Crossword puzzle

Background

The Crossword puzzle item type is ideal to test your participants' vocabulary or knowledge on a certain subject in a creative way.  Crossword puzzles offer a creative change from ordinary exercises.

As an author, you can create a Crossword puzzle in a simple and user-friendly way. You only need to enter the list of words and their descriptions. Subsequently, assessmentQ will automatically combine these words into a crossword puzzle.

Procedure

To create a Crossword puzzle, proceed as follows: 

1. Go to Authoring > Items.
2. Go to the folder in which you want to add your item. 
3. Click on to add an item.  
4. Select Crossword puzzle.
   Result: The content pane of the item is opened.
5. Enter the item name in the breadcrumb at the top.
6. Click in the content block and fill in the instruction. 
7. Click + Add block if you want to add additional content blocks.
8. Click in the interaction block, containing the placeholder for a crossword, and click +Add words at the bottom of the interaction block. 
   Result: The Add words dialogue window appears.
9. In the Add words dialogue window:
   • Enter a word and its description.

     Notes:

     • Words are always displayed in upper-case letters.
     • Special diacritic characters like é, ä, etc. are supported.
     • Mathematical signs are not allowed.
   • Click to add an additional word and description. Repeat this step until you have added all the words for your crossword. 
   • Click Generate a crossword. 
     Result: A crossword is generated automatically. Words that have letters in common are nicely arranged into the crossword. The description of the words is split and numbered into horizontal and vertical sections.

     Note: Words that have no letters in common are placed under the crossword.
     

10. If you want to re-arrange the words in your crossword, click the Regenerate icon at the bottom of the interaction block.  
11. If you want to update words and / or descriptions in your crossword:
    • Click Edit words at the bottom of the interaction block. 
    • Make the necessary changes to the words and / or descriptions.
    • If you want to remove a word from your crossword, click the Delete icon next to the word and its description.
    • If you want to add words to your crossword, click at the bottom of the word list. 
    • Click Generate a crossword to submit your changes. 
12. Click Preview to try the item.

Displaying letters in the crossword

If you want to show certain letters in the crossword to the participant, proceed as follows:

1. Click on the interaction block.
2. Click on the word for which you want to display one or more letters to the participant.
   Result: The Word tab is opened. In the Letters section, all letters of the word are listed on a new line.
3. Click the Visualisation icon next to the letter(s) you want to display in the crossword and enable the 'Show character immediately' option.
   Result: When the crossword is opened in the player, these letters will be shown to the participants. 

Layout options for crossword puzzles

Click on the interaction block to see the layout options in the Block tab.

In the Block tab you can choose:

• how you want to display the crossword and description compared to each other:
  • crossword to the left of description (default)
  • crossword to the right of description
  • crossword above description
  • crossword under description
    
• to show the empty boxes on the crossword
  

Scoring options for crossword puzzle

There are three scoring options for crossword puzzles:

• Score per item (default)
• Score per word
• Score per letter

More information, see Selecting a scoring mechanism.

Additional options

Learn more about adding assets, adding feedback, selecting the correct scoring mechanism etc. in the section The assesmentQ item bank.