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The label with text task
The label with text task

Authors can create label with text tasks that let learners enter text into response boxes within an image.

Caitlin Foran avatar
Written by Caitlin Foran
Updated over a week ago

This article covers the label with text 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 label with text task

In the label with text task type learners can enter text into response boxes within an image. This is similar to the Image drag & drop and Image drop down tasks, but learners can type their own responses.

When should I use the label with text task?

Like other labelling task types, the label with text task is useful for labelling images. The key difference in this task type is that learners have to come up with their own answers rather than being presented with options. This makes this task type a great option for when you want to:

  • increase the level of difficulty,

  • increase the level of openness, and

  • assess spelling of terms.

Example 1: Label a stellar lifecycle

In this example learners need to correctly label the missing parts of the stellar lifecycle diagram.

Image of a Label with text task for a stellar lifecycle.

Example 2: Label project methodologies

In this next example learners name the project management methodologies depicted in our squiggle drawings.

Image of Label project methodolgies as described above.

Example 3: Complete a concept map

In the example below, we have a concept map with some items and some distinct connection types that learners can complete with key terms and concepts from the course. You can see we’ve made the text boxes particular sizes to fit an existing diagram.

Image of a concept map as described above.

Example 4: Open-ended skills diagram

In this last example, we want to leave the task open so learners can identify and add their own skills and goals. You can see we’ve made the text boxes large, so learners can enter text on multiple lines.

Image of an open-ended diagram as described above.

How do I create a label with text 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.

Clear task content button on right of task element below task type choice.

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 add the image and response containers

Add an image using the +Add (or Edit) button under Image preview.

Image of the + Add button highlighted.

Then complete the related fields:

  • Text on hover: which appears when the mouse hovers over the image.

  • Image Alternative Text: which appears if the image cannot be displayed on a page.

Add response containers to your image. Response containers are the areas on the image that learners can type into. To add a response container, use +Add under Response positions.

You can drag and position these as required. To delete a response container, use the X on the bottom right corner of the container.

Image showing how to delete a response container with the 'x' highlighted.

How to set the correct answer(s)

Under the Correct heading, type in the correct answers you want learners to put in the different response containers 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 to not set a correct answer. In which 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).

More options

  • Match all possible responses allows you to specify more than one valid response for one response option. Instead of creating multiple combinations of possible responses while setting the correct responses, Authors can simply add in the different versions of the response options in the alternative correct answers for that response position and choose the Match all possible responses option.

  • Character limit lets you set the maximum number of characters that can be entered in the response boxes. The maximum possible value is 250.

  • Multiple lines allows learners to enter text in multiple lines in the response area by pressing the return key on the keyboard.

  • Ignore leading and trailing spaces lets you ignore spaces at the beginning or end of a learner’s response.

  • Spellcheck and text correction turns on spellcheck in the text entry area.
    Note: This is a browser feature and may not always be available.

  • Case sensitive sets whether learners’ responses should match case or not. By default all questions are not case sensitive i.e. “Yes” and “yes” are treated as the same answer.

  • Font size controls the size of the font for items in this task - Small(11px), Normal (14px), Large (17px), Extra large (20px), and Huge (24px). We recommend Large for most purposes.

  • Special characters allows authors to add non-typical letters and symbols. When enabled, the default Alpha character map will be shown to learners (shown below). Otherwise, authors can specify a specific set of special characters to be shown to learners.

alpha_char__2_.png

How to edit the response containers

You can control the size of all response containers at once by setting height and width in the Response Container (global) section.

If you only wish to change the size of specific containers go to the Response Container (individual) section.

These are the things you can edit.

  • Height specifies the height of a response container. The standard for Large text is 30px.

  • Width specifies the weight of all response containers.

  • Pointer sets the position of the red pointer on the response container - top, right, bottom or left of the response container.

  • Placeholder lets you add text to give a hint to the learner. This text will appear in the response box and disappear when the learner starts typing.

  • Input Type sets the keyboard that will display on Tablet devices - text or number.

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