Online quizzes
What are they?
Online quizzes usually take one of three forms:
- short answer questions (fill in the blanks, match/label items, order text, enter text)
- multiple choice questions
- true/false questions.
They can be a powerful and empowering formative and summative assessment tool. They can be marked by the computer online or completed and lodged electronically but marked by a teacher or another student. Note: UniSAnet quizzes can only be used for formative assessment. The teacher or tutor is unable to view a student’s online quiz result. In the new online learning environment (Moodle) summative quizzes will be available.
Why use them?
‘self (and peer) assessment give learners a greater ownership of the learning they are undertaking’ (Brown and Knight: 1995, p52)
Online quizzes:
- enable learners to take greater responsibility for their own learning by:
- informing students about their progress
- providing immediate feedback where they are making mistakes
- identifying areas for review
- assisting students to re-establish their learning goals
- helping students to choose topics or pathways to learning
- enable rapid turnaround of student work
- can assist teachers to identify problem areas
- enable staff to attend to students requiring greater assistance
Hoverer, online quizzes need to be well structured and written to gain maximum benefit.
How can I use them?
Online quizzes can be used for both formative and summative assessment activities. For some teachers, academic misconduct on the part of students is an issue that they believe cannot be overcome and they are reluctant to use on-line quizzes for the purpose of summative assessment. Others are using it for portions of their summative assessment. Decisions about appropriate use will depend on a the balance of a range of factors including the nature of the subject matter, the nature of the student group, and the policies of the institution.
Online quizzes can be used to:
- test understanding of core concepts
- test development of key skills
- provide gateways for students as they progress through the content
- provide multiple opportunities for practice
- identify areas of misunderstanding
- provide feedback on teaching strategies
- engage students with content and maintain their interest levels
Tips for Success
To obtain maximum benefit for students remember that:
- the relationship of the quiz to curriculum objectives and teaching methods needs to be clear to students
- feedback on why an answer is wrong makes the quiz a much more valuable learning tool
- the more subjective the answer to the question is, the more judgement needs to be exercised in deciding if the answer to the question is correct – on-line quizzes marked by the computer will need to be objective
- the computer will mark spelling mistakes, poor grammar and poor phrasing mistakes/wrong answers
When writing Short Answer Questions:
- there are several types of short answer questions available: fill in the blanks; match/label items; order text; enter text – select your option carefully!
- avoid lengthy questions, make them as simple and direct as possible
- make sure that there is a definite correct answer
- be precise
- if you choose a fill- in- the-gaps type question, make sure that there are not too many gaps.
When writing Multiple Choice Questions
- present a simple well-defined problem in the question
- ensure that the alternative answers all relate to the question in some way
- include as much as possible of the item in the question
- however the question should be as brief as possible
- you should consider using graphics to illustrate the question
- alternative answers should all be grammatically consistent with the question
- avoid double negatives
- avoid mutually inclusive and mutually exclusive answers as much as possible
- vary the position of the correct answer (randomise)
When writing True/False Questions
- keep statements brief
- avoid partly true and partly false items
- avoid using two or more ideas in a question
- avoid words like ‘all’, ‘always’ or ‘never’ – this tends to give away the fact that this is the wrong answer
- avoid broad general statement
- rephrase wording from textbooks when designing questions
Skills required
Many of the skills required are no different from those that are needed to design good questions that give a reliable assessment of student achievement of subject objectives. If assignments are to be computer marked design is a little more difficult and you need to take care that you are testing what you want to test and not the computer’s ability to mark responses.