The Flaw in Multiple-Choice Quizzes
A common practice in online learning, multiple-choice quizzes, may be overestimating student learning due to their ease and convenience.
The widespread use of multiple-choice quizzes in online learning may be masking the true extent of student learning. These quizzes are often designed to be easy to author and auto-grade, but they may not be testing the most important aspect of learning: recall.
## The Difference Between Recall and Recognition
Recall requires learners to reconstruct information from memory without any support, whereas recognition involves deciding whether something presented is familiar. Multiple-choice quizzes often fall into the latter category, as they provide learners with options to choose from, making it easier for them to score without truly understanding the material.
A study by Roediger and Karpicke demonstrated the effectiveness of retrieval practice in improving long-term retention. However, when multiple-choice quizzes are used, they often test recognition rather than recall, leading to a shallow and more forgiving process. This can result in quizzes that look like they're testing retrieval practice but actually predict performance poorly.
## The Consequences of Easy Quizzes
Easy multiple-choice quizzes can have several negative consequences. They can inflate scores, making it difficult to diagnose areas where learners need improvement. Learners may also overestimate their own knowledge, leading to a lack of motivation to seek further learning. Furthermore, learners may even remember incorrect answers as facts, a phenomenon known as the negative suggestibility effect.
## Can Multiple-Choice Quizzes Be Saved?
While multiple-choice quizzes are not inherently flawed, their effectiveness depends on how they are designed. If the distractors are competitive, meaning each option is plausible enough to require learners to actively retrieve information to rule it out, then multiple-choice quizzes can be an effective tool for learning.
## Five Changes to Improve Multiple-Choice Quizzes
To make multiple-choice quizzes more effective, educators can implement the following changes:
- **Write distractors from real learner errors**: This approach ensures that distractors are competitive and require learners to actively retrieve information to rule them out. - **Kill the surface tells**: Remove any cues that might give away the correct answer, such as grammatical agreement or phrasing. - **Put a free-recall item first**: Begin with an open question that requires learners to recall information without any options, making the subsequent multiple-choice questions more effective. - **Give corrective feedback immediately**: Provide learners with feedback on why each distractor is incorrect, converting a distractor into a teaching moment. - **Space the items instead of massing them**: Spread out the multiple-choice questions over time to force learners to retrieve information from long-term memory, rather than relying on short-term availability.
## Measuring Learning Effectively
To accurately measure learning, educators should consider using delayed assessments, which can provide a more honest baseline against which to evaluate the effectiveness of a format change. Immediate post-module scores may be dominated by short-term availability and reward the wrong design choices.
A multiple-choice quiz that everyone passes may not be a reliable indicator of learning. If knowledge checks never surface a gap, they are not instruments of learning, but rather a ceremony. By implementing the changes outlined above and using delayed assessments, educators can create a more effective and accurate measure of learning.
