Quiz Game Show With PowerPoint and Zoom: Revitalizing a Classical Tool for Modern Learners

Questioning students through quizzes is an effective teaching strategy 1. To align with the preferences of 21st-century learners, many educators have adopted commercial platforms for game-based quizzes 2, 3. Although these platforms effectively engage students, they are costly, offer limited customization, and often prioritize entertainment over pedagogical rigor 4. Consequently, instructors have raised concerns about their weak scholarly grounding, usability challenges, and limited suitability for diverse learners 2-4. There is a need to explore gamified applications of everyday teaching tools that are accessible and adaptable to varied learning needs. A quiz-based game show was developed using PowerPoint and Zoom polls. Questions were organized into three categories and embedded in both slides and polls. A game-show experience was simulated using animated, sound-enhanced PowerPoint slides. Each round began with a 5-s display of the question stem only, followed by the question and answer choices via Zoom. Students had 10–15 s to respond. After each poll, class responses and the correct answer were revealed (Figure 1). Two quiz shows were developed by the course instructor (author) for first- and second-year Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) students from two courses: Foundations of Dentistry and Oral Health and Nutrition. The quiz shows were administered at the end of synchronous online sessions for approximately 20 min, to review previously taught content. A step-by-step guide for making a quiz show (Figure S1) and a PowerPoint template (File S1) are provided. Participants of the quiz show (32 DDS-I, 27 DDS-II) were invited to complete a voluntary, anonymous survey. Descriptive statistics were computed in Microsoft Excel. Survey responses were compared across three age groups ( 30 years) using the Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni correction, followed by Dunn's post hoc test in Statistics Kingdom (www.statskingdom.com), where p ≤ 0.05 was deemed significant. Institutional Research Ethics Board approved this study (Pro00153937). Overall, 76% of students (n = 45; 28 DDS-I, 17 DDS-II) who participated in the quiz show completed the survey. Of respondents, 80% (n = 36) were 21–30 years old (Figure 2A). Most students agreed or strongly agreed to enjoy the activity (91%, n = 41) and found it an effective learning tool (93%, n = 42) (Figure 2B). No significant differences were observed across age groups (Table S1). Open-ended responses indicated overall satisfaction and offered suggestions for improvement (Table 1). Similar game shows can be created using Google Slides with Google Meet polling, while platforms such as iClicker can support in-person classes. Future research should examine gender differences in student perceptions and evaluate the impacts on academic achievement. The authors have nothing to report. This study was reviewed and approved by the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board (REB 2). The ethics approval ID: Pro00153937. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.