As a chef-instructor at a culinary school, we test our students with hands-on practical exams as well as with written tests to assess their learning of textbook reading assignments. The hands-on cooking tests are fairly cut and dried as far as format is concerned, but I prefer to choose between multiple choice, matching, and occasionally short answer formats for written exams based upon the complexity of the information that has been covered. For simple concepts like memorization of weights and measures, multiple choice and matching works very well. For more in depth topics such as why are certain meats more or less tender than others, short answer is appropriate.
Our test must be graded fast and we need more than one version, so multible choice works well.
relevant to material covered
It really depends on the subject being taught. I like to use all types-multiple choice, T/F, matching, essay, completion and short answer questions. I believe one type of testing may be more beneficial when teaching one subject over another. But try to incorporate all of the above types in each test. The subject will dictate which format dominats the test.
Just as students have varied learning styles and strengths, they have varied testing strengths as well. No test should only be multiple choice or fill in the blank of true/false. A good exam will test student knowledge using multiple strategies to some degree or another.
For frequent quizzes, I use multiple-choice questions. I use a test bank but take extra effort in selecting questions that are clearly written and do not use a negative in the stem.
The format is peselected so to evaluate the students prior to testing through other methods.
For testing fprmats, I try to select a variety of various styles to ensure that each student gets at least part of the test in a way that will be successful to them.
Hi Brenna - Thanks for your post to the forum that gives a good rule of thumb for choosing assessments. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Often the content of my material plays a big factor in this decision. When I teach a course with more specific factual/scientific information (such as Biology) I could easily use a multiple choice, short answer, or fill in the blank test. But in a communications course such as interpersonal relations, I would tend to want an essay question's response that would allow the student to actually relate the material to their own experiences.
depending on the class level, i may opt to use short answer tests vs. multiple choice. in my begining class levels, i will usually start with multiple choice tests and then go up to short answer as the students start to become more familiar with the material
Much of the test we have had were designed from the text book. We pick out the most important factors one should get out of the class and put the questions that are must useful.
Hi Melissa- From your responce to the forum you have assessment of your students well under control! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
That sounds like a strong approach, Lyn. I would love to have more "lab" type assignments in psychology online.
Melissa
I use the material and student population as the two main criteria for my testing format selection process. In teaching psychology, I tend to use a variety of techniques to review different content. For example, an essay quiz may be strong at capturing a student's application of a theory or method whereas the multiple choice quizzes are good for terminology.
Melissa
It depends on the information the student is learning in the course. Are they learning a hands on massage technique? If so skill application is the best form of testing. Are they learning factual information? Here it would be helpful to use fill in the blank or short answer.
I find that it is best to use a variety of testing formats in each course, depending on the desired outcome.
It really depends on the particular class I am teaching. Also, the course objectives and goal of the student assessment. I also take into consideration what the students are most comfortable with and will accurately assess their knowledge and distinguish between the different levels of understanding.
It varies from class to class and student group to student group. I like a mixture of multiple choice throughout to test ongoing progess and a final project to explore higher learning.
I take a look at how the question gives me knowledge of my students knowledge, skills and abilities of specific topics we have gone over. Sometimes a multiple choice question will work and sometimes it won't.
For an introductory course, I generally want to test on basic knowledge for most of the test and then a couple of short answer/essay to see where students are at in the application of the material.
