To prepare nursing students for the national examination for licensure, my examinations are mostly multiple choice to folliw the national licensure format.The use of scan tron makes the grading more easier and time efficient.Since our instituiotn do not have online classes, all discussions happenin the classroom. I use the site provided by the school to create/ edit examinations and also uses different text books.
I will format exams and homework assignments so that the answers are easily graded but also prove the the student knowledge of the topic. An assessment does not need to be extensive or complicated to prove that the student has learned the material.
Sounds like you have an excellent grading system Steve. Thanks for sharing! Other instructors can benefit from this post.
Grading and prepping for back to back courses can be tough - especially when classrooms are located far apart from one another. When we find ourselves teaching in these situations, we've got to set expectations with our students and administrations to give ourselves some wiggle room.
We aim high in our nursing program that I give daily quizzes and as much exams as he hours of the course alloted. With this, scantron machines are used for checking and we have our grading system in the computer. Not much time is consumed in the grading process except for some days where in the courses I teach are back to back.
I will definitely look into the on-line tools that help creating and grading exams easier.
I like the suggestion of streamlining the grading process; however, there are times when essay actually provides a better testing. Essay allows the students to express themselves and provide feedback to the instructor on students' thought process.
I am leverageing our student portal more in order to upload and grade assignments. this allows me to cut dowwn on paper waste and keeps documents in a secure location.
As a clinical instructor, I do not administer exams or assign homework to be graded. However, based on my experience from assisting instructors with grading homework and entering grades into a gradebook,I would definitely look into online grading systems and testing. I believe that in order to keep up with the times, you also need to keep up with the technology and how it can be useful in the classroom setting.
If I were to assign homework, I might also consider employing the idea of having students grade eachother's homework to save time.
My classroom grades are all based off multiple choice questions. An answer key is used and this makes class grading easier. Lab sheets become somewhat more complex due to essay style answers. I look for the important points to determine if the student has grasped the concept and grade accordingly. I also break up the task sheet due dates to manage time for grading more efficient.
Doing part of the exams on the portal to make for instant grading and assesment.
Based on this information I will explore the use of Scantron. While it is used primarily for multiple choice questions, short answer, matching and fill-in questions can be formatted as multiple choice. I also like grading exams with students as a learning tool; it prevents a lot of after class questions about the exam.
Grading can be quite daunting especially with a bigger class.
Instead of critiquing each student on their product, I sometimes as the student themselves to critique their own work.
This makes it more interesting and makes the grading more interactive and actually faster.
My exams are multiple choice on a scantron, with one discussion question. I have my students write the answer to their discussion question on the back of the scantron so I have fewer papers to keep up with. I also use mastery learning quizzes in Blackboard, and have students submit all written work in Blackboard. Rubrics are another valuable tool I use. I worked last summer as an AP exam reader, and learned a lot of great ways to quickly yet accurately score written work.
At this time most of my exams are short answer essay format. I will now ask students to highlight or underline the important concepts to help save time in the grading process. I might also consider using multiple choice exams and including one short answer essay question on them.
Great to hear you're already using the electronic answer sheet Edward. That's a huge time saver. Gives you more time to focus on other things - like lecture preparation and student meetings.
Most of my students assignments are in a lab atmosphere where they are graded on the tasks performed at the time of completion. As far as testing goes I already use an electronic answer sheet with true/false and multiple choice questions, this seems to work well.
One of the programs I teach is "closed book-multiple choice", and using a bubble sheet it is very quick and easy to grade. The other program is mostly "closed book-fill in the blank." Some of the answers are a couple of paragraphs long, which make it harder to grade because it is more subjective and takes a fairly long time to grade. I would prefer a combination of the two, maybe 2/3rds multiple choice to gauge general understanding, and the rest requiring written answers to go a little deeper.
When I first started teaching, I compiled a list of "Common Mistakes" that students made repeatedly. When grading, I could refer to that list, identify the mistake, and the related substantive feedback that I also tracked in this document, and was able to deliver that feedback to the student without retyping it, or recreating it.
This course reminded me that doing things like this - and preparing course materials (ie ppt presentations etc), may take some time up front, but then saves a great deal of time if you continue teaching the same course over and over again, as I do.
Thanks for the reminder!
We really don't have much of a choice at our school. All of our classroom grading is multiple choice. There is no homework. My biggest challenge is the lab grading. I really don't think about the time it takes to grade as much as the effectiveness of the lab evaluation.
