Activote - Question Master - Create New Flipchart

[owlline4]

I am having a bit of a problem. I worked for hours on sitting up questions in Question Maker - when I get to the step of creating a flipchart it does not allowed me to go past this point. I get an error message about temporary files not closed with this message - These files may have been opened in another applicaiton. close any "embedded link" documents that were opened from Activstudio. I can't find anything opened. Can someone help. I really want to use this for FCAT practice questions for science so that my 5th graders can do well on the test in the next two weeks.

[saha]

Do not use Question Master.

Just create your questions straight on a flipchart and then set your answers on activote session.

Question master is still in its infancy.

[daverosthorn]

Hihi,

There's a really good guide to ACTIVote somewhere....... I've got it on my computer but my IT department have blocked large file uploads, or something, 'cause it just won't upload :(

Yeah, as saha said, the Question Master is pretty rubbish! You might be best using just creating a new flipchart, selecting the Text tool and typing your questions straight onto the page. When you've done that, right click on the page and choose ACTIVote > Question Settings, and you can choose the correct answer etc from there - MUCH easier and gives you more control over the positioning of your text. :) Cool, eh??!!

[Charlotte]

Bit harsh on Question Master guys...
I find the easiest way to make quizzes is to use the Question Master and then edit your quiz to add pics, change text etc.

[LisaD]

there are lots of ways to do questions with ACTIVstudio.

If my flipchart is "just" questions and not many "other" interactive pages, I usually use Question Master.

If I have mostly "other" pages and a few question pages, I usually just use the text tool to type in the questions and answers and use the "right click" option to set the voting options. Most of my flipcharts do and should be in this category.

Sometimes, I just use the camera tool to "capture" the question and answers from another source as a graphic then do the right click thing.

And another way (for Mac users) is this: If the questions are available in pdf format, I go to import pdf and in they come. Must use 2.1 for this for the Mac.

Now... they will be formatted as the pdf was...like a normal sheet of paper (portrait vs landscape) and small print (as pdf's were intended to be printed not used in whole group like the ACTIVboard is) Finally, this is limiting as many pdfs will have multiple questions on a page and I would prefer just one, but... can't get quicker than that.

I did a google search for pdfs for FCAT grade 5 science and voila, found one! Using AS2.1 on my mac, imported the pdf as a flipchart. See attached. (Now, I know these are copywrited but just showing how easy it is.) This took about 30 seconds to do!

Hope this helps!

Lisa

[stncld727]

This seems to be more of an issue of OS X permissions and software rather than Question Master's pros and cons. I just used QM with an entire class of 2nd grade students with 20 different computers all using the program and haven't run into the error. I have seen some errors that have to do with the temporary files. Some of the things we have done with the machines showing those errors include repairing permissions, reinstalling ActivStudio (including upgrading and installing drivers/patches) updating OS X and if need be doing a clean install of your system. I know the last one is drastic, painstaking and a pain but there are just times when its easier to start from scratch rather than invest time in troubleshooting a ghost.

Hope it helps.

- Chris

[justusme]

My biggest problems with Question Master are that the maximum question length is not long enough and the fact that when you create a flipchart, the questions must be reformatted since after the first page questions overlap answers, etc. Also, it seems that it is not possible to reorder question numbers. I would love to see an update that fixes these problems.

Just FYI - I have used Question Master and typed in only the question number as the stem ("Question 1") and selected the correct answers for an existing paper test. I then give the paper copies to the students to save the time of entering the questions at all.

Michel

[LisaD]

Hi Michel,

I don't use the question master at all as I don't find it very visually appealing.

Instead, I use template pages. You will find in the Shared Collections section of your resource library some really great pages that are pre-created as well as question and answer "parts" like Answer fields etc.

I used these ideas to create my own templates. I have attached three different templates in the attached flipchart. You can adjust them how you need to, then you can right click on the page and save it into your Resource Library (either My Pages or My Collections).

Then when you have need for a question, just drag out the page an it will add that page to your flipchart.

Then edit the questions and answers.

Then right click the page and choose Activote>Question settings and select the appropriate question type and correct answer (if you want to set an answer to be correct.) There is a thread about this here called "Giving the Answer too soon?":

http://www.Prometheanplanet.com/common/html/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=2925&highlight=question+template

There are other areas that have good resources about questions.
Activtips contains a nice video about setting up question pages.
http://www.Prometheanplanet.com/us/server/show/nav.1252
(Scroll down to "Question Pages")

Also check out this Teacher Feature. I found it very helpful!
http://www.Prometheanplanet.com/us/server/show/ConWebDoc.5168

Hope this helps!

Lisa

[justusme]

This is helpful . . . thanks for the reply.

Michel