We Need More (Way More) Than Multiple Choice
Multiple choice activities show up in all forms. In addition to the conventional 'choose the best answer' options we all know from standardized testing, the concept of multiple choice shows up in a variety of ways - Drag and Drop, Connect the Words, Fill in the blank, and others. So, while some of these add imagery and a little more action than point and click, we're still short-changing all that digital learning has to offer. It's time we reduce our reliance on multiple choice, and elevate the role of multi-modal digital learning. Here's why.
Quick quiz: As a tool for learning and assessment, is the multiple choice question:
Intuitive for students to understand and complete
Easy to adapt into Drag and Drop, Connect the Words, Fill in the Blank and other forms
A source of easy-to-analyze data and mutually exclusive choices
All of the above
The correct answer is D. That’s why the multiple choice question makes sense in a number of educational scenarios, like, quick checks for understanding, Digital Exit Tickets, and ongoing formative assessments.
Basically, multiple choice is well-suited for speedy and integrated assessment. And yet, it tends to limit developers (and users) in their ability to meaningfully connect students to their content.. Given the broad range of capabilities multi-modal digital learning offers for engagement, students and teachers need more (way more) than multiple choice.
This is reflected in the posture of students as they muddle through a series of multiple-choice exercises. Few students are upright and attentive after just a few multiple-choice items. The longer they go, the more they tend to slump. We can do better; we have the power.
Multiple Choice has its place, but a new era of engagement is upon us
Even as we acknowledge the role of multiple choice in conducting basic assessments, the technology available on digital micro learning platforms has entered into a new, enlightened era. Let’s look at what kinds of engagement curriculum writers can use to drive deeper learning and better outcomes:
Gamification
What K-12 student hasn’t played a digital game? The concepts of points, badges and achievements are second nature to today’s students, so gamification makes a logical addition to the educational sphere. Digital learning makes introducing gamification into lessons much simpler with technologies like live scoring, classroom dashboards and personalized lessons to address gaps in comprehension.
Variety
A continued over-reliance on simple, test-based items will continue to both underutilize the capacity of today’s digital platforms while underwhelming the students who use them. Technology-enhanced items offer so much more than multiple choice, including:
Fill in the blank
Classification and select matching
Writing prompts
Highlighting and annotation
Graphic organizing
and more
Granted, building such items can be a daunting task for teachers, much less content developers. That’s why a dedicated platform brings such an upside.
Adaptivity
Given the real-time access to data on student mastery of content, there’s real and ongoing opportunities to level activities according to interactive assessment of student capacity. This is an exciting time for individualizing instruction, something that print programs or programs that rely too heavily on a singular format are failing to realize in full.
Real-Time Feedback
Speaking of real-time access to edtech data…instant polling energizes the classroom dynamic and enables instructors to adapt their teaching methods on the spot, either to spend additional time or advance to the next topic based on the students' needs. In such an interactive learning environment, students are transformed from passive listeners to engaged participants.
Collaboration
When students can collaborate with each other and work together towards a common goal they deepen their understanding of the concepts they're learning in class. As students exchange thoughts, they develop their social-emotional skills and foster decision making, problem solving, cooperation, leadership, and confidence. Technologies like video conferencing, digital writing applications, wikis, and social bookmarking tools make collaborative efforts easy for students.
When it comes to engagement, students set the standard
We work in a world of standards, from standards of learning to open data standards, and so many more. But, when it comes to engagement, students set the standard for what effective digital instruction can and should be.
We see this in how students initially respond to new content (think about a middle schooler’s posture when they face new math, for example). Edtech companies like C2C are looking to change the posture of education to one where students are excited, curious, and optimistic about their ability to succeed. Here’s how:
Creating user-centric interfaces and design elements to deliver an intuitive navigation. Nothing stalls momentum like getting lost.
Fulsome, varied support of multimedia, including tech-enhanced activities and item times that stimulate deeper engagement.
Threaded messaging capabilities can facilitate teacher-student communication and answers to in-line questions.
Empowering teachers with real-time feedback on how lessons are being received is another way we’re striving to change the posture of education. When teachers can see how students move through the content (thanks to the detailed insight into each user’s pace and progress our platform offers) they are better able to meet each student’s unspoken standards for engagement, and deliver a curriculum that rises to that higher standard for engagement.
And if we get that right, everyone will sit up and take notice.
