Positive Impact of Multiple-Choice Question Authoring and Regular Quiz Participation on Student Learning

We previously developed an online multiple-choice question authoring, learning, and self-assessment tool that we termed Quizzical. Here we report statistical analyses over two consecutive years of Quizzical use in a large sophomore-level introductory molecular biology course. Students were required to author two questions during the term and were also afforded opportunities to earn marks for quiz participation. We found that students whose final grade was “A,” “B,” or “C” exhibited similar patterns of Quizzical engagement. The degree to which students participated was positively associated with performance on formal exams, even if prior academic performance was considered as a covariable. During both terms investigated, students whose Quizzical engagement increased from one exam to the next earned statistically significant higher scores on the subsequent exam, and students who attempted Quizzical questions from earlier in the term scored higher, on average, on the cumulative portion of the final exam. We conclude that the structure and value of the assignment, and the utility of Quizzical as a discipline-independent active-learning and self-assessment tool, enabled students to better master course topics.