What pops into your mind when someone mentions the word quiz? It might be relief of “I’ve got this” or it might be panic of “oh no!”
Quizzes are an important part of eLearning and mLearning (a.k.a mobile learning) for us here at Pathways, but not in a way meant to scare the learner. It’s one of the methods we use to measure comprehension and understanding.
Quizzes as an individualized guide
Assessments help the learner realize what they know and what they need to yet learn. They offer benchmarks for defined areas where skills and understanding may be lacking for individual learners. Maybe some participants are starting the lesson off with a strong base of knowledge and breeze through. Others may be new to the material. Both can benefit from the results at the outset.
Quizzes that begin a module or lesson guide the learner’s focus for the upcoming material. As such, learners may also remember important information when assessments are included as a lesson wrap-up or help them recognize they’ve got more learning to do in that area.
Feedback should be more than 
or 
Learners need feedback to clearly see what they answered correctly and incorrectly. If an answer was incorrect, why was it incorrect? Was in incorrect in whole or in part? Perhaps the answer is present to them to read through. Perhaps they need to find the correct answer and enter it. Quizzes don’t need to be pass/fail. They can be set for continual or a set number of attempts to achieve a specific percentage. They can also be set to not be graded in the process.
It is important, however, that the quizzes aren’t just thrown together with random questions or even with hard-to-recognize answers. They shouldn’t be created to trick the students, but should instead guide them through what is known and yet to be learned.
Don’t forget that students also want to be engaged, and we all know engagement happens within short attention spans. Quizzes are not the place for long drawn-out questions or answers. Simply put – keep the quizzes simple.
You dream it, we create it
Gone are the days of all quizzes looking the same. Different students learn different ways, and offering a variety of formats can make learning more accessible for a broad audience. From standard true/false or multiple choice quizzes to fill-in-the-blanks or choosing a solution from a drop-down box to drag/drop capabilities, matching questions, and using imagery and colors to pair possible solutions—the opportunities are truly limitless. Your quizzes can be creative and interactive to align with your eLearning goals and objectives.
Pathways’ online training solutions are customized for your brand and learning needs. We work to ensure that each module’s design reinforces participant knowledge through a compelling, interactive, and relevant experience. We look forward to telling you more about our solutions when you contact us at 888.961.6011 x 121 or info@pathwaysinc.ca.