Content created: 2005-11-11
File last modified:
Overview: This form allows you to submit a text file and have my CGI script turn it into a functional self-grading definition practice quiz like the sample. Each quiz is configured so that a student is presented with definitions and asked to type in the term being defined.
Filling in the wrong term is impossible, since any "incorrect" response immediately vanishes. If the student cannot think of the right completion, a hint is available in either of the two "Uncle Boxes" on the page.
No score is kept, but the goal is to be able to fill in all the items on the page.
The pedagogical value of this is probably not enormous, but it may help some students some of the time. Despite the association of the format with definitions, it can equally well be used with, say, language translations, vocabulary quizzes, and the like.
- Each item must consist of
- a term to be defined, followed by a "pipe" character: |
- the definition itself
- The characters %% (This is optional after the last item.)
- Spaces adjacent to the pipe character or to %% are optional and irrelevant.
- It is also irrelevant whether the %% separator goes on a line by itself, although this simplifies preparing the text file.
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.
My program does not keep a copy of your input or of the output it creates, so if you do not save it, it is gone.
There is a rather silly last item about Mozart that is automatically added to all quizzes. You can change the content or delete it altogether if you like. The item is there not only as an example of how to fill out the form, but because it prevents the cursor from landing directly in the last Uncle Box (and revealing the answer unbidden) if the student hits tab after filling in the last item.