Lessons Learned

I don't think I'm going to give quizzes in class anymore (after this semester). I prefer the idea of giving them assignments to get them to read the book instead of quizzes. I keep trying to create short answer quiz questions that will work. But, today I gave out a quiz in which one of the questions was to write down which of the two sleep states corresponded to active, waking EEG patterns. Half of my students listed both sleep states!! What?! Why did so many of them misunderstand the directions? And now how do I grade it because they put the right answer, but they didn't distinguish between the two sleep states? Do I give them the same credit as those who only wrote the correct answer?

I think the problem is that creating test questions really is that difficult. I write them with my own ability and knowledge in mind. But, I keep forgetting that students don't' have that same ability and knowledge, and I can't assume they are going to read the directions or come to the same conclusions about the directions as I would. In measurement class a few semesters ago, we talked about making the directions as short, clear, and concise as possible. Our directions and even the stem of items can differentiate people based on intelligence rather than actual knowledge of the answer. I think I understand now how difficult it is to create items that reduce the cognitive load enough that all people will be able to demonstrate their knowledge. (Yes, I understand not everybody possesses the knowledge, but I would rather know that they got the answer wrong because they didn't know the answer rather than because they couldn't understand the question).