Effects of Spiral Assessment to Reinforce Knowledge (SPARK) in an Online Undergraduate Course on Interdisciplinarity (Poster 39)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Nine
  In Poster Session: Learning Sciences SIG Poster Session Two: Health, Higher Education, Representations, and Reasoning

Abstract

We report on the effects of a novel quizzing method designed to spiral assessment to reinforce knowledge (SPARK) and conceptual understanding of students. Leveraging the benefits of test-enhanced learning, SPARK ensures students’ cognitive engagement at increasingly higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy when coupled with group or whole class discussions of quiz questions. In a study of SPARK’s implementation in a fully online asynchronous course, we found no observable gains in students’ learning of interdisciplinary content. Our findings point to instructional components that may need to be added to online implementations of SPARK to create opportunities for students to deeply engage with course content including virtual study sessions and multiple attempts on quizzes. We discuss implications for research and practice.

Authors

• Omer Ari, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Kara Hageman, University of Iowa
  Presenting Author

• Andrea J. Lofgren, Gonzaga University
  Presenting Author