Jeanine, I am glad to hear you'll give the new product a try. Sometimes we have to sample a variety of products to truly understand what will work best for our needs. It's nice to know you are already leaning on your publishers and existing test making software. I'm sure that already produces a time savings.
Dr. Melissa Read
I am a Cosmetology instructor and we do not have our students to do many written papers but I will utilize the informaton given.
Grading all exams or homework in a timely manner.
I think is important that the instructor and students are on the same page concerning progress of the course.
I already use publishers testmaking software and easytestmaker.com. However, I'll be trying quiz star to evaluate the advantage of it grading the tests for me.
Using the Multiple Choice and True False questions, rather than the essay questions is going to be my plan of attack. If it is necessary to use the essay questions then the short essay format will used. I especially like the suggestion of having the students underline the key points of the essay question to make marking them easier to grade, this is great time management tool. .
Miriam, Yes, you are spot on in your expectations. I find that when I ask students to highlight or underline the most important parts of their answers, they are able to provide much more targeted responses. The highlighting and underlining process really focuses the students on fully answering the question as opposed to answering just parts of it.
Dr. Melissa Read
I think for the exams, I will format them to a majority of the questions being multiple choice and a few that will require essay type questions. The multiple choice grading can be arranged like a "scantron" type where they will fill in an answer bubble and I can just place an answer template on the sheet and easily mark those that are correct or wrong.
My exams take the most time to grade as opposed to the homework assignments.
I currently now only have 15 students. I am definitely going to check into the possibility of computerized test grading. I also loved the idea of having the students grade each other's homework. I think that would be a huge time saver. I am also going to start color coding my classes in seperate file folders!
I must admit that grading homework and tests is not my favorite thing in the world. For this reason I utilize multiple choice exams and homework whenever possible. I have the papers set up so that the students put their answers on the right hand side of the page so all I have to do is match up the answer key and I can grade all of the papers at once. When I am grading presentations I utilize a rubric and grade the presentation as it is happening. I also have the student's classmates grading them using the same rubric. This not only helps me in my evaluation but also helps the other students stay focused on each other's presentations. For the next essay that I assign I will definitely be having the students underline the main points to make my grading job easier.
I do have several projects throughout each term that are essay format. I am going to have the students highlight the significant responses to speed the grading process. I wonder if that will also help them increase the liklihood of giving me the correct answers and not overlooking any of the requirements.
Veronica, Yes, both multiple choice and true / false formats can significantly speed grading. Note that these formats can still challenge students. For example, with multiple choice, you can build in answers like 'All of the above' and 'None of the above.'
Dr. Melissa Read
Right now I use multiple choice questions and some short answer discussion. That type of testing seems to work well with the students I teach. I think I would like to try matching and true/false, which will also make it easy for me to quickly grade their tests.
Sheila, That's great thinking. Thanks for sharing. Yes, multiple choice don't necessarily have to be easy. By including 'Select all that Apply' as well as 'None of the Above' or 'Some of the Above,' we continue to challenge our students.
Dr. Melissa Read
I currently use scan trons but have added more select all that apply so that it challenges the students more.
What I learned taking this course and starting to put things in priority, Having the essay question high lighted has really cut down on my time I take to grade the papers. This has given more time of other things
J VAldez
I will start format more of my test questions as multiple choice questions and less fill in the blank.
The best formats for exams and assignments for us to be able to save time effectively is multiple choice type and discuss the answer in the class while checking each other papers, participation of the students during discussion is a learning opportunity and the best retention for the subject matter.
I may incorporate more multiple choice using the Scantron answer sheets in order to save time grading. In my opinion a good multiple choice question is just as effective as an essay question in assessing the student's knowledge of the material.
I am going to access the oline sites mentioned immediately! I spend so much time c4reating tests because my textbook has no available resources-ditto for grading. I am hoping these resources will be a big timesaver.
Dr. Read that is an excellent idea. I will definately try that! Now noone will feel like they are being "called" out or get embarassed. Thank you!
Vanessa
