Quizizz for Retrieval Practice

on
 

As modern language teachers, we are all too aware of the importance of time spent learning new vocabulary, chunks or indeed, grammar, that we look to create activities that enable rehearsal time or retrieval practice. Examples of what we can do in this respect are shared frequently and generously on twitter all the time.  

 

"Good conditions for practice must be coupled with effort and motivation on the students' part"
What is crucial for me in this quote from Allison & Tharby's Making Every Lesson Count is the idea of 'good conditions'.  With this in mind, a short while ago, I shared an online tool at #EduDH20 that very much allows for 'good conditions for practice' and enables students to rehearse, repeat and thus retain information via effective retrieval practice.

The tool in question was Quizizz.  This tools allows for the type of low-stakes quizzing that really help our learners commit something to memory in a more permanent manner.  Add to that the ability to gain some useful insights into how our students are faring then Quizizz is the go to quizzing tool for me. 

7 Key Facts:
1. There are a variety of question types, including open-ended questions which allow students to formulate their ideas and communicate them.  


2. Whichever question type you chose, there is the option to add a picture or to upload MP3 or even record your own question which is just invaluable for linguists.  I often use this function as a dictation tool.  Students listen to my short recording and then either write the correct phrase or select it in the multiple choice option.

3. The opportunity is there to 'teleport' your question from a quiz that already exists, saving us teachers some valuable time (Note of caution: do check for errors).

4. Response times go from 5 seconds to 15 minutes.  15 minutes is surely long enough to write a decent response to a photo stimulus? 

5. The quiz can be set as a live class activity, it can also be set as a practice task so that students can practise as many times as they wish.  The only issue with practice tasks is that it does not generate a report so it is not possible to assess your students' learning.  Assigning homework however gives the wonderful possibility of unlimited attempts which then furnish students with that all important rehearsal time.

6. Assigning homework provides rich data feedback on students' learning.  I am fond of insisting that my pupils try a certain number of times over the week - keen that they commit the content to their long term memory and the data at my disposal tells me not just their scores but also how many attempts they have had.  

7. The feedback data is visually displayed and divides into three important sections that I like to focus on: players, questions, and overview. This view here is the overview and at a glance I can see scores, I can get a feel for how students are coping with particular types of questions and I can immediately home in on areas that need extra work. 

As I said, at the moment this is my favourite quizzing tool, there is great functionality aligned closely to the pedagogy that tells me that such frequent testing is going to impact positively on my students' long-term recall. And the data collection informs my next steps as a teacher. 

Give it a go.







Comments

Post a Comment