MAILING LISTS

I¹m with Bill, in fact I worry about some ethical implications of
intentionally writing bad questions.

If students know going into it that in this particular activity there are
arguable questions, great.  But if they just apply the normal mental
template of test-taking expectations, this could lead to some unnecessary
upset.

The ³good news² is that I usually have at least one poorly-written
question no matter how hard I try, so . . . Hooray?

-M

 
Michael Sweet, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Director
Center for Teaching & Learning Through Research
Northeastern University
215-F Snell Library
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
ph: 617.373.2833
northeastern.edu/learningresearch





On 10/7/14, 6:18 PM, "Bill Goffe" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>One question I have on this issue: my students are upset when I write poor
>multiple choice questions (i.e. when the correct answer can be debated by
>those with a fair amount of knowledge of the material). I certainly see
>the point about rich discussion and am intrigued by it, but I'm not sure
>that I could tell them with a straight face that I'm assigning grades on
>something that intentionally is not clear. In short, might this harm how
>students view the instructor? Might this be too big a bridge for students
>new to TBL?
>
>     - Bill
>
>Sandy said:
>
>> So which is more important:
>> 
>> · Having clear, well crafted, good item statistics, unambiguous RAT
>>   questions that ensures the students understand the core principles and
>>   spend the time on the application?  OR
>> 
>> · Having less well crafted questions, with possibly even more than one
>>   right answer, to engender rich debate and discussion during RAT, and
>>   more appeals (to create more thinking)? (as well as excellent
>>   application questions)?
>> 
>> I personally am torn.  Having been frustrated by vague questions but
>> enriched by the team discussion ­ I see the value there.  But sometimes,
>> time is of the essence ­ I would rather spend the bulk of the time on a
>> rich application that gets at those issues too.
>
>
>-- 
>Bill Goffe
>Senior Lecturer
>Department of Economics
>Penn State University
>304 Kern Building
>University Park, PA 16802
>814-867-3299 
>[log in to unmask]
>http://cook.rfe.org/