I like to quiz our students at the end of our structured lessons. This rounds-off the lesson in a fun way and brings joy to students, it might even make them stay.

There are some issues with the sheer length of the sessions we run at UAL. I can understand how if a class was painting, or dress making, that a four hour session while the practical session is taking place, with the tutor walking around everyone and monitoring progress, makes perfect sense. However when it comes to computing, we are finding that some students find these sessions way too long to concentrate. To combat this, we have done a number of things:

• we split the classes into 45 minutes then a 15 minute break or 2 lectures and a long practical
• we check in with students about the sessions and the pace of the information being delivered

Even so, some students are starting to make excuses (such as work shifts) and leave after the first 2/3 hours.

As I mentioned in the Evaluation of teaching practice: Assessment & Feedback essay submitted for this course, there is one element which students look forward to, and encourages them to stay to the end of the session.

Quiz or not to quiz?!

Using an online quiz system, I have noticed that students do stay around a little longer if they are quizzed at the end of the session. I expect this is because of the instant feedback they get about their progress, but there are some other considerations:

• making a quiz takes extra time to prepare, and when there are a lot of activities happening, there isn’t always time for this- and once students expect something and it doesn’t happen, they are disappointed
• the quiz has to be engaging enough to be fun, so make fun of the course material in some way
• they may expect the quiz to be marked, so if it’s not, it’s important to explain that it is entirely optional and voluntary
• there may be GDPR issues with the way the quiz company handles student data that are at odds with UAL data policies which need to be investigated

Personally, I teach a practical study with electronics, which have fixed methods, so creating a quiz at the end of a lecture gives me some feedback about if concepts have been caught, re-enforces the lecture/practical session content and provides a way to round up a lecture, like a song used to wind up a sketch show.

It does, however become a matter of time. If I am associate lecturer, I can watch the lecture with the students and create the quiz while the lesson is being delivered, however if the lesson takes too long to prepare, I will leave it out.