creating effective assesments
Skills application tests are essential for nursing or medical assisting teaching. You need to be able to see the students demonstrate the skill to know if they can do it or not, it's not as simple as a written test in my opinion
Hi Charles - Thanks for your post to the forum. Do you and your panel use any sort of grading rubric for asessing those portfolios? Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I teach a variety of portfolio classes. The very nature of portfolio is that at some point the evaluations stops being objective and must be subjective...either it is art or it is not. I don't see how multiple choice or even essay tests would allow me to evaluate them. To help make sure that the final evaluation is fair I make use of a panel. Earlier classes use only in house faculty but upper level class portfolios are evaluated not only by faculty but by professionals outside the school without knowledge of the students they are evaluating. But the biggest issue is always student time management.
Hi Fredrik- Thanks for your post to the forum. Your assessment makes sure that your students understand the concepts/theory and can also apply them. Great work! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I teach at an auto tech school. we use a hands on skills test after each major area of repair, along with a written exam.
Hi Alesha- thanks for your post to the forum. You mention an important point. I a field where students will have to perform "hands-on" , we must be sure that they can do so. Best wishes - Susan
In the field of veterinary medicine, we have hands on tests as well as the knowledge tests. We expect the students to be able to perform the tasks as well as know the "whys" and the details that go with them. If we don't combine both we could just teach the students the tasks and send them out. That is a disservice to the students and the field.
Hi Brian - Thanks for your post to the forum. What industry do you teach in? How long is the program? Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
In the industry that I am in we tend to use both Skills application as well as multiple choice testing. We use the skills application in order to test the students on their ability to complete a hands on task, and every three weeks we use multiple choice testing to test for understanding of the material.
Hi Amanda- Thanks for your post to the forum. I totally agree, with fields like nursing or medical assisting, application assessments are the bottom line. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
