WhizQuiz is a collection of Perl-CGI modules developed by the AGNIS group at Virginia Tech, for putting up interactive quizzes and tests on the WWW. It can be used for subject literacy tests as well as for informal tests for any course. It is designed to make it easy to point quiz takers to information on the web (or off) that will help them understand a problem or subject area better.

WhizQuiz Features

• Questions Types: There can be four different types of questions in a quiz.
  • True/false
  • Multiple choice
  • Selection from a List
  • Numeric response

• On-line Grading: As soon as the user finishes taking the quiz, s/he can submit it for grading. The answers are graded according to the key provided by the quiz author, and results are displayed along with correct answers.

• Support for Images: Images can be put almost anywhere you would want to display them in the quiz.
  • A title image can be displayed with the quiz title.
  • Each question can have an associated image and be based on that image ("In the figure above...")
  • For multiple choice questions, each choice can have its own image, so that it is possible to choose an answer from a set of images.

  The manner in which graphics can be integrated into a quiz is very flexible. The image files may be located either on the server on which the quiz is installed or they may be located anywhere else on the Web (i.e. URL-accesible)

• Help Links: A help link can be associated with each question. It will show up as a help button after the question text in the quiz. It will also appear along with the correct answer if the user get the question wrong. This feature is helpful in pointing quiz takers to information on the Web which may relate to a particular question and help them in answering it correctly. This can also be used as an alternative interface to your Web-site, so that users are guided to the information they need, by having them go through a question-answer session.

• Question Groups: Questions can be grouped by subject and graded according to groups. Responses and help links can be specified for performance within a group. For example, the quiz author can specify a response (e.g., You need more practice in this area) and a help link for users who get less than a certain score on a particular subject area. This feature is particularly useful for pointing quiz takers to more information on particular topic areas.

• Random Quiz Generation: The author may set the number of questions to be asked in each quiz. If this is less than the total number of questions submitted in the quiz file, WhizQuiz will choose questions randomly from the pool of questions. Users taking the quiz many times will get a different selection of questions each time. This is particularly useful for practice quizzes for courses, where the student gets a different set of questions each time, which may contain a few question s/he has already answered.

• Question References: References can be specified for the entire quiz or for individual questions. They will be displayed along with the grading information. This is useful for course quizzes, for example, to point quiz takers to the notes for a particular lecture.

• Responses to Answers: It is possible to specify different responses for correct and incorrect answers, and for individual choices in multiple-choice or list-type questions. It is also possible to display information about the question along with the answer, regardless of whether the user got it right or wrong.

• Overall Grading Response: The author can specify responses to be displayed depending upon the overall score obtained on the quiz. Default responses are also provided for this.

• Quiz Instructions and Information: Instructions for taking the quiz can be provided and they appear on the quiz before the questions. A description for the quiz can also be provided and it appear in an HTML help file automatically generated by the quiz installation program. The help file also provides information about the quiz author and means to contact the author. Both the instructions and the descriptions can be formatted in HTML.

• Customizable Look & Feel: The quiz author can customize the the look and feel of the quiz to match their taste. For example, it is possible to specify a background color or image for the quiz, a banner for the quiz, and a different help image. This is important for integrating a quiz seamlessly into an existing Web-site.

• Obtaining User Information: It is possible to obtain the required information from the person taking the quiz and log it. There are three types of input fields that are allowed -- text (e.g., name, address), validated numeric (e.g., telephone number, social security number), and list selection (e.g., class section). It is possible to require any or all of the inputs. It is also possible to log the inputs in the quiz log file.

• Grade Logging: The grades on any quiz can be logged and checked online. Each quiz has a separate log file, and the author can define the information included in the log, as well as a grade threshold for logging, if desired.

• Password Protection: A quiz can be protected by a password which can be set to prevent grading the quiz and/or logging the results. Note that it does not yet prevent the user from looking at the questions.

• Quiz Statistics: There is a master log file for all quizzes for use by the webmaster, which can be used for obtaining access statistics on various quizzes.

• Creating a Quiz: For setting up a new quiz, you need to prepare the quiz file and included graphics. The quiz file can be created manually by looking at the Quiz File Format or can be generated automatically through an HTML forms-based interface. For accessing the forms-based interface, you need to log into the WhizQuiz administration area using your WhizQuiz login and password. The quiz file is simply a text file with tagged information, much like an HTML document. The fastest way to create a quiz file is to download an existing quiz file and to cut and paste the required information.

• Installing a Quiz: Once an author has created a quiz and the related graphics, the files have to be uploaded for installation to the WWW server running WhizQuiz. The administrator for the server will set up the quiz using the installation program and report back errors, if any. Contact your Local WhizQuiz Administrator for instructions on how to upload the files to the web server.

• Accesing a Quiz: Every installed quiz is uniquely identified by the name of the host machine on which it is installed and by the quiz file name. If the name of your quiz file is xyz, then the installed quiz can be accessed with the following URL.
   
  http://host_name/cgi-bin/quiz.cgi?file=xyz

  Replace the host_name with the internet host name of the Web server running WhizQuiz on which the quiz has been installed.

WhizQuiz Demos

1. Quiz Demonstration ( Corresponding Quiz File )

   This quiz demonstrates the different capabilities of the online quiz system: the different types of questions supported, various options available with each type of questions and a lot more.

2. Entomology Test ( Corresponding Quiz File )

   One of the first uses of the quiz was in a course at Virginia Tech, ENT 2004 - Insects and Human Society. Try your luck with this quiz of basic knowledge about insects and their interactions with humanity.

3. Agricultural Literacy Test ( Corresponding Quiz File )

   A simple example of the quiz with very few options added. This gives you an idea of what is possible with very little work.

4. 4-H Literacy Quiz ( Corresponding Quiz File )

   This quiz is a good example of how to customize the look and feel of the quiz to suit your own web-site and your taste.

Quiz Administration

If you are a quiz author, the administration page allows you to carry out several administrative tasks for your quiz:
• Create a new quiz file and mail it to yourself
• View the quiz log
• E-mail the current quiz log
• Change the logging threshold

The mailing list for WhizQuiz is a forum for discussion about using the quiz, and it is the first place to look for new features and solving problems. The developers monitor this for feedback and use it to alert users about changes, bug fixes, and future plans. If you want to use WhizQuiz, we strongly urge you to join the list.

WhizQuiz v.1.1
Developed at AGNIS, Virginia Tech
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