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Get started with quizzes and polls

Getting started with quizzes and polls can seem complicated, so here's how you, as a teacher, can get started quickly and create questions with a strategy. It is also essential to plan how you handle the answers and to choose a suitable tool. KTH offers four quiz and poll tools within courses: Mentimeter, Zoom Polls, Canvas quizzes and Möbius (through Canvas).

Start simple and improve over time

The first step is to have the courage to start! You only need a few questions that you are reasonably content with. A course with some kind of interaction is better than a course with no interaction. Experiment and see what fits in your course. Save what works and build on it, and learn from what doesn't work.

Most students don't mind you trying new things as long as you inform them beforehand that it's a new technique. If the students know that you are trying something new, it will be easier to get feedback from them.

Create with strategy

Tips!

  • Ask just the right number of questions, otherwise, you risk the students getting tired and losing focus.
  • For quizzes: ask enough cognitively challenging questions. For example, you should avoid testing only students' memory ("recall").

Quizzes and surveys are more effective if you have a clear and well-planned strategy for why you are using them. It also makes them easier to reuse year after year.

You can easily get started by answering the following questions:

  • Why do you want to use a poll/quiz?
  • What should students learn (for quizzes) or do (for polls)?
  • Who is the target audience?
  • How should the questions be designed?

Start from "Why", "What" and "Who" when answering "How". It is important that your quiz or poll questions exist for a good reason and that they are tailored to your students and your purpose. For example, questions that help your students comprehend the course content better or encourage them to question their assumptions.

For example, a teacher might answer "Why," "What," and "Who" as follows:

  • Why: You want your students to have the opportunity to reflect on the lesson's course material.
  • What: Students should learn to use the formula E = mc2.
  • Who: The target group is students taking an introductory course in relativity for artists.

The teacher can then design questions that focus on what the formula E = mc2 actually describes and in what situations it is applied. However, the teacher should avoid lengthy calculations, as students are most likely unaccustomed to computational tasks. The questions are ideal as a basis for classroom discussion or as a self-study if the students receive good feedback on their answers.

Plan how to manage responses

Before you give students a quiz or poll, you should have a plan for how you will handle their answers. Consider communicating this plan to the students, as it helps them understand why their participation matters.

For instance, you could ask them to answer questions during a lesson and follow up with an explanation or discussion, particularly if the questions are controversial or thought-provoking. This approach helps students understand why the answers are correct or incorrect, not just that they are.

Alternatively, you may decide to avoid handling student responses, except in the case of direct inquiry. For example, you could use an automatically graded quiz with pre-posted feedback or a random question in a training quiz that the students can take several times.

Choose your tool

KTH offers four different tools for quizzes and polls that are intended to be used in courses. Which tool is suitable for your course depends on when the students will use it and for what purpose. In the list below you will find links to more information about the different tools:

Note! None of these tools should be used for a learning environment survey (LEQ). Read more on the page Creating a course evaluation using LEQ .