To+Randomize+or+Not+to+mRnadzoie



Consider carefully whether or not the questions in a given activity should be randomized.


 * Suggested ways to randomize values in a storyboard that won't result in a ridiculous (or infinite) number of hours of recording of those random values**
 * If a question will be used with a 'try another' button - then the first time the question is presented, have the values fixed, and use audio. On each click of the try another button, the text should not be narrated and the values should be randomized. If the user chooses to do the activity without narration, then the first question can also be randomized.
 * Separate the randomized part of the question using pictures or lists. E.g. a shopping list or recipe card on the side of the stage could contain all random number info - George needs to make 3 batches of cookies, how many cups of flour will he need?
 * Use a question stem, with randomized values strategically placed on the stage. "Consider the following two mathcot's banana consumption rate:" "Who eats banana's faster? How much faster?" (see the bottom of this wiki for more 'appropriate' examples:)
 * Have a set (SMALL) number of random values for a question - e.g. a quiz can be created with 4 sets of questions, then students could see up to 4 completely different quizzes (and who would really do a quiz more than 4 times anyway?) before starting to see questions repeated. Again, if the students choose to turn narration off, then all values could be randomized... may even want to make that an option at the start of the quiz. "Welcome to the quiz - would you like the questions narrated for you today? Yes, No" Student chooses Yes... "Great! After you've done this quiz a bunch of times, come back here, and turn narration off - then I can give you lots of brand new questions!!!" or something less cheesy.


 * Some Reasons NOT to Randomize:**
 * the values have been carefully selected to meet a particular learning goal
 * the user might be relying on the consistency of a particular scene (teacher planning a lesson)
 * the example is one that you want every student to encounter


 * Some Reasons to Randomize:**
 * students will encounter different questions each time they complete an activity
 * students sitting beside each other in a computer lab will be working on different questions


 * Randomization Considerations:**

Should the numerical values used in the questions be randomized? If yes, what are the parameters for selecting these values?

Should some questions be the same and others randomized?(Eg. values for Question # 1 are strategically selected, values in subsequent questions are randomly generated)

If the questions are fixed,
 * could they be randomly selected from a bank of questions?
 * could multiple questions sets be created and then one of these versions selected randomly?
 * could the sequence of questions be randomized?

If values are randomized, can the question be asked in such a way as to exclude the random components from the narrated text? vs Or
 * " Is -1 less than, greater than or equal to -3? " is a narration challenge if the values are randomly generated.
 * Is the first number less than, greater than, or equal to the second number? (The two numbers appear some where else on the stage)
 * How do the two given numbers compare? Drag your response to the grey rectangle.