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Editor's Note: This is a draft of November's ANGELshort and may be subject to changes.

Many instructors use a variety of media to teach their students. This is true in both computer-based and face-to-face instruction. Using multiple forms of media allows the instructor to engage the students on both the visual and auditory planes. This enables deeper learning to occur as opposed to using words or pictures alone. But did you know that using multimedia could also enhance the assessment process?

If you use multimedia files for teaching and learning using them in an assessment tool, such as a quiz, allows a consistent transfer of information. Students will recall and process the information the way they learned it. Additionally, questions that use multimedia allow for a more authentic experience.

ANGEL quizzes can display many types of media files including images, audio clips, and movies. Media can be placed in the section heading, directly into s quiz question as well as into the answer choices or feedback area.

Here are five things faculty should be aware of when using media in a quiz:

1. Know where to store your media. Media files can take up a lot of space and use up bandwidth. Therefore, it is important to know where to place a media file. Media files can be stored in three places: directly in a quiz, in another area inside of ANGEL, such as a Master Course or Learning Object Repository (LOR) or, outside of ANGEL, such as on the PSU streaming server or in your personal storage space (PASS). They type and size of the file will determine the best place for it.

As a general rule, low-resolution images can be placed directly in the quiz while high-resolution images, audio, and video files should be stored outside of the quiz. Placing large media files directly in the quiz could result in performance issues, such as the inability for the quiz to load for the students.

2. Determine the best way to access your media. You should link to a media file stored in a Mater Course or LOR rather than copying it into the quiz. This approach reduces unnecessary duplication of large files and is a more efficient use of server hard drive space.

The same rule applies to media files stored on the streaming server. When the student click on the link to the audio or video file the QuickTime player will open and play.

3. Embed a media file from another source. Increasingly, instructors are using video clips from external sources such as news blogs and YouTube in their teaching. You can also use video files from an external source in quizzes through a process called embedding. Embedding a video into a quiz creates makes it appear as if the video is actually part of the quiz and not stored somewhere else. An embedded video plays within the quiz and does not require the use of an additional application. This makes for a more seamless experience for the students.

4. Optimize file size of your media. Regardless of where you store your media files you will want to optimize the file size. Large media files take longer to download and strain the performance of the ANGEL system. The JPEG format works best when placing an image inside a quiz. It is not necessary for the image to be of high quality. In most cases a JPEG quality setting of medium is sufficient.

You may also want to reduce the height and width of the image so the image and the question can appear together on the screen without requiring the student to scroll up and down. This also applies to a video clip embedded from another site. This can be done through the quiz question editor.

5. Know where you want to place your media within a quiz. You can add a media file to any quiz question type, including section headers, the student answer choices, and the instructor feedback fields. You can do this by entering the HTML code directly into the desired field or by opening up the HTML editor (recommended).

If the media file applies to a specific question place the file directly in the question text field. If the file applies to a series of questions you may want to consider placing the media file in a section header and include specific instructions in the directions.

Check out the following links to learn more about using media in a quiz:

Media Storage Options at Penn State
">http://angelkb.ais.psu.edu/article.asp?article=1517&p=2

Optimizing File Sizes for ANGEL
http://angelkb.ais.psu.edu/article.asp?article=1520&p=2

Computer-based Testing
http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/Tools/CBT/