ANGEL Community Hub

Editor’s Note: Over the fall and spring semesters we will explore some of the features in the ANGEL Quiz tool that enable instructors to use this toll in new and powerful ways.

Overview of the ANGEL Quiz Tool

ANGEL quizzes have several powerful uses. They can be given at the beginning of a lesson to assess the student's prior knowledge of the topic thus enabling instructors to adopt their lesson plan accordingly. This can be followed by a lesson post test to both measure learning and determine next steps. They can be used by students as a learning tool through the practice and feedback mechanisms. Low-stakes quizzing can increase students' awareness of their progress and provide instructors with the opportunity to monitor the progress of their students' learning.

The quiz feature is a prominent way to prepare students for class and to monitor their progress. For example:

* In one course, students review clinical cases, develop diagnoses and treatment interventions, and share these with the class. Students take short quizzes on clinical disorders and diagnoses. The instructor provides online feedback to students in the form of suggestions, evaluation, and questions for discussion.
* ANGEL's quiz capabilities, especially the ability to control availability, permit multiple attempts, and grades online were essential to this technique.
* Quizzes are used for homework, eliminating the need to grade 148 homework submissions.
* Students take thirteen to seventeen online quizzes that require the use of their textbook through figure/graph/table interpretation and solving of problems. The goal is to foster responsible student behavior, encourage them to open their textbooks, help them find answers in their textbook, and encourage them to work together.
* Quizzes are used to track and monitor students.
* Lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations are uploaded into ANGEL. Weekly problems are posted in ANGEL and submitted using drop boxes. Weekly quizzes and tracking tools are used to see who has completed the assignment.
* Quiz at beginning of course to ensure students read syllabus. Useful for large-enrollment or online/hybrid. Usually multiple choice or true-false
* Spanish class - Quiz in first weeks ask students to type accented words as a way to practice accent codes on all future quizzes. Fill in blank to check for exact match.
* Nutrition class - Open answer quiz in which students evaluate effects of weekly diet on male college students. Students enter short paragraph for each question (e.g. "Was there enough protein in the diet?"). Instructor liked format for reading results even though they all had to be hand graded.

Pre-class quizzes function to prepare students for class, enabling instructors to cover more in-depth materials during the class time. Administering quizzes online also saves the time it would take to give them in class. Thus, ANGEL quizzes can improve the overall quality of the time a student spends in the classroom via increased communication, better preparation for class, and essentially providing more class time.

Types of Quiz Questions

ANGEL quizzes support the creation of several different question types. Additionally, each question type is capable of incorporating multimedia into the body of a question. Students can examine a photograph, listen to audio, or watch a video embedded into a question and respond. Instructors can randomize questions and answers, set beginning and end dates for quizzes, set time limits, enable or disable other items depending on student results, create mastery quizzes, limit the number of student attempts, and combine online and offline items into a single quiz. Additionally, instructors can utilize the testing center for higher stakes quizzes and have the student results populate to the gradebook.

There are eleven types of questions:

* Multiple Choice: Presents users with a question followed by a list of choices. Only one choice may be selected.
* Multiple Select: Presents users with a question followed by a list of choices. Multiple selections are allowed.
* Drop-down List: Presents users with a question followed by a drop-down list of choices. Only one choice may be selected.
* True False: Presents users with a statement which they must determine to be either true or false.
* Matching: Presents users with a list of terms and definitions to be matched.
* Ordering: Presents users with a list of items to be placed in the correct sequence.
* Fill-in-the-Blank: Presents users with a question followed by a single-line answer box. Responses are automatically graded against a list of allowed answers.
* Fill-in-Multiple Blanks: Presents users with a question followed by multiple single-line answer boxes. Responses are automatically graded against a list of allowed answers.
* Short Answers: Presents users with a question followed by single-line answer box. Responses must be manually graded.
* Essay: Presents users with a question followed by a multiple-line answer area. Responses must be manually graded.
* Off-Line: Presents users with a question to be completed offline (no answer field appears). Responses must be manually graded.

Quiz Resources

From the TLT Learning Design Community Hub:
Writing Effective Questions
Grading & Assessment
Matching Objectives and Assessment

From the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence:
Classroom Assessment Techniques
Assessment that Promotes Learning
Using Tests that Teach
Using Mid-semester Feedback

Additional Resources
9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning Source: Indiana University Kokomo
Assessment and Evaluation Source: University of Maryland's Instructional Services
Assessment as Feedback Source: Grant Wiggins
Authentic Assessment Toolbox Source: Jon Mueller
Technology and learning: Defining what you want to assess. Source: Oblinger, D. (July 2006). Educause Learning Initiative
Measuring student experiences with course management systems. Source: Oblinger, D. (July 2006). Caruso, J. B. (2006). . Educause Center for Applied Research Bulletin. Vol. 2006, Issue 19, September 12, 2006