Hi Katie, Thanks for your post to the forum. Asking students to apply skills in a realistic setting is an excellent practice! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I work with students who will be working with clients in physical settings. It is vital that I see them demonstrate their professional skills and communication skills in a real time setting. I prefer to do skill assessments and or interactive assessments that test their soft skills.
I enjoy mixing the test with multiple choice, true/false and fill-in. This allows students to use critical thinking skills. Also preparing them for what they'll have use on their job.
Hi Jan, Thanks for your post to the forum. Good choices for assessments! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I believe there are many effective ways to assess learning depending upon the subject matter and the the objectives. For knowledge based course, I believe multiple choice and completion sentence are very effective as they allow me to assess a wide range of content. For higher level of learning, I would like to use short answers and essays as they allow students to analyze and problem solve.
Similar to identifying the student's learning style, the most effective methods of student assessment should be combination of all to see if the student did obtain the knowledge. I personally like less of multiple choice and T/F, but more on short answers and proficiency.
I use every method at my disposal. multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answer, even drawing if neccessary
By continuing to ask pertinent questions about subjects discussed or knowledge needed to be successful in the class and in the field.
Hi Regina, Thanks for your post to the forum. You are definitely challenging your students to use critical thinking skills. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I use multiple choice for homework often, when the subject matter warrants it. When we go over the answers together in class, I lead the students to tell me why the incorrect answers are incorrect. That helps them with eliminating incorrect choices, and challenges their knowledge of the material more thoroughly.
I perfer essay questions, to really determine if my students got the lesson or not.
Hi Frank, Thanks for your post to the forum. I think the start of class questions are excellent! That expected daily assessment and feedback gives your students and yourself some very valuable information. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
As an industrial instructor, the majority of my students think they are learners. But I have discovered that many are able to absorb large amounts of facts and information through lecture and reading assignments. I make this statement based on the process I use called "Quick Questions". This is a set of questions that are on the board each morning that pertain to the previous days lecturer, reading and labs. The number of questions range from 7 to 15 dependent on the subject covered and complexity of the processes presented. Each student must wright down the question and then the answer each question. The questions can be True - False, fill in the blank or ask for a short written answer.
I give the students the first 15 minutes of each class to answer the questions. then I look for volunteers to provide answers to the class and discuss any questions that require an expanded answer. I find there is number of students who volunteer answers and the class generally hits 90% + on the subject matter. I pull other students in to the discussion by asking them to expand on answers or state the answer in a different way.
Because the course class is scheduled for 20 days or 100 hours, I monitor class progress daily to ensure they are on pace and identify any topics that require review. "Quick Questions", numerous observed exercises and fill in the blank worksheets provide daily feedback necessary to arrange the next day presentation and set up demonstration.
Hi Teresita, I think that results in a very comprehensive assessment
Susan Polick
I teach mathematics and I design a test that evaluates student's recall of factual information (concept skill) by using multiple choice part that earns relatively 30% of the entire test. 30% comes from computational skill - application of learned procedures, 30% on real-life problem-solving, and 10% essay.
I prefer multiple choice questions because these type of questions encorporate different levels of questioning (application, analysis and synthesis).
I think Skills test works best for me. It gives my students a chance to do and show what they have learned and I can give constructive feedback on their process of getting from beginning to the end results. I throw in a few pop up multiple choice and true/false quizzes in 2 or 3 times to see if they are grasping the material.
Hi Donna, Here is a link to Carnegie Mellon Univ. that discusses this issue in detail. There are a lot of links within the main page.
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/assesslearning/groupWorkGradingMethods.html
Susan Polick
This is an interesting variation. I'll be using 2 projects (one individual and one small group) in addition to exams this quarter. My question is: how can I ensure that each student in the small group has made a fair contribution? How can I suggest that they divide up the work?
Given the time, a variety of tests should be used to assess the maximum amount of information and to allow for each student's specific learning approach. In my field, competencies, or skill assessments, are routinely administrated to allow for the demonstration of those clinical skills that are required in the profession.
