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.

Preparing for the next semester

Even though I use a master shell some settings don't copy over to the new shell. So after I copy the master shell to the new shell I have to go Manage Course then to Settings to change a few things.

Chat: Allow Students to view chat logs -- change to True.

I use chat and sometimes students chat without me.  It is nice for them to go back and see the logs.

Discussions: Enable the My-Posts view so students (and I) can see all the posts we make.

Grade book: Display unenrolled members in Grade Book -- set to false so I don't see those who registered or dropped the class.

Mail: Allow messages to be forwarded to an external e-mail address -- set to true. I don't forward my mail but I know students who like to be able to do this.

Maximum attachment size (KB) --  I add a few 9s here so no one has trouble sending an attachment.

Enable My Computer Applet: Maximum number of files per upload -- I change this to 20.  This number is how many files you can upload at one time.

My WebCT: here I decide what news icons will display on the My WebCT page.


Any postings in Discussions will not copy over, so I keep the shell from the previous semester handy so I can reuse some of the postings.

Thoughts?

John

Getting feedback from your students

Each semester I have students provide comments on how to improve the Web course in their final assignment. Then I create a PowerPoint with all their suggestions and my comments and post it in Discussions for them to see and comment on.

An example of the PowerPoint is here:

http://www.slideshare.net/wiljs/student-suggetions-to-improve-web-course

This allows me to get some feedback from the students. Often I get some comments in Discussions and always find their thoughts useful as I prepare for the coming semester.

How to YouTube Successfully

Check out this University Business article about using YouTube for academics:
http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1459

Using assignments to teach tough topics

In two Web classes I have some assignments that students struggle with each semester. To prolong the learning experience of the assignment I use email or group discussion topics to provide feedback over several days or even weeks.

Traditionally a teacher gives out an assignment and materials, the student does it and turns it in. Then the teacher grades it and provides comments and then all move on. This ends what could be a valuable learning experience for the student.

I have learning modules that explain the assignments in detail and references to help the students out. But today's students like the just in time concept. They want information on something specific and only that. And on their time schedule.

So what I do is invite the students to email me their work. I tell students to get their work to me at least 48 hours before the due date to be sure of getting help. As the due date looms it becomes difficult to respond to everyone.

In the emails, I note errors and send it back and then they work on it again. This happens for some assignments many many times.

I try to keep my replies short and don't try to cover every error I see. I provide short emails pointing out something that is wrong and give some direction on how to fix it.

This process is time intensive and gets frantic as the deadline approaches and more students decide to get started.

But if you are willing to spend the time, there is no surer way of getting the students to understand the material than through this email exchange.

In one class I have groups and many group projects. Here I do the same thing, but limit all communications to the group discussion topics. Email is forbidden for group projects. If a student sends an email to ask about the group assignment I answer it in their group topic. This way all communication is public.

This works for many students, but there are some students who roll in on an assignment at the last minute.

I can't be just in time for them.

Using Groups in WebCT? Here's Some Tips and Tricks!

Check out these tips, trick, and tutorials for using groups in WebCT:
http://courses.csusm.edu/resources/webct/webct6/groupstool.htm

Open Access Course Materials

Open Access course materials are available at:

http://www.ucopenaccess.org/