Back to the Periodic Table

Explore the elements from Brian Washburn’s book
What’s Your Formula? Combine Learning Element for Impactful Training

quiz software
noun_answer exam_2798869

Quiz Software

(KWIZZ SAWf-wear)​

Solid Elements

SOLID

What is Quiz Software?

Quiz software is a web-based application that allows you to ask your learners questions and track their scoring in either an individual or team format.

Other Common Names

Other common names for quiz software include:

  • Polling
  •  

Key Properties

While there are many quiz software platforms on the market, this element is typically characterized by:

  • Digital-based media (often online, but can also be installed on a local machine)
  • Use of a back-end database to track participant scores, which can be accessed at any time
quiz software

Resources From The Train Like a Champion Blog

  • "When I was teaching GED classes at the youth center, we’d review the week’s content every Friday with a Jeopardy-like review game. I had created a gameboard to display in the front of the classroom using a giant, laminated piece of flipchart. While it worked for our purposes, I eventually tried to update my gameboard by transitioning from the flipchart to PowerPoint. This also worked, but it took quite a while to put together all the animation triggers, and every week I had to swap out questions. In more recent years, I began turning to element 9, Quiz Software. There are many online quizzing platforms—some free, others available on a subscription model—that allow you to quickly turn your content into any number of trivia-style games or quizzes. Honestly, there are so many uses for this element that you’re limited only by your imagination (or more realistically, what your organization will allow you to do)."
  • "When I worked for one organization, I spoke with our CEO and head of talent management about transforming our monthly all-staff meetings using quiz software. Traditionally, each C-level executive would share high-level departmental metrics from the past month. We experimented with sending out monthly metrics in advance of the all-staff meetings, and then using quiz software to ask all employees—whether they were attending the all-staff at our headquarters or joining virtually—to use their smartphones to respond to several high-level questions about each department’s monthly performance. It was a more engaging way to focus attention on key statistics for the organization, and it reduced the amount of meeting time we spent listening to executives recapping last month’s performance, which freed up time to spend on discussions, interactions, and presentations on current and upcoming initiatives."
  • "After I’ve run a session that has incorporated quiz software into the flow of the learning experience, it’s become quite common for participants to approach me and say they plan to use the same platform the next time they’re in front of their learners. Incorporating quiz software into a training program in an intentional way so you’re accomplishing your learning objectives can demonstrate to your learners and your organization what’s possible when it comes to a learning experience."
Whats Your Formula book
Order your copy to learn more about quiz software and all of the related elements.

CLOSELY RELATED ELEMENTS

learning objectivesLearning Objectives Taxonomy

What is it that people should be able to do by the end of this session, and does this activity help get us there? These are the questions that should be at the core of any activity you choose for a session, especially one that can generate anxiety. Quizzes, whether they take the form of traditional paper and pencil or a more modern online platform that looks like a game, can generate anxiety. Quiz software can also generate enthusiasm and a sense of competition with some of the game-like offerings available. When you choose to bring this element into your program, it should always align with the learning objectives you’ve outlined, and you should be sure to let your participants know how their participation can bring them closer to meeting those learning objectives.

instructional designInstructional Design

While the learning objective taxonomy is one piece of effective instructional design, you’ll want to be sure you’ve analyzed the needs of your learners, the environment in which you’ll be training, and whether or not they’ll have the technology necessary to fully benefit from quiz software (it often requires a smartphone or other web-connected device). Is the quiz software a shiny object that would simply be cool and fun to use, perhaps because you’ve seen it used effectively elsewhere? Or does it fit within the coherent, intentional sequence and flow of a lesson?

dataData

One of the biggest advantages to using quiz software— something it offers much more easily than a flipchart-based or even PowerPoint-based Jeopardy-style quiz or review game—is that you can collect individual quiz performance data to analyze whether learners are able to respond accurately to questions about your content. This data can be used for many purposes, such as whether you need to make in-session adjustments to allocate more (or less) time to a specific subject, or as a data point to evaluate how well learners recall specific facts about your content.
checklist

Download the Element Sanity Check

Even if you haven’t yet purchased the book (what are you waiting for?!) you can get access to worksheets that will help guide you through the use of the elements of amazing learning experiences.