A quiz feature in an educational app that aims to make learning fun and interactive needs to replicate the aims of its parent app by giving quizzes which are interactive, fun and engaging. This quiz feature is named Chunda, after the Buddhist goddess of wisdom, whose happiness was a prominent feature in her interactions.
Many quiz features have been designed in educational app with the aim of of sustaining students interest in educational activities outside the confines of a classroom. The importance of quizzes as outlined in an article by the Learning Scientists, a group of US education academics include: helping students learn, giving teachers feedback, increases attendance, promote test expectancy and makes studying more efficient. This quiz feature aim is to fulfill these objectives as well as increase by user engagement by making the features fun and engaging.
With over 1.9 million students enrolled in Nigerian universities and close to 40% of them enrolled in STEM courses according to the Nigerian University System Statistical Digest, 2017. This quiz feature is aimed at those undergraduates with the aim of trying to correct a system of teaching in science and technological courses that is mainly based on theory with little practicals to show for it. It is also aimed at bridging the gap and increasing the critical thinking skills for undergraduates and make them solve hypothetical real life problems.
Coming up with solutions to this particular conundrum was easy. But selecting the final solution was a bit challenging. Questions were asked from undergraduates asking them to identify what would make them consistently make use of a quiz app. A majority pointed out that lecturers recommendation mattered, especially when recommendations came in the form of promises to award marks. Which emphasized the importance of collaboration with educators in the system to the success of an app. Upon further probing, the undergraduates pointed out that an app that integrates competition was more likely to keep their interests and their engagement levels would increase if the quizzes in the app had past questions incorporated in it.
This fact finding mission made me discard some features I had thought of for the app, including quizzes created by me for the students and a badges tag making me focus on encouraging students to upload quiz questions themselves that will be reviewed by other students of higher ranks before making it into the system.
The quiz features include a versus contest, where students challenge one another whether randomly or otherwise. Points will be awarded and the total points accumulated will determine the ranking of the students. The lowest ranking being an initiate and the highest ranking: a Sage.
The second feature will be a league system which will include lower leagues complete with relegations and elevations. The leagues will be classified based on faculties and competition questions will be asked based on shared common courses between the two participants.
The third feature is a practice quiz app that will be of two categories. Storyboard mode and objective mode. The storyboard mode is meant to replicate real life scenarios. In the diagram below an example is shown of a patient who is in a conversational mode with a doctor. The patient is infected with HIV and insists he is a virgin and could only have contracted it through spiritual means. The Doctor which is the student would have to pick from a series of conservation option in order to educate the patient about HIV transmission. The conversation option the student picks determine his score at the end of the quiz.
In the the objective mode, students are asked MCQs and an option exists to formulate questions as well as review the questions their peer would want to submit to the questions database. The submission and review all attract points that will help increase rankings.
I believe technology and only technology that will help improve the quality of education in Nigeria and bridge the barriers between the lack of funding and good education.
I remain your patriotic Jedi Ochuba Samuel.
Link to project: https://xd.adobe.com/view/c254344c-7d74-4870-77ec-423677510409-b465/?fullscreen
Twitter: @samuelOchuba
