This semester I stumbled on a creative teaching tool that surprised both me and my students. It turned out to be effective and enjoyable, and it was a quiz. I used the tool in a survey of church history course. Like most history courses, this

In an instructional experiment, I split students into three groups––no quiz, announced quiz, and pop quiz. I used the same instructional style and teaching materials (including the same textbook and handouts) with each of these three groups. I also gave the same two midterms and

Unfortunately, various analyses of multiple-choice test questions have revealed that many of them do not test higher-order thinking abilities. Questions that test higher-order thinking abilities are difficult and time-consuming to write. But for many teachers, those teaching multiple courses and those teaching large sections, multiple-choice

With the academic year nearly over and final exams upon us, it’s a good time to consider how we assess student knowledge in our courses. Cumulative finals are still used in many courses, but a significant number of faculty have backed away from them because

In “Calculating Final Course Grades: What About Dropping Scores or Offering a Replacement?” (The Teaching Professor March 2014), the editor notes that “some students … assume that course content is a breeze, [so] the first exam serve[s] as a wake-up call.” (p. 6) In two

Having students write their own exams is an interesting idea that arose out of the authors’ desires to increase student involvement in learning and self-evaluation, minimize cheating, decrease exam stress, and make exam experiences more meaningful, among other goals. It’s an approach that can be

In a small study undertaken in three sections of intermediate macroeconomic theory, MacDermott compared three assessment policies in terms of their impact on the cumulative final exam score: 1) three in-class exams each worth 20 percent of the grade; 2) three in-class exams with the

Is this situation at all like what you’re experiencing? Class sizes are steadily increasing, students need more opportunities to practice critical thinking skills, and you need to keep the amount of time devoted to grading under control. That was the situation facing a group of

It’s good to regularly review the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly used test questions and the test banks that now frequently provide them.