Reflection on Creating a Moodle QUIZ
I found the experience of creating a quiz to be easier in a technical sense than our first assignment using Moodle as I now have a little more experience and understanding of this learning management system. I found the instructions for each part of the quiz quite straightforward and was able to double check that I was on the right path by checking in with the online moodle resource site (https://docs.moodle.org).
I found that it was a time- consuming process, it took longer to create the content based based on the fact that I wasn’t transferring assessment questions from a subject specific course that I had previously taught face to face or online. The huge benefit of developing an online quiz is that after the initial work, you now have a bank of questions and feedback responses that can be used again and that can be shared with others. In creating my questions, I didn’t make use of open educational resources, instead choosing my information from the document, Making the PYP Happen.
In my role this year as PYP Curriculum Coordinator, I collaborate with teachers in setting up units of inquiry in their classrooms. Most of the formative and summative assessment that we plan for students is done through observations, anecdotal notes and interviews. Feedback is given through rubrics using individual, peer and teacher evaluation.
The constructivist approach that the PYP curriculum is based on collaborative group work, open- ended vs closed questions, internalizing information instead of memorizing facts and applying and transferring information. However, in the case of the online course I am developing a quiz could be an effective way of assessing teachers’ understanding of the curriculum. The goal is to create and explain the curriculum so it’s understood and acted upon. Putting information into a quiz format can make it more interesting by presenting things in a different way.
I felt that the quiz component of multiple choice, matching questions, and short answer question could be used to assess students’ understanding but I wasn’t sure about giving marks partially correct answers, giving hints for multiple choice questions/matching questions or allowing more than one attempt. I did add in some of these components in my quiz but felt that this reinforced the “guessing’ game to a certain extent. I could see more value of using these features for skill based questions like problem solving steps in math where there might not the same possibility of guessing an answer without fully processing the information.
More traditional assessment such as the types of questions on the Moodle Quiz are used more often to assess subject specific skills such as numeracy understanding and reading comprehension. In my experience as a classroom teacher, I feel the automated multiple choice, matching and short answer type questions are great for giving both students and teachers automatic feedback. In programs such as Renaissance Learning (https://hosted77.renlearn.com/139920/) math and language skills can be assessed with individual diagnostics documenting a list of suggestions.
“Frequent assignments and detailed feedback are central to student feedback. (Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005), page 8).
I enjoyed reading the article, Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning, and being involved in this week’s discussion forum which stressed the importance of assessing student’s progress and giving constructive feedback as well as finding ways for students to self reflect.
References
Anderson, T. (2008b). Teaching in an online learning context. In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and practice of online learning. Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
Dufour, Richard.(2014). Harnessing the Power of PLCS. In Educational Leadership. ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may14/vol71/num08/Harnessing-the-Power-of-PLCs.aspx
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://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf
International Baccalaureate Organization (2009). Making the PYP Happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education. United Kingdom: Peterson House. Retrieved from http://www.sph.edu/sphi/tl_files/Curriculum/Making%20the%20PYP%20Happen,%20December%202009.pdf
MoodleDocs. retrieved October 2014 from https://docs.moodle.org/27/en/Main_page