The material should have been adequately covered in your discussions first of all. Secondly, you need to tease out the material that is most inmportant and applicable for their careers. I don't believe in testing them on small minute items that aren't important. I would also place importance on problem solving because as we know in their careers they will have to do much problem solving.
I will try to select the most common problems and ask them to come up with as many possible solutions to the the problem and grade this. I also believe that there should be a variety of testing formats as to assess students who learn in different ways and to challenge them on various levels as well.
should correlate to course objectives
Hi Diane - Thanks for your post to the forum. Structuring your assessments around course objectives is an excellent strategy. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Like so many of the other participants in this thread, I believe that the test content should support the course objectives. One needs to review the course objectives carefully and identify those topics that build the knowledge to the necessary level. Each course objective should include a verb that translates to Bloom's taxonomy of knowledge. The test must assess whether the student has achieved the expected knowledge level in the topic area.
I am always very careful to make sure that the material covered in the test has been taught and studied in the classroom. I also try to review all the material that might be on a test during the class before the test.
In order to select the appropriate content for a test, you need to identify your learning objectives for the class. I list my objectives for each class period on the board so that students know what information they are responsible for that day and for future exams.
You should select content that you want to make sure the students know. Putting this on the test will make them realize that it is important information.
Hi Susan - Thanks for your post to the forum. Editing the wording in test bank questions to better reflect the wording that you have used in class because it better fits indusry usage is wonderful! Great work! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
When I have created tests, I make certain that I review the unit objectives so that I test the topics that are included in those objectives.
I do use the textbook questions if they include questions about the specific subject matter, but find that I need to change the words sometimes to match the words I used in class, rather than the wording in the textbook. Does that make sense? I find that the textbooks don't always match up with the real work place vocabulary that I think students need to understand.
Hi Jim - Thanks for your post to the forum. I especially like your idea of using some questions based on your students' research. Too often students will view research as just "busy work". Adding those questions affirms that it was worthwhile. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I select testing content based on the material that we have covered in class and any assigned reading material. I also, from time to time, assign independent research topics where my students can gather information from various sources. I will then use the questions asked for the research and the student answers to those questions to develop test questions based on the student reasearch.
Hi Erin- Thanks for your post to the forum. As career educators, we do need to always be aware of what will be expected of our students in their careers and make sure that they will meet those expectations.
When selecting criteria for testing content, I make notes of material that I covered during class time. When preparing a test, I then review my notes and decide the information that I think will benefit them the most in their career paths. I try to stress certain areas of material to make sure that the students have a full understanding. Once the test is created, I take the test myself.
Hi Ryan- Thanks for your post to the forum. Application testing is so important in many technical fields. A student may know HOW to do something, but unless they can actually do it that knowledge is pretty much useless in their career.Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I follow the curriculum and use the test banks where I can be selective with some of the questions.
I believe the criteria for selecting testing content should be based upon the expected learner outcome. If my goal is to give students skills applicable the the real world then I prefer to test them on their understanding of those concept and abilities relevant to application in the real world.
Hi Linda - thanks for your post to the forum and for making an excellent point! Certainly if more emphasis was placed on specific content, assessments should reflect that. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
The content should reflect not only what is taught but the amount of time spent on that specific information. for example - the more time and depth of the information spent on the topic should be reflected in more questions about the information.
Its education 101,tell em what you are going to tell em, tell em, then tell em what you told em, finally, test em on what you told em.
The content on your test should be a representative of what material the course objectives set out as important for the course.
