About Quizzing With Confidence (QuizCon)
QuizCon is a tool that was developed by the Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning to extend the utility of online multiple choice quizzing. Using Confidence Weighted Multiple Choice questions, QuizCon aims to improve the multiple choice quizzing experience for both students and teachers. If you are an instructor who uses multiple choice quizzing in your classes, you may want to consider using QuizCon in your course. Research has shown that it can have an improved effect in long term retention of information, provides students flexibility and the opportunity to earn partial credit, and allows for you, the instructor, to get a more accurate view of student understanding of the content (Sparck, Bjork, & Bjork, 2016).
Highlighting the Difference in Question Types
| Traditional Multiple Choice | Confidence Weighted Multiple Choice |
|---|---|
| Must go all-in on one answer option. | Intervals allow you to show confidence when stuck between two chives. |
| No opportunity for partial credit. | Can score partial credit from confidence interval options. |
| No option when a student doesn’t know the answer. | “I don’t know” option with partial credit. |
Learning Benefits of Confidence-Weighted Multiple Choice
From Sparck, Bjork, & Bjork (2016), students:
- can more accurately show what they understand
- are less likely to guess
- are more likely to increase future retrieval of information associated with the question, such as feedback
Piloting Faculty
Alfredo Spagna, Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychology
Sarah Hansen, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Chemistry
Center for Teaching and Learning
Catherine Ross, Executive Director
Maurice Matiz, Senior Director
Natalia Dittren, Programmer
Meesha Meksin, Project Manager
Marc Raymond, Senior Designer, Experience and Creative
Michael Tarnow, Principal Investigator and Learning Designer for Science and Engineering