Quiz & feedback

Initial situation

In recent years, the teacher has seen a significant increase in the number of students in this required course. She had to rethink the organization of the course in order to keep as many activities for the students while limiting the time needed to correct them. She set up quizzes automatically corrected on Moodle and practical work (TP) that students evaluate among themselves.

Project implementation

The teacher offers formative and summative quizzes accessible from the course’s Moodle space.

The first ones, which are not graded, allow students to check their understanding of the course. They consist of true-false, matching (a list of possibilities to be linked) and multiple choice questions.

The second one, graded this time, accompanies the practical work (TP). Students must complete the practical work after which they have the opportunity to reread the course if necessary before completing a quiz. These quizzes include questions directly related to the practical work as well as more theoretical questions. The handing in of the practical course is a condition sine qua non in order to be able to fill in the quiz and have it marked. Only the answers to the quizzes count for the student’s grade in the practical course.

The last ones are those proposed by the teacher for the final evaluation of the course. They are composed of 2 to 3 open-ended questions and MCQs with one or more possible answers.

One of the proposed assignments is accompanied by a peer evaluation. Each student completes 3 research papers and submits them to Moodle. The student must then evaluate and comment on 3 of the assignments submitted by his/her peers. To carry out this evaluation, the student is provided with an evaluation grid that lists the points of interest to be paid attention to during the correction. The average of the scores received from the peer evaluation is the student’s grade for this assignment.

Thoughts and advice on implementing a similar project

The great advantage of quizzes on Moodle is that they are automatically corrected. This saves time for the teacher (who still has to check all the corrections), but also for the students who have direct feedback on their performance in the quiz.

Workshops offered by the Pôle SEA allow to see how UNIGE teachers use quizzes on Moodle, and give advice on the formulation of questions and answer options. Implementing a quiz for the exam requires contacting the university’s dedicated service to validate it and apply the necessary parameters.

The use of peer assessment also allows students to get quicker feedback, but also richer as three peers evaluate and comment on each student’s work. This format encourages students to be more engaged in learning, as they have to step back and look at what others have done. A different answer from their own is not necessarily wrong, and it opens up their knowledge.

Student feedback

“The practical work and quizzes help to better assimilate the material.” “The topics covered and the exercises to be done at home (quizzes, lab work) allow students to become familiar with documentary research, especially on the internet.”