Attempts on Quizzes
For our math course here, we allow the students to do the quizzes twice. Since math is very difficult to teach online, it encourages the student to see where they went wrong on the problem or if it was a careless error. I think that any math courses should allow students to take quizzes NOT tests more than once.
Thomas,
A practice exercise....I like this! I do not use this in any of my classes, but I can see where this would be beneficial in my technology classes.
Shelly Crider
Afrodite,
Text language is a matter that needs to be looked at with quizzes. Are your exam questions written the way you have communicated with the students?
Shelly Crider
Many online learners can feel alienated and lonely. To facilitate more of a connection to an academic university and to build self-esteem, it is helpful to offer assessments such as quizzes that can be taken more than one time.
In other words, quizzes can help offer feedback as well as to provide learning opportunities to advance a student's comprehension of a particular subject area.
Some students might find the course topics in which they are enrolled to be very challenging and difficult to comprehend. For this reason, it is sometimes better to call a quiz a "practice exercise" which makes it less intimidating. Giving students more than one chance to practice helps to learn a skill better.
Depending on the level of the student, quizzes can serve different purposes. I feel at introductory levels, quizzes can be purposed to build confidence in the subject. Allowing the student to master the material effectively, by allowing multiple submissions, may allow the student to build the skills necessary for advanced courses.
I believe it is a good idea to allow students to print and review their on line work. When students take a quiz it can test their knowledge. I am more concerned with my students understanding and analyzing the material at hand and seeing how it would be of use to them in the real world. Sometimes a quiz concentrates on text language too much. I do not believe in trick questions. If a student understands the topic and how to use this information I believe that they are achieving the learning goals.
Pat, FYI...quizzes can be used as a learning activity and facilitate the transfer of learning by providing "immediate and formative feedback".
The purpose of formative feedback "is to inform the learning about the correctness of a response. Providing reinforcement for the learner should follow correct responses. Providing correction, with the purpose of improving future performance, should follow incorrect responses." (Alessi & Trollip, Multimedia for Learning, 3rd Ed., 2001, pp. 113 & 114).
Also, According to Clark & Mayer (2011) in their book E-Learning and the Science of Instruction, explanatory learning is a "teachable moment" that provides for a brief instructional explanation that helps build the right mental model (p. 263). Crafting explanatory feedback is much more labor-intensive than corrective feedback in that it tells the student why their answer was correct or incorrect which results in better learning (p. 265).
Sarah,
You could have students redo missed questions for half credit. When they turn into you, they turn in as assignment and must show work.
Shelly Crider
I also teach math. One of the issues I have with our online quiz feature is that it only gives the correct answers but does not show the student the correct way to complete the problem. What are some ways to get around this?
Brenda,
Yes, I do. I feel that a student who really wants to learn will want to go back and see where they were in fault at. Some students will not check at all, but those who really want to learn should have the chance to review.
Shelly Crider
Jeanne,
Agreed....learning from our mistakes in math really teaches us how to learn from other mistakes along life's way!
Shelly Crider
Do you allow students to print and review their on line work? I think this would be helpful.
Math requires the concept taught to be actively applied, not just memorized. This takes trial and importantly, learning from your mistakes to apply successfully the next time around.
PatJohn,
Nice job on second chances. Students often know what to do, but get confused and could use the second chance.
Shelly Crider
