Create a specific place to record answer for short answer questions. This was a great idea. I already have them place answers to one side of page on multiple choice.
Hello James:
I agree that good instruction is finding what works best for students. This way we set them up for success instead of failure.
Wanda Cousar
Professor Professional Communications
I like to offer peer reviews of papers to improve the quality of the work, which then helps them learn, helps their grades, and saves me time.
This is an important point James. Evaluation on paper is much different than evaluation in practice. Ultimately, it's the in practice piece that matters most.
All of my test are fill in the blank. I give the student all of the information they need to pass their test. I try to explain to the students that just because you may be a bad test taker you can still learn. In the culinary feild its not about the test so much as it is about learning the techniques.If students have a hard time taking my test i will then help them find better ways to study or get other people to help them in study groups.
Yes, weekend grating can be tough. This is especially true for essay exams. Go ahead and give student grading a try. It's a great way for your students to learn about class material too.
Almost all of the exams that I give are multiple choice exams that I create using test banks from resource material available from out text publisher. I may give a short answer or essay question on a unit test but not on final exams as time is of the essence at this point in the quarter.
I also use quizzes as a way to go more in-depth with short answer and essay questions. These quizzes are shorter in length so they don't take that much time to grade yet give me good information about where the students are in their understanding about particular concepts prior to a major exam. This helps me to develop a more effective and meaningful exam with few surprises to me or the students.
Christine
grading tests in essay format on the weekends is my least favorite thing to do. I now want to write final tests in multiple choice format and maybe have the class grade eachothers homework in a group discussion.
Because of the complexity and increasing volume of the instructors daily requirement its best to streamline both the exams and utilize the online programs to grade them. also its an advantage to redistribute the exams back to the class and have the students review them and mark the incorrect answers to both help the instructor, and to complete the learning methods for the students.
It sounds like your current system works well for you, but you do have a lot to look forward to in the way of electronic grading.
Dr. Mel,
I currently use short answer questions and have formed them in a way that makes it easy to both see the correct answers and grade the tests quickly. Someday in a land far away our school might go electronic. not right now though.
Mark
The current format of my exams are multiple choice, with some short answer and matching. The grading process for the exams is not a problem at all for me. However, the homework assignments are a little more time consuming, because they only involve full answer and production. So I do have to go through and examine each assignment. I did like the idea of highlighting the main parts of answers so that I can find if they included the right ideas and concepts.
Excellent techniques Pat! I particularly like the 'human scan-tron' approach. Sometimes you just have to use what you have.
I have already converted to multiple choice with blank to left. I can lay all test out on desk in line overlapping and zoom across answers(human scan-tron :-) We also have found it necessary to incorporate a practicum in some classes (computer, drafting and rendering) so students are aware that they will have to master skills and demonstrate unaided at end of class -has improved skill level and attention during class. Changes would be doing electronic test and using on-line helps for new faculty to develop test. pat j
Great idea to have students highlight the key answers on the essay test and assignments that take so long to grade. I will try it next term.
The main quizzes for my class are short answer , they are organized by topic/questions. Grading them is based on key words to ensure it is an easy process for the students and instructor.
I was interested in the free test creator software that can help in creating and recreating testing materials that get used every ten weeks.
I am currently employing most of the ideas in this module and its working quite well. I was not aware of the easytestmaker site and will be trying it out very soon.
If transcription files are typed in Microsoft Word, there is another way to dramatically reduce the amount of time to grade the. Word has built in features that let you compare and merge 2 documents into 1 and it shows the differences. Compare the student's document with the "answer key" document and you can quickly identify the mistakes. Not only does this save time, but eye strain and boredom from reading the same document 20 times.
We have been using that approach for multiple terms with current and previous versions of Word.
For my computer based classes, there are some quizzes and tests that I can (hopefully) convert to a format that can be given online. With the software we have available, the computer can at least score the straightforward multiple choice and matching types of questions. I will still need to review the short answers, but they will be in a typed format instead of students' handwriting.
Although I don't feel comfortable giving math tests in a multiple choice format, I can create answer sheets for the students to place all their answers. This will help me in quickly identifying the students' final answers to the questions.
