Personalized Examinations In Large On-Campus Classes Guy Albertelli, Gerd Kortemeyer, Alexander Sakharuk, Edwin Kashy Michigan State University

Background Courses with large number of students (PHY183 physics with calculus, required for most engineering majors) Course Goals Greater time on task Increase success rate while setting higher standards

Motivation “Why computer generated and graded homework, quizzes, and examinations?” Frequent tasks can be given with available instructor resources. “Why personalized?” Minimal additional effort. For assignments, to promote collaboration between students and reduce mindless copying Greatly facilitates proctoring of exams Speeds identification of students via printed picture on exams.

Quizzes Unannounced Average - 1 to 2 per lecture Duration – 5 to 12 minutes Distribution time – 2 to 3 minutes Subject – often same topic as covered in lecture Impact Objective – high attendance level maintained throughout the semester Subjective – students more attentive in lecture

Mid-Term Exams Feedback to students and instructor on progress and performance Exams are also a take-home assignment Since randomized, students get a different version Students are given partial credit towards the exam Increases time on task for all students Since they redo all of the problems, they will also rework problems that they might have only guessed right on the exam

Final Exam Summative assessment Subset of exam could be standardized Allows comparison year to year Across institutions

Mechanics Students pickup their paper and scanning form Paper might be with or without photo of student History Initially, hand comaprison of student answers with the computer generated list of correct answers Then, table-top scanner, operated by the instructor, computer grades exam, using custom generated form Later, standard bubble forms scanned by University facility Sheets might have multiple bubbles filled in on one line University generated computer file that was sent to instructor to upload to system for grading

Mechanics cont. Current status Use standard Scantron forms Central office scans forms into a computer file All questions have a single bubble filled in per line Homework questions are automatically convertible into ‘bubble’ format for use on exams Instructor corrects the few student bubbling errors, and grades data (5-20 minutes) Results posted on system to students when instructor allows it (students can see which individual questions they got right and wrong)

Examples

Online Exam

Offline Exam

Examples

Offline Exam

Online

Offline Exam

Observations Benefits Complaints by students about other students cheating is gone ‘Corrections Assignment’ for exams are highly appreciated by students Few complaints about exam dificulty “It wasn’t that hard. I should have gotten it.” No need to go over exam in class Drawbacks Printing is time consuming (automated, reliable as the printer)

Future Directions Fully on-line exams Several have been done for non-critical exams More resources are needed to do real high stakes exams Computer lab space Handheld devices But Current scheme is reliable, has a complete paper record If a technology glitch occurs, rescheduling an exam for students would be a nightmare

More Information Next user conference George Washingtion University Washington, D.C. January We welcome new collaborators. We’d be happy to talk to you about joining our consortium.