Question Bank Draft
From ETS
Title: What an Instructor Should Know About Using a Text Editor to Create a Question Bank of Quiz Questions
Volume 2 Issue 6
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of ANGELshorts designed to assist instructors in maximizing the potential of the ANGEL quiz tool. The series will be featured in publications over the fall and spring semesters. Additional information on the topic can be found on the ANGEL Community Hub (http: ets.tlt.psu.edu/angel)
What is a Question Bank? In general, a question bank is a place where quiz questions are created, edited and stored. Think of it as a place where you build a database of questions from which to pull from in the future. With ANGEL, you can create the questions directly within a quiz or you can compose the questions and answer choices in a text file, which you can use as a question bank, and then import them.
Why would I use it? There are several advantages to creating a bank of questions in a text editor: A question bank allows you to build a large pool of questions from which to draw quiz questions. A question bank means you do not have to create new quiz questions each semester. Instead you can draw on your bank of questions to create a unique quiz.
Question banks can be used in conjunction with Section Headings to create random versions of a quiz. The ability to create multiple versions of a quiz reduces the risk of students sharing answers, offers students multiple opportunities for practice and feedback, and offers students the chance to re-take the same quiz with different questions in order to obtain mastery of the content.
Finally, a question bank allows you work offline, as well as save the question/answer bank for use in a future quiz.
Who is using them? An Engineering instructor is using a bank of multiple-choice questions as mastery homework in her course. She tries to have a large enough pool of questions so her students do not get the same question even if they take the quiz two or three times.
Another instructor in Education uses them as part of a case study project in her class where students learn to use learning theory in practice.
A Mathematics instructor uses question banks to create drill-and-practice opportunities for students taking his Fundamentals of Algebra course while his colleague uses them to give six quizzes of 10 questions each in her course.
How do they work? An instructor creates a bank of questions, in the appropriate format, using a text editor such as Microsoft Word. A Microsoft Word template, located in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide, has been created to help you more easily create a file of quiz questions and answers in the correct format for ANGEL. Note: The template does not work with Office 2008 on a Mac. Instead follow the steps for importing quiz questions from a Word Document below.
From within an ANGEL quiz, an instructor enters, copies or otherwise imports many more questions than are needed for a single quiz or test into the test bank. The quizzing software creates unique assessments by choosing either randomly from the questions in the bank or randomly within content groupings.
What are the limitations? It can take a great investment of time to create a bank of questions to meet your needs. This can be offset by the use of question banks provided by textbook companies however, a review of these may also take time.
Additionally, if the test bank is to be used for tests that are associated with a relatively high percentage of the course grade, you need to ensure that all questions available for a single concept are of similar difficulty and discrimination. This ensures that each student receives a test that is equal in difficulty.
Where can I find out more about questions banks? To find out more about creating and using question banks with ANGEL Quizzes and to download the Microsoft Word template refer to this article in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide: http://angelkb.ais.psu.edu/article.asp?article=1293&p=2
To import quiz questions from a Word Document refer to this article in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide: http://angelkb.ais.psu.edu/article.asp?article=1215&p=2
To learn how to use section heading to create random versions of a quiz refer to this article in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide: http://angelkb.ais.psu.edu/article.asp?article=1201&p=2
To find out more about writing quiz questions: Visit the Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence web site, http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/Tools/, or arrange for a personal appointment via email, site@psu.edu.
Visit the Learning Design Community Hub at: http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/effective_questions
