Russell Stannard samples a sophisticated quiz making site.
When Webwatcher first started, I remember writing about online quizzes and tests, which at the time were one of the few ways of creating interactive content on the web. With the introduction of Web 2.0 and the ability to upload and interact with online content, the original quiz makers lost some of their appeal. However, it is well worth returning to them as they have moved on and many now offer the chance to embed video and pictures, keep track of people who take the quiz and offer feedback. In this issue we are going to take a look at the free version of ProProfs quiz maker. There is also a version for which you have to pay.
Making the quiz
Signing up to ProProfs is simple. Once you are logged in, you need to click on Create A Quiz. You then have two choices. Choose Scored Quiz. You have to start by giving your quiz a title and a description and you can also add some tags; the tags make it easier for people to search for your quiz and should reflect the topic and content. One thing I like about this site is that you make all the quizzes on one page, though if you are using the free version, they will be presented to the students on separate pages. There are five quiz types and they all work more or less in the same way. You can add question after question and, each time, you can change the type of format. So you can mix multiple choice with multiple answers, multiple choice with one answer, true/false, fill in the blanks – you can even add an open-ended essay question. You simply click on the type of question you want to create. With each question type you need to indicate clearly what the correct answer is. However, with the essay type question there are no correct answers and the user simply writes in their answer and uses the quiz maker to submit it. In this case, it is the teacher who has to check the work.
If you choose the multiple answers type question, then the first thing you need to do is write in your question. Below you can add in your answers. Make sure you select the answers that are correct by ticking in the box at the side. Obviously, you can have more than one correct answer. You can also add an explanation at the end, which gives additional feedback to the users once they have answered the question. This can be used for all sorts of things, such as giving more details about the answer or even directing the users to other websites or giving them links to pages with more information.
Adding features
Notice that you also have the option of adding a picture or embedding a video alongside your question. This can be really good as you can take content from video sites like YouTube and TeacherTube and embed them into your quizzes.
Of course, it doesn’t always have to be the teacher that makes the quizzes. You could get your students to make quizzes and then get other students in the class to complete them. This is actually fairly easy to do as the formatting of the quizzes is pretty simple to master. You could even get the students to watch the training videos I have made for these quizzes (see below) and then tell them to make a quiz at home. For example, the students could make a pop music quiz, where they embed videos of the songs and artists they like and then add questions. They could make a quiz about travelling by using some of the millions of videos related to travelling that they can find on YouTube. Many video sites, such as TeacherTube, 5min, Vimeo and Metacafe, allow their content to be embedded. Just look out for the ‘Embed’ button, which allows you to grab the code and paste it into your quizzes.
Changing settings
Once you have made your quiz, you have a few settings that you can change. You can set a pass/fail rate for the quiz. You can instruct ProProfs to issue a certificate if the user gets a certain number of the questions correct. ProProfs will also track the users and provide information to the teacher on their performance. You can even set a time limit so that the students have to do the quiz in a certain amount of time. All these settings are found in the Score Settings area, which you can find at the end after you have added in your questions. There are three tabs: Score Settings, Message Settings and Quiz Settings. Message Settings allows you to add a banner. This way you can package the quizzes as if they are part of your school or institution’s own materials. Quiz Settings deals with things like privacy and the quiz layout. If you have the free version, each question in your quiz will appear on a separate page, but if you have a paying account, you can have it appear on just one page. You can also choose to have an email sent to you each time someone takes the quiz. All these things are pretty easy to set.Russell Stannard samples a sophisticated quiz making site.
Embedding video
These are all sites which allow their video content to be embedded:
– www.blip.tv
On this site there is a ‘Share’ button on the left.
– www.youtube.com
You normally find the ‘Embed’ button underneath the video. When you click on it, you will also be given some options regarding size and background colours.
– www.metacafe.com
There is an ‘Embed’ button under the video. Once you click on it, you will be provided with a variety of settings. These appear above the video.
I have made a video which takes you step-by-step through the process of making a quiz with ProProfs. You can access this at: www.teachertrainingvideos.com/proProfs/index.html
Russell Stannard is a principal lecturer in ICT at the University of Westminster, UK. He won the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Initiatives in Information and Communications Technology for his website ww.teachertrainingvideos.com. He was also one of the winners of the 2010 British Council ELTons awards.
This article first appeared in issue 71 of English Teaching professional, November 2010.