Beyond Simple (and Boring) Multiple-Choice Questions
By Karl M. Kapp
Here are two alternatives to multiple-choice questions: drag-and-drop exercises and board games.
There are many ways to grab the attention of online learners and encourage them to think about the content being presented. A simple multiple-choice question is not one of them. To be sure, these types of questions are easy to program and seemingly easy to write, but are they effective for instruction? Do multiple-choice questions engage the learner? Do they require high levels of cognition? Sadly, the answer in most cases is No.
While some multiple-choice questions do have the potential to reach higher levels of thinking and processing, most do not. In truth, good multiple-choice questions are difficult to write and must be designed carefully to have an impact on the learner. Even when questions are well written, most online learners have been confronted with so many multiple-choice questions that they simply choose the longest answer and hope for the best. Sadly, workplace learning practitioners have spent years boring online learners with straight-forward, non-imaginative, non-challenging multiple-choice questions.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to using the straight-forward, multiple-choice question format. In my recent Learning Circuits article, “Teaching Facts with Fun Online Games,” I discussed how you can use simple games like hangman, word searches, and a variation of “Whack a Mole” to add a little enjoyment and excitement to online learning modules. In this article, I am going to describe two additional alternatives to multiple-choice questions: drag-and-drop exercises and board games.
These alternatives add fun and instructional strategies to your online courses. They will appeal to the upcoming generation of gamers who have grown up on video games, as well as baby boomers who are seeking an alternative from the “page-of-text, page-of-text, multiple-choice question, page-of-text” format that is so popular in many e-learning courses.
Drag-and-Drop Exercises
In a drag-and-drop exercise, the learner is required to drag a piece of information from one area of the screen to another. Most often a drag-and-drop exercise consists of a list of terms on one side of the screen and a list of definitions on the other, the learner drags a term to its proper location beside the definition. If correct, the term stays in place. If not, the learner must try again. This is a simplistic use of a drag and drop and perhaps the most often used. However, there are a number of alternatives that can make drag-and-drop exercises more effective for teaching certain educational content.
Drag-and-drop exercises can teach a variety of content, including
- declarative knowledge, such as the names of the parts of a machine or of a computer screen
- general concepts like understanding longitude and latitude or understanding proper product placement
- sequential knowledge, for example, the proper ordering of steps in a process or procedure
- classification—identifying and classifying information as one type or another.
Declarative knowledge
An effective use of a drag-and-drop exercise is to label or name parts of machinery, equipment, or even areas of a computer screen. For example, when learning new software, knowing the names and locations of the various features and tools is important.
Figure 1 shows a drag-and-drop exercise used to teach the names of the fields located in a software program. The program is designed for creating online surveys and contains many fields that must be properly completed to launch the survey. When learning a new software package, mastering the fields and features may seem basic, but this knowledge is a critical foundation for advanced learning like troubleshooting and following the proper procedure for creating an online survey.
Figure 1: Learn must identify the names of field of a computer screen.
This technique also can be used for labeling areas of a retail store or parts of a piece of machinery or equipment. In almost any environment, items have specific names and labels that employees must know. Without such knowledge, employees cannot converse effectively with colleagues or customers.
For example, in a manufacturing environment, properly identifying the parts of machinery and equipment helps with communication, maintenance, operation, and even safety. Dragging the proper term to specific locations helps in this educational process. It provides a mental link in the learner’s mind between the name and the location of the information. The process codes both pieces of information into the learners memory and helps with future knowledge retrieval.
In addition, drag-and-drop exercises can be used to teach definitions. In this instance, the designer provides functional information in the form of a definition in the drag-and-drop exercise. The learner then needs to associate the definition with a specific location rather than just its label.
In the exercise shown in Figure 2, the learner is required to drag each definition to the correct position on the diagram to reinforce the learner’s knowledge of the functions of the various parts of a nuclear reactor. This drag-and-drop exercise goes beyond simply naming the part; the learner is required to know the function of each part of the reactor and drag the description of that function to its proper location. This helps educate learners on the functionality of each part, as well as how it is integrated with the other parts of the reactor.
Figure 2: Learner must drag the definition of an item to its proper location with the reactor.
Concepts
A concept is a name or expression given to a class of facts, objects, or events, all of which have common features. Concepts can include such intangible items as “excellent customer service” and more tangible items like “proper placement of items on a display shelf.”
For example, a power tools manufacturer created a drag-and-drop exercise to teach its field sales force the proper placement of tools on store display shelves. First, the learner was shown a number of tools and the attributes of each tool. Next, the learner was asked to drag the tool to its proper location.
In Figure 3, a drag-and-drop exercise is used to teach the concept of longitude and latitude. Simply, learners are provided a grid with lines of longitude and latitude and asked to drag a set of coordinates to the proper location on the grid. To be successful, the learner needs 1) to understand the concept of “how to read a coordinate,” 2) understand the concepts of “longitude” and “latitude,” and 3) understand the concept of “direction”—North, South, East and West.
Figure 3: Learns use the drag-and-drop exercise to reinforce the concepts of “longitude” and “latitude.”
Sequential knowledge
Practitioners can use drag-and-drop exercises to transfer sequential knowledge (step 1, step 2, step 3) to learners. Knowing the proper sequence of tasks or actions for creating a product or completing paper work is essential for the effective flow of information in any organization.
One example of a sequential drag-and-drop is when a learner must place each “step” of a procedure in its proper location and sequence. This type of exercise reinforces the proper sequence of tasks and, when successfully completed, provides a visual image to the learner—as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Learners must place the steps of the scientific method in the proper order before time runs out.
Classification
The skill of classification is required in a number of work and academic environments. For instance, it is necessary for qualifying sales leads, categorizing inventory types, or identifying different types of chemicals used in a college chemistry class or in a pharmaceutical research and development laboratory. Teaching classification is another opportunity for developers to use drag-and-drop exercises.
In general terms, the learner is asked to determine key attributes of an item in order to include or exclude it from a certain category. For example, a classification exercise could ask learners to sort virtual incoming mail as critical, important but not urgent, or junk mail by dragging it to the right container on the screen.
In Figure 5, the learner is asked to drag the names of “family members” who are exempt from a certain policy onto a tree. The drag-and-drop is designed to teach the learner to properly classify a family member when determining child care payment eligibility. If the proper family members are placed on the tree, the learner is successful. If not, they try again. This exercise reinforces the classification elements the learner needs to know.
Figure 5: Drag-and-drop is used to teach the classification of information.
Board Games
Board games teach many different types of knowledge while providing a fun experience for the learner. More important, they are familiar to all types of employees, whether they are Gamers, Generation Xers, or Boomers. Therefore, the basic premise behind a board game doesn’t need much instruction or explanation.
In addition, the universal conventions of the board game means that the learners are not caught up in the rules of the game, rather they are able to focus on the information that is presented in the content of the game. Learners understand they have a "piece" on the board that they are able to move through the process of rolling a dice or by answering a question correctly.
Workplace learning practitioners can use online board games in a variety of industries and settings. For example, a board game question can be used to review the idea that customer service representatives shouldn’t keep a customer on hold for more than two minutes. The designer of the game can input chance or other factors through different cards or through gaming conventions, such as having the player land on a “go back” spot on the board.
In a manufacturing example, a question could be “The Just-in-Time (JIT) method for reordering a product requires what two prerequisites?” The learner responding to the question has to understand the concepts of “JIT” and “reordering,” as well as know what rule to apply when reordering in a JIT environment.
The manufacturing game shown in Figure 6 teaches inventory control rules by having learners answer questions based on several categories: work-in-process inventory, maintenance inventory, and raw materials inventory. The types of questions are based on the color of the squares. Common inventory rules are provided to learners in the form of questions. The learner must answer the questions correctly as they move around the board. The learner takes turns “rolling” the dice by clicking on the button in the right corner.
Figure 6: Image of a board game that uses multiple choice questions to test the learner’s knowledge and allow them to score and move around the board.
Final score
With a little creativity and effort, developers can avoid using boring multiple-choice questions by creating alternative methods to quiz learners, provide practice, and assess knowledge. Drag-and-drop exercises and board games will eliminate much of the boredom in many e-learning courses and will appeal to learners who have grown up playing online games of all types.