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Exams & Quizzes

What is it? quiz icon

An exam or quiz is a form of student assessment that measures knowledge, skills, and abilities. Generally, an exam is a culminating assessment that assesses a student over a large period of time and over a range of material. A quiz is generally a short assessment that assesses a student over a small amount of information and are given frequently. A quiz can also function as both an assessment and formative feedback device.

Exams and quiz questions can take several formats including:
  • Multiple Choice
  • True/False
  • Short Answer
  • Fill in the Blank
  • Matching
  • Drag and Drop
  • Essay
  • Practical

Exams & Quizzes

What are the educational uses and benefits? quiz icon

Assessment:
  • To assess student learning of knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Feedback:
  • To provide students with feedback.
Research:
  • To gather statistical data on student and student groups of their learning of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Exams & Quizzes

Can I see an example? quiz icon

The following questions were developed to assess learners on various objectives concerning the creation of learning objectives:

Multiple Choice

Identify which of the four characteristics of successful learning objectives is missing in the example below.

  • After viewing the short film “Our Planet Earth”,  80% of the class will build a model of the planet Earth including polar ice caps accurately.
    1. Student
    2. Condition                                
    3. Performance                
    4. Criteria

True/False

True or False: The following learning objective includes all four characteristics of a successful learning objective. (F)

  • The student will describe the impact of deforestation on topsoil salinization using appropriate vocabulary and statistics with 90% accuracy

 

Short Answer

Given the module topic: “Creating an assessable objective,” write an objective for each of the cognitive levels  of Bloom’s Taxonomy below. Remember to include the Student, the Behavior, the Condition and the Criteria!

  • Knowledge  - Remembering previously learned information

 


  • Comprehension – Grasping the meaning of information

 


  • Application – Applying knowledge to actual situations

 

 

Fill in the Blank

  • A ________  (Learning Objective) is a brief description of what learners should be able to accomplish upon completion of an assigned task.

 

  • An effective learning objective is ________ (student) centered versus ________(instructor) centered.
  • The ________ (condition) part of a learning objective refers to the situation, learning aids, references, tools or materials provided in an activity

 

Matching

Classify the following learning objectives into the corresponding level of Bloom’s cognitive domain.

  • When given the formula for finding the circumference of a circle, the student will solve 18/20 Geometry circumference problems correctly. (Application)

 

  • After reading “The Fountainhead” the student will critique Ayn Rand’s four main characters in comparison with the four archetypes in the objectivist philosophy with 80% accuracy. (Evaluation)
  • After viewing the short video “Pluto: Planet or Moon”, the learner will describe the process Astronomers use for categorizing planets and moons with 100% accuracy. (Comprehension)

 

  • After reading the article “Florida’s Invasive Plant Species” the student will classify 23/25 Florida plant examples as invasive or non-invasive correctly. (Analysis)
  • When given a map of the continental United States the student will label 48/48 state names correctly. (Knowledge)

 

  • When given an example of Schoenberg’s 12-tone compositions the student will create a 12-tone row for use in a music composition with 100% accuracy. (Synthesis)

 

 

 

    • Evaluation

 

 

    • Synthesis

 

 

    • Analysis

 

 

    • Application

 

 

    • Comprehension

 

 

    • Knowledge

Essay

  • Describe the process that you would use to create a set of learning objectives for your class.

 

  • Discuss the reasons for creating a set of learning objectives for a course.
  • Describe the historical roots of learning objectives in education?

 

  • Discuss the difference between goals and learning objectives.

Exams & Quizzes

How do I get started? quiz icon

Creating a balanced exam:
  • Avoid:
    • Trick questions and superfluous information.
    • Answers such as “All of the Above” as recognition of two right options identifies it as the answer, even if the other options are completely unknown to the student.
    • Putting negative options after a negatively phrased question as this may cause confusion for the student.
    • Repeating wording from the question in the correct answer.
    • Asking a question in such a way that it gives the student the correct information on another question.
  • Do:
    • Structure your exam questions to assess your learning objectives.
    • Ask as many questions as is necessary to assess the objective. This can be as few as 1 or 2 questions in some situations.
    • Ask questions that require the student to utilize various levels of thinking.
    • Use a variety of questions types on an exam.
    • Create assessment questions that ask the student to apply information to new situations.
  • Creating an exam in E-Learning (formerly known as WebCT):
  • Creating an exam in a free online program:
    • Most free online programs require the user to have an account.
    • Once an account is created the user can use a variety of templates to create quiz questions.
    • When the quiz is created the program will give the user the code generated for the question.
    • The user can then embed the quiz on a webpage.

Exams & Quizzes

Where can I learn more? quiz icon

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