Assessment
My Thoughts on Boris and his Chemistry 11 Delima
I sounds like to me that Boris is on the right track in having setup and used Moodle. However, he should expand his use of Moodle from notes, handouts and student questions to some Computer Aided Assessment(CAA). Boris could easily setup some assessment in Moodle using the tools built into Moodle. Alternatively he could also setup and integrate some assessment using Questionmark. I really like Questionmark because of its ability to create web 2.0 material for online assessment allowing better interactivity from the student. This would enable students to have more practice before they have summative assessment in class. Although this may take some time to setup, once the work is done, then Boris would only have to maintain it.
This CCA has the following advantages:
- repeatability
- immediate response/feeback
- reliable
- diverse assessment
- student interest and motivation
- encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning
So Boris, I recommend that you setup these “mock exams” right away.
I do also think Boris should assign some marks for students completing and taking the time to use Moodle. I think this is important because it will propel a greater percentage of students to use it.
Source:
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf
Jenkins, M. (2004). “Unfulfilled Promise: formative assessment using computer-aided assessment.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education , i, 67-80. Accessed online 17 March 2009 http://www.glos.ac.uk/shareddata/dms/2B72C8E5BCD42A03907A9E170D68CE25.pdf.
My Relection on using Moodle as an assessment tool for creating quizes.
Over the years I have used a number of different software programs that were for designing assessments for teachers. I think they were more like assessment managers. However, recently I have received a set of Smart Response units that work with my Smartboard. These units are a class set of remote controls, the students type in their student number and I quiz the class using some questions that I programed in earlier. Students get instant feedback and learn as we go through them, and I don’t have any marking to do later. Win win! Anyway, the reason I brought this up was not to gloat, but to compare the assessment entry interface. Well let me say that I found Moodle’s interface to be very poor indeed. Although I found little problems using it, it is over technical and has many ambiguous entry areas that are difficult to understand. It is definitely not web 2.0 material and the interface seems quite outdated. So I found creating assessment in Moodle manageable but definately not pleasureable. My displeasure of the entry interface aside, I do think that the finished product was not too bad. The interface for students in the LMS is just fine. Again it is not web 2.0 kind of technology.
Comparing the assessment entry to other commercial programs out there is a little disappointing. In the Smart product here is a picture of how you choose what kind of assessment question you want to create. And also here are more screen shots including what the assessment question entry screen looks like.
Thanks for reading.