Beyond Multiple Choice: Explore Why Students Choose "B"

Large, foundational lecture courses often suffer from low student participation. The use of personal response systems, e.g., clickers, to ask multiple choice (MC) questions is one technique often used to increase engagement in... [ view full abstract ]

Large, foundational lecture courses often suffer from low student participation. The use of personal response systems, e.g., clickers, to ask multiple choice (MC) questions is one technique often used to increase engagement in such courses. However, using MC questions for formative assessment does not reveal the students' reasoning nor does it necessarily increase engagement beyond their answer submission. In this presentation, we will discuss:

1. How the use of additional question types expands opportunities for discourse.
   In addition to multiple choice the question types to be discussed include short answer, image-based, numerical, and rearrange list.
   
   
2. How including justification along with a MC answer can uncover misconceptions.
   Students are asked to justify why they chose a particular answer and these justifications can be displayed by the instructor.
   
3. How allowing anonymous, digital questions during class will likely result in dramatic increases in student inquiry. 
   When given the option of asking questions digitally and anonymously in class the number of questions posed increased by more than an order of magnitude and included cohorts who claimed in pre-course survey to be uncomfortable asking verbal questions in class.

Of course, not everyone agrees that the time needed to allow for anonymous inquiry and formative assessment is time well served in class. Participants will be challenged with questions on this topic and invited to share their successes (and horror stories). Please bring a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, whatever) to join the discussion digitally and/or an open mind and loud voice to hear and share experiences.