The document outlines a Peerwise initiative aimed at enhancing student engagement and learning through the creation and answering of multiple-choice questions, highlighting its structure, benefits, and challenges faced by students. It includes details about question authoring, feedback mechanisms, and evaluation of the approach, with mixed student reception noted. The initiative emphasizes student interaction and competition while revealing themes related to workload and support needs.

1. Getting Wise with PeerWise
Katherine Haxton & David McGarvey
Sharing Good Practice, January 2014

2. COPYRIGHT: Graham Fowell/The Hitman; taken from Bates and Galloway, Education in
Chemistry January 2013.

3. Why?
Promote continued engagement with lecture
material.
2012/13: 10% of module ‘problem sheets’.
4 or 5 over semester, every 2 weeks.
Submit at 2pm, mark and return at 4pm with
whole class feedback.
Effort based mark – 0,1,2

4. A different approach: PeerWise
Student Authored Multiple Choice Question Bank
3 deadlines per semester to write, answer and comment on questions.
Marks purely for engagement (0,1,2 scheme).

6. Question Authoring
Create MC Question
Answer options:
- Preferred answer (note not *correct*)
- appropriate distractors
Explanation
- explain theory
- why are distractors wrong
- don’t just give correct answer
Select appropriate topics
Add Pictures Add EquationsAdd Videos

7. Question Answering
Answer question
Confirm or change answer
[rethink based on explanation, other classmates views]
View other answers and explanations.
Told if answer agrees with the authors answer
Select a topic, and question
Write comments
(and disagree with author answer!)

8. Topics
Acids and Bases Hydrogen Bonding Moles and molarity UV - Vis spectroscopy
Atomic Orbitals HyperValence NMR Units
Atomic Structure IR spectroscopy Naming organic molecules VESPR
Beer-Lambert Law Infrared Newman Projections VSEPR theory
Bond Order Ionic Character Orbitals Valence electrons
Conjugation Isomerism Organic acids
Hybridisation Isomers Periodic Table Electron Pair Geometry
Periodic Trends dipole moments Electron orbitals Lewis structures
Polarity electron configurations
Electrons In Atoms MO Energy Level Diagrams
Representing Molecules Equations of Light
electron quantum numbers Electrons in molecules Maths
Solvents and Organic Acid-Base electronegativity Elements
Molecular Geometry polar solvents
Molecular Orbital Theory radial nodes and nodal planes
boundry surface repersentations Stereochemistry in chiral centres
Effect of nuclear charge

9. Setup and Support
Account Creation
- admin account
- student identifiers (e.g. student number)
- students create accounts
General Support
- resetting passwords
- reminders of deadlines and expectations

10. How?
Intro Session
- introduce concept of multiple choice questions
- MCQ ‘Grunge Prowkers’ by Roger Lewis
- explain why writing questions benefits the students
(and why we’re not shirking our responsibility).
- introduction to constructivist model of learning
- computer classroom session to get accounts
created and help with using interface

11. Metrics
Competition element: student leader boards and
badges
Access logs – no. Qs written, answered, no.
comments written
Review questions and comments contributed by
individual students
390 questions authored, 4090 questions answered
“Very useful learning tool, the badges thing
encourage me and my friends to answer more and
compete with what we got.”
-- a Keele first year student

12. Assignment
Introduced
Deadlines
Exam Period
Deadlines strong motivation for question writing at the last minute!

13. Deadlines
Assignment
Introduced
Exam Period

14. Evaluation
Emerging Themes
- useful revision tool
- tutor questions would be useful
- more tutor input desired
- deadlines adding to workload
“It’s a fantastic way to revise and goes hand in hand
with going over lecture notes, however it would be
useful if more people made questions.”
“I very much despise PeerWise.”
-- from two Keele first year students

15. Evaluation
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
I find the PeerWise
website easy to use.
I find it very difficult
to write multiple
choice questions.
I prefer to answer
questions than to
write them.
Writing questions on
PeerWise helps me
learn.
% agree Neutral % disagree

16. Evaluation
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
I do not like writing
feedback on
questions.
I am frustrated by
questions that are
unclear.
I found this task
pointless.
I found this task very
difficult.
% agree Neutral % disagree

17. PeerWise Resources
http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
http://www2.ph.ed.ac.uk/elearning/projects/peerwise/ [includes
information on scaffolding]
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/elearning/examples/mcq.pdf
[Grunge Prowkers Quiz online]
http://www.rsc.org/education/eic/issues/2013January/student-
generated-assessment.asp
[Bates and Galloway, Education in Chemistry January 2013]