Creating An Online Learning Assessment for Your SAE Course

SAE Professional Development Seminar and Webinar participants have an opportunity to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs)by participating in and completing all course requirements, including an online learning assessment with a passing score of 70% or higher. The assessments feature multiple choice questions randomized from a bank of questions, randomized answer choices, standard feedback for correct answer choices, custom feedback for incorrect answer choices, and a summary page reflecting the learner’s results and an opportunity for review.

The following guidelines have been developed to assist you in the preparation of the learning assessment for your course. Please contact your program developer with any questions.

  1. Timeline
  2. Learning assessment questions for new seminars are due toSAE no later than six (6) weeks prior to the start of the seminar/webinar. (This is the same due date as your handout files.)
  3. Revisions to existing learning assessment questions are due to SAE no later than four (4) weeks prior to the start of the seminar/webinar.(This is the same due date as your handout files.)
  1. Length of Assessment

The duration of your seminar/webinar will determine the number of multiple choice questions you need to provide. The questions will be randomized and learners will only complete a subset of those questions. For example, for a one day seminar/1-3 session webinar, learners will be asked to complete 10 questions that have been drawn from a 15 question bank. The attached template has been preformatted to solicit the number of questions we need for your course.

  1. Content
  2. Questions
  3. Provide at least one question that relates directly to each of the stated learning objectives for your course.
  4. Provide multiple choice questions with three to five answer choices. The tool will accommodate only one correct answer.
  5. The use of True/False questions as a type of multiple choice question should be limited to no more than two per assessment.
  6. Questions should not refer to previous questions. The questions will be presented randomly for each assessment, so references like “As stated in the previous question…” are not guaranteed.
  7. Assess only one concept per question and focus on key points.
  8. Avoid the use of formulas and/or special characters in your questions and answers. When converted to the online assessment format, these are often lost or misread. If the use of formulas and/or special characters is crucial, consider using an image format. (Contact SAE staff about exceptions and questions on using images.)
  9. Keep in mind that learners will not be able to raise their hands to ask you to clarify questions they don’t understand; therefore your questions should be written as clearly and succinctly as possible.
  10. Place words that are common to each answer choice in the question rather than repeating them in each answer choice.
  11. No more than two images per question. The online assessment can accommodate up to two images that may be needed to support a question. The maximum width and height for images is 800 pixels wide x 480 pixels tall. Images must be sent to SAE separate from the learning assessment template.
  12. For resources on IACET requirements, learning outcomes, and how to write good learning assessment questions, go to
  13. Answer Choices
  14. Provide a minimum of two, but no more than five answer choices per question, however, there should only be one correct response and it should be clearly correct.
  15. Avoid “All of the Above” or “None of the Above” answer choices. Also avoid the use of “Never” and “Always”.
  16. Ensure incorrect answer choices (distracters) are plausible, but clearly incorrect. Avoid nonsensical answer choices.
  17. Feedback
  18. Feedback for correct answer choices is standard (You are correct!).
  19. Feedback for incorrect answer choices is customized for each question and is used for all incorrect answer choices for that question. The custom feedback should provide an explanation of why the correct answer is the best choice. Those who choose an incorrect answer will benefit from the clarification your feedback paragraph will provide, rather than leave them only knowing they got it wrong and wondering why the correct answer is correct.

Completing An Online Learning Assessment for Your Course Page 1 of 2