Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Planning
- Delivery
- Activities
- 51 Action learning
- 52 Amplifying your teaching
- 53 Audio feedback
- 54 Bibliographies
- 55 Blogs
- 56 Brainstorming
- 57 Building blocks
- 58 Buzz groups
- 59 Card sorting
- 60 Case studies
- 61 Cephalonian method
- 62 Checklists
- 63 Design briefs
- 64 Discussions
- 65 Dividing the dots
- 66 Drawing the line
- 67 Fear cards
- 68 Future scenarios
- 69 Games
- 70 Goldfish bowl
- 71 Guided tours
- 72 Hands-on workshops
- 73 Ice-breakers
- 74 Interviewing
- 75 Jigsaws
- 76 Lectures
- 77 Mind maps
- 78 Multiple-choice questions
- 79 Peer assessment
- 80 Podcasts
- 81 Portfolios
- 82 Poster tours
- 83 Presentations by learners
- 84 Problem-based learning (PBL)
- 85 Pub quizzes
- 86 Questionnaires
- 87 Quizzes
- 88 Self-assessment
- 89 Self-guided tours
- 90 Social bookmarking
- 91 Stop, Start, Continue feedback
- 92 Storytelling
- 93 Technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
- 94 Treasure hunt
- 95 Video
- 96 Virtual learning environments (VLEs) (or learning management systems, LMSs)
- 97 Visiting lecturers/guest speakers
- 98 Voting systems
- 99 WebQuests
- 100 Wikis
- 101 Worksheets
- Index
78 - Multiple-choice questions
from Activities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Planning
- Delivery
- Activities
- 51 Action learning
- 52 Amplifying your teaching
- 53 Audio feedback
- 54 Bibliographies
- 55 Blogs
- 56 Brainstorming
- 57 Building blocks
- 58 Buzz groups
- 59 Card sorting
- 60 Case studies
- 61 Cephalonian method
- 62 Checklists
- 63 Design briefs
- 64 Discussions
- 65 Dividing the dots
- 66 Drawing the line
- 67 Fear cards
- 68 Future scenarios
- 69 Games
- 70 Goldfish bowl
- 71 Guided tours
- 72 Hands-on workshops
- 73 Ice-breakers
- 74 Interviewing
- 75 Jigsaws
- 76 Lectures
- 77 Mind maps
- 78 Multiple-choice questions
- 79 Peer assessment
- 80 Podcasts
- 81 Portfolios
- 82 Poster tours
- 83 Presentations by learners
- 84 Problem-based learning (PBL)
- 85 Pub quizzes
- 86 Questionnaires
- 87 Quizzes
- 88 Self-assessment
- 89 Self-guided tours
- 90 Social bookmarking
- 91 Stop, Start, Continue feedback
- 92 Storytelling
- 93 Technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
- 94 Treasure hunt
- 95 Video
- 96 Virtual learning environments (VLEs) (or learning management systems, LMSs)
- 97 Visiting lecturers/guest speakers
- 98 Voting systems
- 99 WebQuests
- 100 Wikis
- 101 Worksheets
- Index
Summary
Multiple-choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best (or correct) choice (or choices) from a list of options. Such questions are used very often in educational settings, but also in market research and in popular quiz formats. You may encounter them most often in technology-enhanced learning (TEL). Many VLEs have integrated quiz and survey software and hand-held voting (or personal response) systems are very suited to interactive learning activities in the form of multiple-choice responses.
There are always two different parts to a multiple-choice question. The first is the ‘stem’ – a question, an incomplete statement or a problem to be solved. The second part is the list of possible answers – the ‘key’. Incorrect answers are called ‘distractors’.
You can use lots of different formats for the stem – images, case studies or single-line statements. There are some important principles to follow when developing your questions (University of Leeds, 2006):
• Think very carefully about your use of language. Try to prepare clear, succinct and unambiguous stems.
• Avoid repeating content in the options.
• Usually it is best just to have one correct response.
• Make sure that you do not have silly, implausible options. It may be better to think about what are most likely to be the misunderstandings of your learners.
• Base your questions on topics that have been covered by the session. Assessing things that haven't been taught breaks one of the golden rules of assessment – that it should be fair.
• Think about whether you want to provide your learners with the opportunity to re-take the test. Some learners are motivated by taking tests again to improve their performance.
• Don't give the answer away!
• Make the questions challenging – two obviously wrong answers and one clearly right will not encourage learning.
• Don't encourage guessing – if the answers are too complicated or impenetrable, then learners will simply attempt to guess them.
• Preferably, give answers immediately after the choice has been taken – answers should include some feedback/explanation as well as the simple right/wrong choice.
• Test the questions if you can – would random choices of answers get high marks? Vary where the right answer is.
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- Information
- A Guide to Teaching Information Literacy101 Practical Tips, pp. 203 - 206Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2011