Improving College Students’ Learning with Retrieval Practice Involving Answer-Until-Correct (AUC) Assessment

This study was designed to replicate and extend previous studies evaluating the effects on college students’ learning of answer-until-correct (AUC) class assessments that provide immediate corrective test-item feedback. Students completed weekly multiple-choice quizzes that were score using Scantron forms or Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique forms designed for AUC assessment. I used a comprehensive evaluation that included items from each weekly quiz to examined learning at the end of the semester as a function of the feedback conditions in place when the original unit quiz was administered. For items that had been answered incorrectly on the weekly quizzes, there was a statistically significant difference between conditions; the AUC condition yielded higher mean scores on the end-of semester evaluation than did the Scantron condition. The current results, from students at a public state university in Georgia, replicate my previous findings from students at a selective private liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest. Together these data provide strong support for the conclusion that, within an educational environment designed to promote retrieval practice, AUC assessment produces better learning than a typical testing arrangement that has become common in college classes. In closing, I’ll discuss the logistics and feasibility of adopting AUC assessment techniques