online teaching tips
Assessment

Allow your students to choose which questions they answer in an online test in OAKS

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I’ve been asked, on a few occasions, “How can I make an OAKS test where the students can choose say 5 out of 8 questions to answer?”  And I have to admin, this stumped me!  However, I will not be beaten and I think I’ve found the answer.

keyThe Key Is BONUS QUESTIONS!

screenshot of quiz edit with question 6-8 marked as bonusHere’s the scenario:

  1. You want your students to answer 5 out of 8 essay test questions.
  2. Each question is worth 20 points.
  3. Total test value of 100 points.

What you will do is give a point value to all the questions of 20 points but you will make the last three questions a bonus.  This way, you have an 8 question OAKS test that only adds up to 100 points.  I know this seems confusing but trust me, it works.

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 Student Perspective

The students don’t know which questions are bonus so it won’t make a difference to them when they take the quiz but there is one thing to make them aware of. They are only answering 5 out of 8 in our scenario, so when they submit their test they will get a message that they haven’t answered all of the questions. This may freak some people out. Error message: Warning you have 3 unanswered questions Just tell them, in advance, that they will get this error and to ignore it.  As long as they have answered the specified number of questions they will be fine.  At this point, they should click Submit Quiz.

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 Grading

From a grading perspective, nothing has really changed.  Regardless of whether it is a Bonus question or not, the grades will count.  

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

If a student only answers 4 questions instead of 5, you MUST mark a “0” on one of the NON-BONUS questions so they are penalized for not answering.  If you mark a “0” on a BONUS question, they will not be penalized.

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online teaching tips
Assessment, Best Practices, Distance Ed

Online Teaching Tip: Using Respondus Lockdown Browser to Deter Cheating on Online Tests

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As was mentioned in a previous Online Teaching Tips, with ANY quiz, test, or exam there is a chance a student will cheat, even in a face to face class.  But the temptation is often greater in an online class because there is no one watching.  With Respondus Lockdown Browser (RLDB) you CAN watch them, so the experience is more like taking a test in class. I want to be clear, NOTHING will deter a determined student from cheating, it will only make it more difficult.  In addition, RLDB only works with the OAKS Quizzes tool and not with any other publishers’ sites, third-party sites, or Akindi.

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How does RLDB work?

LockDown Browser® is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment (a student’s computer) within OAKS Quizzes.  It has two tiers of restrictions to help secure your online test:

  1. Lockdown Browser only – this method locks the student into the quiz/test and prevents them from going anywhere on the computer or web, from taking screenshots, or from recording their screen.  It cannot prevent them from checking their phones or getting help from others in the room. 
  2.  Lockdown Browser + Webcam (Respondus Monitor) – this method locks the student into the quiz/test and prevents them from going anywhere on the computer or web, from taking screenshots, or from recording their screen. It also requires them to have a webcam on throughout the entire test, show their picture with a picture ID and show their testing area.  When the test is finished, you can look at the videos of anyone flagged as suspicious.

    *If you select this option and see a prompt that indicates you need to contact the administrator if you are interested in using it, just click Continue to Respondus Monitor.  You do not need to contact anyone to use this. 

So if you need more security, select option 2, if you need just a bit of security, choose option 1.

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Pros and Cons of RLDB

Pros

  • It secures the student’s computer so they cannot go to the web or your OAKS class to search for the answers.
  • It allows the instructor to “watch” the students take the test after the fact.
  • It helps ensure that the person taking the test is the actual student.

Cons

  • It doesn’t work on Chromebooks, only on Macs, Windows, and iPad machines.
  • It requires an application be loaded before the test can be taken so students should be informed of this in advance.
  • It can instill a feeling, amongst the students, that you don’t trust them which can harm community building efforts within the class.

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Important Best Practices

  • Students will NOT have access to Insert Stuff,  Insert Image, or Insert Quicklink options when taking a quiz so if you are using those questions types that require any of those options then you cannot use Respondus LockDownBrowser. 
  • Students need to be aware that they will have to download and install Respondus LockDown Browser and possibly disable certain settings (e.g., remote sharing) and apps (e.g., screen capture) before attempting the quiz. Knowing this, students should NOT wait right before the deadline to attempt the quiz, as this process may take 5-10 minutes or longer. A statement/warning should be included in OAKS, as well as in your syllabus. 
  • Consider letting students complete a practice quiz, with Respondus LDBM enabled, before their first graded quiz. Alternatively, you could enable Respondus LDBM on your Syllabus Quiz. 
  • Consider using this only for high-stakes tests and not for every quiz, test or assessment.

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Incorporating frequent quizzing encourages students to practice memory retrieval, which results in deeper, long-term learning.
Assessment, Best Practices, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #6: The Benefits of Frequent Quizzing

In a previous post, I discussed the important role memory retrieval plays in learning.  To briefly review: each time we recall a piece of information, we strengthen the neural pathways that move the information from our long-term memories to our working memories.  So the more times we retrieve the information, the more deeply we learn it.  This is known as the “testing effect.”

There are numerous ways to encourage students to practice memory retrieval, but one of the best strategies is frequent quizzing.

Tips for Frequent Quizzing

While quizzing is an effective method to practice memory retrieval, not all quizzes are created equal.  There are a few empirically-tested stipulations that must be considered:

  • First, make the quizzes count towards the course grade.  While we would love our students to complete quizzes simply for the joy of learning, most require extra incentive.  That being said, the quizzes should be relatively low-stakes.  The purpose of these quizzes is to practice retrieval, not to have an anxiety attack each week.
  • Second, avoid the pop quiz.  Pop quizzes are only effective at intimidating students into coming to class.  For most students, they do not encourage actual learning.  But quizzes that students know about in advance do.  Rest assured, these assessments do not need to be lengthy or require labor-intensive grading (there are countless instructional technologies that can help facilitate this process).
  • Third, design quizzes to be at least partially cumulative.  This requires students to reach back to concepts covered earlier in the term, developing deeper understanding and more complex mental models.  Remember: greater retrieval efforts equal greater learning (note the emphasis on the word effort).
  • Fourth, include question types that will be similar to what students can expect on exams.  This allows students to familiarize themselves with those formats so the exam is a test of knowledge instead of exam-taking ability.
  • Finally, occasionally assign quizzes that students complete before they learn new material.  This may seem strange, but a pre-quiz encourages students to consult their previous knowledge to help them grapple with new ideas.

If you don’t have enough class time to devote to frequent quizzes, consider using online quizzes through OAKS.  Most textbook publishers provide gigantic test banks that provide more than enough questions to create multiple quizzes throughout the semester. These banks are designed to be quickly imported into OAKS and quizzes can be automatically-graded, making quiz creation and administration simple.  But to ensure students are practicing retrieval, restrict the time limit so they don’t have the leeway to look up every answer in their notes or book (20-50 seconds per multiple choice question is advisable).

Providing frequent opportunities for retrieval will not only help your students remember important information, it will also open the door to higher levels of cognition.  I’ve shared one simple but powerful way to help your students learn that does not require an overwhelming amount of grading or extra preparation. Want more ideas?  Check out the rest of our Small Teaching Tips series!

References

Roediger, H. L., Agarwal, P. K., McDaniel, M. A., & McDermott, K. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in the classroom: Long-term improvements from quizzing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17, 382-395.

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 181-210.

Leeming, F. C. (2002). The exam-a-day procedure improves performance in psychology classes. Teaching of Psychology, 29, 210-212.

Lyle, K. B., & Crawford, N. A. (2011). Retrieving essential material at the end of lectures improves performance on statistics exams. Teaching of Psychology, 38, 94-97.

Richland, L. E., Kornell, N., & Kao, L. S. (2009). The pretesting effect: Do unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 243-257.


This post is part of a series which presents low risk, high reward teaching ideas, inspired by James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.

Did you know?
Assessment

DID YOU KNOW…YOU CAN BLIND-GRADE QUIZ ESSAYS IN OAKS?

DID YOU KNOW? BLIND GRADING IN OAKS

I just learned that the OAKS Quizzes tool allows you to grade short answer, essay, or long answer questions without knowing which student wrote them.  This blind grading feature is something that has evidently been around for awhile but is so nicely hidden most users wouldn’t even know to look for it and is a great way to help remove grading bias.

  1. To blind grade a quiz begin by clicking on Grade > Quizzes from the upper navigation.
  2. Next to the appropriate quiz click Grade from the dropdown arrow.
  3. Click the Questions tab
  4. Click Blind Marking
  5. Click on the first question to grade
  6. Read the response and type in a grade and feedback
  7. You can navigate between student responses using the arrows at the top
  8. When finished click Save  then repeat the process for any other questions.

Images of the above directions