Word Counter for Essay Questions

1 Initial Problem

Participants of essay-based exams and tests have currently no other option but to count the number of words themselves. Implementing a word count tool would allow students to invest more time into writing and proofreading instead.

2 Conceptual Summary

Essay-based exams are in frequent use to improve students' sense for a clear writing style and conciseness. The Character Counter existent within the current version of ILIAS does not suffice in that regard, as it leaves too much room for deviation. A Word Counter counting up would indicate when the desired length (in our case 500 words +/- 10%) is reached.

At the moment, students have to count the words of their essays themselves. This is very time consuming. Students need to plan 5-10 minutes for counting the words in each exam. The number of words is not mandatory and is only intended as a guide for students. Accordingly, the definition of a maximum and minimum number of words is not needed.

In the editing mode of an Essay Question a new checkbox called Word Counter is required in the tab Edit Questions. The checkbox is not activated by default. If the checkbox is activated, the World Counter will be displayed below the text input field of an Essay Question.

It should be possible to activate both Word Counter and Maximum Number of Characters.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• Display of Essay Question in Tests
• Essay Question>>Edit Question
• Essay Question>>Preview
• Essay Question>>Feedback

3.2 User Interface Details

Mockups

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

None.

4 Technical Information

{The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues.}

5 Contact

• Author of the Request: Zenzen, Enrico [ezenzen]
• Maintainer: Heyser, Björn [bheyser]
• Implementation of the feature is done by: Heyser, Björn [bheyser]

6 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• Universität Düsseldorf

7 Discussion

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], 16 JUL 2018 : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for 5.4. Please add a description under the checkbox and explain that the word counter is just an orientation for the user and not a hard criteria.

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], 17 DEC 2018 : We highly appreciate this suggestion and re-schedule the feature for 6.0. Please do not forget to add the required byline for the new checkbox (see last JF comment). The presentation of words and characters should be as follows:
Already entered words: x

Remaining characters: y

8 Implementation

The feature has been implemented according to the descriptions above. The word counter can be activated within the athoring form of an essay question. It is to be used as an orientation for the students how much text they have allready written. The tutor can give advice on how much text is should be witin the question text.

8.1 Essay Question Authoring Form

8.2 Essay Question Presentation

When the word counter is activated the question is presented with the information of how much words were written. The information is shown below the text field.

There is no depency from or to the character limit. Both functionalities can be used at once. The information of both counters is shown among themselves.

8.3 Result Presentation

Test Cases

Test cases completed at 21 March 2019  by Heyser, Björn [bheyser]

• C25147 : Freitextfrage erstellen (Zeichenbegrenzung und Wortzähler)

Approval

Approved at 15 May 2019 by Claudia Dehling.