Text Entry

To create an interactive response question, begin by creating a new test in Aware or open an existing test to add new questions.

Note: Assessments with interactive response questions can be printed as test booklets only. Answer documents are not available for these question types. This test is not scannable, nor will it have student IDs, class numbers, or any other information. Teachers must use the Enter Answers feature to manually input student responses for students taking a paper version of the assessment.

Creating a Text Entry Question

The text entry question type allows assessment authors to build questions that require students to type in their answers, such as with fill-in-the-blank questions. TEA suggests using this question type in mathematics, reading, language arts, and science assessments, but text entry is available for any assessment. Text entry follows the TEA's examples and may be used in conjunction with text, images, and tables. 

Quick Guide

1. When working on an assessment, go to the Questions tab and do the following:
   • If this is the first time adding a question, select the Interactive Item Types button.
   • If adding more questions, select the Plus sign and choose Interactive Item Types from the drop-down menu.
2. Select Text Entry.
3. Use the text box and controls to enter the question prompt. Select Add Placeholder Response to indicate where the text entry box should be located.
4. Select Continue.
5. Select a placeholder and enter the correct answer. If needed, you can add multiple correct answers, enter answers using the Elementary Math Editor or Secondary Math Editor, or adjust the width of the text box. 
6. When complete, select Create / Update.

Illustrated Guide

Step 1: When creating or editing an assessment in Aware, navigate to the Questions tab and do the following:

• If this is the first time adding a question to the assessment, select the Interactive Item Types button.
• If you want to add more questions to an existing assessment, select the Plus sign above or below an existing question and choose Interactive Item Types from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: On the Choose your interaction type step, select Text Entry from the available question types.

Step 3: On the Construct your question step, use the text box and controls to enter the prompt. Select Add Placeholder Response to indicate where the text entry box should be located.

Note: Automatic grading works well with three or fewer words; any longer entries likely function better as a constructed response question. Automatic grading does not check for capitalization or spacing but does check spelling. If the student support for spelling is enabled at the student or test level, the support will function as intended. 

Assessment authors can create text entry questions that harness equation editors to input math-centric answers. The same scoring rules for general text entry questions also apply for those that use an equation editor.

Step 4: Select the Continue button to move on to the next step. 

Step 5: On the Add interactions to the question step, select a placeholder. Use the Settings for Selected Field options to designate the text box size and enter the correct answer. If needed, add multiple correct answers.

Step 6: Review the preview and then select Create or Update to save the assessment question.

Student Experience 

Students see the text entry question during online testing.

If the spelling support is enabled, the spellchecker works as expected.

Mark As Correct

In a test, it is possible for a teacher to overwrite student-generated text to change an incorrect answer to correct. However, leaving the student text and using the Mark as Correct button maintains the integrity of the data. If the Mark as Correct button is incorrectly selected, teachers can select the Unmark Correct button that will appear to revert the changes.

Data Analysis

Viewing Responses in Quick Views

Question Type is available in Quick Views. Access Quick Views through the navigation bar or through the Quick Views card.

Once in Quick Views, use the search field to find and select the assessment(s) you want to analyze. Choose the Student Individual Responses template from the drop-down menu. Select Apply to continue.

In data analysis, interactive items will be indicated next to the scores for each question. Teachers can view the exact question asked on the Enter Answers screen and modify student answers if needed.

Show or Hide the Question Type Column

If the table does not display the type of question, you can customize which columns appear or do not appear from the Edit menu. Select the Columns tab, and then expand the Responses folder. Drag the Question Type option to the empty space on the right side of the screen. Then, select Update to apply your changes. For more information, see Editing Data Views as a Teacher.

The Question Type column shows the type of question asked and the corresponding question number.

Allowing Teachers to Answer and Score Assessment Questions

For district- and school-level tests, the Questions teachers can answer and score option must be set to All Questions to enable editing privileges. Locate this setting in Administration > Collection > General Settings when authoring or editing an assessment in Aware.

Additional Information

Visit the Interactive Item Types FAQ for more information.