I took a lot of quizzes this week (Emily's, Shari's, Michael's, Beth's, and Janna's), and I immediately reverted to my recovering perfectionist self. I wanted As. I even took Shari's quiz twice to make sure I got my A. And I used google a lot. Although I am proud to note that I got a perfect on Beth's quiz by simply using my math skills. (Insert the pat on my back here.)
In the midst of my recovering perfectionism, though, I was also able to think about student experiences with online quizzes, and here are some of my thoughts:
1. I learned that I don't like having quiz questions on separate pages because I feel like I waste time waiting for the next page to load. Granted, it is super fast, but when there is a timer running, I want all the time there is!
2. One of the most common test/quiz taking strategies I've taught students is to answer the questions they know right away and then go back to the ones on which they were unsure. I also encourage them to look through the test/quiz itself to see if there are any answers or hints in other questions. These are also my favorite test/quiz taking strategies! But in order to have these F2F tips work on moodle, I need to set up my test/quiz so that they can see everything on one page.
3. Unless students are required to use a lockdown browser, I don't know how much I want to trust any type of quiz result with general information. I used google for the untimed quizzes, and I was reminded of how quickly information can be searched. So I need to ask myself, "What is the point of the quiz? What do I want to assess? And do I care if students use internet/resources/friends/etc.?"
4. I loved seeing the feedback at the end, like Shari's quiz. I liked seeing what I got wrong, and I loved seeing my perfect score and all the green bars when I got all the questions right the second time. It was really anticlimactic to simply have my answers submitted... and I'm pretty sure that's how I set up my quiz! But I think students like as much immediate feedback as possible. It would be more work to type in the correct answers, but it might be worth it.
I also like all the questions on one page and always make my quizzes that way. I also realize that students are going to use their resources when they take a quiz online. I don't use Respondus, but I do make questions that are more at an application level, so students can look up concepts, but then they need to apply that knowledge to figure out the right answer. I usually do this with scenarios.
ReplyDeleteI normally don't let students know the correct answers or which questions they got wrong because I give them 2 tries to take it.
Do you let the students see the answers after the second try?
DeleteI wondered about putting the questions on 1 page and your feedback has made me look at it from the student perspective. So thanks! I figure that students can use Google for these quizzes, but some of the answers would only come from reading the Chapters in the book. I just need to figure out a happy medium for # of attempts and showing them the answers. I want them to learn and do well by taking these quizzes, but I also don't want to make it too easy....a tough balance sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI loved taking everyone's quizzes because it helped me figure out which format I preferred. I'm sure there are benefits to seeing one question at a time as well, but I personally liked everything on one page.
DeleteI always have a tough balance with tests being too easy as well, especially for the public speaking tests. Sometimes I think, "Well, the terms ARE easy, so the test should be easy!" And if people studied and took notes in class, then it is easy. So maybe that's okay?
I too like the idea of giving students multiple attempts. One thing a colleague did this past year was give students a take home quiz, tell them to do it first without any resources, and then to use a different color pen and finish/redo their quiz using their textbook. I hope students really did this as it seems to balance the knowledge check, learning, and grade support. Quizzes can be such an important check and learning opportunity; I usually comfort my disquiet about using outside resources by remembering that they are probably just hurting themselves for the real in-class test if they don't learn the material.
ReplyDeleteI used to teaching in system where almost all the points came from tests (we could make a 1/3 of a letter grade correction if the student's in-class quizzes and homework indicated their knowledge was more than they demonstrated on the tests measured via section rank). One thing I liked about quizzes in that system is that I could write really hard ones that were meant to trip them up, so that they would be ready for the exams. Although I prefer a system that gives students different ways to demonstrate their knowledge, I do miss being able to challenge them with those hard quizzes.
I liked the reminder that quizzes are a knowledge check and a learning opportunity. It gave me an idea to wonder if quizzes can be used more as reviews than as grades. I wonder what it would look like to have students take quizzes that if they got a certain grade on them, it would give them extra credit. That way, they are motivated to take them seriously, but it honors that it is a knowledge check rather than the actual assessment. Maybe that's too much work... but it's an interesting thought.
DeleteA few comments with which I agree, and then some comments.
ReplyDelete1. Some students are perfectionists and will retake the quiz to get 100%. I wonder how many will do this.
2. The quiz as a quick knowledge check. Yes, and then I can build on the knowledge with other learning activities. This makes me think that a quiz would be only a few points but required.
3. Retaking the quiz. How many times? Any research on the benefits of two or three retakes? I memorized the answers to Shari's quiz so that I could get 100%. Should students retake the same quiz in a week to see if they have retained the knowledge?
Liz - I really like that last idea you suggested of retaking the quiz later in the week to assess retaining of knowledge.......hhhmmm....I may have to adjust to this. I really like that idea! Thanks!
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