Besides the fact that you would otherwise be making things unnecessarily difficult for learners, limiting your question to one learning element also serves another purpose. The Drillster application works in an adaptive way, tailoring each drill to the individual learner. Not only the drills, but the separate questions in those drills are shown to the drillers at different intervals. It all depends on the individual’s speed and proficiency level. Questions that someone gets wrong a lot are repeated more often as they cover material they have not mastered properly yet. This is also why it is important that you limit each question to one single learning element. It allows the algorithm to do its thing and determine the learner’s proficiency level on each separate element.

Imagine you have a question that covers two learning elements and the learner gets the answer wrong. Drillster then has no way of knowing if the learner has mastered neither element or has perhaps already mastered one of them. Drillster will then repeat the whole question, regardless of whether the driller may already know part of it. This is unnecessary and, most of all, frustrating for the learner. A question with one single learning element is measured more specifically, enabling the application to be more effective.

Do you want another reason? With dual questions, you will also have to provide feedback on both learning elements (see design principle 6). Instead, focus on one learning element to keep things manageable. Don’t overcomplicate things for the learners, or for yourself either.