Assessment
I chose to create a formative assessment for a lesson about prescription drugs for my quiz assignment. The criteria were to create a minimum of ten questions, three multiple choice, three matching, two short answer questions and two essay questions in the Moodle course shell. Using the Manitoba Grade 11 Active Healthy Lifestyle Curriculum Instructor notes for Lesson 1 of Module E Substance Use and Abuse (Manitoba Education, 2008), I created ten questions to assess students’ knowledge to inform my teaching of the course.
The instructions to create the quiz in Moodle were adequate. I was able to create the questions and the quiz as assigned. I also included feedback on questions, embedded images, and set a time limit. Students are able to receive anecdotal feedback and whether or not their answer is correct.
One challenge I had this week was with creating the short answer questions. I really struggled with creating a question that the student would be able to answer. I tried a few questions and then I tried a few responses. In my trials I couldn’t get the question correct! Frustrating. Finally, I realized that my expectation of what the question type short answer could do and what it actually did was different. This was a very hard question for me to formulate and get my head around.
I guess my biggest challenge in this assignment was investigating my own ideas of assessment. I really struggled with the idea of a summative assignment based on multiple choices and matching questions. As McTighe states,
“teachers collect assessment evidence in both formal ways, such as through tests as well as informal assessments, observations, discussions with students and looking at student work over time. Taken together, this is going to give us a richer more accurate picture of an individual than just a test at the end.” (Cullen, 2011)
Where is observation? Where is the dialogue? And my aha! There lies the challenge in an online course. How do we assess or have students demonstrate their learning? Using the quiz features in Moodle, this can be one way but it should not be the only way.
Cullen, E. (2011) Did they learn it? Jay Mctighe brings international expertise to student assessment. Register Vol 2. No. 2. Retrieved from http://jaymctighe.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Did_They_Learn_It6.pdf
Manitoba Education (2008) Grade 11 active healthy lifestyles: Manitoba physical education/health curriculum framework of outcomes and a foundation for implementation. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/physhlth/frame_found_gr11/index.html