Essays and written assignments are the primary mode of assessment in the courses I teach. Students are provided a writing prompt with several of the unit objectives included. Student must then find evidence based articles and construct a research supported response to the writing prompt. While true/false, multiple choice, and matching questions do have their place in learning, these styles seem to demonstrate more of what the student does not know versus what has been learned and cultivated.
I have taught online courses at different institutions wherein the course uses mostly objective evaluation and others in which the course uses mostly subjective evaluation. Both work when designed properly. It is possible to use only objective evaluation if one is careful to include questions at all levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
I agree that it is good to use tools that require more than just regurgitating the answers but how about the reliability issue?
Samia, I think that this is a preference thing. I actually much prefer to grade essays and papers than multiple choice exams. They are easy for sure but brain numbingly boring to grade :-)
Tomi
Thanks for sharing the way you use these evaluations in math courses. I would have never imagined that one could write a math essay :-)
I think that subjective evaluations tend to be easier for instructors and therefore liked by instructors but formative assessments tend to be better for students. This is because they are able to receive immediate and constant formative feedback in order to correct their performance.
At our university, we use authentic assessment which is a form of subjective formative assessment. We give students real life like scenarios and ask them to write a proposed solution. Objective evaluation is not used in our online courses.
I give students real life scenario problems that they are asked to write answers to. This is a form of subjective evaluation. We do not use objective evaluations in our online courses at our university.
I use almost exclusively subjective evaluations. I teach math and and every evaluation consists of problem solving.
I would argue tat this is not subjective, however, due to the fact that there is only one right answer. Yes, there can be more than one way of solving a problem, but typically there is not more than one way unless the course is very advanced. Also, when there is more than one way (say, solving a quadratic equation can be done by factoring, quadratic formula, or completing the square) then they are all equally useful as far as completing the problem is concerned.
I don't add or deduct and points for "style" or "finesse". At the same time I do not award points for a correct answer that was obtained incorrectly (this only demonstrates luck, not the learning objectives). I think I would consider this an objective evaluation rather than subjective.
Best,
Brian Stout
Leigh,
Smart strategy! The rubric does help with consistency and establishes expectations for students regarding the assignment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jacqueline,
There are great tools publishers provide to help with testing. Check to see what options your LMS provides to create test pools and provide multimedia subjective questions. It really is nice.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jacqueline,
Great strategies. Your objectives should drive your assessment. For some courses (Intro to Business) objective works the best.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tanya,
You are right. You need to see their solution paths. It is such an important part of their learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Earl,
Its hard to curb feedback when you are committed to students' learning. You may find creating simple rubrics or more of checklists to help with consistency in grading your subjective assessments. That may help.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In most of the courses I teach all of the assignments are subjective. Each one has a rubric which is provided to students before they submit the work. I think the rubric is helpful because they can "see" each component of the grade and be sure that they have addressed it directly.
That said, I find them generally more difficult and time consuming to grade, which is easy to understand as the instructor must review and comprehend the student's work in order to compare it to the rubric.
have used both objective and subjective assessments. I choose which to used based on the course. If the course contains content where the students can clearly display their knowledge of the materials being taught, I tend to use subjective assessments mixed with some objective testing tools. I prefer to use subjective testing when it is difficult to prepare an objective evaluation because the answers are so clear and the testing method does not indicate that the students have comprehended what has been taught. For example, an economic course would be suitable for both testing. Knowledge of demand/supply curves can be tested through either objective or subjective assessments. I prefer to use objective assessments (mostly multiple choice questions) for a principle based course (e.g. Introduction to Business)
I have used both objective and subjective assessments. I choose which to used based on the course. If the course contains content where the students can clearly display their knowledge of the materials being taught, I tend to use subjective assessments mixed with some objective testing tools. I prefer to use subjective testing when it is difficult to prepare an objective evaluation because the answers are so clear and the testing method does not indicate that the students have comprehended what has been taught. For example, an economic course would be suitable for both testing. Knowledge of demand/supply curves can be tested through either objective or subjective assessments. I prefer to use objective assessments (mostly multiple choice questions) for a principle based course (e.g. Introduction to Business)
I teach math therefore I prefer subjective evaluations. Students need to be able to explain how a solution is obtained. This is a very important learning tool as I can highlight the error for the student to continue learning. My feedback on their evaluations is a critical aspect of the learning process. It also shows me if they made a simple arithmetic error or if they have violated the basic laws of algebra. :)
I tend to use both subjective and objective evaluations. I prefer the ease of objective (once the tests are made), but often have found that the more questions I write the more clarity issues I have. The downside of subjective assessments is definitely providing substantive feedback to each student. I have a hard time asking a student to write something that I'm not willing/able to thoroughly comment upon.
To that end I try to balance the two out by limiting the writing exercises in length. They don't all have to be full papers.
Michael,
What a great strategy that teaches them a skill. That is a great idea.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
