Creating Online Quizzes

With the recent research reported by the New York Times that Test Taking Cements Knowledge Better than other alternative forms of assessment, I have been experimenting with different methods to create online tests and quizzes to upload to my blog, wiki, or course management web page. These types of quizzes provide a valuable formative assessment for students while learning a unit although obviously the online mode usually cannot prevent students from "sharing" answers so it should not replace summative in-class assessments.

The most obvious and popular source for creating online quizzes is Google Docs Forms application which I have blogged about extensively earlier. Below is a simple video tutorial for how to create an online quiz using Google Docs:



Google Docs Forms have some obvious advantages:

• They are easy to use and free, requiring only a Google Login.
• Many question types can be used including multiple choice, short answer, long answer, or checklist responses.
• Quizzes can be in both Hebrew and English.
• The form can navigate to different questions based on the responses to a previous multiple choice question. 
• Online Quizzes can be embedded on any blog, wiki, or website and can require students to include identifiable information.
• All answers are automatically submitted to a spreadsheet on the "backend" for teachers to grade the quiz.

Google Docs Forms does have some disadvantages as well:

• Quiz questions and the order of multiple choice responses cannot be randomly changed for each test taker.
• Students taking the test cannot receive feedback on right or wrong answers or explanations for why a question in right or wrong. 
• Teachers cannot easily mark correct answers for grading.

For these reasons, I have been researching other free online quiz solutions. I created a sample quiz on מלכים ב פרק ט which I have embedded below using 3 different quiz sites to compare features. I would recommend that, in addition to reading my comments, you take this quiz using all 3 quiz sites below so you can compare the different user experiences for each.

1. http://www.quizrevolution.com/ 
Advantages:
• This site allows for very attractive quizzes that can include multi-media such as pictures, audio, and video. 
• It is also very attractive in its general interface and how it handles Hebrew.
• Finally, students can log in so their quiz scores can appear on a scoreboard at the end.
Disadvantages:
• Scores are not submitted to the teacher for easy grading.
• Feedback is given immediately by each question instead of giving correct and incorrect answers at the end of the quiz.
• Only multiple choice questions are allowed.

2. proprofs.com/quiz-school/
Advantages:
• Quizzes can be in multiple formats including multiple choice, fill-in, and free response.
• Feedback is given at the end of the quiz.
• Grades for each student are posted for the teacher to access upon login.
Disadvantages:
• Unattractive interface.
• Teachers are not emailed when new quiz responses are posted.
‫מבחן על מלכים ב פרק ט » online test
Zoho Challenge
This site is my favorite for a number of reasons:
• Like ProProfs, quizzes can be in many question formats such as multiple choice and free response but Zoho Challenge also adds a question bank so one can reuse questions from one quiz on a new quiz.
• The order of the quiz questions can be randomized as well as the order of responses in a multiple choice question.
• Point totals for each question can be set in advance as well as a timer for how long the quiz should last.
• The duration for when the quiz is accepting responses can be set in advance as well.
• Results are given for students at the end of the quiz and teachers can even evaluate the free response questions which are posted for students.