Strategies for Creating Authentic Quizzes and Assessments

Quizzes are the unsung heroes of assessment. Occasionally dismissed as simplistic, they are consistently used to measure learner success, and this trend is not slowing down. Why? Because of their low-cost delivery, automatic grading and accessible, non-threatening format. Typically, learners don’t hesitate to attempt quizzes, they jump right in!

Quizzes are a deceptively simple tool, with the potential to deliver big impacts when used strategically and authentically. When creating quizzes, it can be tempting to take the easy route and include comprehension-style questions that ‘assess’ knowledge. But this style of quiz isn’t going to deliver true insights or learning outcomes that organisations and learners expect because it relies on rote memorisation. In contrast, authentic quizzes are crafted with care, guided by course outcomes, and deployed strategically through the learning journey, prompting deep thought from learners.

Before going any further, it’s worth considering why quizzes are included in so many short courses. They are a flexible tool which can be adapted to derive insights for a range of organisational needs. They can reinforce key concepts for the learner while also capturing data about learner abilities, skills and patterns within a dedicated timeline. Organisations can use insights from this data to target areas for future employee development, identify potential career paths or even evaluate the quality of standardised quizzes shared across the organisation. Leveraging quizzes and quiz data this way can help deliver consistent training across organisations, facilitate remote workforce quality control, and be the mechanism for certification and credentialing across industries.

So how can quizzes be designed authentically to assess learners against course outcomes? By following five key strategies.

1. Focus on application and higher-order thinking, not memorisation.

2. Consider quiz frequency and format across the learning journey.

3. Make every quiz a learning opportunity with targeted feedback. 

4. Enhance learning with meaningful scoring and reporting.

5. Integrate short response questions into quizzes.

1. Focus on application and higher-order thinking, not memorisation.

Construct authentic quiz questions that mirror workplace challenges learners are likely to face. This is best done by framing each quiz as a scenario, or series of scenarios, which assess how well learners can apply principles or skills to realistic situations. Challenge learners to demonstrate deeper levels of problem-solving and analysis by constructing scenarios that unfold over a series of questions, each building upon the previous. This creates layers of complexity for learners to navigate and opportunities to demonstrate how they would approach this scenario in the real world.

Limit the use of comprehension questions in quizzes as these only assess learner’s recall, not their ability to synthesise and apply concepts or skills. In place of this, consider including a short response question asking learners to evaluate or analyse a concept and apply it back to their context.

2. Consider quiz frequency and format across the learning journey.

Quizzes are often placed at the end of a course to assess overall knowledge of concepts, but not every learning journey needs to follow this pattern. Quizzes can be used as content breaks at the end of each topic, creating a rhythmic learning and assessment pattern. Following this cadence reveals how a learner’s knowledge progresses over time and how insights from one topic can flow into the next.

The quiz format is also an important design consideration as it impacts both learning outcomes and assessment validity. There are two main formats, quizzes with permanent question sets, and those that draw from a question pool. The course learning outcomes guide which format is used. Permanent questions are ideal for standardised benchmarking or compliance across organisations. In contrast, question pools are a scalable means of delivering unique quiz experiences to every learner. They are ideal for courses spanning many knowledge areas and outcomes as questions can be pooled by topic or outcome. This allows learners’ understanding to be assessed within each domain, revealing strengths and weaknesses across course outcomes.

3. Make every quiz a learning opportunity with targeted authentic feedback. 

While all quizzes are constructed with incorrect or correct answers, authentic quizzes go one step further providing learners with feedback that adds value to their responses. Learners value this targeted feedback as it provides greater context, resolves misconceptions, and delivers insights into their strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. 

How feedback is delivered to learners requires careful consideration. Some quizzes benefit from automatic feedback, especially when immediate validation and reinforcement are required. Automated feedback is a scalable means of managing assessment across large organisations and cohorts, and is suitable for courses with compliance-based outcomes. In contrast, manual feedback, while resource-dependent, is valuable for delivering personalised feedback to individual learners, especially when short response questions are included in quizzes. Additionally, it can act as a talking point between learners and managers or course facilitators, deepening their understanding of course content and personal context.

Some courses may benefit from a blended approach, where quizzes and other assessment tasks are compiled into a portfolio to be graded by assessors in a single sitting. This approach reduces time commitments for assessors, meaning it is relatively scalable for the organisation, and reveals a good overview of learner development across the course.

4. Enhance learning with meaningful scoring and reporting with authentic quizzes and assessments

Quizzes can deliver clear data insights into learner behaviours and identify patterns of misunderstanding across cohorts. This data is invaluable for identifying skills gaps, meeting compliance requirements, or serving as a measurement tool proving the ROI of training for organisations.

Authentic quizzes are constructed with these reporting insights in mind, and scoring can be adapted accordingly. Take, for example, a quiz containing a mix of questions across topics, aligned to key behavioural or business outcomes. These outcomes can be independently scored by grouping questions into pools. Scores are then allocated for each pool, giving deeper insights into distinct behavioural outcomes. 

Enhance scoring further by giving topics or questions with real-world importance a greater weight than others. This weighted system, which prioritises real-world application over question complexity, delivers more nuanced reports than standard scoring and can provide greater insights into students' strengths and weaknesses. 

5. Integrate short response questions in to your quizzes. 

Quizzes will always persist because they are low-cost and easy for learners to jump into, but that doesn’t mean every question has to be multiple-choice. Some quiz topics may require more consideration than multiple-choice questions can accommodate. In this case, add one or two short response questions into the quiz flow. These can be manually marked; along with other quiz questions, but are weighted higher reflecting the deeper thinking they require from learners.

Final Thoughts

Applied authentically, quizzes transcend their traditional format as a measurement tool, becoming key elements of the learning journey. They are a vehicle for testing learners’ ability to apply knowledge and can provide valuable feedback, while also capturing key insights for organisations. When developing your next short course, consider how carefully planned and strategically placed quizzes might not just measure learner recall, but also contribute to course objectives, to become a powerful instructional asset.