Vevox is used in a Year 2 UG Biological Sciences module (circa 90 students) to deliver and mark summative quizzes during lectures using students’ own devices. Not only does this increase lecture attendance – arguably above and beyond anecdotal pre-pandemic levels – it diversifies summative assessment and facilitates active learning.
Student participation and interactivity in BS2550 were substantially enhanced through the introduction of Vevox-based summative quizzes at the end of each lecture, with attendance increasing from ~20% to over 75%
Dr. Hrvoje Augustin
What is missing from this? That’s right, the students responses and marks were spread across numerous unauthenticated spreadsheets in Vevox, whereas Moodle is usually the single source of truth for assessement. Unathenticated means that students were invited to simply enter their names rather than insitutional user IDs in order to access the quizzes, with predictably mixed results.
We have since deployed the Vevox plug-in for Moodle. This means that delivery, authenticated access, grading and reporting can be managed through Moodle, with Vevox providing the live assessment interface.
The value of Vevox polls
Vevox polls (live multiple choice, word clouds, text or ranking polls) are a type of Student Response System (SRS) that supports interactive teaching. They are used widely in HE to gather real-time responses from students during contact time.
Key pedagogical benefits:
- Active participation at scale: Polling invites every student to respond simultaneously.
- Inclusive participation: Supports anonymity as a default, thereby encouraging engagement from students who may not volunteer verbally.
- Low barrier to engagement: Quick polls can be answered using students’ own devices, increasing accessibility and prompt participation.
- Immediate insight for staff and learners: Results can be displayed instantly, revealing misconceptions and prompting discussion.
- Supports reflection and metacognition: When students see patterns in cohort responses, it creates space for reflection and self-appraisal.
Peer-reviewed work on SRS systems in HE broadly finds higher participation and student-perceived value from interactive polling than traditional passive lectures.
The value of in-class testing
When polls are structured into short, in-class summative tests, the pedagogic value increases further.
Benefits supported by broader assessment research:
- Embedded engagement increases attendance: Assessment that counts towards grades incentivises attendance, without requiring additional contact time. Well-designed activities align with learning rather than punish absence (Advance HE on assessment engaging learners).
- Authentic, time-bounded assessment: Timed in-class tasks assess recall and application under time conditions that mirror professional practice and higher-stakes summative tasks.
- Immediate feedback accelerates learning: Quick feedback loops help students correct misunderstandings in the moment — a principle central to effective assessment and feedback practice.
- Supports diversified, inclusive assessment: One task type on its own cannot capture all learning; short in-class assessments complement essays, projects and portfolios. Inclusive assessment literature argues for mix and timing of assessment tasks to improve equity of opportunity.
Sector guidance also emphasises that assessment should be designed to maximise transparency, support student engagement with feedback, and reflect intended learning outcomes — all of which in-class testing can support when designed well.
The value of integrating Vevox and Moodle
Integrating Vevox with Moodle combines the best of interactive polling with the governance, consistency and workload management expected in UK HE.
Operational and quality benefits:
- Seamless enrolment and secure identity: Moodle handles student identities and enrolment, eliminating manual administration and reconciliation of participants.
- Automated marking and gradebook integration: Objective responses (e.g. multiple choice) can be automatically marked and passed to Moodle’s Grades tool, reducing manual grading effort and risk of transcription errors.
- Consistent student experience: Students access tests in a familiar and trusted environment.
- Clear audit trail for QA: Moodle retains records of activity settings, timing, and student access — valuable for moderation and external examining.
- Scalable reuse and management: Quizzes can be reused across cohorts.
Although specific literature on Vevox + LMS integration is not extensive in peer-reviewed sources, broader research on response systems coupled with LMS assessment highlights similar advantages: administrative automation, easy record-keeping, and improved feedback turnaround compared with disconnected tools.
Sector guidance for assessment design highlights the importance of coherent, inclusive and well-managed assessment processes that give students clear opportunities to demonstrate achievement of intended outcomes — all supported by LMS-integrated delivery.
Innovation?
No. This is not innovation by any measure. We have had previous success in maintaining lecture attendance and providing opportunities for active learning before – using Clickers via Moodle. It is more a case of successful collaboration between academic and E-Learning staff; recognition of the all-too-common technological debt associated with assessment; and the pedagogical and admiistrative benefits of integration. That’s better than innovation, right?
If you are interested in using Moodle and Vevox to deliver in-class summative assessments, get in touch with the E-Learning Team.
References
- Vevox has been shown in institutional case reports to increase engagement and participation in classroom polls (e.g., near-100% participation in some settings). Vevox
- Vevox polling activities have been used to provide real-time formative feedback and increase engagement in module contexts. Teaching Innovation Network
- Advance HE emphasises that assessment design empowers and engages learners, and supports feedback processes. advance-he.ac.uk
- QAA’s Quality Code and guidance on inclusive assessment recommend diverse assessment tasks designed to give all students equitable, transparent opportunities to demonstrate learning. Quality Assurance Agency
- Peer-reviewed studies on SRS tools (e.g., Greenwood, 2023) show polling systems can elicit high levels of participation. journal.aldinhe.ac.uk
