How do I set an essay question to award credit automatically?

1. Create your quiz. (See this article for general information about the quiz tool and this one for instructions for adding one to your site).
2. In your quiz, click "Edit quiz" in the Administration block.
3. Click "Add" and then "Add a new question."
   
4. Select "Essay (auto-grade)" from the list of options.
   
5. Click "Add."

Here is a general overview of the settings available for Auto-grading:

Set "Enable auto-grading" (Setting #1) to "Yes" in order to grade responses automatically. The simplest way to set-up auto-grading is to add a length requirement.  You can do so by adjusting the "Type of countable items" (Setting #2). Select the criterion for measuring length as either Word, Character, Sentence, or Paragraph. Then, select the number of whichever criterion you choose that will fulfill the length criterion by entering the "Expected number of items (Setting #3).

Instructors can also set "target phrases" that students must include in their essays, which can be set to account for a portion of students' grades. Each phrase has a percentage of the grade, set by the instructor, that students are awarded for including it in their responses. For instance, in the example below, the question awards 10 percent for including the word "smart":

If instructors enable setting #4 ("Show student feedback?") and setting #5 ("Show grade calculation"), students will see how their essay was scored (including the points allotted for meeting length and target phrase requirements) once they attempt the quiz and why they missed any points they did. Setting #6 ("Show text statistics?") lets instructors see statistical items for responses for each criteria checked in setting #7 ("Statistical items").

Advanced Options

This question type is most useful in scenarios where instructors want an essay question with few requirements for students to meet in order to receive credit. That said, the settings described above allow for some complex grading scenarios if instructors wish to set them up. For instance, the "Target phrases" can be combined with length requirements using the "Grade bands" settings. Grade bands set intervals of percentage grades awarded for responses that achieve given numbers of "countable items" (as specified in Setting #2). For example, if one sets the countable item to "words" in Setting #2, then the following example awards 50% for responses of between 50 and 100 words and 100% for responses 100 words or longer:

Combining these grade bands with the settings for "Target phrases" allows the instructor to have multiple different requirements for earning full credit. It is important to note that these factors (grade bands and target phrases) are considered in combination, so instructors must be deliberate about how the set the percentage values for each. For example, if an instructor set a grade band that awarded 100 percent for a response of 100 or more words (as shown above) as well as a target phrase worth 100%, students could achieve full credit either by writing 100 words or by writing a response of any length that included the specified word. If you have any questions about how these settings operate, or about combinations not covered here, please feel free to contact GauchoSpace support.

Instructors often want to award students credit simply for attempting an essay question on a quiz rather than grading each individual submission. Instructors also may want to award points for all responses that meet basic requirements. Both of these are possible using the "Essay (auto-grade)" question type. This question type is similar to the regular "Essay" question type, but has additional settings that make it possible for instructors to set parameters for the automatically grading the responses. This question type is optimal for low-stakes assessments such as weekly responses or as a proxy for participation credit in online courses, and should not be used for higher-stakes quizzes and examinations.