October 28, 2024, by Laura Nicholson
Writing Effective Multiple Choice Questions for Moodle
Key Considerations for Crafting High-Quality Moodle Quiz Questions
Writing effective multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for Moodle quizzes is a critical skill for educators looking to create reliable and engaging assessments. As part of our Moodle quiz month, this post focuses on crafting high-quality MCQs that align with learning objectives, promote critical thinking, and enhance quiz reliability. By following these guidelines, you can ensure your quizzes are both challenging and fair, making the most out of Moodle’s versatile features.
Best Practices for Writing Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) for Moodle Quizzes
Phrasing Questions Carefully
Absolutes like ‘always’ and never’ leave no room for exceptions, and in real-world scenarios, very few things are absolute. So, it is advisable to avoid absolutes in MCQs to prevent easy identification of incorrect options.
Question: Which of the following statements about the Earth’s atmosphere is correct?
A) The atmosphere never contains water vapour.
B) The atmosphere always has the same composition.
C) The atmosphere sometimes contains dust particles.
D) None of the gases in the atmosphere are harmful.
Utilise Effective Distractors
Choose distractors that reflect common misconceptions or errors and ensure each option is plausible to maintain challenge. For example, in the question below, highly unlikely responses such as Helium or Gold were omitted because including such responses would have diminished the effectiveness of the multiple-choice question.
Question: Which element is the most abundant in the Earth’s crust?
A) Oxygen
B) Hydrogen
C) Carbon
D) Nitrogen
Clarity in MCQ Questioning
Ensure that questions are clear and understandable without needing to consider the distractors. This clarity helps students focus on the content rather than being confused by the wording. The following question has not been written with this guidance in mind, and as you can see, it could lead to confusion.
Question: Photosynthesis…
A) Is the process whereby organisms exchange gases, especially oxygen and carbon dioxide, with the environment.
B) Involves the transformation of light energy into chemical energy.
C) Is the process of a seed developing into a plant.
D) is the method used by some organisms to produce energy without oxygen.
Writing the MCQ question in this way makes it difficult to know the focus of the stem without seeing the distractors. It can also lead to confusion as to whether more than one answer could be possible. General guidance is to state the stem as a direct question rather than as an incomplete statement.
A much better way to write this question would be,
Question: What process involves the transformation of light energy into chemical energy?
A) Respiration
B) Photosynthesis
C) Germination
D) Fermentation
Now, it is possible to understand what the question is asking without seeing the range of distractors first.
Minimise Opportunities for Guessing
Use the alternatives none of the above and all of the above sparingly. If these options are used too frequently in MCQs, students may start to predict answers and rely on quiz-taking strategies rather than knowledge. It can also lead students to guess if they recognise one or two correct answers, even if they are unsure about the others.
Avoid repetition: Include in the stem any word(s) that might otherwise be repeated in each alternative.
Poor practice
The capital city of France is:
A) Located in the northern part of the country.
B) Located in the southern part of the country.
C) Located in the eastern part of the country.
D) Located in the western part of the country.
Better practice:
The capital city of France is located in the
A) Northern part of the country.
B) Southern part of the country.
C) Eastern part of the country.
D) Western part of the country.
Align with Learning Objectives
When writing effective multiple-choice questions, each multiple-choice question should connect clearly to a specific learning objective. A challenging quiz that relies solely on obscure facts can hinder student performance.
Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills
To explain the points more easily, the multiple-choice quiz questions (MCQs) used in these examples all focus on basic recall. However, it is possible to design questions that engage higher-level cognitive skills. For instance, rather than asking for a definition, present a scenario that requires applying the concept.
Some ways to make your questions more challenging:
- Add context: Use case studies that require the application of principles or rules.
- Encourage judgement: Ask students to determine the’most appropriate’ or’most important’ option from a selection.
- Use data: Include tables, charts, or graphs to evaluate students’ analytical abilities.
Avoid Negative Wording
Steer clear of negative stems in multiple choice questions, as they can confuse students. If negatives must be used, it is best to highlight them through formatting (such as bolding) to ensure they stand out because negatives can be easily missed during situations where students may be expected to read through content quickly, such as during quizzes.
Additionally, processing negative statements requires more cognitive effort, which can distract students from demonstrating their actual knowledge.
Question: Which of these is not an example of a renewable energy source?
A) Bioenergy
B) Wind power
C) Coal
D) Hydropower
Be Mindful of Length
Keep answer choices concise in MCQs, as longer options might appear more credible to students. The best answer should not necessarily be the longest one.
Question: Which of the following descriptions best explains the significance of the Great Barrier Reef?
A) The Great Barrier Reef is a small lake in Australia.
B) The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system, stretching over 2,300 kilometres and home to diverse marine life, making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It plays a crucial role in marine biodiversity and supports a wide range of species.
C) The Great Barrier Reef is a desert located in the middle of Australia.
D) The Great Barrier Reef is a mountain range in Queensland.
Avoid Giveaways
When writing effective multiple-choice questions, try to ensure that the use of indefinite articles (like ‘a’ or ‘an’) does not reveal the correct answer. So, avoid using “an” before a word starting with a vowel sound, as it can give away the answer. Likewise, try not to infer that the answer is plural in the stem and then only provide only one plural option among the responses.
Text Analysis Tools for Bias Detection
Several tools can help you to check complex language or bias in any multiple-choice quiz questions you have written:
Grammarly or Hemingway: Analyses readability and will flag complex sentences and unclear language that could confuse quiz-takers.
AI tools such as Copilot: These can be used to evaluate questions for potential biases. For instance, prompt it to analyse a question for gender or cultural biases. The response may not always be accurate and may need some human interpretation, but it could be a useful starting point for reflecting on your question structure.
This final post completes our Moodle quiz month on the blog. If you’ve found this post useful, take a look at our previous posts on Hints and Tips for managing Moodle quizzes, Enhancing Student Assessment with Certainty-Based Marking in Moodle Quizzes, and Using Adaptive Mode in Moodle Quizzes: A Personalised Learning Approach.
For UoN staff only, please find additional guidance here on how to get started with Moodle quizzes – How to Add questions to a Moodle quiz
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