Battleship is just like the board game. Students play against the computer. Each time they answer a question correctly they get a turn to try to sink the computer's battleship. It can be a fun way to get my kids practicing. Rags to Riches is similar to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. This is another game where students play against the computer as they answer progressively harder questions to practice. The flashcards allow students to play Memory.
The Challenge Board is also fun. It is basically a version of Jeopardy. This is a fun one because it does allow students to play individually or with a partner. It's also a great way to review since you can create different categories.
These are all fun ways for students to practice and get feedback....but they are actually not what I love about Quia. Quia is what I usually use for online quizzes. As much as possible, I use Quia to give formative assessments because it is such an easy way for my students to get useful feedback that they can learn from.
There are three main reasons why I love giving quizzes on Quia. First, I love that the grading is quick and easy. Quia will grade multiple choice and multiple mark items for you. It will also grade short answer questions for you, based on whatever answers you have indicated are correct. It is also easy to override the automatic grading if a student gives a correct answer that you didn't think to list in your answers. Quick feedback is good for student learning, plus a the online grading is a major time-saver for me!
The second reason I love giving quizzes on Quia is that I can give students feedback AS they take the quiz. Yes, you read that right....AS students take the quiz. This is really the reason why I'm willing to pay for Quia. You can set Quia to give students one question at a time, and to show them feedback as they go. Using these settings, students get feedback on the quiz as they take it! So I always base my feedback for incorrect answers on what might be a common mistake or misunderstanding. I just love the idea that students could be learning AS they are taking an assessment.
The third reason I love using Quia for quizzes is still about feedback. Once all of the students have taken the quiz, you can look over each question one at a time and give even more feedback. For example, if a student made a different mistake from what my feedback for incorrect answers anticipated, you can give customized feedback just to that particular student (or to all of the students that made the same error by copying and pasting).
I have tried using Google Forms to give quizzes, but have just found that it takes me longer to create a quiz with the same feedback. I also find it takes me longer to give individualized feedback through Google Forms than through Quia. I use Google Forms for surveys and other things, but generally for short quizzes, I prefer Quia.
Giving feedback to students is hands-down one of the most effective teaching strategies that we can use in our classrooms. I feel like Quia gives me a hand in effectively doing this in a very timely manner!
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