Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Online Assessments Sharing Resources (and Workload) Charles Hannon Instructional Technologist, Gettysburg College Reiko Itoh Assistant Professor Japanese Studies, Gettysburg College

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Objections & Responses Objection: multiple-choice quizzes are inadequate assessment tools Impersonal Unimaginative Response: true, but they are valuable learning tools Repeatable, allow feedback, available when students are, etc.

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Three Uses Of Online Quizzes At Gettysburg Ungraded Languages—Spanish, German, Japanese Sciences-- old tests for study material Ungraded, then graded IDS course on Reconstruction

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Three Uses Of Online Quizzes At Gettysburg Graded, in place of paper exams Physics “Just in time” assessment »Wireless CEs and other handhelds Biology “Pre-lab” assessments

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Particular Example—online Quizzes In Japanese Instruction IT workshop Technical issues with Japanese—IE, IME, etc. Comprehension test using video clips (part of an exam)

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Online Quizzes In Japanese Overview of midterm project Benefits of online language quizzes Midterm practice quizzes Job titles Honorifics Particles Verb tenses and conjugation

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Midterm Data: Survey Results Prior to using practice quizzes (12 responses): 67% had taken online quizzes before 91% expected them to be “helpful” or “extremely helpful” 67% said that if all their professors put practice tests online, they would use them most or all of the time; 33% said “occasionally”

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Midterm Data: Survey Results After the midterm (10 responses): 90% said they returned to the online quizzes to practice 90% said they believed that doing so improved their results on the exam 80% said that if all their professors put practice tests online, they would use them most or al of the time; 20% said “occasionally”

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Survey Conclusions Students are already “online” and believe in the usefulness of online learning tools Using the quizzes was a positive experience

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Midterm Data: Usage Statistics Two-week period following in-class session 600 hits not counting instructor (153 in previous 2-week period) Most occur day before and day Of exam

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Midterm Data: Usage Statistics When did students use online practice quizzes? HourHits % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % Total %

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Midterm Data: Effect on student learning Weak students who did not use the practice exams did poorly (as usual) Weak students who did use the practice exams performed much better than usual Above-average students also improved; top students did well (as usual)

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Lessons Learned Students need hands-on (hand-holding) guidance –Earlier is better –Shape learning habits as new technology is introduced Needs to be a close connection between practice tests and the real thing Students will use these tools more than you think and at all hours

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Shared Resources Site Overview of current contents SHAREDhttp://cnav. SHARED –Username: faculty –Password: guest Contact:

Online Assessments: Sharing Resources (and Workload) Online Assessments Sharing Resources (and Workload) What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields. Henry David Thoreau, Walden.