Did you know that Moodle has an inbuilt quiz editor which will enable you to create polished online assessments to complement and enhance both the student learning experience and deliver powerful metrics which can feed in to learning analytics at department, school, faculty or university wide level?
Using online assessment can be a way of offering different assessment types as specified in the Curriculum Enrichment Project (CEP). Some of the ways in which you can utilise this valuable tool are as follows.
Diagnostic assessment
Diagnostic assessment takes place prior to, or at the commencement of, a learning experience. It gives both the student and the tutor an indication of the current knowledge level of the student and can indicate if the student will need access to sources of support.
Formative assessment
Formative assessment takes place at regular intervals during the student learning experience and as in the diagnostic stage, provides both student and tutor with reports which indicate how the student is progressing. Formative assessment can help identify any areas a student may be struggling with and when combined with effective feedback, can empower the student to improve these areas.
Summative assessment
There are two classes of summative assessment: High stake and low stake:
High stake summative assessment is usually the large, end of year exams, which involve the University exams office. Currently all Plymouth University’s high stake online assessment is delivered using Question Mark Perception, but this may change and staff will be apprised of any changes made to this current policy.
Low stake summative assessment is usually any other type of assessment which contributes to the achievement of the module. Examples of low stake summative assessment which could be delivered using Moodle quizzes are: open book or in-class quizzes.
A Moodle quiz has reporting functionality and offers a choice of different report types. These vary from a straight forward overview of marks achieved in an assessment by all students within a specific module or group, to statistical reports which can give detailed information about individual questions which can assist when evaluating the validity and reliability of assessments.
Currently ASTI has an introductory session in which participants will learn how to access the quiz functionality and how to set up both quizzes and questions. Further information about this session can be found on the Plymouth University website.
There are also tutorials available on lynda.com which give a basic overview of using different areas in Moodle 2.6, including quizzes. (Access to lynda.com requires your university username and password).