Graphic Associate Interaction

The Graphic Associate interaction gives Test-takers the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge by depicting routes on a map or graphic in a prescribed way. This can be used for drawing out historical military marches, route-planning exercises, connecting the dots to form a missing piece of an image, etc.

All graphic interactions can be found in the Graphic Interactions menu in the Library. All require dragging the appropriate icon, such as the Graphic Associate interaction icon, over the blank Item and dropping it on the blue block that appears when the icon is passed over it. This will result in the Resource Manager window appearing to request the test author to select a graphic. A list of previously uploaded graphics will appear, above which is a blue Add file(s) and browse buttons to hunt down and add files to the resource manager by clicking the green Upload button. If uploading is not necessary, highlight the appropriate graphic in the resource manager list and click the green Select button to move toward the first step of setting up this interaction.

For the Graphic Associate interaction, a new authoring window will appear with the graphic in the center of the canvas. Above the graphic will be a field for writing in the question associated with this interaction. To the left will be an Associable Hotspot Panel for inserting selected shapes that will represent Associable Hotspots into the graphic (these include four different shapes: rectangle, circle, oval, and polygon). Below the Hotspot Panel will be a trash can icon, which allows the user to delete a poorly-placed or misshaped Hotspot.

Step 1: Fill in the question field.

This should cover such important information as what the graphic represents, and what the Test-taker is supposed to do in this interaction.

Step 2: Insert the Associable Hotspots onto the graphic.

To place a rectangle, click on one corner and drag across the intended area the Hotspot is supposed to cover. To place a circle or oval, select its center and drag outward or inward until the Hotspot is at the right size. To place a polygon, begin at one corner, then click on each corner in succession until the Hotspot is completed. All the shapes can be edited, but if necessary, click on the problem Hotspot, then click the trash can to delete it, and then try again.

Step 3: Click Response to select associations between Hotspots (the answers)

The first consideration here is how scoring will take place for this interaction. This is done by selecting the appropriate Response Processing within the Response Properties panel on the right. If the Test-taker will need to answer everything correct in order to achieve a score, then the test author will need to select match correct in the Properties panel, and then begin to select Hotspot pairs (first one, then the other, after which the pair will be connected by a line).

If the Test-taker can obtain partial credit for getting some of the responses correct, then the test author will need to select map response. This will bring up a Pair Scoring panel below the graphic. To use this panel to assign scores to the selection of Associable Hotspot pairs, select pairs of Associable Hotspots where it asks to Add new pairs, and then click the blue Add button. This will create a line item that can then be scored according to the value of the answer. Everything can be scored with the same weight, or some associations can be scored much heavier than others.

If modal feedback is desirable for this interaction, it is possible to enter it at this point. For more details on how to do this, see the Modal Feedback section.

Step 4: Click the blue Done button.

Once finished, you can preview what your Graphic Associate interaction will looks like to the Test-taker. For more on previewing, review its section.