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Using digital media in Quizzes

Last updated: 08 November 2010
Published in: Finding and using digital media |
Tags: e-learning |

This is an introduction to some of the ways in which digital media can support the development and use of quizzes to support student learning.

Introduction

Quizzes are one of many types of assessment tool used, as a component in a course’s learning objectives, to test learner knowledge, skills and ability. The use of quizzes can be seen as an alternative to exams and written coursework. Because of the multitude of potential ways of implementing a quiz there are many opportunities to use digital media, which will be explored in this advice document.

In order for any digital media to be effective in supporting teaching and learning, it should be considered at the design stage: selection should be based on the learning objectives and the question or quiz criteria . This will ensure your digital media (image, video and audio) provides the maximum benefit that can be achieved. As with designing all learning experiences, the medium (quiz and your chosen media elements) should be chosen to meet the learning objective or else the activity is unlikely to be successful. A poorly designed quiz activity will not be rescued by the tool or the media used.

Assessment

Over the last few years requirements such as the modularisation of courses, dealing with increases in student numbers, and the need to frequently check on learner progress, have led to quizzes becoming a popular alternative assessment method to exams and coursework. The fact that they have application for both formative and summative assessment, autonomous marking and feedback, makes them a versatile assessment tool.

Below is an example on the use of images and quizzes with learners:

"Our animal care students depend on images to identify species and breeds. With the help of the Learning Materials Development Unit, we have developed flash cards and quizzes. The student attempts to identify the species depicted on the card before checking the answer. Uploaded to Moodle, image-based resources such as these help students check their recognition of less familiar species such as reptiles, birds and fish even when they are learning at a distance." Catriona Watson (Lecturer in animal care)

Teaching and learning uses include:

Blended learning - activities can utilize quizzes to inform or direct a face-to-face session for individuals or groups
Distance learning assessment - the flexibility of quiz design means that a quiz can be used for a number of applications which support the lack of face-to-face activity
Peer group assessment - quizzes can be created or used as part of a group learner activity
Self-directed assessment - quizzes can be designed to provide immediate feedback to support a learner and also determine the learning route based upon their answers

The range of quiz types provides ample breadth of choice for the teaching staff looking at changing their existing assessment method. Coupled with the potential of digital media as an additional tool, there are many configurations for quizzes to assess learning, based on testing facts, reflection, problem solving, and understanding of concepts.

Quiz types

Here are some of the ways digital media can be used to enhance quizzes:

Multiple choice questions / answers – digital media could be used to provide background context to the question/answer or form part of the question/answer itself. For example, a question may revolve around what is shown in a photo or video and the answer must include submitted digital media.
Fill in the blank – digital media could be used to support identifying the answer to the blank. For example, a quiz may involve a series of sounds that must be identified.
Either/or – a series of digital media objects could be shown and the student must select the most appropriate.
True or false – The student could see/watch/listen to a piece of media and then select the correct answer based on the media.
Branching – where each question/answer leads the student through a route based on their choices. Digital media can be used in the scenario to support the student’s decision to make an appropriate choice.

Capturing results

Results from quizzes can either be:

Ungraded/formative - that is the results are shown to the student either after every question or at the end of the quiz, but not collected for the teacher
Graded/summative - the quiz can be designed to capture the answers and results and send them to a quiz management system for the teacher.

Most quiz tools are able to capture results and send them to a designated management system. SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a common method used for this process and is available in VLEs and bespoke quiz tools alike.

Feedback

One of the chief advantages of using a quiz is the speed at which feedback can be received by the student, when compared to some other forms of assessment. This improved speed, when combined with the use of digital media to further increase the quality of the feedback, can make media enhanced quizzing a highly effective tool. For example, if a student has selected the wrong answer to a quiz question, the assessor could use a screencast, which includes audio, to deliver feedback, highlighting the correct answer both visually and aurally with appropriate detail.

Furthermore, as suggested by Middleton (2010), feedback should be instructional and clear:

"The student should also know what to do with the feedback, and instructions about the use of the feedback should be embedded in the language of the feedback itself. It is not just a list of points to listen to, for example. Instead the feedback is introduced to set up the expectation that the learner will respond, and each point is accompanied with a clear suggestion about how they can take action now and later."

Tools

There is a wide range of tools that enable quiz creation, either as part of another package (e.g. within a VLE's assessment tools), or as standalone tools. Below are some examples of commonly used tools, and some of the features they include:

Hot potatoes - a free tool that produces various quiz types and is SCORM compliant. Our advice document on the tool goes into detail about how-to create your own quizzes
Camtasia studio - produces screencasts and/or various quiz types and is SCORM compliant
Xerte - a suite of tool including quizzes that is SCORM compliant
VLE – typically include a suite of assessment tools including quizzes that have the ability to create and/or import SCORM compliant quizzes.

If you are new to quiz tools, the tools on offer within your VLE will probably be the first that you use. Each VLE has extensive documentation on how to produce a quiz and will be invaluable for the beginner.

The typical quiz tool will allow a range of different types of feature to be used including:

Maximum attempts – limit the number of attempts the student can try and complete a question or entire quiz
Time limit – set the amount of time the student has to answer an individual question or entire quiz
Date limit - set a date range for when the quiz question(s) are available
Random - Questions will be displayed in a random order

Conclusion

There are plenty of opportunities for digital media to support your use of quizzes and to extend the type of task employed through a quiz that would often be done only using text-based questions and answers. It is important to be mindful of the learning objectives and context within which the quiz and digital media are to be used, to ensure the appropriateness and/or usefulness for the quiz activity.

Your first step will be to identify possible points in your assessment where digital media quizzes can be used and the tools that will help you to build them.

When first implementing digital media into your quiz, it is worth setting some kind of performance indicators so that you can benchmark and measure the success of your new types of activity (in terms of student learning).

The performance indicators should be tied into the learning objectives at the planning stage and will vary depending on the nature of the quiz and your goals.

Finally consider if/how you will collect the results and deliver feedback, which should align with your learning objectives during the planning stage.

You can contact JISC Digital Media’s helpdesk service if you have further questions and also make use of the further resources below.

Further resources

Middleton, A. (2010) 'Why all academics should use generic audio feedback'

Brown, S. (1999) 'Assessment Matters In Higher Education'

Audio Feedback - A How-To Guide

JISC TechDis quiz software

Last updated: 08 November 2010
Published in: Finding and using digital media |
Tags: e-learning |

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