Pop Quiz Makeover: Rethinking How and When Unannounced Quizzes Occur to Maximize Their Effectiveness and Increase Student Engagement

Abstract

Surprise quizzes are useful in higher education for motivating and assessing student preparation, but disliked by students. This session describes the use of random quizzing procedure whereby a chance event set in motion by a student from the class determines whether a quiz is administered. The session will explore why students may both prefer, and benefit more, from the enhanced quiz method, and examples of the technique's effectiveness in the classroom will be provided. Session participants will be shown alternate forms of the procedure that might work in a variety of higher education settings, and data will be presented with theoretical and practical discussions about the effectiveness of the technique.