Description:
The assessment tool category that I investigated was that of quiz and test builder sites. I began by investigating the sites recommended on the midterm assessment information sheet.
Survey monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com) and Zoomerang have merged. The sites remain free to users. However, as I explored the site, the survey options did not meet my needs for building a quiz and grading a quiz. Specifically, Survey monkey does not have the capacity to “grade” a quiz. Quiz responses can be sent to an output file, but, the instructor would need to manually grade each quiz. For me one of the benefits of a quiz is automated grading and that the grade is posted to the grade book.
I then explored Exam builder (http://www.exambuilder.com/). It may have served my purpose; however, given where I am in the certification process at UW Stout, I was not sure that a 30-day free trial would be sufficient. More importantly, as I investigated the site cost, after 30 days, the price was $10.95 per year, with the purchase of 100 licenses. Not a fit for me. I moved on from Exam builder.
I then discovered QuizStar (http://quizstar.4teachers.org/). This site is free to use. Based on the site introduction, there had been a subscription fee in the past, but all existing accounts have been converted to the free service. QuizStar is a tool offered within the 4Teachers Family of Tools (http://4teachers.org/). QuizStar offers what I am looking for in a test builder site. Namely, I can create the quiz, with a variety of question options like true/false or multiple choice, select question level points, make the quiz open for “public” use, offer options such as the number of times the student can take the quiz, when to provide feedback as the student takes the quiz, and more importantly, the quiz is scored and the grade is posted in a summary table. I was able prepare a quiz in about 90 minutes. The site was user friendly and worked for me intuitively. It was not unlike setting up a quiz in ANGEL or BLACKBOARD. It is also possible to import quizzes into the site.
One feature some may view as a drawback is that the quiz maker cannot score short answer responses. These quiz responses need to be graded by hand.
To access a quiz, students need to create an account at http://quizstar.4teachers.org/. Students then need to search for the course – in this case “Online Epidemiology”. Once there, they can take the quiz. The directions were easy to follow and I was able to see my score immediately after taking the quiz. (I have student and teacher accounts). I choose the option of making the course public vs. private. In this way I do not need to enter students’ names and approve their requests to join the course.
I have created a quiz based on the information that students will have studied study types expose, disease status, and the measures of association to quantify the relationship between the exposure and the disease. In this case the quiz is based on Chapter 6 of Friis and Sellers[1].
Learning objectives:
1) After reading Chapter 6 of Friis and Sellers, the student will construct a 2 by 2 table to represent the association between the exposure and the disease described in the quiz background material to at least 90% proficiency.
2) After constructing an appropriate 2 by 2 table for each quiz question, the student will calculate the appropriate measure of association between the exposure and the disease depicted in the quiz background material to at least 90% proficiency.
Benefits of the tool:
I mentioned some of benefits to QuizStar in its description, specifically, automatic grading, ease of building a quiz, ability to make the course public, and the ability to import quizzes from other sites. Thinking about the benefits of tests and quizzes in general, quizzes are an efficient means to gather data about student learning[2]. They provide immediate results, are easy to score and provide an objective manner to compare results among class members and individual students. Quizzes are best suited to test knowledge of factual materials, items with only one correct answer, and to carry out calculations.
Challenges of the tool:
QuizStar can be used to create short answer and essay questions, however, these types of questions need to be graded by hand. Students feel frustrated with the need to create yet another account for course-related activities. Thinking about the benefits of tests and quizzes in general, a challenge of quizzes is that they test knowledge bit-by-bit which may be inappropriate to assess higher-order thinking and knowledge such as concept application, analysis, and synthesis. In addition, poorly worded questions can make the test taking experience very frustrating.
Another challenge with a quiz is the possibility of cheating. Students may share the quiz from semester to semester or work together on the quiz when it is offered outside of the classroom setting. For this reason, it may be advisable to have various quiz versions from semester to semester. Timing the quiz or retaining a short window for when the quiz is available may reduce to incidence of cheating.
Summary of test and quiz builder sites:
Survey monkey offers users ample options to conduct satisfaction surveys, life style assessments, political polls and the like. It has a test pool and many survey development options. At the same time I did not find it suitable for developing a quiz to test specific knowledge. Exam builder may have met my need for building a quiz; however I was not willing to take a chance at needing the site past the 30-day free trial.
QuizStar met my needs to develop a quiz for this course and perhaps beyond this course. It was not unlike setting up quiz in the Learning Management Systems that I am familiar with, namely ANGEL and BLACKBOARD. In addition to being free, it is easy to use, and it is designed and supported by educators. QuizStar gets my vote.
Conclusion:
Quizzes and tests can be valuable assessment tools. They are best suited to test to items that are easily quantified and for which there is one correct answer. Quiz questions must be carefully written to avoid ambiguity. Although statistical software can be used to calculate most of the key measures used in epidemiology, I feel is still important for students to gain an understanding of how to calculate measures by hand. This gives students an understanding of how researchers and epidemiologist arrive at a result. In other words, it is important that students learn to calculate measures of association like odds ratios, relative risks, and a variety of rates. Quizzes and tests are an appropriate tool to assess student learning for these aspects of epidemiology.
[1] Friis, R. H. & Sellers, T. A. (2009) Epidemiology for Public Health Practice (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
[2] Suskie, Linda. 2004. Assessing Student Learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc.
By: Debra J. Kane - UW Stout - Assessment in E-Learning
The assessment tool category that I investigated was that of quiz and test builder sites. I began by investigating the sites recommended on the midterm assessment information sheet.
Survey monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com) and Zoomerang have merged. The sites remain free to users. However, as I explored the site, the survey options did not meet my needs for building a quiz and grading a quiz. Specifically, Survey monkey does not have the capacity to “grade” a quiz. Quiz responses can be sent to an output file, but, the instructor would need to manually grade each quiz. For me one of the benefits of a quiz is automated grading and that the grade is posted to the grade book.
I then explored Exam builder (http://www.exambuilder.com/). It may have served my purpose; however, given where I am in the certification process at UW Stout, I was not sure that a 30-day free trial would be sufficient. More importantly, as I investigated the site cost, after 30 days, the price was $10.95 per year, with the purchase of 100 licenses. Not a fit for me. I moved on from Exam builder.
I then discovered QuizStar (http://quizstar.4teachers.org/). This site is free to use. Based on the site introduction, there had been a subscription fee in the past, but all existing accounts have been converted to the free service. QuizStar is a tool offered within the 4Teachers Family of Tools (http://4teachers.org/). QuizStar offers what I am looking for in a test builder site. Namely, I can create the quiz, with a variety of question options like true/false or multiple choice, select question level points, make the quiz open for “public” use, offer options such as the number of times the student can take the quiz, when to provide feedback as the student takes the quiz, and more importantly, the quiz is scored and the grade is posted in a summary table. I was able prepare a quiz in about 90 minutes. The site was user friendly and worked for me intuitively. It was not unlike setting up a quiz in ANGEL or BLACKBOARD. It is also possible to import quizzes into the site.
One feature some may view as a drawback is that the quiz maker cannot score short answer responses. These quiz responses need to be graded by hand.
To access a quiz, students need to create an account at http://quizstar.4teachers.org/. Students then need to search for the course – in this case “Online Epidemiology”. Once there, they can take the quiz. The directions were easy to follow and I was able to see my score immediately after taking the quiz. (I have student and teacher accounts). I choose the option of making the course public vs. private. In this way I do not need to enter students’ names and approve their requests to join the course.
I have created a quiz based on the information that students will have studied study types expose, disease status, and the measures of association to quantify the relationship between the exposure and the disease. In this case the quiz is based on Chapter 6 of Friis and Sellers[1].
Learning objectives:
1) After reading Chapter 6 of Friis and Sellers, the student will construct a 2 by 2 table to represent the association between the exposure and the disease described in the quiz background material to at least 90% proficiency.
2) After constructing an appropriate 2 by 2 table for each quiz question, the student will calculate the appropriate measure of association between the exposure and the disease depicted in the quiz background material to at least 90% proficiency.
Benefits of the tool:
I mentioned some of benefits to QuizStar in its description, specifically, automatic grading, ease of building a quiz, ability to make the course public, and the ability to import quizzes from other sites. Thinking about the benefits of tests and quizzes in general, quizzes are an efficient means to gather data about student learning[2]. They provide immediate results, are easy to score and provide an objective manner to compare results among class members and individual students. Quizzes are best suited to test knowledge of factual materials, items with only one correct answer, and to carry out calculations.
Challenges of the tool:
QuizStar can be used to create short answer and essay questions, however, these types of questions need to be graded by hand. Students feel frustrated with the need to create yet another account for course-related activities. Thinking about the benefits of tests and quizzes in general, a challenge of quizzes is that they test knowledge bit-by-bit which may be inappropriate to assess higher-order thinking and knowledge such as concept application, analysis, and synthesis. In addition, poorly worded questions can make the test taking experience very frustrating.
Another challenge with a quiz is the possibility of cheating. Students may share the quiz from semester to semester or work together on the quiz when it is offered outside of the classroom setting. For this reason, it may be advisable to have various quiz versions from semester to semester. Timing the quiz or retaining a short window for when the quiz is available may reduce to incidence of cheating.
Summary of test and quiz builder sites:
Survey monkey offers users ample options to conduct satisfaction surveys, life style assessments, political polls and the like. It has a test pool and many survey development options. At the same time I did not find it suitable for developing a quiz to test specific knowledge. Exam builder may have met my need for building a quiz; however I was not willing to take a chance at needing the site past the 30-day free trial.
QuizStar met my needs to develop a quiz for this course and perhaps beyond this course. It was not unlike setting up quiz in the Learning Management Systems that I am familiar with, namely ANGEL and BLACKBOARD. In addition to being free, it is easy to use, and it is designed and supported by educators. QuizStar gets my vote.
Conclusion:
Quizzes and tests can be valuable assessment tools. They are best suited to test to items that are easily quantified and for which there is one correct answer. Quiz questions must be carefully written to avoid ambiguity. Although statistical software can be used to calculate most of the key measures used in epidemiology, I feel is still important for students to gain an understanding of how to calculate measures by hand. This gives students an understanding of how researchers and epidemiologist arrive at a result. In other words, it is important that students learn to calculate measures of association like odds ratios, relative risks, and a variety of rates. Quizzes and tests are an appropriate tool to assess student learning for these aspects of epidemiology.
[1] Friis, R. H. & Sellers, T. A. (2009) Epidemiology for Public Health Practice (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
[2] Suskie, Linda. 2004. Assessing Student Learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc.
By: Debra J. Kane - UW Stout - Assessment in E-Learning