1. Heriot Watt University Breakout Session MCQ with Confidence Dr Phil Davies Division of Computing & Mathematical Sciences Department of Computing FAT University of Glamorgan

2. E-Assessment can be viewed from different perspectives Commercial / Large Scale Implementations –Question Mark’s Perception –MOODLE –Triads (25 different types of Multiple Choice Type Questions!) –TOIA (FREE!) Tool for On-line Interoperable Assessment –Blackboard Assessment (version!) –Standards (IMS QTI Specification) Try it and see

3. How easy to do MCQ? Cost? Question Key = Distracter One, Distracter Two, …………….. Note –Key(s) must always be correct –How many students would you expect to get it right for it to be a GOOD question? –Distracter One / Two / Three equal # of selections –Throw away BAD questions?

4. TOO HARD.. ? Too time consuming Often needs to be an iterative process Does it matter if a question is NOT perfect? Seeking perfection not feasible I suggest that assessment MUST be included within a module, not only at end > make it embedded within TEACHING & LEARNING experience Formative / Summative / Both

5. My Entry into CAA 1 st Attempt TOTAL FAILURE – 1998 OLAL 5 minutes all finished apart from one student Guessing –Why should the student care if incorrect? –How to make it worthwhile – slow students down – make them think Negative marking used +2 and -1 (actually becomes -3 –> double whammy!) Allow TWO PASSES of the test By concentrating on first pass –will get reward on second pass –Formative IMPORTANT – WORTH MARKS

7. Own Background = Objective Testing via MCQ Four Tests MCQ.. Two passes 50/50 (became graduated) Cumulative Tests 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% Amateur.. No Research Pedigree (CAA Conference) Improved Class results > not easier – more directed Weaker students improved dramatically Assessed the learning outcomes of subject “END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS”

8. What did the students say about it? Excellent way of gaining knowledge 2nd Test Allowed us to learn Good assistant to learning Encourages Revision Very good, promotes learning of a subject early on Better than sex!!!!

9. What decides the QUALITY of a question? In the 2004 World cup qualifier between England and Greece, who scored the all important equalizing goal? David Beckham Victoria Beckham Brooklyn Beckham Romeo Beckham

10. Rewards? Know it On the tip of my tongue If I see the answers I’ll know it Deduction Guess Know it … oh no I’ve got it wrong.. misinformation

11. TRIED ONE CONFIDENCE TEST ONLY SHOWS ANSWERS ONCE CONFIDENCE SELECTED RELATES TO MARKS +4, +2, +1, -2, -1, 0

12. Proportion of Questions Correct High Confidence => 84% correct Fairly Confident => 58% correct Not confident => 47% correct 72% of all questions answered with high confidence

13. Student thoughts on Confidence “Eliminates guesswork” “I was waiting for a leggy blond to bring on my prize at the end” “separated the lucky students from me” “at least I didn’t lose marks for selecting no confidence” “are you testing my confidence or knowledge”

14. “Bite The Bullet” Use Confidence Testing for all four tests (10%, 15%, 20% & 25%) Real SHOCK to students Weighting of Passes (50/50, 60/40, 70/30 & 80/20) How to judge if the students had ‘really’ learned? Select five questions that were answered ‘poorest’ in test one & pass through to test two Select five questions that were answered ‘poorest’ in test two & pass through to test three ( + original five) …. Etc.

16. Identifying Quality of a Question Negative on first pass e.g. > -180 Difference between first and second pass Too big an improvement may just signify a very poor question e.g. >500? Create heuristic that identifies degree of difficulty of a question

17. Passed through to Test Four 13 of the ‘hardest’ question 6 new questions based upon additional work between tests 3-4 21 questions (cross section of questions and topics from previous tests)

18. Improvement of Results Through Tests

19. Improvement Pass One of Questions

20. Improvement for Question 5 Stronger Students improved quickly through the tests Became more confident in answering the questions Weaker Students improved less quickly than stronger through the test progress, but DID improve

21. Is it just Confidence or Knowledge i.e. questions right or wrong? CategoryAverage # of Questions Correct Pass 1 Average # of Questions Correct Pass 2 Average Total # of Questions Correct 80> (1)131.0158.0289.0 75-79 (2)123.5150.5274.0 70-74 (3)117.6148.6266.2 65-69 (4)113.8150.7264.5 60-64 (5)110.3145.0255.3 55-59 (6)107.6143.4251.0 50-54 (7)100.4136.2236.6 45-49 (8)92.5132.6225.1 40-44 (9)94.0126.4220.4 35-39 (10)87.7121.6209.3 30-34 (11)80.5117.3197.8 25-29 (12)76.7117.3194.0

22. Quality of a multiple choice question? In the 2004 World cup qualifier between England and Greece, who scored the all important equalizing goal? Teddy Sheringham Michael Owen Robbie Fowler QUALITY OF QUESTION NOT DISTRACTERS

23. Developmental v Assessment Need not be at alternative ends of the scale Student motivation / attendance increased considerably Testing knowledge (not done at moment for higher order skills) Good students have best results i.e. number of questions correct

24. COMMENTS? HMCQ Confidence Two Pass Formative & Summative Graduated Assessment Continual Assessment