Abstract:

The aim of this work, started 15 years ago, is to improve student engagement and participation to University Molecular Biology lessons, their performance and preparation through the introduction of quizzes that I designed and mailed, using institutional e-mail account, to each student enrolled spontaneously and freely in test group open weekly on my institutional web site (https://www.docenti.unina.it/rosanna.delgaudio).

Based on the information provided to the students during the week-to-week lessons, I have build different types of quizzes: multiple choice answers, fill-in, open writing sentences. In addition, with the idea that students should also take notes from reading, the question texts are often very detailed and informative so that they can be used when students are preparing exams. Moreover, the answers to some questions also required an individual study both from the textbook and from the notes taken from the recordings or during the lessons of the course.

In the first five years I accepted that the students could send by email their answer, but in the last years I have chosen to get only students printed answers.

In addition, over the past three years, to verify the consistency of the answers by the same student, I have proposed the same question more than once in more than a non-consecutive week.

Each test reported a statement requiring the student's signature at the end to discourage an incorrect code of conduct.
Clearly when the quizzes were introduced classroom engagement increased and students' preparation was improved and their presence at course during all semester lessons was stimulated.

Therefore in this last semester, in order to give the students the reasons to do the study of molecular biology by reading the textbook and the notes taken following the lessons of the course rather than punishing them for not doing so, I tried a new way to obtain a positive student endorsement day by day.

In particular, I used an easy-to-use presentation software (Mentimeter.com) using a free account and I started creating fun and interactive presentations that I proposed to the students after the first 60 minutes of the beginning of each lesson (total 120 minutes).

Because there is no limitation on number of voters, this type of interactive experience it is right to a large class (more than 80 students). I prepared competition with up to 5 quiz questions for each topic and for each presentation, I've included as many Q&A's and Quick Slides, adding images to prepare questions and exporting results to PDF.

Interesting, the students enjoyed this type of activity, based on the use of their smart phones, which was also used to monitor learning both during and after some lessons.

I consider it very important and useful to use images to stimulate students to comment and provide definitions with appropriate language.
It is particularly useful the fact that the answers are anonymous and visualized in real time from all the students involved and from the teacher at the same time using the video projection device of the teaching room because often the new generation of students, adapted to the virtual reality of social networks, feel inhibited when involved in a brain storming.

Even presentations with a timed response results as an excellent training tool and had an overall positive affect improving the student performance.

Keywords:

Mobile Learning, quizzes, positive student endorsement, classroom technuiques.