Testing, 1, 2, 3

In my classes all tests are available the entire semester. A student could take all the quizzes and exams the first week if they wanted to. This has not happened yet, but I do have students take quizzes/exams well before they are due.

My tests are open book, untimed and students can take them twice, the average of the 2 tests is their grade. Each time they take a test/quiz they get a different set of questions because I use question sets.

There are simple ways to make open book tests more challenging.

First you can deliver questions one at a time and allow students to revisit them. You can also not allow them to revisit them. These options are quick to change. By only seeing one question at a time it is hard to quickly go through the test and compare your answers with another. 

For each type of test I have a different pool of questions.

For self tests (which are not part of the grade they simply allow students to test their knowledge of the material) I use short answer questions. WebCT/BB does terrible at grading short answer questions but I tell the students they are smart enough to look at their answer and compare it with the right answer is and know if they got it right.

For quizzes I use True/False questions. Quizzes are always due a day before we meet in class. For web classes I have all assignments and tests due on the same day of the week. But students can take the test anytime they wish.

For exams I use multiple choice questions.

I always use question sets.  A question set consists of all the questions for a chapter.  The question set is quite large and the number of questions on a specific test is quite small. So although some questions might be given to more than one student, usually they are not.

A question set chooses a set number (you decide how many) of questions to give to a student when they begin an exam and presents the questions in a random order. So one student might have a chapter 4 question first while another might see a chapter 5 question first.

Next you can randomize the answer order so the answers are not listed the same for each student.  This takes time as you have to change this setting for each question in the test bank. Also you want to make sure not to randomize answers if the answers need to be in a specific order. Example: one answer is "all the above." Naturally you want this to be the last answer.

So the questions are presented in a random order and the answers are random and the students can only see one question at a time. It they decide to take the test again they will see new questions.

Since the goal is to have students spend time with the material, this is one way to ensure that.  Students may not read a chapter before they see you, but you can bet they will crack the book when taking an exam.

What I find impressive about all this is that I still end up with a normal bell curve for my assessments. I wonder if this is because good students will take the time to do well while poor students won't.

You could try these techniques on one quiz or exam in one class and then compare your results and tell me what you find.