How to set up question pools in Nimble Author

Introduction

Sometimes you may want to ask a sub group of random questions within an assessment. 

e.g. 'i want to ask the learner five random questions about food, followed by four questions about service'.

You can do this be creating question pools.  This article will show you how to set these up.

Top tips before you begin

• A question pool is a sub folder of question that can be set to ask a random or limited number of questions from a pool of possible questions. e.g. you could set up a pool with ten questions, and tell it to only ask the learner two of the questions picked at random.  Or the pool could be set to ask all ten questions in a random order

How to set up a question pool

1. From the bar that runs down the left of the side menu, click the Course structure button
2. If you haven't already, Add an assessment
3. Click on the ⋮ button to the right of the assessment
4. Click the Assessment settings option
   
   
5. Click Use question pools to turn questions pools on.
   
   
   
   
6. Click the back button to go back to the course structure menu
7. Click on the ⋮ button to the right of the assessment
8. Click Add question pool
   
   
   
   
9. Give your pool a name
   
   
   
   
10. Set the number of questions you want the learner to answer from that pool
11. Click confirm
12. Don't forget to add questions to the pool! See below for more detail

Add questions to the pool

There are two ways to add questions to a question pool.

1. You can drag existing assessment questions into the pool using the standard drag and drop interface in the course structure menu
2. Alternatively, you can click the ⋮ button to the right of the question pool, and select Add question to pool which will add a new assessment question directly into the question pool
   
   
   
   

Randomising a question pool

If you want your pool to present questions randomly to learners, question pools have a randomise option. Here's how to set a pool to show questions in a random order:

1. From the course structure menu, click the ⋮ button to the right of the question pool
2. Click Randomise questions
   
   

You will see this green crossed arrows indicator when a pool is set to randomise:

NOTE: If a pool has randomise questions disabled, but is set to show a limited number of questions then random questions will be chosen, but in a progressive order, rather than a random order.  e.g. 2, 5, 6, 8 rather than, say,  5, 8, 2, 6. 

If randomise is disabled and a pool is set to show all questions, then all question will be shown in order.

Can I set up multiple question pools?

Yes you can.  Simply repeat the steps above to add more pools, but we suggest you give each pool a unique name to help manage them.

Things to note

• You can have a mixture of standalone questions and question pools with an assessment.
• When you have multiple question pools, each pool will ALWAYS be presented in turn to the learner, in the same order as they appear in Nimble Author.     
  e.g. if you have pool 1 set up to ask five random questions, and pool 2 to ask three random questions,  then the learner will be presented with five questions from pool 1, followed by three questions from pool 2. 
• The learner will never be shown mix of questions from different pools. e.g. pool 2 questions will never be asked before the preceding pool has finished.
• There is no way to randomise the order of the pools themselves to the learner
• The ⋮ button settings for the question pool also give you the options to rename or delete the pool.

Note:

Only learners doing the course will see the questions randomised or limited to the number of questions set up in the pool. Authors will not.

When editing the course, Nimble Author will show ALL questions, IN ORDER