By giving multiple choice tests and placing answers on the right side.
If I give an essay question , I will ask the students to highlight the main points.
Mariann Urbancsik, BSRN
What I think work best and always have save so much time is having your exams, quizzes, or homework in multiply choices and answer key on a scantron. that method always work fast when it comes to saving time.
Mariann, Highlighting is a great way to streamline grading and also get our students to focus on the most important parts of their answers. It's a win win.
Dr. Melissa Read
We currently use scantrons for exams and quizes at my school. We are looking into changing textbooks and trying to get a textbook with more online resources such as homework assignments in order to facilitate the grading process.
I teach a college math class and picking up the homework and passing out to other students to grade seems easy, but what about those who don't take the time to grade other students papers correctly. I usually give quizzes that are short answer and fill in the blank to find the answer. They can show the work in the space allotted between each problem, but put the answer on the line provided.
In my program we have weekly exams and spell/term quizes, all of which are standardized, which is nice when you have new instructors. Our exams are graded through scantron and our quizes are oral and do take a bit more time to grade. I would like to change the quiz format to an oral quiz for the words and matching for the definitions. I think this would cut more than half the time in grading.
I have done both in the past- multiple choice and short answer/essay questions. I used to always use multiple choice because of the ease of grading. Then I heard another instructor say he NEVER used multiple choice because it doesn't really test what they know. So I switched to short answer. But now reading these suggestions on time management, I think I will go back to what works for me...multiple choice. Why make it harder and more time-consuming on myself if I don't have to?
I understand that giving multi-choice, true/false, short answer tests is more time efficient, and it is the type of testing used in our school. However, many of the students I teach lack a basic knowledge of writing skills. In the past I have used the essay question to augment the multi-choice test, in order to help them develop or improve their ability to write complete thoughts in complete sentences. While they don't like them, many students have come to me and stated they see the value in them. As a teacher I have seen great improvement overtime.
Lynn, In teaching, we often have to balance efficiency with quality of assessments. Some assessments are fast to grade but do not deeply test knowledge. We must find the right balance between the two.
Dr. Melissa Read
A few ways that help me save time in the grading process is to have answer lines to the left of every question, this allows me to grade four to six test at a time instead of going through each one individually. When handing the test back to the students we go over the questions on the test with the answer key on the board. This allows the students to make sure there test are graded correctly and to review any material that they may not understand. For quizzes I have the students grade them themselves with a different color ink pen as FARPA regulations state that we cannot have students grade each other’s paper.
I have already begun streamlining my grading process as I have been teaching the same classes for a while now. We have instituted online grade book and easier format for the grading of the and reporting of the test results.
As far as quizzes and tests they are all graded via a scantron. But having such things as workbook assignments gone over in class is a great idea. I can see how this would save a great amount of time.
I make them go home and study on what was taught in class then quiz them the next day
Joseph, Paying close attention to rules and regulations come first. I'm glad to hear you are still able to gain efficiencies in having students grade papers using the honor system. Doing random checks of a few papers each round will likely help students stay on point.
Dr. Melissa Read
I think the way that I format my exams and homework assignments is pretty efficient. My exams are mostly multiple choice and true/false, and I grade with a key. There is usually a short essay answer, but I grade that with a rubric. My homework assignments are mostly essays because I teach composition and literature, but I've gotten pretty efficient at showing the students how to format their essays and I know what to look for when I'm grading. I also grade these with a rubric, which makes it much easier and faster.
Hello Dr. Read and Fellow Faculty Members,
What has really stood out for me in this module is the underlining of the important part of the essay by students. I do a lot of essay exams and this is a great tip. I am not sure why I have never thought about this. How easy to implement!
Susanne
multible choice or short answer exams will be the fastest with the least amount of stress
I like using a multiple choice test with scantron. It makes it so much easier. Do you think 50 questions is a good amount for a midterm or should it be more?
Katelyn, That's a great question. I find that it's not about the number of questions we use but how comprehensively they test student knowledge and skill in each discipline.
Dr. Melissa Read
Shelley, Sounds like you have taken a thoughtful approach to both exam efficiency and in depth assessment. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on ways you could continue to improve.
Dr. Melissa Read
