Comments on: Testing, Learning, Cheating, and Tech: Is it time for a change? http://trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/ Social Media News, WordPress Info and Opinion from Tris Hussey author of Create Your Own Blog, Using WordPress and Teach Yourself Foursquare Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jon Jennings http://trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-6818 Jon Jennings Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:06:13 +0000 http://www.trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-6818 I agree with Dale that the resources available for marking are a big issue here too. I've been shocked at the amount of multiple choice questions on school exams here - they even manage to turn subjects like English into multiple choice exams!! And yes, the reason is because nobody has to actually put any effort into marking... you just feed them through the machine. I know that teaching is a hard profession but to put all that effort in through the year and then cop-out on the final assessment of its effectiveness seems screwed up to me. And don't get me started on school-administered exams... I agree with Dale that the resources available for marking are a big issue here too. I've been shocked at the amount of multiple choice questions on school exams here – they even manage to turn subjects like English into multiple choice exams!! And yes, the reason is because nobody has to actually put any effort into marking… you just feed them through the machine. I know that teaching is a hard profession but to put all that effort in through the year and then cop-out on the final assessment of its effectiveness seems screwed up to me.

And don't get me started on school-administered exams…

]]> By: Jon Jennings http://trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-10908 Jon Jennings Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:06:00 +0000 http://www.trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-10908 I agree with Dale that the resources available for marking are a big issue here too. I've been shocked at the amount of multiple choice questions on school exams here - they even manage to turn subjects like English into multiple choice exams!! And yes, the reason is because nobody has to actually put any effort into marking... you just feed them through the machine. I know that teaching is a hard profession but to put all that effort in through the year and then cop-out on the final assessment of its effectiveness seems screwed up to me. And don't get me started on school-administered exams... I agree with Dale that the resources available for marking are a big issue here too. I've been shocked at the amount of multiple choice questions on school exams here – they even manage to turn subjects like English into multiple choice exams!! And yes, the reason is because nobody has to actually put any effort into marking… you just feed them through the machine. I know that teaching is a hard profession but to put all that effort in through the year and then cop-out on the final assessment of its effectiveness seems screwed up to me.

And don't get me started on school-administered exams…

]]> By: Dale http://trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-6790 Dale Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:16:23 +0000 http://www.trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-6790 I'm not positive there's as much difference between past and present as first appears. The difference between a multiple choice style question with a rote/memorizable answer, and an essay question that tests if you've absorbed the subject matter and can synthesize an answer based on what you've learned, hasn't changed. I think the unspoken issue here is how much resource we can put into testing. Testing rote material with multiple choice questions is easy and can be completely automated. They're also fairly easy to cheat on, unless you do like the technical certification exams and use lots of tricksy questions. Essay style questions requiring a synthesized answer are much harder to cheat on, having raw facts won't get you the complete answer. Unfortunately, they take much more work to grade. Also much more room for subjective disagreement between student and instructor. Testing learning becomes a cost issue. I think there is also a separate and important discussion around education insuring 21st century skill sets such as information search strategies and validating source accuracy are taught. I'm not positive there's as much difference between past and present as first appears.

The difference between a multiple choice style question with a rote/memorizable answer, and an essay question that tests if you've absorbed the subject matter and can synthesize an answer based on what you've learned, hasn't changed.

I think the unspoken issue here is how much resource we can put into testing. Testing rote material with multiple choice questions is easy and can be completely automated. They're also fairly easy to cheat on, unless you do like the technical certification exams and use lots of tricksy questions. Essay style questions requiring a synthesized answer are much harder to cheat on, having raw facts won't get you the complete answer. Unfortunately, they take much more work to grade. Also much more room for subjective disagreement between student and instructor.

Testing learning becomes a cost issue.

I think there is also a separate and important discussion around education insuring 21st century skill sets such as information search strategies and validating source accuracy are taught.

]]> By: Dale http://trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-10907 Dale Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:16:00 +0000 http://www.trishussey.com/2009/06/23/testing-learning-cheating-and-tech-is-it-time-for-a-change/#comment-10907 I'm not positive there's as much difference between past and present as first appears. The difference between a multiple choice style question with a rote/memorizable answer, and an essay question that tests if you've absorbed the subject matter and can synthesize an answer based on what you've learned, hasn't changed. I think the unspoken issue here is how much resource we can put into testing. Testing rote material with multiple choice questions is easy and can be completely automated. They're also fairly easy to cheat on, unless you do like the technical certification exams and use lots of tricksy questions. Essay style questions requiring a synthesized answer are much harder to cheat on, having raw facts won't get you the complete answer. Unfortunately, they take much more work to grade. Also much more room for subjective disagreement between student and instructor. Testing learning becomes a cost issue. I think there is also a separate and important discussion around education insuring 21st century skill sets such as information search strategies and validating source accuracy are taught. I'm not positive there's as much difference between past and present as first appears.

The difference between a multiple choice style question with a rote/memorizable answer, and an essay question that tests if you've absorbed the subject matter and can synthesize an answer based on what you've learned, hasn't changed.

I think the unspoken issue here is how much resource we can put into testing. Testing rote material with multiple choice questions is easy and can be completely automated. They're also fairly easy to cheat on, unless you do like the technical certification exams and use lots of tricksy questions. Essay style questions requiring a synthesized answer are much harder to cheat on, having raw facts won't get you the complete answer. Unfortunately, they take much more work to grade. Also much more room for subjective disagreement between student and instructor.

Testing learning becomes a cost issue.

I think there is also a separate and important discussion around education insuring 21st century skill sets such as information search strategies and validating source accuracy are taught.

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