Get Your Students Hired
I often administered essay exams that are focused on applied learning. I think it's a great idea to have students underline or bold the important parts of their answers and will do this moving forward!
I do use a variety of exam styles such as matching, true/false, multiple choice and essays. Utilizing essay questions in all my exams helps the theoretical understanding of the objective. I also do have an outline in addition to the syllabus, where the outline does give the student more guidance on major assignment dates.
I use a combination of grading in class as a group and grading each assignment myself individually. Some assignments can be graded as a group. Each student grades their own and then I breifly skim it to be sure that it is correct. It seems to work well. Then instead of grading 30 assignments over and over I grade one but end uo with 30 grades :D
In response to your question I'm not sure how those skills could be evaluated.
Personally fill in the blank and essay questions on an exam are necessary to measure where the student is at in their thinking.
Based on this module I will NOT assign my exams or homework differently.
The majority of my exams are fill in the blank. I need to know that students are retaining what I have taught them. No offense to multiple choice tests but I prefer short answer cause then I know that they have to think about it.
Homework is already laid out the way it was discussed in this module.
Michael, Understandably so. One method for overcoming that is to ask students not to write their names on exams. Instead, assign them each a unique code number. This way, grading can still be anonymous.
Dr. Melissa Read
Tara, That's an interesting point. Once online grading is setup appropriately, it's hard to make the same kind of human errors we make with hand grading. Improving grading accuracy is certainly a benefit to this kind of automation!
Dr. Melissa Read
Most of the tests that I give are multiple choice but for the more detailed tests I am excited to try some of the hints given in this section and even to try the website that was mentioned.
We use a scantron, for the major exams and it is great. The quizzes are set up so the answers are off to the side for quick grading.
I do have an issue with letting students exchange papers for grading, as we have an issue with confidentiality. Some students are not comfortable with sharing their academic progress with other people, and privacy concerns have been voiced.
I like to include multiple choice quizzes online that not only prepares them for the final exam I also gear them for their certification exam. What is nice is they are automatically graded and entered in my online gradebook.
Elisa, That's a great approach. Sometimes test assessment is not about recording student grades, it's about providing the student with feedback. Sounds like you have a wonderful approach to do just that.
Dr. Melissa Read
Aretha, This is true. Testing security is imperative. Making sure that each individual student is assessed separately is critically important to ensuring success. So as instructors, we balance grading efficiency with things like these.
Dr. Melissa Read
Giving the resources in this manual, I will definitely try the online grading system. I find myself making senseless errors trying to hurry and grade exams before the end of class. With the online system there is less room for these types of errors and it saves lots of time.
I think it will help to use the online test taking tools; however, it can lead to students doing the work together and not actually doing it alone.
I am fortunate to have a scantron machine to streamline the grading process.
I do have quite a few worksheets for homework assignments, but give points if they completed it, and then review the answers with the entire class to make sure they get the correct information.
Tralanda, This sounds like a perfect approach. While computerized exams can be graded quickly, they may not be as strong at testing critical thinking. Mixing up your exam formats to offer the best of both grading efficiency and testing knowledge is a perfect approach.
Dr. Melissa Read
Margaret, Great to hear that your administration chose a technology that helps make you more productive. It's wonderful to see these kinds of investments working so well for instructors. You might let your administration know about your success if you have not already, so they can consider this when planning for the future.
Dr. Melissa Read
I like to mix my exams up to at least one computerized exam and an exam that contains essay questions. The reason why I add essay questions because it helps students develop critical thinking skills. And it allows my to see if they can accurately assess the material learned by recall.
I also use scantron to aid in speed of grading, though I also give "practical" exams to further test understanding kinesthetically.
I give out a weekly schedule of what we will be going over and what homework is due and when. Most of the time homework and test are multiple choice or short answer so it isn't to time consuming to grade.