Reading Quizzes for Upper Year Seminars

Abstract

Class discussions always go better when people are prepared. To encourage students to prioritize readings for an upper year seminar, I instituted short answer reading quizzes at the beginning of every class modeled from Clinton and Kohlmeyer (2005). This seminar entailed weekly readings (approximately 30 to 50 pages) and such readings were typically empirical papers. Quizzes were structured to comprise two to three open ended questions and were first completed individually and handed to the instructor. Once completed, groups of 3-4 students received a clean copy of the quiz to complete together. Both individual and group quizzes were graded. An average score based on the individual results of the group was calculated and if the score on the group quiz was higher than the average, the difference was added to each individual score. In addition to enhancing engagement and learning (e.g., Hodges et al., 2015; Tropman, 2014; Wambuguh & Yonn-Brown, 2013), the use of both individual and group quizzes was intended to limit students‘ anxieties related to quizzes and, at the same time, students who had not completed the readings would benefit less than those who had completed the work. Observations across three iterations of the seminar highlight the added benefit of group quizzes for fostering enthusiastic and rewarding discussions. Moreover, feedback from students on end of semester anonymous surveys support the use of individual and group quizzes for active learning.