faster grading
One of my instructors says he will not give essay tests in the future. He will rely on multiple choice and true and false.
I find that this is a fast and easy way to grade exams, however, the school where I teach would prefer tests/exams that have questions with fill in the blanks and essay answers because students would remember what they learn alot better than the true/false or multiple choice questions. Students remember better when they have to write than what they hear and/or see on paper/books.
I agree with him, essay test are very,very,very time consuming, and it can get hairy during grading time.
i too also agree, in our school we do use the star quiz system and its very fast and efficent. students love it also as they get an instant response and grade
I feel that there is nothing wrong with giving essay exams. I feel that it tests the students knowledge and makes the student put the answer in his or hers own words and thoughts. When I write essay exams I try to try to write the questions so that the answers are short and to the point. Two to four sentences maximum stressing key points. That way, I can look for key words when grading and it doesn't take that long to read the whole answer.
It is my opinion that there is a proper time for each testing style, essay type as well. Depending on the material and what I am trying to verify that students have knowledge of. Essay tests are harder to grade and more time consuming however it is about the students, not my preferences. If I am trying to verify understanding of a complicated concept the other styles of testing do not fit my needs. There are students that are natural test takers and can reason out the question to come up with correct answers. I know there are because I am one of those people and usually do very well, with little study time, on ACT style tests which incorporate all of the testing styles except essay.
I only use matching tests in my program, but simply because that is the way it was done before I came. We grade the tests together and it is a huge time saver and the students like it because they see near automatic results!
I prefer not to use essay questions on test, but I do require a paper to evalute their writting.
I have been using pageout and Exam View for a few years and love it for saving time. Exam View now categorizes the questions according to learning styles to help in creating exams. These test generators connect to the publisher's database, where we have the option of how to create the test.
I talked my school into buying the forms for a scantron machine. We do not need to buy the machine only $750.00 in forms a year. This is a big time saver and cost savings for us.
As much as I prefer to grade multiple choice tests, I also feel that essay tests give a better example of what the student has learned. We use a combination of both, with an essay type test to answer specific questions about the material, and average the grades for the final result.
I also agree that essay exams are highly consuming time. I prefer short text with multiple choice, true or false, search main idea, time line, labeling maps, other ways of fast grading. Exceptionally I make essay exams, just only when it is needed.
We had a scantron at my last school and it was great! So much faster and really easy to grade.
One thing that can really help with faster grading is using a grading rubric. It allows you to stay focused on the student meeting specific objectives.
Fortunately, I don't have to deal with essay tests. I also teach to a wide variety of students, and for the majority, spelling is nhot their strong suit. We use multiple choice tests which makes life so much easier.
Jason, Sounds like multiple choice definitely works for you in streamlining grading. That being said, you might ask your students to do essay formats every now and then if their spelling is really bad. Could be good practice and help them build their knowledge.
Dr. Melissa Read
The last school where I taught, Scantrons were used mainly for homework and worked very well for that purpose. Testing was done via the schools intranet with a computer based testing program. What I liked about this is that you are able to check the validity of your questions along with the students understanding of the subject matter. Frequently missed or all correct questions may be reviewed for possible revision, you can check student responses to each question without having to tally each exam individually, I am all for technology to help me work easier
