Earl,
Great post. Don't you think it takes several different types of assessment to "tell" the story of student learning?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I always evaluate subjectively. Doing it this way shows the instructor that the student really does understand the material because they have to explain the reasoning behind their answer.
I teach several courses so I will comment on my career development class. I use a variety of evaluative methods. I employ essay tests to allow students to share the depths of their understanding of the material covered. There are group and individual projects where a rubric is used for grading.
Randy,
Good use of different types of assessment. The objectives can drive the type of evaluations needed.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
For end of lesson and end of course evaluations objective assessments are utilized. Throughout each lesson there is a mixture of objective and subjective.
Patty,
Great post. I think you are right, it does give you a better overall picture.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dale,
It is interesting that this was brought up. A colleague and I are doing research in this area regarding regular testing as part of their grade. Literature suggests it does. . . stay tuned.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dale,
True, subjective exams do take longer to grade and add a level of subjectivity. I use this type of assessment in my online course as I feel better about the integrity of the answer.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Angela,
True, don't you think using a variety of types of evaluation helps determine a students learning? Your type of question should match expectations of the course/unit/chapter.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I like to use both. Subjective evaluations allow me to better assess how well the student can apply what they learned, yet some students do not test well and show their understanding better with objective questions. I like to get a good overall picture of the student's abilities, so I like both forms of assessment.
Emory,
How does that work? Do you find the quiz to be a good tool to measure the weekly learning?
Cecil,
I appreciate your comment. I would have thought that math classes would b objective. Either you get the answer right or wrong. However I guess that a subjective element would be the ability to explain a math process. In other words, have the student explain the steps involved in solving a problem, which would be subjective. I think?
Dr. Kelly,
given the courses I teach, most evaluations are subjective. It is due to the design of the course. I find subjective to be a little harder to grade, because of the fact that it is subjective and what I see as correct, may not be seen as correct by another person. With objective, it is pretty easy. Either it is right or wrong.
I have used all of these evaluation types in my courses. I typically use the objective and short-answer questions. I have used essay questions on final exams to require the student to provide details or assess their understanding of a process. The writing skills of the student can impact their outcome when essay questions are used, making this type of assessment even more subjective.
Rene,
Great post. You make great points. You do have to think about your workload in grading. I think you have a great system.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Colleen,
You have to consider those issues, sadly. I think you are very smart using time as your ally. I think it will be interesting to see the future tools that will help with this. We shall see. . . .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tim,
Great use of different types of assessments. Your objectives of the course should drive those decisions. Good post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have used both. There may be a tendency to try and omit the subjective tests. I like objective exams because they are relatively easy to grade, assuming that you have made them well, correct and understandable, as well as according to the learning objectives. However, I find that it is only through the former that one is able to assess and evaluate HOW the objective material is applied in THINKING situations, especially when it comes to reasoning, problem solving, or perhaps safety awareness, just to cite a few examples.
In my courses, I give an objective evaluation, consisting of untimed multiple choice questions every week. The midterm exam and the final exam consist of 2 parts: part one is timed multiple choice questions and part two are problems, the subjective evaluation. My concern with assessments in the online format is that the student may not be completing the work themselves. So, I like to have the timed multiple choice, where they can't look up every answer, and actually have to have some knowledge of the material.
I primarily use objective evaluations in order to ensure a students understanding of the crucial concepts. I use subjective evaluations to allow students to demonstrate their comprehension and application of their skills.
