“Most assignments were written before the internet,” according to Alan November, an international leader in educational technology who spoke this week to OSU faculty and staff on “Who Owns Learning?”
November challenged attendees to reconsider the way they teach and the way they think about how students learn. Highlights of his presentation can be summed up in the following tips. Continue reading
Here’s a multiple-choice question for faculty members faced with a rows upon rows of students in large-enrollment classes.
What happens when you pose a question during a lecture?
A. So many hands shoot up I couldn’t possibly call on anyone in particular.
B. I use TopHat to collect responses.
C. Someone in the front row usually shouts out the answer.
D. Nothing.
E. Depending on the class or the day, all of the above.
Most faculty use questions to informally test for comprehension, to guide students from one concept to another related concept, to check for attentiveness, or to encourage student engagement with the material. Questioning seems such a natural part of teaching and learning that we rarely give it much thought; however, certain practices can increase faculty effectiveness, student engagement, and student comprehension. Continue reading
CVM faculty receive information about the quality of their tests and quizzes several ways.
• They may look at student performance data on particular tasks, activities, quizzes, or tests in Carmen.
• They may be notified of item analysis generated when they administer Scantron tests.
• They may review a “Test and Question Report” from ExamSoft, a secure-testing application available to all faculty and currently used across first-year core courses.
The latter two are specifically designed to validate exam reliability, consistency, and quality.
These formal and informal processes allow us to create strong assignments and assessments, refine components of those assessments over time, and align the way we assess students with the learning outcomes identified. Continue reading