Multiple Choice Questions in eLearning
Using knowledge check questions in your eLearning can be a very effective way to both identify how well the learner is understanding your learning content and help the learner reinforce topics by having them think about what they have learned. When deciding on which type of questions to use you have a variety of options, you may want to use a drag and drop type of question were the learner drags answers into a specific area or you may use a multiple selection type of question where the user selects one or more answers from a list. One of the most common types of questions used in eLearning is a multiple choice question, a multiple choice question typically has 1-4 answers and the learner has to pick one answer from them, this results in either an incorrect or correct response.
Using multiple choice questions can be a very effective way to help learners reinforce what they have learned and will help you identify how effective your learning content is, below are some of the things to avoid when creating multiple choice questions:
1. Questions don’t match learning content
This one may sound obvious but can be hard to define when writing multiple choice questions for your eLearning. The first thing to do is ensure that your questions cover the content that was taught in the course, if you are teaching learners about X make sure your not testing them on Y. When developing just a single short eLearning course this may be easy, however when you have multiple models covering a wide range of topics this can get more difficult. How many different topic areas do you cover in one question? If it is an advanced course do you assume the leaner will have a certain level of knowledge? When creating your questions think carefully about what is being covered in the eLearning and what you are testing your learners on.
2. Questions are too easy
This can be difficult to get the right balance of testing your learners on what they have learned and not making the questions so difficult no one can answer them. When writing answer choices for your question make sure that the learner really has to think about the answer they are choosing, if the answer is too obvious it is possible to use process of elimination without having to think critically about the answer, an example of this might be using “All of the above” as the correct answer each time it appears. When writing answer choices for your multiple choice question it is important to think carefully about the content and what the potential answers might be, this way learners will also have to think about the answer and your questions will be more effective.
3. Poorly written
Poorly written questions can be an issue when creating knowledge checks for your eLearning. When writing questions for your eLearning it is important that the question remains on topic and what is being asked is clear and to the point. If the question is ambiguous or doesn’t exactly relate back to the content they are learning this can cause confusion for the learner. If the learner does not fully understand the question due to how it is written this can result in them guessing which will deliver mixed results. When writing your questions it is important to remain on topic to the learning content and written in a way that all learners can understand what is being asked.
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