Yacapaca

7 responses to ““Self-Calibration” is now a standard feature on all quizzes”

1. 

   chris bradley

   22/10/2012

   Something I have been reflecting on is relevant here. the questions I use are from a number of authors, in consequence the difficulty they present to the students varies. When I look at the charts, the display may not be reflecting a students progress, but the variability of the resources. Under these circumstances a students prediction is compromised.
   i realise that the answer is to only use questions I have authored because in spite of their deficiencies they are consistent.

   Reply
   1. 

      yacapaca

      22/10/2012

      Chris, Yacapaca will calibrate the difficulty level of each quiz for reporting purposes, once it has enough data. You can improve the accuracy of the calibration by adding some Offline Assessment data to your gradebook for each student set. Yacapaca intelligently uses every scrap of data it can get to improve the reliability of its assessments.

      In terms of the new student self-calibration feature, you have a point. Things may not be as bad as you fear, however. Authors generally select questions with a difficulty range, rejecting those that are too easy or hard for the intended audience. Also, most teachers allow the default two attempts. On the second attempt, the lure of extra points gives the student every motivation to be realistic about how much s/he can improve over the first, if at all.

      Reply
2. 

   The ‘loser’ problem | Yacapaca

   15/02/2014

   […] feature that asks students to predict their quiz score before they start. I have covered the theory and benefits of calibration elsewhere. What if we introduce a leaderboard for prediction accuracy? It avoids the […]

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   1. 

      Ian Grove-Stephensen

      19/02/2014

      Hi Kara, I took a look at what you have done so far. I see two tags used in that quiz: mythology and dionysus.

      I recommend tagging every question dionysus: this won’t help with analysis, but it will be very useful when searching for those questions in future. Mythology could be useful if you are planning to do more general quizzes across multiple myths.

      If you were in conversation with a student, and you wanted to know how well they understand the underlying concepts you are trying to teach through Dionysus, what 2-3 issues would you try to draw them out on? Those should be your analysis tags. Working from concept to tag to question is a good discipline for making sure your quiz covers the required concepts with the right balance.

      Reply
3. 

   John Hattie’s top three influences on student achievement: you already do at least two of them. | Yacapaca

   12/09/2015

   […] At the start of each quiz, we ask students to predict their scores. After the quiz is over, we reward them with badge points, not for a high or a low score, but for the accuracy of their predictions. In this way we encourage students to really own a realistic expectation of their own ability, on which they can then build. We call it ‘self-calibration’ and you can read a fuller description here. […]

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4. 

   Tutorial 7: Get deep insights into your students with the Activity Log | Yacapaca

   29/04/2020

   […] scores, and reward them with badge points for accurate predictions. Over-confident students will use braggadocio to avoid revision, and thus not have to face themselves with their own limitations. Under-confident […]

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5. 

   Three reasons you should run the Yacapaca Christmas Quizzes this year | Yacapaca

   07/12/2020

   […] Students gain additional badge points for accurately predicting their score. Used consistently, this helps them develop a realistic estimate of the amount of work needed to get satisfactory results, and combats Dunning Kruger syndrome. […]

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