IMO Populi needs to do some serious study of Moodle and offer instructors similar features. I was particularly frustrated yesterday to discover that when I make a test, Populi only gives me two options: 1) immediately show the student the answers, or else 2) not show them at all. Much of my comprehensive final for Hu312 is constructed using questions from previous tests, so I want my students to be able to see where they made mistakes so that they can master the material. If I choose 1), the "show answers" option, and give my students a 24-hour window in which to take the test, those who do it early can then share the answers with those who take it later. Do we really want to tempt our kids this way? Or must I only give online tests in class?
Moodle allows me to have an option that will show answers only after the test closes. When I called Populi to see if there was any way to do this, I was told that at this time it is impossible, and that if I wanted to let students see the answers, I should make a hard copy available to them. Yes, I can do that, but it will mean a waste of paper and time, and even if I were to provide some sort of online answer key, there is the disconnect between the student's own test and the key. Moodle lets students see their answer, and the correct answer in the same frame. It's a much more streamlined, immediate learning experience than what Populi currently provides.
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Brendan O'Donnell Beth,
Actually, Populi already handles most of what you're talking about.Populi already lets your students review completed tests, which would help your students review any earlier mistakes (we added that after an instructor from another school suggested that—see https://support.populiweb.com/entries/276255-test-quiz-viewing-to-use-as-study-tools-for-exams).
Regarding the temptation to cheat (which no software can address—even the multi-zillion-dollar plagiarism suites at the big schools only catch about 60% of the cheaters, let alone open-source stuff like Moodle), a prof at another school does this:
- He gives his students a 24-hour window to complete the test.
- He sets the test to "answers not visible after completion".
- Once that availability window is over (and the students have taken the test), he goes to the test's settings and checks "show answers after test completion".
Then students can go back and review their test history and see the answers. Functionally, it adds maybe an extra click to what Moodle seems to do, but for all I know it might be simpler than how Moodle handles it.
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Christopher Engelsma Shame on you, Populi for not ending world hunger! and what are you doing about the Middle East?
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Christy Tucker Brendan, your solution is much less elegant and requires more manual work on the part of the instructor than Moodle. In Moodle, you can easily set it up to happen automatically, so there's no manual process. Instructors don't have to remember to go in and manually change the settings after the fact. Yes, your answer is a workaround, but it's a bit clunky.
The available options for what feedback is displayed and when in Moodle are much more extensive. Here's the documentation to give you an idea. If you'd like to see a demo, contact me privately and I'll be happy to show you. I do a lot of work with Moodle for some of my other clients.
http://docs.moodle.org/23/en/Quiz_settings#Review_options
While I wouldn't expect all of this, as Populi obviously isn't trying to be a full-blown LMS, Elizabeth's idea of using Moodle's features as inspiration is valid. Sakai and Blackboard have some similar options as well. It's a pretty standard LMS feature to have more granular control over feedback shown than simply "on/off."
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Adam Sentz You can now set test answers to only be available after the test availability window.
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Adam Sentz We just added even more flexibility to the available test feedback options. Check it out!
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