After reading this chapter and clarifying
some concepts about the different types of tests, I realized that an important step
about designing an appropiate test was mentioned at a flash glance, and it was
that tests must be designed depending on students preferred style.
Through
my teaching experience, I have had to deal with tests that had been problematic
and time consuming while administering and grading. I have had my students
standing up looking for my explanations to answer a type of task and when you
have 27 more students doing the same, you say to yourself: this is just “@&%#”
As it is a student’s right to know what is
going to be evaluated, (validity) it is also a teacher must to reduce negative wash
back effect and to make students feel a little comfortable before and while
taking a test. Therefore I have thought about some aspects to take into account
before designing a test:
- Ask ourselves if the kind of item types, tasks and respond formats are appropriated for our students
- Apply a survey before the assessment period to help us know which kind of tasks and response formats students feel more secure o comfortable with.
- To reduce the options that the students will probably come up in the survey. How? Since the very beginning provide like certain patterns on the activities. E.g. (true or false, short answers, matching )
- If there were various options chosen by the students we can include different types of questions depending on the ones that got higher score in strategic use.
Why doing this is important?
- As
it is designed depending on student’s strengths it is very likely that they get
good grades so students’ good test performance automatically will make the test
reliable.
- Biases will be avoided.
- We’ll enhance our professionalism and validity and reliability concepts.
- Because of the time institutes give to the specifics courses sometimes topics are not assessable and as we don’t want that time affect students’ scores and performance, determining appropiate item types, tasks and respond formats will make our final judgment a reliable decision.
- As providing students with the tools to achieve a productive learning process is one of our main goals, designing tests based on their good test taking strategies is a way to achieve it.
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ReplyDeleteI think your ideas could be very useful but I think that it wouldn't be STRICTLY necessary to design patterns to see if students feel confortable with certain kinds of questions and tasks before a course. Don't you think that in-class activities will tell us that?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I have seen in different teaching practices, the best way (apart from others) to administer a successful test is to desing it in such a way that the studetns find it familiar because they had worked before in similar tasks and the respective topics. That creates a very positive washback. :)
Ok, Yury, I desagree with you when you say that "it wouldn't be STRICTLY necessary to design patterns to see if students feel confortable with certain kinds of questions and tasks before a course" for two reasons: first, because I'm not talking about applying a survey before a course, on the contrary I was specific when I said apply the survey before the assessment period which means (week Exams)Second, profesionalism, is what we have to show to studets'parents when talking about good/bad students' performance. If we opt all the time for doing things informally, our jugment is never going to be riliable. Moreover, when you express: "Don't you think that in-class activities will tell us that?" that question is already answered when I say in point number 3 that: "To reduce the options that the students will probably come up in the survey, since the very beginning provide like certain patterns on the activities. E.g. (true or false, short answers, matching )". So when I say " on the activities", it is implied that this patterns are provided in class activities.
DeleteThank you for your Opinion anyway :)
I really like your post :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and besides of what you have mentioned about taking into account students' preferences, I think that it is also necessary that during the classes we train our students in the different types of questions that we can have so that when they have to face a test they feel comfortable and able to solve it.
Yes Juli, you're right, that would be the second part after the suvery session, once we have the types of questions our studenst feel confortable with identified; Training is what they need to outperform in those tasks.
DeleteI totally agree with you Yesii...Students will feel much better when answering questions or doing tasks with which they are familiar. They can help deciding what kind of question items to include, but they can also help choosing the topics. As brown said in the chapter about the alternatives in assessment, student generated tests are very productive and promote intrinsic motivation and autonomy. If you are interested in learning more about the topic, check this link I found, http://www.academia.edu/1902762/Tests_Learning_through_negotiated_interaction, it will direct you to the website of Tim murphey, Brown calls him one of "the champions" in the alternatives in assessment. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth, ;) I'm sure this will be interesting and productive.
Delete