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 One constant challenge of teaching is bettering the tests we give. Several
ideas arise from practice and from research. A few such ideas are gathered at
this site. Please click on the links below to read about each one.
"Improving Tests" discussions around the MRCTE colleges have
included demonstrations of
Discussion offered several suggestions from the experiences of the veteran
teachers present at JSRCC on Sept. 17, 1999.
 | To ease students into a course and mitigate "first-test shock,"
experienced teachers find ways to train their students in college ways--
 | train students to annotate the text and take class notes with samples and
strategies |
| provide sample test questions with sample answers in a range from A to C or A to
F with explanations of the grading criteria |
| use texts or study guides that provide self-tests, printed or online and
possibly interactive |
| put parts of a test bank or a second test bank on reserve |
| use Bloom's Taxonomy of question levels to get students to analyze questions and
to make up test questions |
| encourage study groups or form them around selected or recommended leaders |
| give frequent quizzes early in the semester |
| show sample questions that illustrate how students' understandings should grow
from reading questions to re-reading questions, to test questions that ask students to
look across chapters, compare and contrast concepts. |
|
| For using test banks,
| realize that not all are good, effective, or class-tested by the author |
| random tests and quizzes are not as effective as questions selected to parallel
class lectures and the text |
|
| Features of Some Testing Software
| Displaying feedback and allowing multiple attempts can be done in some
online testing software. |
| Files can be linked to a quiz or test item for the student to use during
the test or to answer the item, e.g. a conversion chart or a Periodic Table
of Elements. |
| Randomizing the order of delivery of quiz questions is one way of
individualizing testing. |
| A students' score can be automatically tabulated and even entered into an
online grade book (for which students or teacher have provided a code name
so students remain anonymous). |
| Archiving of forums (listing all students' replies to open-ended questions
on one web page with internal links at the top to index the page) |
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For Further Reading
A National Teaching and Learning Forum article by Tom Rocklin
Professor of Educational Psychology & Director, Center for Teaching at the University
of Iowa, offers an article on
various uses of "Computers and Testing." (Access is restricted to VCCS
teachers who have the codes from their email notices from their Regional Center for
Teaching Excellence Chairs.)
Rocklin also offers a brief comment on high-end, mid-range, and personal level
testing software in an unrestricted
website at a "virtual companion to his NTLF article. " This Virtual
Companion is designed to accompany the article Computers and Testing in The National
Teaching and Learning Forum, Volume 8 Number 5." In addition, he offers criteria for
weighing the relative merits of such software.
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1999