Workflow: Giving a Quiz Print
Articles - Using MOARS in Classrooms
Written by Bill Pellowe   
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:48

This article describes my in-class workflow when giving the students a quiz. This article assumes that the quiz is ready for the students. What I do: the students take the quiz, I add the points to the gradebook, then I review the quiz. Later, if we have more than one quiz that class, I'll edit the gradebook to excuse absences for one of them. This article explains this process in more depth, including what you're supposed to click in the teacher's administration area.

Basics

First, I tell the students to log in and get ready. In the early weeks of the semester, I need to remind some of them what the website URL is. I also may need to remind some students what their passwords are, so I prepare for that by putting the information on my screen (from the Home Menu, undeneath "Manage Students", choose "Retrieve student log-in information").

Teacher Setup

After that, I put the quiz on my screen (remember, the students cannot see my screen), and I tell the students the shortcut for that quiz (Home Menu, under "Quizzes", choose "List all the quizzes").

Monitor Students' Progress

While students are taking the quiz, I monitor their progress (Home Menu, under "Quizzes", choose "See quiz results"). Every few minutes, I refresh the page (by clicking the "Refresh These Results" button).

When it's time to end the quiz, I warn the students that we'll be finishing in a minute. After a minute, I tell the students that we're done, and I add the students' scores to their gradebook (by clicking theĀ "Add to Gradebook" button that's on the "See quiz results" page).

Review the Quiz

I usually review the quiz answers afterward. I'll go to the quiz page (Home Menu, under "Quizzes", choose "List all the quizzes". Select the quiz, click "See Full Quiz"). I enable the connection between my computer and the overhead projector so that the students can see the quiz content. Remember, students are allowed to press the Try Again button during quizzes, so they've probably seen the correct answers already. This is a good review, and it's a chance for you to ask the students to explain to each other why the answer was correct.

Excuse the Absent?

After class, if I've given students more than one quiz that day, I'll access the gradebook (from the Home Menu, undeneath "Quizzes", choose "See Gradebook") so that I can excuse the absent students from one of the quizzes (selct the quiz column, click "Edit Grades". Click "Excused" on the row for every absent student. Click "Submit Edited Grades"). You can make your own policies for your own classes. My policy is to excuse only half of the quizzes for an absent student, unless that student later brings me a school-issued excuse form. If we had four quizzes, I would excuse two of them.