Like most people when I first started attending nursery school I was enthralled by all the new sights and sounds my lessons had to offer me. Unfortunately, school doesn’t stay so enchanting forever. As learning through fun became learning through hard work and routine my attention began to waiver.
Luckily my family were there to help me every step of the way, with my parents investing almost as much time in my education as I did, so as to ensure I was taught ways to actually enjoy my studies. Not only did they help me perform research for my homework, but they took me on field trips that helped me understand the real world applications of what I was studying. When it came to subjects that had trouble holding my interest, they would set up puzzles and games to make learning the information more appealing. As schoolwork became less of a chore and more of an adventure, I found myself obtaining many valuable skills which stay with me to this very day.
Now it’s my turn to be a parent and I want to be able to provide my child with the same kind of stimulation to support her learning experiences. Of course the world has changed quite a bit since I was young. My partner and I both work full time, so it’s difficult for us to provide ample educational trips for our child. Even finding an hour or two to help prepare some fun learning experiences to help supplement her schoolwork can prove to be problematic.
That’s why I was relieved to find there are a plethora of interactive tools available online that could be used to provide the kind of positive learning environment I was hoping to foster. Perhaps one of the most useful tools I have found online is based on a site called ProProfs.
ProProfs is a site which lets its users set up their own games, in the forms of quizzes, word searches, crosswords, etc. The quiz engine is a particularly powerful tool which allows uses to set up tests (say on your lunch-break at work) and then send them to other people to complete, with a wide range of reporting options available to help analyze the results.
So for example you could create your own tailor made tests like Can you identify these historical landmarks?, Music Theory Basics or the SAT Improving Sentences Quiz, all of which are quick and easy ways to help identify what areas of study your child may need help in.
How to Create a Test
Using ProProfs quiz engine to set up a test is very easy. Just sign-up for a free educational account, then once you’re logged in simply click on the create a quiz link on the sites navigational bar (at the top of the screen). Select scored quiz from the two options that appear and then enter the name of your quiz under the ‘Quiz Title’ section before filling in the description box.
That done you are now ready to actually start populating your quiz with questions. The interface is very easy to use, allowing you to select what types of answers you want to receive for questions (multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blanks and essay type). You can also add images and even videos to your questions, which can help make the experience more interesting for your child, something I find is well worth doing if you have the time.
The test engine allows you to set various grading criteria, based on the percentage of questions answered correctly. The default options are Excellent – Poor, Letters (A,B,C,D,etc) and Pass or Fail, with it being possible to set up custom options for grading as well. The test can even be set up to send out certificates upon completion, which you can customize with fun images and unique praise appropriate to the grades acquired.
Analyzing the Results
Once you’ve gotten your child to take your tests you can use the results to help identify weak spots in their education. This is extremely helpful when trying to find out what areas you need to try and focus on to help your child reach their full potential.
The reports section of the results provides basic information relating to how various users have completed your quizzes, including information such as user name, location, score and time taken. This section can prove to be extremely useful if you are using this system to try and help more than one child and for parents who travel a lot and need to work with their children from remote locations. All the reports can be downloaded (and printed out), which is helpful for going over the results face to face or for when it comes to developing a program to help encourage your child’s study.
The analytics section of the results provides more in-depth reporting on how individual questions were answered. It makes good use of graphical visualization tools to help provide easy to understand views of how difficult your child found the test to be.
As you can see I personally think that the quiz maker is a great way to get the information needed to effectively generate a stimulating learning environment for my child. Let me know if you agree, or if you have any better ideas about how to engage your kids in a more active form of learning experience.
