Assessment is a piece of education that I believe all teachers are constantly working on. For the quiz, I found having the different types of questions: multiple choice, matching, short answer, short essay, required a bit more thought to create, as opposed to just handing out a quick multiple choice or written quiz. However, upon reflection I can definitely see the value in having students complete an online quiz with different question types rather than a simpler paper copy for a number of reasons.

First, I found it really helped to meet Gibbs & Simpson’s (2005) Condition three, “tackling the assessed task engages students in productive learning activity of an appropriate kind.” Providing a quiz with varying types of questions, forces students to form a deeper understand of the material they will be assessed on, as they will not be able to simply focus on memorization for example. As Gibbs & Simpson state, “some assignments create appropriate learning activity as a by-product” (p. 15). While multiple choice and matching questions test students on the content of the novel, short essay and short answer questions require reflection and a more in depth understanding as students will need to explain their thinking.

Another reason I am a fan of an online quiz is the immediate feedback that can be provided. Many of my students get anxious when taking an exam or quiz, and being able to provide immediate feedback, such as with the multiple choice and matching questions, may help to relieve student anxiety and boost confidence if they are completing the questions and immediately finding out how they did. If students are doing well on at least half of the test questions, it may help give them a piece of mind while they wait for the teacher to mark the other half of the exam.

Although creating an online quiz that can be completed asynchronously can require some more thought than having students complete a quiz synchronously (not being there in person to ask questions, making sure the wording of questions is clear, etc),  the ability to provide immediate feedback and not having to mark the entire test of 28 students, makes online tests and quizzes very appealing.

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from http://insight.glos.ac.uk/tli/resources/lathe/documents/issue%201/articles/simpson.pdf