Inserting short quiz questions into online presentations can improve learning and may reduce the racial achievement gap even if students adjust remotely in distracted environments.

This is the main finding of our recent research published in communication psychology. With co-authors of Dahwi Ahn, Hymnjyot Gill and Karl Szpunar, we provide evidence that adding mini Quizzes to online presentations in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (collectively, STEM) can promote learning, especially for black students.

In our study, we included more than 700 students from two large public universities and five biennial community colleges in the United States and Canada. All students watched a 20-minute video presentation on the STEM topic. Each lecture was divided into four 5-minute segments, after which students either answered four short quiz questions or viewed four slides and commented on what they had just seen.

This process is designed to mimic two instructions: students must answer questions within the lecture, and instructions for what the lecturer often presents in the classroom.

At the end of the speech and a day after the speech, all students were tested for the speech content.

When the black students in our study watched a speech without intermittent quiz, they were underperformed by Asian, white and Latino students. This achievement gap decreased to statistically 3% when students answered intermittent quiz questions. We think this is because intermittent quizzes help students continue to participate in the presentation.

To simulate the real-life environment students face in online courses, we manipulate distractions by having some participants watch the speech. The rest watched the speech, next to it by distracting memes, or the Tiktok video played next to it.

Surprisingly, Tiktok videos enhance learning for students receiving comment slides. They performed 8% better on the end of the day test than the test that did not show any memes or videos, similar to students who answered intermittent quiz questions. Our data further suggest that this unexpected finding is because Tiktok video encourages participants to continue watching the speech.

For educators interested in using these strategies, it is important to know that intermittent quiz interventions are only effective if students have to answer questions. This is different from asking questions in class and waiting for volunteers to answer. As many teachers know, most students never answer questions in class. If the student’s thoughts are wandering, the request to answer questions regularly brings the student’s attention back to the lecture.

This intervention is also different from merely providing students with other activities such as graffiti, answering brain trailers or playing video games.

Why it matters

Online education has grown dramatically since the pandemic. Between 2004 and 2016, the percentage of college students enrolled increased from 5% to 10%. But by 2022, that number has almost tripled to 27%.

Compared to in-person courses, online courses are often associated with reduced student engagement and higher failure and withdrawal rates.

The study also found that the racial achievement gap recorded in regular classroom learning was amplified in remote settings, which may be due to the inability to access technology.

Therefore, our research provides schools with a scalable, cost-effective way to improve the effectiveness of online education for all students.

What's next?

Now, we are exploring how to further refine this intervention through experimental work between college and community college students.

In contrast to observational studies, where researchers track student behavior and are affected by confusing and irrelevantly, our randomized control study allows us to determine the effectiveness of classroom interventions.

Our ongoing research examines the best timing and frequency of in-classroom quizzes. We want to make sure that very frequent quizzes do not hinder students' participation or learning.

The results of this study may help provide guidance to educators to best implement internal quizzes.

A brief introduction to the research is a brief view of interesting academic work.