How to: drag and drop quiz slide reset to initial positions

May 15, 2013

Does anyone know what settings to use to reset drag and drop quiz items/shapes to their original location if the submitted reaction is incorrect? I am using unlimited attempts so the "Try Again" layer appears and the "Continue" button prompts the hiding of the layer to reveal only the base layer again.

In sum, on an incorrect submitted response, I want the items to go back to their places instead of staying in place on the incorrect drag and drop location.

Thank you!

58 Replies
Bill Harnage

What you need to do is have the the button loop back to the current slide.  Add a Jump to Slide trigger and select the current slide.

However, that resets the tries too.

I usually add a custom var to track attempts, but it's still not 100%.  If you have a try again layer, make sure it's the top layer in the panel.

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Hi Guys,

Yes, Bill's correct regarding needing a "jump back to the (base layer) of the current slide. Sorry I missed writing that instruction! Geesh!

I'm attaching a demo I'd created a couple months back. It includes correct/incorrect states, which you may not want, Mara. I just now modified it to meet your criteria: unlimited tries. There are a few notes on the Notes page.

George Chruney

I'm sorry, but I'm still having the same issue.

I want the learner to be able to try the question twice, and so I want then to select Try Again when they answer incorrectly the first time, and I want it to go back to the initial state for their second attempt.

I can have them loop back to the slide again, but as Bill said, this messes up the attempt count.

Bill, I put the variable on the Try Again button, attempts at less than or equal to 2. I also tried less than 2, but I get stuck in a Try Again loop. Could you please explain the custom variable you are setting, and if you are looping them back to the initial slide again?

Thanks in advance,

George

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi George,

I'm not certain that Bill is still subscribed to this thread, but if you'd like to see what he set up specifically you may want to send him a private message. 

You mentioned "less than or equal to" or just "less than", although I suspect you'd want to use the "equal to" option, as if the user only receive 2 attempts, after the first attempt they should not be shown the try again layer, but the incorrect layer. Therefore, the variable would be set by visiting the try again layer, and then based on answering incorrectly the user should be shown the incorrect layer on the second attempt. If you're still having difficulty and you'd like to share your file here with us we can also take a look at how the elements are set up. 

Bill Harnage

Hey George,

Attached is a DnD with some modifications since the original post.  I'm always modifying it based on need, but feel free to use or compare it to what you have.

A few things to note...

- Set the DnD attempts to unlimited in the settings. You're going to control the attempts with your custom variable.

- Trigger order is important, so make sure the trigger adjusting the var is at the top of the stack.

- I'm using the Try Again layer as the launching point for feedback answers based on strikes.

- I'm not using the incorrect layer, but it's fairly easy to setup.

You mention less than or equal to.  I actually use greater than or equal to when checking the attempts.

Also, where are you adjusting your var?

On the hint layer, you'll see the layer trigger.  This can be modified to fit your exact needs.  For example, if you only want the user to have two attempts you'd set the condition to equal to.  And, if you wanted any incorrect over 2 to mark it DnD incorrect you could create a new trigger with the condition of greater than.

Hopefully this helps, but if now feel free to PM me.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

What I've heard from other community members here (who I suspect may be instructional designers or have more expertise in that area than I do) is that they'd want the user to see what they previously answered for those type of questions as a reminder before answering again. That may be the why behind that behavior set up. 

Monique Donahue

Okay, I have another question. I have set up a variable to track tries for my drag and drop question and have everything working correctly. But! I have to set the slide to "Reset to initial state" when revisiting. This works initially, but then it breaks down in Review Quiz. Because it is reset to initial state, when I hit that slide while reviewing the quiz, it shows the question as incorrect even though it was actually answered correctly. Is there any way to overcome this? Help!

Monique Donahue

If I leave it on Automatically Decide, it does not reset the drag object back to the initial position after each try, but instead centers it right in the middle of the screen, which is neither the original position of the object NOR the position where I dropped it.

Looping back to the same slide and resetting it to initial state after each try while using a variable to control the number of tries fixes that problem (clumsily), but then it becomes a problem later when reviewing the quiz. The fix for one problem unfortunately creates another problem.

Monique Donahue

Hi Ashley,

Attached is one of the drag and drop questions I am having trouble with. I have used the workaround with variables and resetting slide to initial state in order to get the drag item to reset itself to the starting position after the the initial attempt, while still limiting the number of tries. This workaround works beautifully, as advertised. 

The problem is when I get to the results screen and then select "Review Quiz." Even if I answered the question correctly, the review mode still shows it as incorrect.... I presume because of the slide having been reset to initial state.

In the attached example, the correct response is to drag the entire column labeled "Options" onto the basket labeled "Financials" (so that you can test this to duplicate the behavior).

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Monique,

Thanks for sharing the file here. I see what you're referring to in regards to the review showing it as incorrect no matter what as the slides properties are resetting it to the initial state. Unfortunately I don't know of a way around this as the "reset to initial state" will always treat the question as if it's being answered again - and since the user is also in review mode it'll mark it incorrectly. I can't imagine that this would be the first time someone has run into this with the drag and drop so hopefully they're able to share some additional information and examples here with you. 

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