Introduction
Tests. Long ago (almost twenty-five years ago sad to say), when I was a neophyte instructor in my doctoral program, I came-up with probably the best answers to any question in my academic career. I was fresh-out of the corporate world in a dead-end job and thrust into teaching at the start of my doctoral program – with absolutely no training or instructor’s manual may I add – two, freshman-level “Intro to Business” classes in a 200 seat auditorium. I can safely say I had no idea what I was doing back then. I had found myself at Memphis State University (the old name for today’s University of Memphis) staring at roughly 100 faces each afternoon in that big auditorium. After class one day in that first fall semester, I had probably one of the first of thousands of student favors asked of me when a young lady (who then was likely just six or seven years younger than myself at the time) asked if she could put-off taking her test. Her rationale was simple: she had three tests on the same day, and she’d do better if she could take mine by itself. I, in a moment of philosophical greatness, quickly quipped in response, “Well, at least in college, unlike in life, you know when the tests are going to be.” OK, no need to put that in calligraphy or anything, but it did sound smart. And yet, it can probably be viewed today as an anachronism – and so unrealistic, as today the whole notion of test-taking – and test-making from the professor’s perspective – has changed.
Many parents of college-aged students will be shocked to hear that test-taking – and test-making – has changed greatly since they were in college a decade or more ago. Now, there are still many professors, especially in the liberal arts and even the sciences, who are what I might call “traditionalists.” They still make-out all their own tests, creating each and every question, and many of these traditionalists include essay questions on their exams that they will personally grade. They will indeed spend hours and hours reading through their students’ responses on essays. So, the image of a professor sitting in his or her office with a stack of student exams to grade is still valid, but it is becoming a rarer and rarer site today. Technology is rapidly changing the way testing is done in the college environment, as automation and customization are changing the role of the professor, and changing how and where students take tests.
A Peak Behind the Curtain into Test Making
First, let’s get into the mechanics of test-making. Today, the resources available to college instructors to help them make-out their tests – or make them out entirely – have literally taken a great-leap forward over the past few years. For more than a decade, textbook publishers have included test banks with hundreds of questions a chapter – thousands for an entire textbook, with their books for professors who adopt their titles. These have been available in various forms – big, printed test banks, editable documents, and now, computer programs. These programs enable professors to create either exams from questions they choose from the test bank (even allowing the instructor to modify “pre-fabbed” questions or add their own questions) or to allow the program to choose the questions that will be on the exam for them. Now, this is not truly “random,” as most of these test generation packages available today allow professors to set various parameters so that the test best fits their class. These include:- the number of questions
- the types of questions (multiple-choice, true/false, matching, essay, etc.).
- the difficulty level of questions
- the chapters (and even sections within the chapters) from which to draw specific numbers of questions.
I would say five to ten years ago, a student every semester would ask at the beginning of the term whether I used a test bank to prepare my tests or it I “wrote my own questions.” What I can say is this – in the passage of time, students have become accustomed to the fact that most of their tests are generated from such a program. Also, the depth and quality of most of the test banks that we work with is so good that it would be hard to differentiate how my “own” test would be considerably different. After all, when a test bank includes five to ten variations on how to ask a question about a simple definition of a term or explanation of a concept, one or more of them would be very, very close to how I would phrase the ten to twenty words it would take to ask the objective question.
The Changing Way Tests Are Taken
Another thing that has changed greatly – especially in just the past few years – is how tests are being administered to students – and graded. Today, more and more tests are being taken online (even in courses that are not primarily taken in an online format). Students, working in learning platforms like Blackboard, eCollege, Moodle and other systems offered through the major textbook publishers, are becoming quite accustomed to taking tests “on screen.” Some of my colleagues have their entire class take a test simultaneously in a computer lab or a “smart” classroom. In many cases though, the professor has an option to set a time/date deadline by which a test/exam/quiz must be taken by (say, Wednesday, September 25th by 11:59 p.m.). Now, once you separate taking a test from the classroom environment, this means that more and more, tests are – de facto -“open book” exams. Students often think this means tests become far easier. However, with most such learning platforms enabling instructors to set a reasonable time limit for the test to be taken, students are often surprised at how little time they have in which to consult their textbook during an exam. Also, what I advise is this: the more familiar you are with the material, the more you will be able to “find” the answers – or more correctly, confirm the right answer – in your text while taking an online exam. So, do not hear the words “online exam” and think that equates with “easy.” The truth is that many professors will intentionally set an online exam to be more difficult – perhaps much more difficult – precisely because they know that the student has access to not just their hard-copy textbook, but perhaps a searchable e-book (which indeed, no doubt, helps in terms of how valuable the resource can be during the exam time).So, when taking an online exam in a course, you should definitely have “a plan” for taking each and every test (and don’t make the mistake that after the first test, they will all be the same). First, you must know the deadline by which each test is to be taken. Also, try and find-out from the course materials and your professor both how many questions will be on the test (and in what form) and how long you will have to take the exam. Next, plan where and when you will take the exam, and do this carefully. You should make certain that you will have a quiet space in which to take the test (don’t plan on taking the test at a Starbucks or in your dorm room when your roommate is having company over). Make sure that you will not be interrupted while taking the test. So, yes, do turn-off your cell-phone and all mobile devices that could disturb you and don’t be tempted to have a second computer (a laptop or iPad) at your side while taking the test on your main computer. No doubt, something will call-out for your attention on Facebook, Twitter or your email that could take you away from the test for critical minutes – or more. Finally, and this comes from living in an area where thunderstorms are quite common, don’t start an online exam when you think there could possibly be a power outage in the next hour when you are taking the test.
Graded…by Whom?
A key part of planning for taking a test is to know how it will be graded – and how many chances you will have to take the test, quiz, or exam. In these learning platforms that are becoming more and more pervasive today, instructors have numerous “settings” options for how their students are going to take tests. Your professor can select not just the “deadline” (the date/time – to the minute – by which each test how long a student will have to take tests), but also what is most important to the student – namely if you can retake a test if you’re not happy with your test score (and how many times you might be able to do so). If you have the retake option, do not automatically do so without checking the syllabus and course materials, and if there’s not a clear answer there, with your professor directly. This is because there are settings options that might definitely not be in your favor. In many cases, the retake option will allow you to have your “best” (highest) score be the one that counts. However, that is NOT automatic, as other options often include taking an average of all test attempts or the last attempt. With multiple attempts allowed, most of the testing programs will allow for the professor to elect to count either the last attempt or the attempt with the highest grade – and that is NOT necessarily the same for most students, so be aware of this in your test taking strategy.With the automation of testing, scoring is certainly made far more automatic – and quicker – than ever before. Talk about automatic feedback! The improvement in learning is amazing for students, as taking quizzes and tests online today means that within a second or less of hitting the “submit for grading” button, you will be able to see not just your score, but in most cases, you will be able to see the correct answer and why it is so.
Finally, while we’ve been focusing on objective (true-false, multiple-choice) tests, do be aware that automated grading is fast-changing the way short-answer essay and discussion questions are graded as well. Most of the learning platforms will have automatic grading available to the professor for these types of questions as well. These programs use artificial intelligence to scan your written work, looking for not just key words, phrases, concepts, etc. in answering the question, as well as the writing and grammar quality of your response. Now, while these programs have not been absolutely perfected as of yet, they are still amazingly good considering the task. Some of your professors won’t hear of turning-over such traditional grading tasks to “Sky-Net,” while some are indeed fully embracing such automatic grading (granted, mostly with some checks as to how accurate the grading actually is in practice). Still, with the push to include more writing opportunities throughout the curriculum at most schools, we will see more and more automatic grading. And the upside is tremendous. After all, even with an army of TA’s (teaching assistants), think of the logistical nightmare – in truth, a practical impossibility – of having an auditorium-sized lecture class of 100-200-300 or more students be tested in any means other than objective tests in order to give feedback in a reasonable period of time. Today, that feedback can be almost instantaneous, and the benefit to learning is, in my mind, tremendous.
The Bottom Line
Wow! The world of testing in college is changing as fast as any single aspect of university life. Students needs to be “informed consumers” – as how tests are made, administered and graded may vary widely – and wildly – between their different classes and professors. The bottom line: learn to know what to expect in terms of testing and learn to adapt how you study and prepare for a test, and then how you approach taking the exam, accordingly. Also, you should come to expect – and demand – more and faster feedback than ever before (and increasingly, this will be instantaneous as we move toward more and more automated testing). While some Luddites will want to turn the clock back to the world of long essays and blue books, I personally believe that all of these changes bode very well for increasing the chances to really learn the material in your courses – and isn’t that the real point of all of this anyway.
Afterward – Homework (Yes, and It Counts!)
I am working to constantly expand this series of articles dealing with college success, with an eye towards publishing an e-book on the subject. After years of hearing, “you should write a book about this topic,” well, I finally am. So, I’m turning to you, the readers of these articles, for help at this point. I have two homework assignments, depending on who you are.For Current – or Former – College Students
For the many of you that currently are (or were even a year or two decades ago) a college student, please send me your input (in a paragraph or so) on any combination of the following points:1. Your best tip(s) for succeeding in college.
2. Your top “mistakes made/lessons learned” from your own college experiences (and those you might have seen)
3. Your most outrageous, funny, pitiful professor story (names changed, of course).
For Current – or Former – College Professors
From my follow professors, please send me your input (in a paragraph or so) on any combination of the following points:1. Your most outrageous student excuse for missing _______.
2. Your best student success story (in terms of perseverance, overcoming obstacles, etc.) (names changed, even in positive stories).
3. Your most outrageous, funny, etc. student story (names changed of course to protect the guilty)
4. If you could give one – or two or three) tips to students as to how to succeed in their classes (and in college overall), what would it be?
My Thanks In Advance for Your Contribution
I’ll appreciate your help in making this a fun and informative book. Please send your contribution to me at dwyld@selu.edu. Please indicate whether you would like me to recognize your contribution with your name and University Affiliation, or rather if you would like your contribution to be from an “Anonymous Professor” or an “Anonymous Student.” In either case, I would ask that you include both your major field/date of graduation and the approximate date of the story. Also, please let me know if you wish to contribute your material anonymously if I can include you in the acknowledgements at the front of the book or not. Finally, since I’m “crowd-sourcing” this part of the project, please feel free to forward/report this call for information, as I’m looking for as much material as I can get to make this book the best it can be.Please feel free to contact me with any additional ideas on this. I look forward to hearing from you! I’ll keep all posted on the progress of the project. via future article releases and on my website http://mymanagementcourse.com.
About the Author
David C. Wyld (dwyld@selu.edu) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Business News 24/7, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.org), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding.
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