A contributing student pedagogy: can encouraging students to contribute their own questions and answers to a multiple choice question bank help boost engagement and interaction in the classroom

In this paper, we describe the preliminary ways in which we have extended our mobile system, QUBED, an in-house Multiple Choice System, which is used to encourage students to build a question bank of multiple choice questions (MCQ) that will be used by their peers. They will be able to build questions and set quizzes that will be taken and rated by other classmates. As their usage increases they are awarded various ‘points’ for the way in which they interact with the system. These points are ‘rewards’ for participating in building and enhancing the social capital held within the system. The system monitors student engagement and maintains a leader-board of activities so all students can see how they compare with their peers. It is envisioned that this will add a useful competitive edge to the usage of the system as it should have an effect on how a person is viewed by others in the group, and is likely to help enhance their productivity, wellbeing and self-image.
The introduction of the leader-board scenario from games playing will be explored to assess the usefulness and appeal of using such a tool in a learning environment. Case studies in the commercial sector have shown that the concept of gamification can have a positive impact on engagement. EMC2 embarked on a drive to increase customer participation resulting in the development of their Recognition, Awards and Motivation Program (RAMPS). The program had the desired effect; resulting in increased interaction between the company and its customers. Likewise Deloitte applied a similar approach to their Leadership Academy; including ranking, rewards, missions, and leader-boards achieving improved participation rates and, equally interesting, improved participant returns and retention rates. Ultimately we are interested in the student's ability to learn and not just how well they have used the system so the emphasis is still based on the formative feedback aspects of the original system.