Quest Ladder
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Quest Ladder / Matching and ordering
Matching, ordering and drag and drop
Formats for when the knowledge is how things connect or what order they go in.
Some knowledge is a sequence. Ask for it as one.
The three formats
| Format | The learner | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Matching | Pairs items across two columns | Number of pairs 3–8, default 4; Decoy right-hand items 0–3, default 0 |
| Ordering | Puts items into the right sequence | Number of items to order 4–8, default 5 |
| Drag and drop | Sorts items into zones | Number of drop zones 2–6, default 3; Typical items per zone 1–6, default 2 |
Matching, and the decoys
Each pair is built from a choice on the left and a target on the right, and each gets its own step in the editor: Choice 1 of 4, then Target 1 of 4. Choice id and Target id are the stable names to use when a learning block needs to talk about a specific pair.
Decoy right-hand items is the setting worth understanding. With decoys at zero, a learner who knows three of four pairs gets the fourth free by elimination. Add one or two decoys and every pair has to be known on its own.
Decoys change the difficulty more than the pair count does. Going from four pairs to six adds work; adding one decoy to four pairs removes the free answer. If a matching question is scoring suspiciously high, that is the first dial to turn.
Ordering
Each item carries its correct place, shown as Position 3 in correct order in the editor. The learner sees them shuffled and arranges them.
Marking is per position, so you decide with Marking mode whether one item out of place costs everything or just its own slot. Weighted is the usual choice: a learner who has the whole sequence except one swap understands considerably more than one who has it backwards, and all-or-nothing scores them identically.
Be careful with sequences that have genuinely defensible variants. If two steps can legitimately happen in either order, either say so in the stem or choose a different example.
Drag and drop
Zones are categories and items are sorted into them. Number of drop zones and Typical items per zone together decide the size of the task: three zones at two items each is a comfortable classification question, six at six is a long one.
This is the natural format for classification — which examples belong to which category, which readings support which conclusion — and it works well with changing values, because the items can be generated while the zones stay fixed.
Accessibility is worth a thought here: dragging is harder for some learners than for others. Where the knowledge would survive the change, matching or select-all asks the same thing with less motor demand.