Testing to Learn
I attended a training session about how to set up quizzes for a course and in the process the instructor said that he would set the quizzes so that the students could do two attempts and be graded on the best attempt. When asked why he felt two attempts were better, he identified that if the student learned from the process of taking the test and had a better understanding, that he was good taking the higher grade from the second attempt. Hummm! Mentioned that to other professors and they often go hummm!
I read the articles “Shifting your Design of Assessments”, and “Interpreting Student Work”, both articles made some very good points. The grading should consider the purpose of the learning. Sometimes it can be more grade oriented rather than learning oriented. If one gets creative and uses a test method that promotes students checking the answers for themselves other students may not feel comfortable with that approach but are probably in the minority. I think that is a case of individual differences. Hummm! Some good things to think about.
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