There are a variety of aspects of education we’ve been doing for ages. Quizzing is one of them. So here the question is, should we still do traditional assessing or is it time to shake things up a bit?

 

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To Test or Not to Test a Learner?

It really depends on what you’re trying to achieve. But, whether it’s a quiz or a test, an assessment of any kind can bring up an emotion unrelated to the outcome you’re trying to achieve, which is learning something. What is this emotion, you ask?

Actually, we can think of many:

• Fear
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Unworthiness

Sure, you can say, “Well, if they didn’t study enough and they feel that way, they shouldn’t pass.” Well, here’s our answer to that.

 

Food for Learning Thought

Traditionally in education, getting a percentage right signified the amount of knowledge you had. But… is this an accurate depiction? Is not passing a test a signifier of not having the right knowledge? Does not passing always mean the student didn’t learn?

No. It means we as educators have the job to figure out what works for our students who don’t do so hot at testing.

 

Enter Testing In eLearning

In the world of Adobe Captivate for eLearning, something called “knowledge checks” exists. Remember, eLearning aims to make learning computerized. Something we saw permeate the field last year.

 

What Are Knowledge Checks?

Short answer: an assessment with no consequence. You can set your eLearning module so that every minute or two, a knowledge check slide appears. This slide asks your learners to recall, on their own, about what they’ve just learned. The slide acts like a quiz, but it isn’t. The learner simply gets a chance to check if they were listening and reinforce their knowledge.

 

Why Knowledge Checks in eLearning Are Great

Because these are not graded and your learner can relax. As the module continues, knowledge checks continue to appear to reinforce their learning.

 

There may or may not be a test in the end and it doesn’t matter.

 

Why? Your learners will have engaged with the content as they went along. Much better than brutally forcing them to learn everything at once, and then testing them after.

 

Instead of a Test

Get them involved. After going through a module with knowledge checks instead of a quiz, get them together on an online call to talk about it, act it out, or have them share their experience. You can even make a project out of it.

This type of exercise engages kinesthetic and behavioral learning, and may have your student remember what they learned long after a traditional test actually would.

 

If You Must Test…

Then still do the above. After, produce a regular test to afford a letter grade (you can also do this with Adobe Captivate). This way, you can be sure you served your learner because you helped them understand a concept and internalize it. And, you helped your institution with compliance by giving learners a letter grade.

 

But always remember: getting a letter grade and acquiring knowledge are not the same thing.

 

Ready for an Example of a Knowledge-Check Slide Using Adobe Captivate? 

As part of our portfolio, we include a micro module with a knowledge check. You’ll notice we have a quick video and immediately after the question is answered verbally, the knowledge check slide appears. Enjoy!

 

Who Are We?

We are Miranda Park Learning, your instructional design experts. When you need knowledge checks in your eLearning modules, contact us. We’ll help you set up the correct learning systems for your team.

 

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Picture: Photo by Jeswin Thomas from Pexels

This blog was written by Miranda Park Learning and has been verified unique by Copyscape