A Highlight item asks the respondent to find certain elements in a text and highlight them with markers of different colours.
Here is the quiz, Recognising tenses of verbs, which contains an item entitled Highlight verbs in imperative and present tenses.
Under the Content tab, I wrote the title of this item, and then the text in which I ask the respondents to highlight verbs in the present tense in yellow, and verbs in the imperative tense in blue. In stating my question, I tell the respondent not to include either the spaces or the punctuation adjacent to the verbs they are highlighting, because the automatic correction will see this as an error. I also gave an example.
In Step 1, entitled DEFINE THE HIGHLIGHTER COLOURS, I define the two colours that I need for this item: a yellow highlighter for verbs in the present tense, and the blue highlighter for verbs in the imperative tense. Under each of the highlighters, I can write positive feedback that will be shown when the respondent has used the correct colour to highlight all of verbs and only the verbs from the requested categories, or negative feedback if the respondent has highlighted at least one expression that does not correspond to the verb of the required category, and the feedback Incomplete answer if he or she has neglected to highlight certain verbs of the given category. It is possible to define up to 9 different highlighter colours for a Highlight item.
Now I click on Step 2 - ADD TEXT AND HIGHLIGHTING. This step includes writing my text and then highlighting the present indicative verbs in yellow, and those in the present imperative in blue. To highlight a verb, I just have to choose the verb, being careful not to select spaces or punctuation that are adjacent to the verb. Then I click on Add highlighting. A field appears under the text that allows me to choose the appropriate highlighter colour. When I move the mouse over the little square, the two colours that I defined in Step 1 are available. I choose yellow, if a verb is in fact a present tense, or blue if the verb is imperative. However, a third colour, red, is automatically added to my list, with the comment Incorrect answer. It is thus possible to anticipate the errors that the respondents are likely to make, and to explain to them why they made these mistakes. In fact, for every highlighting, red or otherwise, it is possible to write a feedback message specific to highlighter colour that the respondent can use: positive feedback if the respondent highlighted the verb with the correct colour, or a negative feedback if not.
The arrows situated over the highlight-editing zone allow me to pass from one highlight to another without having to click on each one. This can be very useful when I am revising my feedback messages, for example.
To delete a highlight, I can either choose a part of the text that includes the highlighting to be deleted and then click on the Delete the highlighted sections button, or click on the Delete this highlight button, over the highlighter editing the zone.
And like all the other types of items, the Add-ons button allows me to insert additional information. In the first information field, I gave a clue about the forms of verbs. In the second box, I added a link to a language reference site. I did not add any media for this item.
This type of item includes, under the Parameters tab, in addition to the parameters that are common to all of the question types (Weighting, Automatically start media and Display correct answer), a parameter that allows me to indicate the number of points to be deducted for each incorrect answer. I wrote one tenth of a point. You can use the value of your choice, but note that it is important to adjust the weighting in relation to the number of potential wrong answers, in order to avoid cases where the respondent receives a note of 0 for a single error, or 9/10 despite having numerous mistakes!
Now I click on the Preview button to see how this item will appear once it is published. The Add-ons that I provided are accessible by clicking on the links on top of the screen, Verb forms and Language reference.
When the respondent clicks on the Submit button, each of the highlights that he or she made on the text (all of the sections that the respondent highlighted) will appear in a text box that corresponds with a highlighter colour. If the highlighting is of the correct colour, there will be a green circle before the section. Otherwise, there will be a red square. Feedback messages specific to each highlight or to each colour will appear if, of course, you wrote them!
Highlight items a great for language learning, but can be used for many other subjects as well. Your imagination is the limit!