test writing
When writing tests, you should give the test to another colleague to have them review it, to see if it realative to the material and makes sense to another person, and realtive to the objectives it is suppose to meet.
Cory,
This is a great idea. Besides typo's, it's common in writing to assume the reader will know what is in the mind of the writer. Good writers understand this and write to the reader. Proofing helps identify if the target was reached.
Barry Westling
Writing good tests can be one of the most difficult and most rewarding parts of teaching. Creating good multiple choice questions can be time consuming but are well worth the time in order to assess student knowledge accurately. Students often miss questions when they know the information simply because the question is worded poorly. Good questions challenge but don't confuse students. I agree that asking another instructor to read the test will allow you to correct errors and make improvements prior to presenting it to students.
Lisa,
This statement from your post is most profound: "Good questions challenge but don't confuse students". I agree its difficult and time consuming to write good questions, but I've also found over time, the task gets a little bit easier due to familiarity, but it still takes time.
Barry Westling
Writing a good and fair test is hard, as was said earlier, but I try not to try to stump the students with questions worded tricky. We want to know what they know.
Pat,
Right. Assessing learning can be accomplished a lot of different ways (and perhaps should be done so). The more variety in graded assignments will contribute to more accurate assessment of learning.
Barry Westling
One idea I picked up from this last module was to ask the students at the end of an exam: "Now tell me something you learned this unit that I did not test you on."
And give them 2 points for their response. This allows me to learn what they picked up as being important and gives my students a chance to say something they studied, but was not in a question on the exam.
Debbie,
Yeah, I liked that too. Some autonomy in demonstrating knowledge is healthy. Afterall, we are interested in student learning. So, lets give a chance to show us!
Barry Westling
I am very new to teaching so I am still using the same test that my predecessor has written. It's okay but I will eventually change it to fit my style better. It really is difficult to come up with questions that are not too hard or easy. I really do like the 'tell me something not on the test' option though. I may try to get that added in. I wish that was used when I was in school.
James,
When writing tests my main purpose is to measure learning, or determine if the student has the understanding that's needed for the course or academic program. So, in a way, hard or easy is not really the way to frame it, but rather do the questions accurately identify the degree that the student does (or does not) know the material. The "open essay" question option can be a valuable part of that process.
Barry Westling
