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Unique and Randomized Quiz Generation for Enhanced Learning

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Utilizing Technology to Train Chemical Engineering Students

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41192

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41192

Download Count

357

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Paper Authors

biography

Mark Burns University of Michigan

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Prof. Mark A. Burns is the T. C. Chang Professor of Engineering, Advisor to the Dean of Engineering, and a Professor in both Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He joined the University of Michigan in 1990 after teaching at the University of Massachusetts for 4 years. He obtained his MS and PhD degrees in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and his BS degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Chemical Engineers, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

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biography

Valerie Johnson University of Michigan

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Valerie N. Johnson has a doctorate in English literature and is the Managing Director of Dean’s Special Projects in the University of Michigan College of Engineering. At U-M since 2003, she helped launch Mcubed, a university-wide initiative that provides real-time seed funding for innovative research by interdisciplinary faculty teams, as well as the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID). She has won awards for her university teaching.

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biography

Kaylee Smith University of Michigan

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Kaylee Smith has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a graduate student in the Burns lab, she researched dual-wavelength stereolithographic 3D printing.

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Abstract

Assessment of student learning is difficult in even the best of times. During the pandemic, when most classes pivoted to remote instruction in a span of days, administering assessments such as quizzes and exams became even more complicated. Answer sharing and web searches, things that are relatively easy to control during an in-person exam, are next to impossible to monitor in a remote situation. Even with exams in a physical classroom, almost all exams are a single version, suggesting that some students may be tempted to exchange numbers related to specific problems. Finally, in both exams and homework problem sets, the answers are typically provided several days to weeks after the assessment is submitted, severely limiting any iterative learning process.

To address these issues, we developed a set of Excel files that allow an individualized assessment experience for each student. Data for each question were loaded into various Excel sheets, and multiple questions could be combined to produce a quiz or exam. Different format questions were supported: True/False, Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank, and Calculation. The Excel file used the input information to produce hundreds of unique question variations, thus providing a unique (i.e., different question and different answer) assessment for each student. A text file of these questions was then converted to a QTI .zip file using the Python code text2qti (GitHub) for eventual loading into the Quizzes page in Canvas. The advantages of the Excel files combined with Canvas operation were significant, enabling the time-effective generation of thousands of unique Canvas quizzes and offering immediate feedback for students. The unique quizzes allowed students to discuss the problems without sharing answers and enabled learners’ multiple attempts on different quiz versions for each assessment.

Burns, M., & Johnson, V., & Smith, K. (2022, August), Unique and Randomized Quiz Generation for Enhanced Learning Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41192

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