Quiz-tastic!!

According to the Learning and Teaching Unit (2009) on-line quizzes "can be a powerful and empowering formative and summative assessment tool." These quizzes often come in three different forms; short answer, true/false answers and multiple choice.

Some benefits for using on-line testing:

• answers are electronically marked, saving valuable teaching time.


• students can complete the test over and over, allowing them to fully digest the information and obtain the correct answer.


• environmentally friendly as there is no need for paper sources.


• provide students with feedback as to the areas of need.

Some disadvantages of using on-line testing:

• impersonal, students need to feel that their work is valuable enough to discuss on a personal level.


• does not allow students to work together to formulate ideas.


• students can take the test again and again, perhaps just guessing the answer rather than reflecting on where they went wrong.

As I set up my own ClassMarker account, I found this process to be very time-consuming (and I only added one question!). I would imagine however, that over time, a Learning Manager would create a question bank where they could just pull out the relevant answers and tweak them slightly to suit the needs of the class.

Some issues to keep in mind when using on-line testing are:

(1) ensuring that the students receive a sufficient amount of feedback, especially when it is written feedback.

(2) continually monitor the students progress, it would be useless to just let the computer mark the work, without the Learning Manager checking it as it would completely defeat the purpose.

I have previously used on-line testing with an individual child. It was part of a focus assessment piece, and I was required to work through the test with her to ensure she understood the questions. This was not a test that I personally created, though I found it to be a stimulating form of assessment.

Regards,

Erin.

Sources:

Learning and Teaching Unit. (2009). On-Line Quizzes. [Electronic resource]. (http://www.unisa.edu.au/ltu/staff/practice/online/quiz.asp). Retrieved 17 August 2009.