Set Hint Display for Specific Questions

You can show or hide any hints that might be coded as part of questions on your assignment. These hints might include enhanced question features like the following:

  • hints that are displayed after students submit responses
  • tutorial links, including video tutorials
  • links to specific eBook topics
  • links to practice questions (not the same as Practice Another Version)
  • online tutoring links (if available for your textbook)

Setting display options for hints does not affect display of the following items:

  • custom hints for questions that you define in the assignment
  • Practice Another Version links
  • student access to eBooks from the My eBooks menu
  • supporting materials, such as reference tables needed to answer questions
  • WebAssign help
Tip If you are not sure whether a specific question feature is a hint, click Preview Assignment and submit an answer. Then, clear the Help/Hints check box to see what features are not shown.

The purpose of any hint is to guide students toward an understanding of the question without giving away the correct answer. Showing hints is valuable for learning assignments, but you might want to hide hints for quizzes, tests, or exams.

You can show or hide hints for the assignment or for specific questions. You can also choose to show hints before the due date only after students have made a certain number of submissions. Question-specific settings apply only before the due date.

  1. If needed, verify that Learning Tools & Feedback items are displayed after a specified number of submissions for the assignment.

    Click View Settings under Assignment Settings. Under Learning Tools & Feedback, look at the selected items under Show Before Due Date.

    • If "after n submissions" is shown for any of the check marks, continue to the next step.
    • If you do not see "after n submissions," complete the following steps:
    1. Edit the assignment or assignment template settings.
      To do this Do this
      Change the assignment template In the Assignment Templates Manager, click Edit for the template.
      Change the current assignment only

      In the Assignment Editor, click Edit Settings.

      If the assignment used a template, the settings from the selected template become editable in the Assignment Editor and the template is no longer used.

    2. If needed, expand the Learning Tools & Feedback settings.
    3. Change the selection in the Show Before Due Date column heading to after specified submissions.
    4. If you changed the assignment template, save the template and update assignments that use the template. Then, open the assignment again.
  2. If needed, click Show Per-Question Settings and select Learning Tools & Feedback to show the Learning Tools & Feedback column in the questions list.
  3. Click edit in the Learning Tools & Feedback column for the question.
  4. In the Hints, Tutorials & eBook Links row, select the check box for Show Before Due Date, and then type the number of submissions that your students need to make for the item to be shown.
    To hide hints before the due date, type a higher number of submissions than you allow for the question.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Save.