Help
Using QuizCon
- Why does it use a triangle? What are confidence-weighted choices?
- How does scoring work on Quizcon?
- What are consequences? What are the three levels of consequences that instructors can choose from?
- Why is there an I don't know option?
- Why would an instructor want to use a consequence scheme that assigns negative points?
For Instructors
- How do I connect QuizCon to my Courseworks Course?
- How do I create a QuizCon quiz?
- How do I implement a QuizCon quiz on Courseworks?
- How are scores converted into the Courseworks Gradebook?
- How do I see individual student quizzes on Speedgrader?
- How do I see analytics and what information does it provide?
What is QuizCon?
Why does it use a triangle? What are confidence-weighted choices?
In a confidence-weighted multiple choice question, the correct answer and distractors are placed on the vertices of the triangle, meanwhile an I don't know option is located in the middle of it. The sides of the triangle form a spectrum or a range between two of the choices. This spectrum can be used by students who are stuck between choosing two of the options and can indicate their level of confidence in one of the choices over the other.
How does scoring work on Quizcon?
Since the sides of the triangle form a spectrum indicating the level of confidence between two answers, students can receive partial credit if they selected an answer on one of the sides indicating that they are confidently close to choosing the right answer. How many partial credit points a student gets is determined by the scoring scheme, called consequences, that the instructor decides to use on the quiz.
What are consequences? What are the three levels of consequences that instructors can choose from?
The consequences that are chosen by the instructor mainly determine how many points the question is worth and whether or not students receive negative points for confidently choosing a wrong answer, and how many negative points they get for doing so. The reason an instructor may want to use a consequence option (moderate or high consequence) is explained here.
There are three different consequence scoring schemes and their point allocations are shown by the triangle below, assuming that A is the correct answer.
Why is there an I don't know option?
If a student finds themself not feeling confident about any of the answers or is just completely stuck and has no clue which answer might be correct, they may choose the option that is in the middle of the triangle labeled as >I don't know. Depending on the consequence scoring scheme that the instructor chooses the student can benefit from choosing this option over guessing the wrong answer.
For no consequence scheme: Choosing I don't know awards the student partial credit (2 points), while confidently choosing a wrong answer awards them 0 points.
For moderate or high schemes: Choosing I don't know awards the student 0 points, while confidently choosing a wrong answer awards them negative points.
Why would an instructor want to use a consequence scheme that assigns negative points?
Research around confidence weighted multiple choice questions has found that if students are given consequences (negative points) for confidently choosing a wrong answer (leaning toward the wrong option between two options, or choosing the wrong side of the triangle entirely) and there is an option that opt out of the question and avoid those consequences, then they are less likely to guess on the question and more likely to use the I don't know option when that is in fact the case. This allows students to more accurately represent their knowledge on the quiz, and for instructors to get a more accurate picture of what the students know.
For Students
How do my scores on QuizCon get converted to the score for my assignment?
The score will be re-weighted to fit the total points that your instructor chose for the CourseWorks assignment. For example:
- The quiz made on QuizCon is worth 25 points (5 questions worth 5 points each).
- The point total on CourseWorks that your instructor chose for the assignment is 100 points.
For Instructors
How do I connect QuizCon to my Courseworks Course?
To do this you will need to reach out to us at ctl-quizcon@columbia.edu and ask for QuizCon to be added to your site. In the future, QuizCon will be added to all Columbia course instances as an option that can be enabled in the settings of the course.
How do I create a QuizCon quiz?
To start, click on the “Create Quiz” button. You will then need to fill out the title of the quiz, choose the consequence of the quiz, and select when students will get feedback. A description of the quiz is optional. When ready, press save and you will be sent back to your quiz dashboard. From there, click on the edit button for the quiz you just made. You can then start adding questions to your quiz.
How do I implement a QuizCon quiz on Courseworks?
You will need to complete the following steps:
- Create the quiz on QuizCon.
- Create an assignment on your CourseWorks site.
- The number of points the assignment is worth is up to you. After students complete the quiz they will be given a QuizCon score which will then be re-weighted to proportionally fit the point value of the assignment on CourseWorks./li>
- For Submission Type choose External Tool./li>
- For now students can only have 1 attempt on the quiz. In the future that will change.
- On the QuizCon website, go to your quiz dashboard and click on the option that says “Copy CourseWorks Assignment Link”.
- Return to the CourseWorks assignment and for Submission Type (External Tool Chosen) paste the link where it says “Enter or Find an External Tool URL”.
- Save and eventually publish this assignment to your CourseWorks site.
How are scores converted into the Courseworks Gradebook?
As mentioned in the previous question, the score will be re-weighted to fit the total points you chose for the CourseWorks assignment. For example:
- The quiz made on QuizCon is worth 25 points (5 questions worth 5 points each).
- The point total on CourseWorks you chose is 100 points.
How do I see individual student quizzes on Speedgrader?
QuizCon utilizes the CourseWorks SpeedGrader tool to store quiz results. When quizzes start to get submitted you can click on the SpeedGrade option and you can see how each student responded to each question and the number of points they were awarded for that response.
How do I see analytics and what information does it provide?
On your Quiz dashboard page on QuizCon click on the Analytics button for the quiz you are interested in analyzing the results to. The analytics tool provides the following information to you:
- Basic statistics such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and minimum and maximum possible scores.
- Insights into how many students answered correctly, how many received partial credit, and how many scored incorrectly.
- A percentage breakdown for how many students chose each possible answer on the triangle for each question.
