Transcript GENERATING AND USING MOODLE QUIZZES FOR MATHEMATICAL TOPICS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Mónica Blanco, Marta Ginovart Department of Applied Mathematics III Technical University of Catalonia Barcelona,

GENERATING AND USING MOODLE QUIZZES FOR MATHEMATICAL TOPICS
IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Mónica Blanco, Marta Ginovart
Department of Applied Mathematics III
Technical University of Catalonia
Barcelona, SPAIN
Abstract. This contribution focuses on the design, implementation and assessment of a range of Moodle quiz question pools. From
these pools, we intend to generate quizzes for the compulsory undergraduate subjects of the applied mathematics field included in the
first- and second-year syllabus for all branches of Engineering, following the guidelines of the European Higher Education Area.
INTRODUCTION
In 2002 the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) undertook the use of a virtual teaching
tool, the campus Atenea, as a first step towards the European Higher Education Area.
Atenea is based on Moodle, an open source learning management system, which offers a
wide variety of tools. One of these tools allows to create quizzes with different question
types, adapted to the specific objectives to be achieved at any step in the teachinglearning process. A powerful tool for monitoring and diagnosing a student’s understanding
of knowledge, Moodle quizzes contributes to the development of new strategies not
practical with paper-based testing.
To explore how to apply these new strategies and be able to develop a substantial bank of
quiz questions, we are carrying out a subsidized project by the Institute of Education
Sciences of the UPC.
In this framework, this contribution aims to display the general purposes and
features of this project, supported by the discussion of some preliminary results.
This contribution focuses on the design, implementation and assessment of a range of
question pools in a Moodle framework. From these pools, we intend to generate quizzes
suitable for the compulsory undergraduate subjects of the applied mathematics field
included in the first and second year syllabus for all branches of Engineering: Algebra,
Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus and Ordinary Differential Equations, Analysis of
Data and Basic Statistical Inference.
The aims are:
 To elaborate teaching material to supplement traditional face-to-face
courses, namely, Moodle quizzes, to be adapted to every level of the
teaching-learning process and to the specific scope of the subjects
involved.
 To use the created quizzes to promote a more effective, dynamic and
autonomous learning.
 To change teachers’ and students’ attitude towards the virtual campus
Atenea, stressing its dynamic, interactive role in the teaching-learning
process, far beyond its role as static course material manager.
METHODOLOGY
Moodle quiz questions can be of different types.
Different types of questions can be mixed on the same quiz, chosen
manually or at random, displayed in a set order or a random order.
Quiz questions can be organized into categories, which can be
afterwards combined into larger groups. Question pools can be
reused in multiple quizzes, shared between classes, and moved
between systems, hence showing great versatility.
Moodle’s quizzes module supplies a large number of options, thus
making it an extremely flexible tool. All the editing options can be
considered as transforming a quiz into a learning tool.
Since assessment is one of the most important activities in education, feedback on performance plays a relevant role in the teaching-learning process.
Teachers can decide whether to show feedback after answering, and if so, whether to show correct answers or not, allowing review or not.
They can set the quiz for a limited time, determine the number of attempts allowed and whether each attempt builds in the last.
Getting quick feedback after having taken a quiz is a useful tool for students to evaluate their own activity and help them become more successful, since they can analyze their own thinking and
begin to understand why an answer is correct.
Involving frequent, low-stakes assessments to guide their performance during the course of the semester provides a very flexible system for evaluating performance, keeps students engaged in the
class, and may reduce in the way anxiety before infrequent, high-stakes tests.
We intend to explore how to apply effective question-design strategies to supervise students’ progress at different levels of the learning process, articulated in specified learning outcomes
and skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, problem solving.
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Mean of the three Quizzes
SOME PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A preparatory experience was run last year (2007/2008),
involving the design, implementation and assessment of
three Moodle quizzes for Statistics, a compulsory subject
taught at the School of Agricultural Engineering of
Barcelona (ESAB) of the UPC.
We created the quizzes to be used as a chapter checking
after the accomplishment of each unit of content, hence
involving self-assessment. From this first round experience
we are now aware of all the data available for the teacher.
By the end of the semester our students were asked to rate
this activity. Not only did the student ratings turn out to be
rather satisfactory, but student performance also showed a
positive tendency.
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Paper-pencil exam
Student ratings on the Moodle quizzes activity
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Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very poor
We believe that creating and implementing Moodle quizzes will serve to
boost effectiveness and promote student performance, as well as change
teachers’ and students’ attitude towards virtual campus Atenea, as
promoting interactive and dynamic tools.
However, it is essential to bear in mind that all the process should be
permanently revised and updated. In this sense it was worth carrying out
the preliminary experience described above, since it provided insights of
the whole process.
Acknowledgements. The financial support of the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
 Blanco M. & Ginovart M. (2008). La probabilidad y la utilización de la plataforma virtual Moodle en las enseñanzas técnicas dentro del marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación
Superior. Libro de actas del XVI CUIEET. Universidad de Cádiz, Spain.
 Cole J. (2005). Using Moodle. Teaching with the popular open source course management system. Sebastopol (CA): O’Reilly Community Press.
 Heck A. & van Gastel L. (2006). Mathematics on the threshold. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 37(8), 925-945.
 Moodle For Teachers, Trainers And Administrators. GNU General Public License Version 2, June 1991[ http://moodle.org/]
 Smith G. H., Wood L. N., Coupland M., Stephenson B., Crawford K. & Ball G. (1996). Constructing mathematical examinations to assess a range of knowledge and skills.
International Journal for Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 27(1), 65-77.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Some items to be answered at the end of the
project, when the analysis of the all data
achieve have been performed:
 Students’ opinion about the use of the
different kind of quizzes in their own learning
process.
 Correlation between the scores of the
quizzes
and
traditional
or
classical
examinations.
 Psychometric analysis, to check the difficulty
level and the effectiveness in discriminating
learners (or good-bad performers) of the
quizzes involved.