Hi Alexandra and all,
I have a suggestion about your #2 issue. I use WebCT which I understand
is owned by Blackboard. The quizzing feature was especially
problematic for my RATS because I use clinical cases with data that is
put into a complex chart format. I authored it in MS Word and then
tried Excel, both of which resulted in multiple formatting problems. I
then moved on to using the feature of Dreamweaver that takes out MS
formatting with no more luck as well as a host of other programs.
Finally, I tried Google docs-Bingo! I copied my MS word table and
temporarily pasted it into a Google doc, then immediately copied it back
out and pasted it into the WebCT html editor. It worked beautifully. I
hope that this helps you too. It cleans it up completely, retains your
intended format, its free and easy to use. http://docs.google.com
Best wishes
Holly
Holly Bender, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVP
Room 2254 Veterinary Medicine
Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathology
College of Veterinary Medicine
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1250
ph. 515-294-7947
[log in to unmask]
http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/faculty_staff/profiles/hbender.asp
http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/pathfinder/birg/BIRG.html
From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Alexandra Albright
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accomodating test-takers who need more time
I have also moved to Blackboard for my law school iRATs. The advantage
is that we don't have to use valuable class time for the iRAT and can go
straight to the gRAT. We have a strong honor code at the law school, so
I don't worry about cheating enough to make that a deal-killer. And my
RATs are open book (as is the exam)-they tend to be harder questions
than most TBL-ers use. I use the RAT to foster discussion in solving
the problems as well as getting the basic info learned.
The downside is that we find Blackboard very clunky I have not had a
chance to talk to our Blackboard people yet, but some issues are:
1. After a successful appeal, is there an easy way to change the
grade on the iRat? So far, it appears that I have to go into each quiz,
find out how the person answered the question, and then make the change
by hand.
2. When cutting and pasting my word doc into the Blackboard
test-maker the fonts got all confused and it was a mess. The second
time, I wrote the quiz on Blackboard, but then I could not figure out
how to get a reasonable paper copy of the RAT to hand out in class to
use during gRATs. My secretary cut and pasted off of Blackboard before
class, which is a pain.
3. You have to be really careful to make sure the students are not
shown their grade or the statistics after the iRAT. I didn't hit the
right button last quiz, and in the gRAT, I found some students trying to
game the statistics to figure out the right answer. It got even crazier
because I had miskeyed an answer on Blackboard, so the kids trying to
use the statistics were conned into the wrong answer. [I'm also trying
to figure out how to deal with that miskeying on Blackboard...]
I would love to hear if any of you have used Blackboard with better
results. All in all, unless I can get some answers from Blackboard that
make this easy, I'll have to go back to the scantrons. Maybe hand them
out to the students before class.
By the way, my civil procedure class LOVES the RATs. They would really
like to have one each week.... They see it as practice for the many
multiple choice exams that they face during their law school careers and
a way to get early feedback (most law school classes only grade a final
exam).
Alex Albright
Univ of Texas Law
From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Tim Connors
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 2:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accomodating test-takers who need more time
I have only just recently begun experimenting with TBL but in all my
classes I have moved individual quizzes/exams/RATs to Blackboard. I
used to worry about cheating by doing this but in the past 4-5 years of
doing things things way I have seen literally no difference in the
overall scores between taking them in-class or electronically. I would
like to attribute this to the first question on all my electronic
quizzes, etc., which asks students to verify that they aren't cheating
(pangs of conscience) but the more likely reason is that my classes tend
to have mostly majors and minors who don't want to risk being caught.
By moving to Blackboard I am able to give the students a larger window
during which to take the quiz/exam/RAT (usually 24-36 hours) and I can
set the timer for each assignment to accommodate the time-and-a-half
some test-takers need. I also have the completion time 30-60 minutes
before my class begins so that I can review individual responses before
tQuizzes/tRATs.
Tim
Timothy D. Connors
Professor of Theatre
Central Michigan University
Office/Voice: 989-774-3815
Fax: 989-774-2498
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