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Create an Ordering Item

This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating an Ordering item in the Item Bank. For this item type, students sort three or more choices into the correct order, based upon the directions provided. This question 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 Ordering item type buttons.
  1. Select Create Item.
  2. Use the dropdown menu to select Ordering as the item type.

Ordering Item

An example Ordering item, with the Item Stem labeled as step 5, Choice label labeled as step 6, Student Choices labeled as step 7, Shuffle Choices labeled as step 8, Add Choice labeled as step 9, the two-line icon labeled as step 10, and the minus button labeled as step 11.
  1. Enter the Item Stem. The Stem tells the students what to do with the answer choices provided.
    • To insert a line break in the Stem, use shift-return (or shift-enter, depending on the keyboard).

Make sure that the Item Stem is clear about the desired order, e.g., “Arrange the events in chronological order from first to last,” or “Arrange the expressions in numerical order from low to high.” It is usually best to use the natural or forward order (e.g., first-to-last or low-to-high) rather than reverse order.

  1. Enter the Choices Label.  This appears above the answer choices when students are testing.
  2. Enter the Student Choices in the left column. The text entered here will automatically appear in the right column, Correct Order. The order set here is how the choices will initially be presented to students when testing.
  3. Select Shuffle Choices to randomize the order of the Student Choices column.

The easiest way to author an Ordering item is to enter the answer choices in the correct order to begin with, and then use the Shuffle Choices button to randomize the order.

  1. Select Add Choice to add another Answer Choice.
  2. Organize the Answer Choices into the correct order in the right column by using the 2 line icon to drag the Answer Choices.
  3. To delete an Answer Choice, select the minus button.

Item Details

The item settings menus, with the Standards icon labeled as step 12, Passages labeled as step 13, Tags labeled as step 14, and the Settings and Properties menus labeled as step 15.
  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 Settings are available:
    • Choice Label: Includes choice label on the assessment.
    • Placement Area: Ordering items use a sort-in-place approach by default. If enabling Placement Areas, a dedicated area will be available for students to build up a sorted list instead.
    • Enable Images: Provides the ability to include images in answers.
    • Orientation: By default, answer choices are arranged vertically. Horizontal should typically be used only with answer choices that are quite brief, so that they all fit in a single row. If horizontal orientation is combined with a placement area, the choices will appear above, and the placement area below.
    • Teacher Instructions and Rationale are available to enable or disable.

Item Preview

An example Ordering item, with the Item Preview tab selected and labeled as step 16, the Role dropdown labeled as step 17, the item preview area labeled as step 18, and Check Answers labeled as step 19.
  1. Select Item Preview.
  2. Users can select to preview the item from a Student or Instructor Role.
  3. Test the item by ordering the Answer Choices.
  4. Use the Check Answers slider to verify the answer key. Correctly ordered items will outline in green, and incorrectly ordered items will outline in orange.

Publish Item

The Done menu, with Done labeled as step 20, Publish labeled as step 21, Save Draft labeled as step 22, and Discard labeled as step 23.
  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 an Ordering item, learn about Creating an Item Bank Assessment.

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