Context:  I designed the grading structure and wrote three, non-cumulative exams for the course. Students' final grades were determined by their performance on the exams (approx. 50% of final grade), a semester-long project (approx. 30% of final grade), and creative, scholarly assignments (approx. 20% of final grade). I wrote my exams such that multiple choice questions contributed approximately half the available points, while matching, short-answer, and essay questions made up the remainder of available points.

 

Artifact -- Student Score Sheet (please click on the link to view the distribution of points for the course)

 

Reflection:  I think my approach to assessment worked quite well for my students. In their student evaluations, all my students seemed to support the balanced grading design. Some students participated in class, but were not good test-takers. Other students told me they often experienced test anxiety. Although it was more work for me in the end (e.g., more grading), I think providing a variety of ways by which students could excel in my course was beneficial to the class. Similarly, I strived to have my tests include a variety of question types. Multiple choice questions may be inadvertently tricky or misleading, leading some students to answer them incorrectly. I often end up throwing out a few questions from exams if most of the class got them wrong, which indicates to me a break-down in communication between myself and the students or a poorly written question. With short answer and essay questions, students can show me what they know about a concept in their own ways.