Hi Kou- Thanks for your post to the forum. Your assessment strategy is very comprehensive - great work! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I use T/F, multiple choice, and essay questions along with problems on my tests. I like to test my students with a variety of tests to make sure they are comprehending what was presented in class. Usually it works out well.
In order to measure the student progress I like to use tests that contain multiple choice questions,true -false statements,matching ,completion questions and also short answer items.
The course I teach is also skill based so,I give my students a mock-exam to help them pass the State Board Practical Exam required for getting a license .
I tend to select testing formats based on the material and skills being tested. If I am testing decision making, I might go for multiple choice, while if I am looking for vocabulary knowledge I would go with completion. To see thinking about a concept, I would use short answer or essay. To see application of a skill, I would use a practical.
I agree. It makes it easier to give this type of exam and have multiple versions to eliminate the sharing of answers.
I'm curious to get feedback from other instructors in this matter. Many of the IT certification exams from Microsoft, Oracle and CompTIA often have "select as many items that apply" type multiple choice questions.
These electronic tests have check boxes instead of radio buttons that allow the tester to select from none to all of the items in the list. Several questions would require you to check as many as four or five items and only leave one or two items off. Or even worse only have one correct answer even though you can check more than one item in the list. I found these questions "tricky" in that you don't know if you should only check the items you are sure of, or if you can earn partial credit for selecting four out of five correct items for example.
I would like to include similar questioning tactics so students will be better prepared for the actual certification exams, but I question the nature and effectiveness of such a format.
We use both a mix of skill based and cognitive testing in my department.
Hi Janet- Thanks for your post to the forum. I'm glad that you have found the information on choosing assessments useful! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
The tech school I work for has tests prepared that are either multiple choice or true/false type questions. These tests seem to work well for our environment but I think a few matching or essay type questions should be included as well.
I teach software classes so I tend to stick with assessments that include the students performing tasks within the applications
Most of my tests are multiple choice. This is due both because of the topic (accounting) and that many assignments are done through online delivery. I often have students work a problem by filling in information on an excel spreadsheet, then ask them questions about the answers that were given.
I thought this area was particularly interesting. Not having an education degree, I have relied upon standardized testing with some tweaking. It was good to understand the types of tests to achieve or evaluate a certain kind of objective. I teach a lot of law related courses, so it is important to be able to quote statutes, precedents, citations.
Hi Laurel - Thanks for your post to the forum. I hope that the information that you have gotten from this class will assist you in creating great tests! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Much depends on the information I am developing a test for. I have used most formats but can really use some of the information to develop better tests. Thanks
Hi Jessica- Thanks for your post to the forum. As you point out, the ultimate goal is to have students be able to apply what they have learned.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
We utilize quizzes for factual information. We look to Blooms Taxanomy for exam development. We also integrate some of the new format that our state as incorporated into the state exam ~ for example, listing in order.
i tend to use written exams and projects so the student is not just memorizing the information but also can apply it
It depends what are you teaching, I personally use multiple choice, true-false and completion test.
When I select a testing format it depends on the subject area that I'm teaching on. I feel a lot of times it is more important that the students know the material rather than just guessing at an answer. Sometimes on a test I will mix it up with T/F questions with short answer questions that are based on the T/F questions just to make sure the students were not just guessing at the right answer. I feel this works better well and I can cover a lot of materila that way.
Tim reaves
