Skip to main content
Welcome to the University of Lethbridge
  • Library
  • Directory
  • Intranet
  • MyExperience
  • Webmail
  • Bridge
  • Moodle
Study here Give
Teaching Centre
Close
  • About our Centre
    • Advisory Council
    • Agility
    • Board of Governors Teaching Chair
    • Celebrating Student-Centred Educators
    • Centre Staff
    • Firefly Newsletter
    • Teaching Fellows
    • The Testing Centre
    • U of L Excellence in Teaching Award
  • Teaching A-Z
  • Inclusion
  • SoTL
    • SoTL Grants
    • SoTL Process
    • SoTL Resources
  • Workshops and Events
  • ReSET
    • ReSET - Caring
    • ReSET - Effective
    • ReSET - Engaging
    • ReSET - Inclusive
    • ReSET - Adaptive
  • Moodle and Ed Tech
    • Moodle
    • AI Resources
    • Crowdmark
    • ePoll
    • Discord
    • H5P
    • Lightboard
    • Microsoft 365
    • Syzygy
    • Zoom
    • Turnitin
    • YuJa
  • Library
  • Directory
  • Intranet
  • MyExperience
  • Webmail
  • Bridge
  • Moodle
Study here Give

Creating Constructed Response Items

In this article we will look at the types of constructed response questions that you can utilze for your assessments, and the advantages and disadvantages for each question type.

Short-Answer Items

Advantages

  • Short item questions are truly easy to construct
  • Require student to create a correct response
  • Can be scored relatively quickly
  • Reduce the possibility of simply “guessing”


Disadvantages

  • Best suited to testing only factual knowledge
  • Must be carefully worded to avoid ambiguity
  • Difficult to score accurately (spelling, handwriting, grammar, alternatives, etc)


Some things to keep in mind when constructing short-answer items

  • Use direct questions over incomplete statements wherever possible
  • Structure the question/statement to elicit a brief, unique response
  • Place response space (or blanks) at the end for direct questions and in the margin for incomplete statements.
  • For incomplete statements, restrict the number of blanks to one (two max!!)
  • For incomplete statements make all response blanks equal in length
  • For questions requiring longer response, supply sufficient answer space at the end.

Extended-Response Items

Advantages

  • Assess higher-order cognitive skills
  • Students are asked to think about and create complex responses


Disadvantages

  • Can be time consuming for students to write
  • Can be time consuming for teachers to grade
  • Tend to promote subjective inaccuracies in scoring


Some things to remember when constructing extended response items.

  • Structure items so that the student’s task is explicitly explained and circumscribed
  • Specify point-value, acceptable length and recommended time allocation
  • Use more questions requiring shorter answers over few questions requiring longer answers
  • Do not use optional questions
  • Create a trial response to set criteria and standard (and assess the quality of the question)
  • Create a concise, skill-focused, rubric
    • limited, clearly defined, criteria
    • reflects required standard(s)
    • reflects teachable skills, knowledge, understanding

Related Links:

  1. MoodleAnswers.com: Tips and Tutorials for how to use Moodle
  2. How should I structure an exam?
  3. How do I create good multiple choice questions?

Related Links

  • VP Academic
  • Classroom Support
  • Board of Governors' Teaching Chair
  • Excellence in Teaching Award
  • Agility

Tools

  • Moodle
  • Moodle Answers
  • Turnitin

Connect with us

  • Events
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Teaching Centre

  • L1126 (LINC(Library) Building)
  • 403-380-1856
  • teachingcentre@uleth.ca

Students

  • Academic calendar
  • Student Enrolment and Registrar Services
  • Student opportunities
  • Student services
  • Study here

Information for

  • Alumni
  • Donors
  • Visitors and community

Campus

  • Careers at uLethbridge
  • Events
  • Faculty and staff intranet
  • Maps and tours
  • News
Visit the University of Lethbridge Homepage
  • Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
  • Contact us
  • Calgary Campus
  • Faculty and staff directory

The University is located on traditional Blackfoot Confederacy territory. We honour the Blackfoot people and their traditional ways of knowing in caring for this land, as well as all Aboriginal peoples who have helped shape and continue to strengthen our University community.

©2025 University of Lethbridge | Terms of use