I have learned that essay type questions assist in demonstrating the students broader knowledge. It will show if the student fully understands the content and is able to apply it appropriately. Students attempt to memorize content, in nursing memorization does not demonstrate critical thinking and concept knowledge. They need to learn the concepts and how to apply the to different situations or scenarios. Essay questions could better demonstrate that.
I learned a variety of things in this section. First, objective assesments have a right or wrong answer where subjective assesments are more like essays that answer an open ended question. It is critical to provide feedback on objective assessments, not just for subjective assessments. Subjective assesments must have a rubric with it so that the student understands how they will be evaluated.
I sure wish I would have taken this course BEFORE the course on the rubrics. Sorting through all the terms has been helpful.
Validity and reliability is a good measurement
Hello,
Very informative reading.
David
Norm referenced assessments are used to compare student's understanding.
I generally do not give feedback on quiz questions. I should consider doing that!
Mary
I see the value of both. My experiences have been more to the objective methods (ie Flight ttraining).
Both objective and subjective assessments can be used as a part of a complete formative assessment.
I learned that I have always used the assessments described in this unit however I haven't always thought of them using these terms.
Both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments are important for student learning. As a nursing instructor, I need students to be compared to a standard when performing skills. However, they also must be compared to large groups so a norm-referenced assessment is also helpful in preparation for taking a national board exam.
There are different ways to determine a student's understanding of the subject matter. Objective is more black and white with clear right and wrong answers, it would be helpful in summative assesments. Subjective definitely gives a little more maneuverability to understanding the student's perspective, it could be helpful when utilizing formative assessment.
I learned that I am much more comfortable with criterion-referenced assessments. As a student, I hated it when a teacher graded on a curve and I am not a competitive person by nature. I was intrigued by the idea of looking at individual test questions and evaluating who got it right and who got it wrong. I think this would be an important tool for knowing how to reach individual students and how to make a test better.
Nancy Tosh
I have learned that as an intructor we must provide feedback to students not just marking right or wrong with no feedback, it is imperative that feedback be a consistent part of any assessment. Student's will understands what areas needs improvement.
These assessments can be a little confusing. I'm glad they have great descriptions and examples but I do find it hard identifying which is which
I have used and taken both the Norm and Criterion-referenced assessments and never knew they were different. I know, now, I deffinately will use the Criterion-referenced assessments in my course.
I've learned that there is a difference between norm and criterion based assessments. Criterion based assessments seem most useful in the context of my courses, but norm based assessments could be useful for helping me to determine the perfomances of current students vs prior cohorts to see if they're better grasping the material (or not).
In this module I learned that objective information is fact based and subjective is based on personal opinions or different points of view.
This module provided a review of objective vs subjective assessment and their inherent uses and functions. It emphasized the importance of determining test validity and reliability for accuracy and effectiveness of assessment, as well as the advantages of using norm-referenced vs criterion-referenced assessments. Our students sit for a final competency exam that is norm-referenced, however, I find that in my course classes, especially in labs, I more often use criterion-used assessments as a checklist to indicate mastery of necessary professional skills.
It's good practice to establishing within your course what method of assessment best suits the needs of your students and the class as well. Personally, I prefer to use objective assessments as it is easier to get a baseline of the class's understanding of the material that has been presented.
