Essays assess critical thinking like the "Why" and "How" questions, which require students to combine factual knowledge with situational analysis to solve problems and arrive at conclusions. For example, an essay question could require a student to explain the potential cascading failures of a backup electrical system based on a single component malfunction.
Essays can measure deep understanding, the ability to demonstrate application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of related course subject matters. Essays can be used to determine if a student has a true conceptual grasp of the subject matter.
Essays encourage organization and communication: Essays require students to express complex information clearly and logically, which mirrors the need for clear communication in maintenance logs and technical reports.
Essay questions are ideal for assessing higher-order thinking and are an effective way to allow students to demonstrate mastery.
Essays are rarely the most effective or central assessment method for an Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) course. The best evaluation for hands-on, procedural work as in aircraft maintenance, combines multiple methods, including practical demonstrations, oral exams, and objective written tests.
I plan to use more diverse questions when assessing students as each type of format has its uniqueness to engaging the students and checking their understanding.
I prefer multiple choice, we have to ask at least 50 or more in nursing.
It is important to create different types of questions to assess student learning.
In the general education levels of basic sciences where I dwell, the essay questions are not practical. The T/F, multiple choice and matching questions are most commonly used due to the large volume of information that needs to be learned at the knowledge and comprehension levels. As the students' progress to pathology or a course on public health, they will then need to reach into the application, analysis and synthesis levels, so essay questions become most effective.
I've learned in when giving completion questions to expect to be flexible and understanding that there may be more than one answer to the question. Be prepared to accept and discuss the other answers.
I had a great professor that would incorporate various ways a question could be posed during the lecture (true/false, multiple choice, etc). He had a very distinctive accent, and I would literally hear his voice while taking the exam and remember the examples he gave in class. He emphasized important points in his power points in red, and then gave those variations on the ways that point could be seen on a test. He really made an impact and I'll never forget him or his teaching style.
I had a teacher once who wrote awful multiple choice questions on exams. The questions were clear, but the answers were so close in nature that it was hard to be confident in responses. I would often cover the answers while I was reading the question, then formulate a response and find my response as one of his possible answers. Long rant for how assessing students doesn't need to be torture.
From this module, I’ve learned that each test question type—true/false, multiple choice, matching, completion, and essay—has unique strengths when designed thoughtfully. I plan to apply this by crafting varied assessments that align with learning objectives and promote both recall and higher-order thinking. Using strategies like clear language, logical formatting, and rubrics will help me evaluate student mastery more effectively and fairly.
While time consuming, I like the idea of reading all essay questions first before grading the students
Before asking the question figure out what you are looking for in the response. Consider asking a follow up question to dig deeper and truly test the understanding of the student.
I learned that if you ask students a variety of questions, you are able see their mastery of the topic.
Always best to be clear with all questions and for multiple choice don't be obvious with incorrect answers or long-winded answers for the correct ones
Choosing the right type of question given the material and what we want students to be able to accomplish are critical when creating student questions.
These are all good examples of test questions. Hand-written essays - as we did in old-school - will thwart the use of AI too.
Consider the purpose behind the questions you pose. Do you aim for memorization? Are you seeking critical thinking? Is your goal mastery of concepts? Or do you want a grasp of processes? Each of these considerations should shape how you frame your questions, whether in class or in formal assessments.
It's important to take into consideration the end goal of the questions you're asking. Are you looking for rote memorization? Are you looking for critical thinking? Are you hoping for a mastery of terms? What about an understanding of a process? All of these questions should influence the way that you ask questions (both in class and as part of a more formal assessment).
Asking a variety of questions to the students will give you a better sense of mastery of the students.
The discussion on the different types of test questions were detailed and easy to understand. This module has a lot to offer and instructors will be able to incorporate these in their day to day teaching and testing methods.
Questions should be varied in style to assess the various levels of learning mastery sought.
