instructions to candidates are stored as Block-Text type metadata fields.
- Select the Develop Questions → Write Item menu.
- Click the Write Question link.
On the Write Question page, select Constructed Response / Oral from the Question Type drop-down list.
Data entered in the Initial Response box is displayed to the candidate in the Assessment Driver and the candidate can add to it or edit it as required.The Toolbar drop-down list has five selection items, which affect the way the Initial Response is displayed via the Assessment Driver to the candidate appearing for the exam:
- Edit Only: Only the Edit toolbar (Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo) is visible in the Assessment Driver.
- Advanced Toolbar: The full Advanced Toolbar is visible in the Assessment Driver.
- Style Only: Only the Style toolbar (Font settings Bold, Italics, and Underline) is visible in the Assessment Driver.
- Edit and Style: A toolbar with Edit (Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo) as well as Style (Font settings Bold, Italics, and Underline) controls is visible in the Assessment Driver.
- None: No toolbar is visible in the Assessment Driver. It should be noted that although the candidate is unable to enter formatted text and data, the text formatting and data as well as images embedded in the Initial Response by the item author done via the Rich Text editor is still visible to the candidate. Therefore, if the item author wishes that only plain text is visible to the candidate, then he/she must take care to enter only plain text in the Initial Response while authoring the item.
By default, the Edit Only drop-down list is selected, and therefore the Initial Response box is available to accept only plain text and is displayed as such in the Assessment Driver.
- Edit Only: Only the Edit toolbar (Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo) is visible in the Assessment Driver.
Response Properties
The Response Properties allows users to specify display characteristics of the essay box displays within the exam.
Click the Expand Advanced Properties
button to reveal the response properties fields.
Field Description Height Specify the height of the essay response box in pixels. Width Specify the width of the essay response box in pixels. Border Width Specify the border width in pixels. Border color Enter the Hex color or select from the predefined colors for the border Display Word Count Select the check box if you want the Word count displayed at the bottom of the essay response box for the candidate. Display Character Count Select the check box if you want the Character count displayed at the bottom of the essay response box for the candidate. Note: The Display Character Count check box is disabled if the Advanced toolbar is selected. - Enter the pixel Height and Width for the essay response box. Only enter the number, pixels are assumed.
- Enter the pixel Border Width. Only enter the number, pixels are assumed.
- Click the Border Color drop-down arrow. Either click on one of the pre-defined border colors, or enter the Hex value for the desired color in the text field.
- Select the Display Word Count check box if you want to display the word count at the bottom of the essay response box. (See example below.)
- Select the Display Character Count check box if you want to display the character count at the bottom of the essay response box.
Note: The Display Character Count check box is disabled if the Advanced toolbar is selected.
Custom Response Ident
Users can customize the Response Ident to make it easier to locate the response once the candidate has supplied an essay response. By default, the response ident is _R1, _R2, _R3, etc. when you add multiple response boxes.
- Select the Custom Response Ident check box.
- Click the Expand Advanced Properties button to reveal the response properties fields. The Ident is _R1.
Type in the new Ident name.
- If the item is saved without selecting the Custom Response Ident check box, when you edit the saved question and select the Custom Response Ident check box the Ident is assigned the <Question number>_R1 number. Select the Custom Response Ident field and you see the Ident number matches the Question number.
Add Multiple Response Boxes to an Item
By default, one Initial Response box is displayed. However, you can add additional Text and Initial Response pairs by clicking the 
Add response box icon. You can remove unwanted Text and Initial Response pairs by clicking the 
Delete response box icon corresponding to the pair.
Reorder Response Boxes within an Item
When more than two essay responses are placed on an item, you can change the order of the essay response boxes except for the first essay response. The first essay response cannot ever be reordered.
- Add at least 3 Response boxes to the item.
- Use the Move Up and Move Down arrows to move the individual responses.
Save the Item
You have several options to Save the item.
- Click the Add Question to Case button save the item and create a new case. The item is automatically attached to the case. Only users with permission to create cases will see this button.
- Click the Save button. The item is saved and the item is checked-out preventing other users from making edits to the item. You remain on the Write Question page where further edits can be made to the item.
- Click the Preview button. Changes to the item are saved, the item is checked-out, and the item is opened in the Preview window. Only users with permission to preview items will see this button.
- To save an incomplete item, click Save and Exit. The item is saved in a Draft state and checked-in so any user with access to the items may make edits to the item. It is visible in the Draft/Returned Questions tab of the Project Writing Summary page.
- To submit the item for review, click Submit. The item is saved and checked in so any users with access to the item may make edits to the item. The item is advanced to the next reviewer in the list or to the next stage in the workflow.
Assigning Weights
Weights affect the examinee’s score for an item. Assigning weights is optional and can be done via the Weight drop-down list.
The default selection item is Default, which assigns a score of "1" to the item.
If you choose to assign custom weight for the item, then you must select Item from the drop-down list. A text box appears next to the drop-down list, where you can enter the weight value for the item.
Item weight can be a positive decimal or integer value. It can range from ".001" to "9999".
A user can click Submit on Behalf of drop-down control and select one of the user names in the list to submit an item on behalf of the selected user. The user list contains names of users enabled in the current project, except the user currently logged in and viewing the list. The list is displayed in ascending order by last name, first name, and user name. Once you click the Submit button, the item is saved to the Draft mode and does not show for the current user.
Submit on Behalf of drop-down list is not available at the time of Modify Question.
Click the Check Spelling link to check spellings for text in Stem and Options. The spelling is checked first against the built-in or installed dictionary and then against the words specified for exclusion on the Dictionary tab of your project's settings.
