Deb, Sounds like you have developed a highly efficient system! Thanks very much for sharing. Your testing formats, as well as methodologies, likely help you save time and focus more on other priorities - like classroom instruction!
Dr. Melissa Read
Cynthia, Interesting approach. Yes, true / false questions do make things easier to grade. I recommend emphasizing test materials while also covering off on the broad educational content available in your discipline. This holistic approach provides students depth and breadth in your subject area.
Dr. Melissa Read
Vanessa, Excellent to hear you'll take a new and great approach. With the classroom grading, be sure to maintain student confidentiality by concealing names of the papers that students grade. You can do this by assigning each student a code name or number to use on their exams instead of using their real name.
Dr. Melissa Read
I love the idea of online gradebooks, especially if the student cant check their grades themselves. That would really save a lot of time for me to put to use in others areas. I would love to use this tool.
Dr. Read that is an excellent idea. I will definately try that! Now noone will feel like they are being "called" out or get embarassed. Thank you!
Vanessa
I am going to access the oline sites mentioned immediately! I spend so much time c4reating tests because my textbook has no available resources-ditto for grading. I am hoping these resources will be a big timesaver.
I may incorporate more multiple choice using the Scantron answer sheets in order to save time grading. In my opinion a good multiple choice question is just as effective as an essay question in assessing the student's knowledge of the material.
The best formats for exams and assignments for us to be able to save time effectively is multiple choice type and discuss the answer in the class while checking each other papers, participation of the students during discussion is a learning opportunity and the best retention for the subject matter.
I will start format more of my test questions as multiple choice questions and less fill in the blank.
What I learned taking this course and starting to put things in priority, Having the essay question high lighted has really cut down on my time I take to grade the papers. This has given more time of other things
J VAldez
I currently use scan trons but have added more select all that apply so that it challenges the students more.
Sheila, That's great thinking. Thanks for sharing. Yes, multiple choice don't necessarily have to be easy. By including 'Select all that Apply' as well as 'None of the Above' or 'Some of the Above,' we continue to challenge our students.
Dr. Melissa Read
Right now I use multiple choice questions and some short answer discussion. That type of testing seems to work well with the students I teach. I think I would like to try matching and true/false, which will also make it easy for me to quickly grade their tests.
Veronica, Yes, both multiple choice and true / false formats can significantly speed grading. Note that these formats can still challenge students. For example, with multiple choice, you can build in answers like 'All of the above' and 'None of the above.'
Dr. Melissa Read
I do have several projects throughout each term that are essay format. I am going to have the students highlight the significant responses to speed the grading process. I wonder if that will also help them increase the liklihood of giving me the correct answers and not overlooking any of the requirements.
I must admit that grading homework and tests is not my favorite thing in the world. For this reason I utilize multiple choice exams and homework whenever possible. I have the papers set up so that the students put their answers on the right hand side of the page so all I have to do is match up the answer key and I can grade all of the papers at once. When I am grading presentations I utilize a rubric and grade the presentation as it is happening. I also have the student's classmates grading them using the same rubric. This not only helps me in my evaluation but also helps the other students stay focused on each other's presentations. For the next essay that I assign I will definitely be having the students underline the main points to make my grading job easier.
I currently now only have 15 students. I am definitely going to check into the possibility of computerized test grading. I also loved the idea of having the students grade each other's homework. I think that would be a huge time saver. I am also going to start color coding my classes in seperate file folders!
I think for the exams, I will format them to a majority of the questions being multiple choice and a few that will require essay type questions. The multiple choice grading can be arranged like a "scantron" type where they will fill in an answer bubble and I can just place an answer template on the sheet and easily mark those that are correct or wrong.
My exams take the most time to grade as opposed to the homework assignments.
Miriam, Yes, you are spot on in your expectations. I find that when I ask students to highlight or underline the most important parts of their answers, they are able to provide much more targeted responses. The highlighting and underlining process really focuses the students on fully answering the question as opposed to answering just parts of it.
Dr. Melissa Read
Using the Multiple Choice and True False questions, rather than the essay questions is going to be my plan of attack. If it is necessary to use the essay questions then the short essay format will used. I especially like the suggestion of having the students underline the key points of the essay question to make marking them easier to grade, this is great time management tool. .
