Online Quizzes

General Online Quiz Recommendations

  • Do not rely upon online quizzes as the primary method of assessment in your blended learning course.
  • Keep the combined weight of online quizzes fairly low relative to other assignments/assessments contributing to the final course grade .
  • Decide upon quiz requirements which you must communicate to students (e.g. open/closed book; resources allowed; collaboration allowed; etc.).
  • Remember: the more emphasis placed on the quiz, the more instructor effort is required to prepare and administer the quiz.

Quiz Construction

  • Create enough quiz items to form a question bank from which a sub-set may be pulled (e.g., if students will see 10 items, create a bank of 20 items; if students will see 50 items, create a bank of 100 items).
  • Avoid writing only low level items.
  • Avoid response options which rely on a given sequence of options (e.g., “all of the above” or “A and B”). If these types of response options must be included, use actual wording rather than these labels (e.g., “blue, red, and green” or “both north and east”). This avoids problems when randomizing order of response options.
  • Review quiz items for “give away clues” (e.g., “an… apple”) or other problems.
  • Randomize quiz questions and answer choices.
  • Set a reasonable period of time for quiz availability (e.g., one week rather than one hour).
  • Set reasonable time limits for the quiz session.