Detailed Description of Learning Activity

At the end of any module of learning, have students work in pairs or small groups to design a set of 2-5 multiple choice questions. Have students defend each question against a criteria of importance, relevance or validity, and difficulty level. Students should choose three distractors: one that predicts the kind of mistake a student will commonly make, one that is similar to the correct answer, and one that is clearly wrong. These should also be identified.

After the questions have been created, they should be exchanged with another pair/group to order according to quality of question. Feedback can be given at this stage.

Questions are then given to the instructor who will take the best 2-3 questions from each set and collate into a single quiz. This can be then used as a practice quiz for the class, or added a test bank that can be used for a different cohort of students.

Purpose of Activity

• Review and consolidate content from the module; build long-term memory.
• Practice multiple choice test taking.

What Makes This Open?

• Students create content.
• Students share learning or resources.
• It includes peer critique.
• It incorporates reflective practice.
• Collaborative/team-based learning.

Assessment

These questions can be used as a practice quiz. They can be loaded into the learning management system and set up for multiple attempts for mastery.

The quality of the test question, along with the additional information provided to justify the question design can also be evaluated and scored for an assignment mark.

Time

Resources Required

1. Module resources (content).
2. Collaborative space (virtual or face-to-face).
3. Way to distribute final quiz (learning management system or a paper quiz).