Grading and Feedback Archives – Page 11 of 17

Continuous and Rapid Testing (CaRT): A Simple Tool for Assessment and Communication

Tarun K. Dam and Purnima Bandyopadhyay December 1, 2016

Most conventional assessment strategies provide limited opportunities for instructors to realign teaching methods and revisit topics that students have not understood well. Teachers can communicate with students individually, but time constraints may prevent multiple individual conversations. Some students in the classroom are reluctant to ask

Making Feedback Matter

Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar, EdD December 1, 2016

As teachers, we spend countless hours staying up late, reading essays, and making comments to help our students improve. We walk a delicate line, wanting to give students enough support to develop their papers while not overwhelming them with red ink. We carefully foster their

Writing Better Multiple-Choice Questions

Jim Sibley November 30, 2016

Eleven years ago, I discovered a life-changing pedagogy called team-based learning. It let me do things in large classrooms that I didn’t think was possible. I found that the key to successful team-based learning was writing really good multiple-choice questions. I would like to look

Learning about Learning after the Exam

Maryellen Weimer October 25, 2016

Exam debriefs are typically that: brief. The tests are passed back, score ranges are revealed, and the teacher goes over the most missed questions, identifying and explaining the correct answer. There may be a chance for students to ask questions, but most sit passively. This

Making Multiple-Choice Exams Better

Maryellen Weimer October 25, 2016

The relatively new Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology journal has a great feature called a “Teacher-Ready Research Review.” The examples I’ve read so far are well organized, clearly written, full of practical implications, and well referenced. This one on multiple-choice (m/c) tests (mostly

Using Interviews to Assess and Mentor Students

Barbara Morgan Gardner, PhD and Kenneth L. Alford, PhD October 25, 2016

Have you considered adding five-minute student interviews to your teaching tool kit? Before you calculate how long it would take to interview all of your students and dismiss this idea out of hand, consider how student interviews provide a unique setting and opportunity for you

Encouraging Students to Think Beyond the Course Material

Deborah L. Starczewski September 26, 2016

Research has documented the value of reflective journaling in both face-to-face and online courses. It is especially beneficial for beginning students in first-year seminar courses. But I hear you asking, “What professor has the time read a whole stack of journals?” And I would have

Reenvisioning Rubrics: A Few Brief Suggestions

Perry Shaw September 26, 2016

Linda Suskie’s Assessing Student Learning documents a wide variety of common assessment errors. They result from the subjective nature of grades in all but the most factual subjects. Many failures point to the need for more objectivity and a better system of accountability, including leniency,

Involving Students in Rubric Creation Using Google Docs

Razmus Kerwin September 26, 2016

Wide consensus confirms the usefulness of rubrics. For instructors, rubrics expedite grading with standards; at the same time, they reinforce learning objectives and standardize course curricula. For students, rubrics provide formative guidelines for assignments while—ideally—spurring reflection and self-assessment.

Learning Styles and Test Performance

Maryellen Weimer May 20, 2016

Decades of research on learning styles have resulted in widespread familiarity with the concept. Ask most students what kind of learners they are and they will often answer with a learning style descriptor—visual, verbal, kinesthetic, auditory, converger. Many will tell you they know because they’ve

Grading and Feedback