Sunday, July 18, 2010

Make a Quiz on the Cloud (ProProfs Quiz Maker)

There is a new addition to the Free Cloud Apps page, it's ProProfs Quiz Maker. Quiz Maker is a quick and easy way to build a quiz that is hosted on the cloud.  No software needed, it is completely web-based. You can easily post a link to your quiz from a blog or web page. It also has the functionality to tweet a link or add to Facebook or MySpace. Proprofs was gracious enough to give me a complimentary account (full disclosure) to test drive it. Here is a link to a simple quiz I made to test some of the features and so you can see some of what it does - Take my Rhode Island History quiz.

Although you can embed the quiz in blogs and sites, it uses iFrames, which does not play nice with my WordPress blog, otherwise I would have done so here. I was told they are working on a new widget with additional customizations for embedding the quizzes, which is expected later this week. However, it is very easy to post a link to your quizzes (like above) or share via social media.

Here is what I like about Quiz Maker:

  • It is extremely user-friendly.

  • It is on the Cloud, so users have access anywhere, whether taking a quiz or building one.

  • You can add images,  video, and links to each question.

  • You can add feedback.

  • They offer a free version.

  • You can track participation, including each user's answers and quiz stats. I was impressed with how easy it was to view participants' answers and overall quiz stats. I wish most learning management systems (LMS) made this same task so easy. FYI: Tracking is not included with the free account.

  • According to a representative from ProProfs they are currently working on SCORM compatibility, so integration with an LMS is on the horizon.


What I wish it had:

  • If you update/edit a quiz the stats are reset to zero. So, once you have a quiz made, make sure it is the absolute  final version.

  • More question types. They have multiple choice, fill in the blank and essays, but it would be great if they had some more interactive options like hot spots, drag and drop or matching, etc. Hopefully they will expand the question types in the future.

  • I am splitting hairs, but I would like to see the fill in the blank allow the blank to be placed anywhere in the sentence. Unless I missed something, it appears the blank could only be placed at the end of a sentence.

  • I would have liked to be able to also add graphics, video and links to the feedback.


Regarding the free version, you cannot add the creator's name to the certificate and it is only an ad free trial for seven days, then ads will be posted. Also the tracking and stats features are not included in the free account after seven days. You can view the comparisons of pricing plans here, including what you do and don't get with the free account. FYI: They do have a very reasonably priced plan for educational users.

All in all, if you are looking to create and share simple quizzes with the benefits of doing so on the Cloud, it is worth your time. I will emphasize the word "simple" because if you are looking for more interactive question types (e.g. hot spots, drag and drop, graded sims, etc.), you will probably need to utilize more robust e-learning authoring tools to do so.

If you are interested in taking Quiz Maker for a spin, here is the link again - ProProfs Quiz Maker.

4 comments:

  1. SCORM is not enough, export as QTI will be great!

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  2. Prance,

    Thanks for the input and for bringing QTI to our attention. QTI is new to me, but I found a quick description, hopefully acurate, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QTI.


    Jeff

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  3. Hey Jeff! Kathryn with ProProfs.com here. Thanks so much for your review! I just wanted to respond to some of the points you made about Quiz Maker Pro and hopefully give you some answers.

    1. In regards to the issue with editing a quiz after it is finished, we realized this limitation and have added more flexibility on this in the last 3 weeks. You can now edit quiz settings without resetting the quiz. We will soon support editing an entire quiz without impacting the stats.

    2. We will be adding more question types soon! We understand the need for more variation and are working on it as we speak.

    3. You mentioned wanting more flexibility in allowing fill in the blanks to be placed anywhere in the sentence. This is a design choice to allow uninterrupted question and show input box below the question. If we hear from more users, we will change the way this is done. We want to make sure users prefer the question with inline text box as opposed to text box below the question.

    4. Graphics, videos and links for feedback will be supported by mid-August!

    I hope that helped address some of your concerns about Quiz Maker Pro. It is always a work in progress, and we are always looking for more ways to improve our product and satisfy our users' every need.

    Again, thanks so much for your feedback and I hope you continue to enjoy Quiz Maker Pro!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kathryn,

    Thank you for the response. It is great to hear so much is on the way, including the items on my wish list. I think these improvements are really going to a big, big plus for your users.

    I am looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

    Jeff

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