Creating questions The authoring of questions is achieved using this powerful and near WYSIWYG word-processor like tool. Designed and built with ease of use in mind, i-assess editor is also highly sophisticated offering a wide range of default assessment mechanisms.
	• Wide range of question types • Like a modern word-processor • Database-driven storage • System variables • Randomisation • Displays maths nicely • Displays resizable images		A screen-shot of i-assess editor in action.
	Click on to try an example question. Click on to see how the question is authored. Multiple Choice The candidate is typically presented with the question text (the stem), a single correct answer and one or more (there is no technical limit to the number) distractors. The choices can be displayed as text and/or graphics and can be presented as columns, radio-group, dropdown lists, button images, checkboxes and choice content. Multiple Response   Similar to Multiple Choice except you can specify any number of correct answers including all or none of the choices presented, or you can specify a minimum and/or maximum number of choices. Multiple Response Matching You can use this for matching and sequencing. For example to sequence a list of events or level of graduation or to link or associate items in one list to items in a second list. Choices can be presented as text and/or graphics and displayed in a variety of ways. This part type is especially useful for questionnaires. Hot Spot Information is presented visually or graphically.The candidate has to identify a specific area or anumber of areas on the graphic. Areas can be of irregular shape with each being awarded a different score. Word Match This type of question can be very simple but also extremely sophisticated - allowing for several alternatives of spelling. Candidates type in their answer as a single word or as a line of text into a text box. The student input is matched against the expression specified by the question writer to ascertain the correct score. Numerical Entry Candidates are required to enter a number. The author of the question can specify a range for the answer and also whether it must be an integer. Judged Mathematical Expressions Answers are given as a mathematical expression, including algebraic form. Candidates are awarded pre-defined marks if their answer is equivalent to the correct answer. Answers can include numbers, simple operators, functions and independent variables. Candidate's answers are judged as correct even if their answers are in a different but equivalent mathematical form. Essay It is possible to set manually graded essay questions. This part type is also useful for requesting student feedback after an assessment or as part of a questionnaire. Information Only This part type allows the author to add text without scoring. It can be used to remind students how to answer a particular question or to provide optional hints and additional informaton - essential in formative assessments and self-assessments.
	Gap-Fill Within a single question you can set any number of Gap-Fills.You can embed dropdown menus, checklists, text entry boxes etc. within the actual question text or even within a table. If more than one gap-fill is set within a single question, each entry is scored separately. Multiple-Part Questions To test a student's comprehension, a paragraph of text can be displayed followed by a number of questions, all of which refer to the same comprehension passage. This is very easy to create from a main stem, followed by a series of question parts, each with its own question text, set of distractors and correct answer(s). Different question part types can be mixed (e.g.MCQ, hotspot etc.) and separate scoring can be utilised for each question part. Questions with steps This allows you to define one or more steps within a question, which can be revealed and scored separately. This allows students the option of answering a higher-level question, or answering a series of questions designed to guide the students' thinking towards the correst answer. Steps can be used in summative assessments to give students the option of answering in a guided way. Marks can be deducted if students opt to see steps.

i-assess supports a large range of question-types. i-assess editor makes it easy to enter any of these allowing you to create interesting and educationally rich assessments.

i-assess editor adopts features that you would find in a modern word-processor. Tables, Images, Spellchecking, Thesaurus etc are all features of i-assess editor. Though our system uses HTML underneath the surface you are not required to use any HTML in order to author questions.

In i-assess questions are stored in a database. This enables you to easily organise your questions and to search for questions in an efficient manner. It also allows you to create so-called balanced exams.

A number of system variables are pre-defined in i-assess editor. For example questions that are date specific (i.e. they must always display the current year) can be set to automatically update each year. System variables allow frequently used values to be defined globally.

For flexibility and efficiency, any value can be randomised within questions, including answers. This ensures that a different question is presented each time it is run.

You can easily create and insert images of very sophisticated mathematical formulae. You can include variables in your formulae such that they appear different each time the question is run.

As a standard feature, you can use images anywhere in your questions - even as mulitple choice distractors. You can copy and paste images from other applications and all images are automatically added to the database.

i-assess supports rendering of 2D and 3D graphs in your questions. You simply enter a function and i-assess editor lets you see what the graph looks like. Variables are supported in graph-rendering such that your graph will appear different each time the question is run.