bobbe,
I think you are smart in preparing your students for the "real world" and that is the state exam.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
bobbe,
That is important for your students and for your accreditation! That is an authentic assessment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
As I read your comment Steven it occurred to me that as an instructor many times we are restricted or limited to the amount of time we have to cover the course materials, or the materials we feel are critical--need to be covered. As such we either take the time to go over the exams or we cover additional material. Tough choice.
Nicole,
I am much like you, I do prefer the essay exam. I use it frequently as a final exam. I do use some multiple choice exams, but even then I try to include an open ended question.
The online courses have changed through the years when it comes to assessment. Early on instructors teaching online were left to create assessments for the course just as they were doing in-seat classes.
As time has progressed teaching institutions have created pre-designed courses including assessments. There is positive and negative in this regard.
Positive, the institution is able to judge better how the course goals and objectives are being met (learned by the student) and they are able to build comparative data by instructor.
Negative, instructors are rarely involved in creating the assessment document, and because they are not involved they may either a) teach to the test, or b) have little regard for the assessment.
Personally, I have used both, as noted in the materials multiple choice are easy to grade, essays take a rubric and time, but I do prefer them.
I used to use a combination of both types of evaluations but have since adjusted towards the latter as the significant time required to asses each student properly and review the material does not allow for instruction of the next topic
We offer a very unique postsecondary curriculum in which subjective evaluations are used exclusively. Students are provided rubrics for the written assignments, but students create their own program of study within defined perameters and based on what they want to study are able to set their own personal learning outcomes. As the educational institution, we do establish general outcomes which is a result of the type of curriculum we offer. All of our students find this unique approach challenging and rewarding. It pushes students to go beyond in a encouraging non-restrictive environment.
In my situation I can only use Objective evaluations. Our system doesn't allow the use of Subjective evaluations.
At this point in time with the University that I teach through, the assignments are already structured for us. We do not use tests, which is actually really nice for adult learners. We use a combination of discussion boards and assignments. Some of the assignments are individual, and one per class is normally a group assignment. Most of the individual and group assignments are essay based, requiring the student to answer the questions and discuss topics, and using research to do so.
I've included objective quizzes in my courses and have used them as formative assessment. I have also used objective tests. Mainly though, I rely upon performance-bnased, subjective tests, which are more appropriate for writing courses. There is an objective element to essay wrtiing, espeically if clearly defined items are incorporated into the writing prompt / assignment. For example, the requirement that the thesis statement should appear as the last sentence of the introduction, or that the essay must use at least one direct quote from an article, documented in MLA style provide an element of objectivity. But for the most part, student writing, projects, and presentations are my preferred methods of assessment.
This said, there's lots to be said for a pre-built online objective test with automatic grading and feedback. Gotta love it (sometimes)!
Kelly, it depends on which course I am teaching. When the course is comprised on more factual information, I prefer subjective (ie. how hypertension has increased over the last decade?). When a student has to learn terms over the course of a term, I prefer objective evals.
Letrice Mitchell
I use subjective essays for my formative and summative evaluations. The course I instruct are predominantly research courses requiring the student to evaluate the questions and formulate opinions and theories based on support from cited texts for their statements of fact.
I don't use objective testing so far but I am involved in the writing of the new "node" style courses and the nodes all contain objective evaluations that must be cleared to move on.
I use mostly true and false questions or fill in the blanks as well as multiple choice. The reason I use multiple choice is the State exam test is based on true and false, multiple choice and matching. I give tests weekly so that I can assess where my students are at and prepare for the State exam.
I have used some subjective tests for formatting information for court's use, and developed a test to cover that specific task which the students are asked to fill in and expound on their answers. I gave this particular test to make sure they fully understood the subject matter and State requirements.
Most of the testing I have prepared are multiple choice questions along w/ matching questions to answers, and blanks (fill in) the correct answer. I find that the above tests correlate with State exams that my students will be undertaking at end of course. I also repeat the tests (in a different order) so that some memorization is taking place.
Alan,
That is great! I think it is a smart move to incorporate multiple types of assessment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
One class uses both types. The mid term and final exam are objective tests comprised of multiple choice questions.
A weekly quiz is available for students to determine how well they objectively learned the week's work. This is formative as the score does not count.
The class also has a paper, which would be subjective. A rubric is provided for the paper.
Pamela,
I agree. I think life gives you problems with no yes or no answer. It is important to see how students use their knowledge and/or skills.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jared,
I agree with you. Using a variety of evaluations does allow you insight students knowledge and how they can use it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I use subjective evaluation on discussion topics where there is no yes or no answer. Students are asked to consider a topic they might research the topic and discuss finding or their thought on a topic. Written essay assignments are also part of the subjective evaluation process in the classes I teach. Objective evaluation comes in the form of quizzes, midterm, and final exams. However, feedback is given on incorrect responses.
I like to use objective and subjective evaluations at the same time. You first have the students complete an objective evaluation. After they have completed the evaluation you review their answers with them and ask them to explain why or what, they selected was the best answer. By doing this you can see if they truly understand what you are teaching them.
