This article covers the number line task type.
For a general overview of tasks and what they can do, see An introduction to tasks and for general instructions on how to add them to your course, see How to add a task to your course.
Overview of the number line task
The number line task lets learners drag and drop labels onto a number line.
When to use a number line task
Number line is of course suited to mathematical concepts. But, because you can set the scale as an author, you can also use it for many ranking or comparison-type skills.
Example 1: Scale of charismatic leadership
In this example learners are asked to consider how these famous leaders measure up on a scale of charismatic leadership.
Of course, you could choose any scale you like and any items you like. As you can see in this example, we've chosen to also include images of the leaders.
Example 2: Creating a timeline
In this example, instead of giving learners a timeline, we ask them to create it. Other examples might include adding events, theories or historical figures on a timeline.
Example 3: Likert and similar scales
Number lines don't always have to have a "correct" answer. As you'll see in the example below, we can choose not to set a correct answer to allow for learners to make the task personal to their experiences and opinions.
Example 4: Compare and analyse actions
Number line tasks can also be used to classify characters, actions or theories on a scale of any relevant measure e.g -10 being really negative, 0 being neutral, and +10 being really positive, or 0-5 more like a Likert scale.
This gives a great method for overall analysis of a "thing" and whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. I.e. overall, is this thing on average a negative, neutral or positive thing.
How to create a number line task
All tasks load with an example task to give an idea of what each field is for. To add your own task details, you can type over the existing content in the fields or select Clear task content, to start completely fresh.
Standard fields
This task has the standard fields/options that all tasks have.
At the top:
Question - Where you set the main question/task which tells learners what to answer or do.
And at the bottom:
Hint - Add a hint to give pointers or clues to give learners extra guidance to complete the task. Learners can choose to See hint so it allows them to get this help “on demand”.
Feedback - Add feedback to give learners an automated response when they submit the task. See Writing feedback for tasks for pointers and ideas.
In between the top and bottom standard fields we have the following areas and fields.
How to set the number line and items to be dragged and dropped
Under Line, you can specify the start (Minimum value) and end (Maximum value) for your number line.
You can also set a Title which will display in bold under the number line.
Under Points, you can set up your items that you want learners to be able to drag and drop. As seen in the examples, these items can also include images. Though keep in mind that the images will need to be small so they don't overlap one another too much.
How to set the correct answer(s)
Under Correct, drag your items into the correct place on the number line to allow the task to be automarked.
If there are more correct answers, use the + to add alternative answers.
As seen in the examples, you can also choose not to set a correct answer. If you don’t want the question to be automarked, leave the items in the grey space, unallocated to a position on the numberline. In this case, the task will not be automarked and the task will be allocated the complete/incomplete with feedback marking template to allow facilitators to manually mark the task (if desired).
Other options
Show ticks displays all ticks along the number line.
Snap to ticks snaps the answers to the closest tick. If this is not on, learners can put the answer anywhere on the line.
Threshold lets you set the distance a point can be from the valid score and still be marked as correct.