Complete the Training
Whether it is a video, a document, an instructor-led course or some other format, fully satisfying the course expectations and absorbing all of the material is the first step towards creating great content based upon it.
Best Practice
Take notes early and often. The more material you have to work with once the training is complete, the easier it will be to create a list of questions in both great quality and great quantity.
Get the Template
The following Excel file provides a template for training material-based question creation.
Understand the Template Fields
General Fields
QID
Description
The QID or Question ID is a unique value to identify the question within the spreadsheet. This field should already be populated for you.
Example Value
0
Submitter
Description
This is you, the user submitting the question. Select your name from the drop-down list.
Example Value
Mark Chadbourne
Course Fields
Fields pertaining to the course from which the question is derived.
Site
Description
What site is the material from?
Example Value
Name
Description
What is the name of the course this question is derived from?
Example Value
Awesome Questions in 5 Easy Steps
URL
Description
What is the specific URL that will take me directly to the course content (not just the site it's hosted on)?
Example Value
Tag Fields
Fields that help to categorize and describe the question for future lookup.
Discipline
Description
Is this content Professional (e.g. business-, conduct- or communication-related) or Technical (anything else)
Valid Values
Professional, Technical
Category
Description
Provide a single word or phrase describing the high-level category the content falls under.
Example Value
Communication
Best Practice
Keep categories consistent. If a Languages Category has already been created, don't create a Programming Languages Category - re-use existing labels that apply to your content first and only create new ones when necessary.
Subject
Description
Provide a lower-level categorization further defining this content. Within the realm of the Category you just selected, what Subject does this course focus on?
Example Value
Questioning
Difficulty
Description
How difficult is this question and how difficult is the material it covers? Be sure to consider both when selecting a difficulty.
Valid Values
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Applicability
Description
Does this question pertain specifically to the content covered in the course, or can it be answered with general knowledge on the topic (without having completed the related course)?
Valid Values
Course, General
Question Fields
Type
Description
What form should the answer(s) take?
Multiple Choice
A single answer chosen from a list of possible answers
Multiple Select
Two or more correct answers chosen from a list of possible answers
Ordering
An ordered list of all answer values, sorted according to question criteria.
Short Answer
A freeform text response to the posed question.
Valid Values
Multiple Choice, Multiple Select, Ordering, Short Answer
Question
Description
What do you want to ask?
Example Value
What qualities should an awesome question have? (Select all that apply.)
Hint [optional]
Description
Some questions may be tricky enough to warrant a Hint. What bit of information can you provide to nudge someone in the right direction without giving away the answer?
Example Value
Think about how we want these questions to be used.
Answer
Description
Provide 5 possible answers to the question. These are numbered 1-5 for reference by the Correct Answer(s) field.
Example Value
It should test understanding of concepts rather than memorization.
Correct Answer(s)
Description
Provide the correct answer(s) to the question.
Example Value
1,2,3,5
Explanation
Description
Why is the right answer set right, and why is the wrong answer set wrong? Explain the reasoning to the user.
Example Value
An awesome question should have all of the qualities necessary to properly test a candidate's knowledge. It should NOT focus too narrowly on terminology or opinions specific to training source material.
Example Question
The following illustrates an example question created with the template and defined utilizing the fields and examples described above. Underlined text denotes a user input field constrained to a defined list of drop-down values; all remaining fields are freeform text.
| Course | Tags | Question | ||||||||||
| QID | Submitter | Site | Name | URL | Discipline | Category | Subject | Difficulty | Applicability | Type | ||
| 0 | Mark Chadbourne | www.practice.com | Awesome Questions in Five Easy Steps | www.practice.com/awesome | Professional | Communication | Questioning | Beginner | General | Multiple Select | Question | What qualities should an awesome question have? (Select all that apply.) |
| Hint | Think about how we want these questions to be used. | |||||||||||
| Answer 1 | It should test understanding of concepts rather than memorization | |||||||||||
| Answer 2 | It should not be easily answered by a Google search | |||||||||||
| Answer 3 | It should be tagged with appropriate data to categorize it | |||||||||||
| Answer 4 | It should be based on the opinion of the person writing the question | |||||||||||
| Answer 5 | It should provide any necessary context to answer it properly | |||||||||||
| Correct Answer(s) | 1,2,3,5 | |||||||||||
| Explanation | An awesome question should have all of the qualities necessary to properly test a candidate's knowledge. It should NOT focus too narrowly on terminology or opinions specific to training source material. | |||||||||||
Follow Best Practices
A good question should be aligned with each of the following best practices.
Best Practices
- Be sure to completely fill out each field of the template for each question
- Test understanding/concepts over memorization (e.g. the difference between knowing how to multiply rather than simply knowing the times tables)
- Inject practical situations framing key concepts wherever possible; it should not be possible to answer a question with the first page of Google search results
- Provide proper context; if a question is best posed with an accompanying code snippet or other artifact, include one