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Create a Charting Item

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This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating a Charting item in the Item Bank. This item type allows for students to directly interact with a bar chart, histogram, line chart, or dot/line plot, by dragging each category to the correct value. This question type is automatically scored.

Where to Start

The Assessments navigation tile.
  1. Select Assessments.
  2. Select Browse Item Bank.

Create a New Item

The Create Item and Charting item type buttons.
  1. Select Create Item.
  2. Use the dropdown to select Charting as the item type.

Charting Item

1. Item Stem and Configure Chart
An example Charting item, with the Item Stem labeled as step 5, Chart Type labeled as step 6, Max Value labeled as step 7, Grid and Label Interval labeled as step 8, and Dimensions labeled as step 9.
  1. Enter the Item Stem into the textbox. The stem typically tells the student what to plot on the chart. It often includes a data table with the data to be plotted.
  2. Use the Chart Type dropdown to determine what style of chart will be used.
Chart Types

Bar Chart, Line Chart, Line Chart x

Examples of a Bar Chart, Line Chart (dot), and Line Chart (x).

The Bar Chart, Line Chart ⬤, and Line Chart X use an explicit numerical scale, determined by the item author.

Histogram

Example of a Histogram.

The Histogram chart type is visually styled as a histogram; however, it does not offer typical histogram features. The labels for the bars are just text, which the system does not understand as representing numeric ranges or “buckets.” Therefore, if the buckets are uneven, e.g., if the last bucket were 21-50 instead of 21-30, the width of the bars will not be adjusted accordingly. It is therefore recommended that the Histogram chart type only be used with equal-width buckets.

Dot/Line Plots

Examples of the Dot/Line Plot (dot) and Dot/Line Plot (X).

The Dot/Line Plot numeric scales are implicit:

  • Dot/Line Plot ⬤ - Each ⬤ represents a single object.
  • Dot/Line Plot X - Each X represents a single object.
  1. Set the Maximum Value. For bar charts, line charts, and histograms, this can be as high as 10,000, or as low as 0.05. For dot/line plots, it must be between 3 and 10.
  2. Set the Grid Interval and Label Interval (for bar charts, line charts, and histograms; not applicable for dot/line plots):
    • Grid interval - The distance, in chart units, between grid lines. All category values can only be changed at this increment. For instance, if the grid interval is 0.5, then a category could be set to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, etc., but not to 0.7 or 0.25. The valid range of values for grid interval will be constrained based on the other settings, particularly Max Value, and a default value will be set accordingly. For instance, at the default chart height of 480px, with a maximum value of 10, the grid interval could be 2, 1, 0.5, or 0.25. It is usually best not to use the very smallest value that the system will allow, as that will result in very closely spaced gridlines, which makes precise plotting tricky.
    • Label interval - The distance, in chart units, between grid line numeric labels. Often it will be the same as the grid interval, but when gridlines are closely spaced, labeling every gridline may make the labels illegible. The valid range of values for label interval will be constrained based on other settings. For instance, at the default chart height of 480px, with a maximum value of 10 and a grid interval of 0.5, the label interval will be constrained to 0.5, 1, or 2.
  3. Set Dimensions (Optional) - Chart dimensions default to 480x480 pixels. It is generally best to initially leave these values as they are, and make adjustments as needed. For instance, if the graph has a lot of categories, or if the category names are long, users can increase the width to accommodate them. Users can likewise increase the height to accommodate a higher max value or smaller grid interval, or to increase spacing between grid lines. Conversely, once finished creating the chart, if it needs less vertical or horizontal space than it is using, the height and width can be reduced accordingly. Pixel scales are provided above and to the right of the chart to aid in the selection of appropriate numeric values. These are only shown in authoring, not when an item is delivered to students.
2. Define Initial Chart Attributes
An example Define Initial Chart Attributes item creation section, with Add Category labeled as step 10, chart title labeled as step 11, category default values labeled as step 12, axis labels labeled as step 13, and trash can icon labeled as step 14.
  1. Select Add Category to create chart categories. Each category will initially display the label Category; users can enter text into those fields to rename each category.
  2. Set Chart Title (Optional) - Select Click here to add a title to enter a title for the chart.
  3. Set Default Category Values (Optional) - All new categories default to an initial value of 0; whatever values are set here are what students will see when the item is initially opened. To set a value other than 0, select the bar or dot, and slide to the new value.
  4. Set Axis Labels (Optional) - Select Click here to add a label for this axis to enter a label for the horizontal or vertical axis.
    • For example, if the categories are January, February, and March, the axis label might be Month.
  5. Use the trash can icon to delete unwanted categories.
3. Define Correct Responses
An example Define Correct Response section, with the two category bar levels labeled as step 15.
  1. Depending on the type of chart selected,  select either the bar or dot, and drag to the correct value.
    • A student's response will only be recognized as correct if every category precisely matches the correct answer defined here. The correct response cannot be identical to the initial chart configuration, although it is okay for some categories to have the same initial value and correct value. E.g., one bar could be preset to the correct value as a model; if most or all bars have the initial value 0, it is okay for that to also be the correct value for some of them. 

Item Details

The item settings menus, with the Standards icon labeled as step 16, Passages labeled as step 17, Tags labeled as step 18, and the Properties menu labeled as step 19.
  1. To link Standard(s) to the item, select the Three Pages icon.
  2. To link a Passage to the item, select the Book icon.
  3. To add Tags to the item, select the Tag icon.
  4. Additional Properties are available:
    • Teacher Instructions - Use the slider to enable Teacher Instructions.
    • Rationale - Use the slider to enable item Rational.
    • Item Stem - Use the slider to enable the Item Stem text box.

Users must link at least 1 standard when creating an item. If attempting to publish an item without standards, an error message will appear asking for standards to be aligned before publishing again.

Item Preview

An example Charting item, with the Item Preview tab selected and labeled as step 20, the Role dropdown labeled as step 21, the item preview area labeled as step 22, and the Check Answers toggle labeled as step 23.
  1. Select the Item Preview tab.
  2. Use the Role dropdown to view the item as a Student or Instructor.
  3. Depending on the type of chart, select either the bar or dot, and drag to a value to test the item.
  4. Use the slider to Check Answers. Correct answers will appear with a green bar, and incorrect answers will appear with an orange bar.

Publish Item

The Done menu, with Done labeled as step 24, Publish labeled as step 25, Save Draft labeled as step 26, and Discard labeled as step 27.
  1. When the item is completed, select Done.
  2. To make the item available to use in an assessment, select Publish.
  3. To save an item that isn't ready to be published, select Save Draft.
  4. To delete the item, select Discard.

Once items are Published, they can be Locked, Edited, or Deleted.

Next Steps

Now that you have created a Charting item, learn about Creating an Item Bank Assessment.

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