I wonder, Stuart, what happens when you happen to have French-as-a-first-language students who struggle with their writing in English. They may master the concepts, and yet do badly at showing so when writing.
In my department we are currently pondering what to do with a First Nation student who comes from a very small northern community. Her first language is Inuktitut, and she speaks very good English. But her writing is very weak in terms of grammar. Her sentences are almost non-sensical. What do we do with that? Our mandate is to cater to all Yukonners, especially First Nations individuals. Yet, their culture is based on Oral traditions, not written ones. She is a great story teller (she is in her mid fifties, and it's wonderful to listen to her tell stories of the land). Her goal is to get more education so that she can return to her community and be better equipped to help change occur. Should College success only rely on our WASP values? (no offence meant by WASP, by the way...). Food for thought, which as I said earlier, we are currently digesting amongst colleagues..... Cheers! Jean-Marc -----Original Message----- From: Stuart McKelvie [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: May 5, 2006 7:36 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] RE: Multiple choice tests (was: scan tron problem or integrity problem? > Wow! I think a good multiple choice test is MUCH superior to a poor > essay exam. I agree, And I think that a good essay exam(with a good scoring rubric) is MUCH superior to a poor multiple-choice test! I agree that students have different strengths and weaknesses but I do not think evaluation schemes should pander to that. The logical extension of this is that we would individualize our evaluations! Rather, I think we should create our evaluation schemes around our course goals. Personally, I want students to show what they know, and I want them to show that they can express themselves in good, clear plain old English. So, at least for the intro courses, there is some multiple-choice, some short-answer and some essay examination format (as I noted in an earlier post) and there is also a term paper requirement, where the student writes an essay debating a research question on the basis of scientific evidence. If, as Michael says, some students cannot write, thenI am afraid they will not do well. So be it. But with the multiple-choice, definitions and short answers, they can pass. Stuart ______________________________________________ Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, Route 108 East, Borough of Lennoxville, Sherbrooke, Québec J1M 1Z7, Canada. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (819)822-9600, Extension 2402 Fax: (819)822-9660 Bishop's Psychology Department Web Page: http/:www.ubishops.ca/ccc/dev/soc/psy __________________________________ > -----Original Message----- > From: Annette Taylor, Ph. D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 10:22 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] Multiple choice tests (was: scan tron problem or integrity problem? > I think that the vast majority of teachers have no clue > how to write a good exam question and especially no clue on how to > write a good scoring rubric for reliable scoring! The two go hand in > hand and are as challenging to write, if not more challenging to write > than MCs. > > All of my exams are half and half. I see a few students who do better > on one half or the other, and most do about the same. The two types of > items are each more efficient for assessing different types of > knowledge/learning. The MCs are better for me to test factual > knowledge, but also many of my items test conceptual knowledge, or > knowledge for transfer from a definition to an application. > > Annette > > Quoting Joan Warmbold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Folks, > > > > Why do you give MC tests? Do you honestly think they measure their > > knowledge of the material or their 'test smartness?' > > > > Joan > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription go to: > http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
