Hi Michael, Thanks for your post to the forum. I also work at a technical college but deliver the general education classes such as "Critical Thinking". The trick is to make those classes relevant to the technical material and, as you point out, have them use critical thinking to be able to apply the technical knowledge in many diverse situations. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
at a technical school, the most beneficial way to test students is by having them perform tasks, such as diagnosis, repair..technical knowledge is required, but so is the ability to put the knowledge to practical use
I look at the objectives presented and think about the best way of making sure that the students have learned the material as well as addressing the various learning styles of my students in choosing test formats. I prefer a mixture of testing formats.
Hi Donna, Have you considered giving partial credit?
Susan Polick
I have a question regarding written tests: Among my multiple choice questions, I would like to include a few questions that have more than one correct answer, and give bonus points to the students who identify BOTH correct answers. However, I'm not sure how to score it if they incorrectly circle two answers for a question where only one choice is correct, or if they circle a right and a wrong answer for a question where there are 2 correct answers. Does anyone have any advice on this? It seems so complicated that I've just about talked myself out of doing this.
Hi Chloe, Those are appropriate choices of assessments based on the subject matter and the purpose of the assessment. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
To select testing formats, I usually focus on the subject at hand. If it's a more practical skill subject that should be tested using a skill application method, then that's usually the choice I make. If it's theoretical, then I prefer to use multiple choice, or short answer questions, or a combination of those.
Both written and kinesthetic methods are important for the baking and patisserie program because the students need to know the process in which the goods are made and why they are made that way.
The criteria for which format I choose to test with is based on how I taught the information. I usually provide powerpoints, give hand outs, homework assignments, and demonstrations. Therefore I usually test with a mix of multiple choice, T/F, and on occasion essay questions.
I test on both application and terminology. The quizes consist of multiple choice questions which test the terms and theory of math and accounting.
However, both the midterm and final revolve around the skill application of the course objectives. If the student hasn't grasped the learning then they can't successfully complete the test even if the test(s) is open book.
Sandra
Since we are a medical program (PTA) we use practical examinations for the laboratory courses. All of our tests are multiple choice as the students are required to take multiple choice tests for the national board exam.
I am not a big fan of true/false tests due to the likelyhood of guessing. On most of my exams, I incorporate a variety of questions; short answer, multiple choice, completion and an occasional short essay. With multiple questioning types on the same exam I am attempting to touch on all the various learning styles in the classroom. If more of my classes were teaching clinical skills then I would have more kinesthetic tesking in my assessments.
Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of deciding how to test students. The tests used come from the text and are all multiple choice. The benefit of MC is that it allows the instructor to cover a wide variety of topics and is easy to grade but some of the questions may be leading and it is easy for the student to guess the appropriate answer based on the options listed. Additonaly, we test with practical exams. These are a great way to asses whether or not the student has learned practically and can whether they can apply the skills learned in the classroon, but it is hard to grade objectively.
I like to have a variety of different types of questions, like m/c, t/f, and one short essay
I use a combination of the question bank given by the book and question developed by me targeting topics I discussed in calss
I work at a career college so most of our testing is skill based / competency type test. The criteria we use range from a 3 to 0. If the student gets a 3, this means they needed to assistance to complete the task, 2 means they required little assistance, 1 means they required a lot of assistance and 0 means they had no idea what they were doing.
My exams are true/false, multiple choice, first statement true/false, second true/false, matching. I incorporate all of these formats on Midterm and Final exams. Quizzes are usually true/false, fill in, and multiple choice.
It depends on the type and length of the test. If it is something small like a pop quiz I usually do a 5- question short answer. On a longer test that covers a whole topic I use a mix of all the types except essay questions.
For me I use a lot objective and subjective tests for most of my courses.
Depending on where they are in their classroom knowledge I use a set of skills to assess them and they are given a grade which is added to their classroom grade.
