Tips for choosing an interaction based on the task type

Applies to

Personas

Administrators
Content developers

Purpose

TAO offers a wide range of interactions, each designed to assess knowledge in different ways. Rather than selecting an interaction based on its name alone, begin by considering what you want the learner to do.

This guide introduces a task-based approach for selecting interactions, helping you match assessment objectives with the most appropriate interaction type.

Start with the learning task

Instead of asking "Which interaction should I use?", ask: "What do I want the learner to demonstrate?"

Most assessment tasks fall into one of four categories.

If you want learners to...	Task Type	Typical Interactions
Choose or identify the correct answer	Identify	Choice, Hotspot, Slider, Select Point
Match, connect, or order information	Connect	Match, Associate, Order, Graphic variants
Fill in missing information or validate content	Complete	Text Entry, Inline Choice, Gap Match, Hottext
Create or explain something in their own words	Produce	Extended Text, Text Entry, File Upload

Choosing the right interaction

Identify

Use Identify interactions when learners must recognize the correct answer from available possibilities.

Typical activities include:

Multiple choice
Multiple response
True/False
Selecting a location on an image
Choosing a value on a scale

Recommended interactions:

Choose graphic interactions (such as Hotspot) when the answer depends on interpreting an image rather than reading text.

Connect

Use Connect interactions when learners must establish relationships between pieces of information.

Typical activities include:

Matching terms and definitions
Connecting images
Categorizing information
Sequencing events
Ordering steps

Recommended interactions:

Consider whether your activity requires:

two separate sets of information (Match), or
one pool of related information (Associate).

Complete

Use Complete interactions when learners finish or validate an existing structure.

Typical activities include:

Gap-fill exercises
Completing sentences
Choosing missing words
Identifying incorrect text

Recommended interactions:

Produce

Use Produce interactions when learners create their own response.

Typical activities include:

Essays
Solving math equations
Short explanations
Constructed responses
Creative writing
Uploading projects or artwork

Recommended interactions:

These interactions provide the greatest freedom and are often used when assessing higher-order thinking or communication skills.

Consider more than the task type

After identifying the task type, consider these additional factors before choosing an interaction.

1. How much guidance should the learner receive?

Different interactions provide different levels of support.

More guidance	Less guidance
Gap Match, Inline Choice	Extended Text
Multiple Choice	Text Entry

Providing fewer hints generally increases the difficulty of the task.

For example:

Inline Choice supplies possible answers.
Text Entry requires learners to generate the answer independently.

2. How language-dependent is the task?

Some interactions rely almost entirely on text, while others are primarily visual.

Choose graphic interactions when:

reading ability is not being assessed
visual interpretation is the learning objective
accessibility or multilingual delivery is important

Choose text-based interactions when:

language comprehension is part of the assessment
learners need to explain or justify their reasoning

3. What kind of response do you need?

The expected response often determines the interaction.

For example:

Response required	Recommended interaction
Select one answer	Choice
Select multiple answers	Choice (multiple response)
Locate something on an image	Hotspot or Select Point
Match related concepts	Match or Associate
Put events in order	Order
Fill in missing words	Inline Choice, Gap Match, or Text Entry
Write a paragraph	Extended Text
Upload a completed project	File Upload