Monthly Archives: December 2012

Seven Swans a-Swimming

Day 7. Other question types. OK, so you’ve decided to limit your use of multiple choice questions to situations in which you have no option or where MCQs have something specific to offer. What options do you have for other … Continue reading

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Six Geese a-Laying

Day 6. Making multiple-choice better. Although I don’t, in general, much like multiple-choice questions, I have to admit that they can sometimes work very well. In conventional face-to-face settings, the use of electronic voting systems (‘clickers’) can bring lectures alive … Continue reading

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Five Gold Rings

Day 5. Go beyond multiple choice. I’ve been reading a lot recently about the pros and cons of multiple choice (selected response) and constructed response questions. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll realise that I am not … Continue reading

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Four Colly Birds

Day 4. What gift was delivered on 28th December? Thinking about possible answers to this question should help you to identify the theme’s of today’s post, so perhaps I’ll stop writing now! Some people say that the first day of Christmas is … Continue reading

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Three French Hens

Day 3. eAssessment design. I’ll start thinking about question type soon enough; in the meantime, this post is about how you run the questions. In OpenMark, usual practice is to give students multiple (usually three) attempts at each question, with increasingly … Continue reading

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Two Turtle Doves

Day 2. Integrate your eAssessment.  The desirability of integrating your eAssessment is true at various levels. The sorts of things I’m thinking about include: 1. Don’t just think about eAssessment as an add on. We talk about alignment of teaching … Continue reading

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A partridge in a pear tree

Day 1. Before you start….Think!  What is the purpose of this assessment?  What are you trying to achieve? Is it assessment of learning (summative) or assessment for learning (formative)? Or perhaps it is diagnostic – providing information for your students … Continue reading

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Think before you assess

As well as the reading that has sparked my recent posts on Learning Outcomes and Revolution or Evolution?, I’ve been reading articles about multiple-choice questions and about assessing practical work. I’m fairly sure that I’ll be saying more about both of those topics … Continue reading

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Revolution or evolution?

I seem to have taken part in a lot of discussions recently in which I, or others, have talked about the need for a real ‘shake-up’ of what we do in assessment. It is indeed depressing that we continue to … Continue reading

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Learning outcomes – love them or hate them?

I went to an excellent meeting yesterday, the next step in bringing ‘joined-up thinking’ to assessment in modules in our Physics and Astronomy and Planetary Sciences pathways. There are issues, not least that some of the modules are also used … Continue reading

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