The What


In developing creative assessments of student learning, it is helpful to clarify exactly what you want to assess. The following questions will help you focus on what skills and knowledge your assessment should include:


  1. Do you want to assess your students’ acquisition of specific content knowledge, or their ability to apply that knowledge to new situations (or both)?
  2. Do you want to assess a product that students produce, or the process they went through to produce it, or both?
  3. Do you want to assess any of the following?
    1. writing ability
    2. speaking skills
    3. creativity
    4. use of information technology
    5. Is a visual component to the assessment necessary or desirable?
    6. Is the ability for students to work in a group an important component of the assessment?
  4. Is it important that the assessment be time-constrained?


Adapted from:

Indiana University Bloomington. (n.d.). Alternatives to traditional exams and papers. Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-  student-learning/alternatives-traditional-exams-papers/index.html



The How - Section I


While effectively designed multiple choice questions play a role in assessing learning, often there are sometimes better options for engagement and security. Here are two examples:


Example 1: A faculty member seeking to replace a multiple-choice exam on nutrition, digestion and metabolism could introduce more authentic assessment by giving students the option of tracking their own dietary intake and metabolic indicators. They could then evaluate the results or analyze food service menus and create an integrative map of the outcomes and impacts on diet and health.


Example 2: Consider replacing six multiple-choice or true-and-false questions with two short- answer items. Or simply ask students to record a brief spoken-word explanation of their answers to two questions and return the recordings after the exam.


Adapted from:

Harrison, D. (2020, April 29). How to discourage student cheating on online exams (opinion). Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Career Advice,

Jobs.       https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/04/29/how-discourage-student-cheating-  online-exams-opinion



The How - Section II


Here are some alternatives to multiple-choice exams that can be used in many disciplines and contexts. They are organized based on what kinds of cognitive processes or skills they are assessing:

 


Alternatives that draw on students’ creativity:


•    Advertisement

•    Development of a product or proposal (perhaps to be judged by external judges)

•    Diary entry for a real or fictional character

•    Letter to a friend explaining a problem or concept

•    Brochure

•    Performance: e.g., a presentation to the class or a debate

•    Poem, play, or dialogue

•    Web page or video

•    Work of art, music, architecture, sculpture, etc.

•    Newspaper article or editorial


Alternatives that require analysis or evaluation:


•    Analysis and response to a case study

•    Analysis of data or a graph

•    Analysis of an event, performance, or work of art

•    Chart, graph, or diagram with explanation

•    Debate

•    Legal brief

•    Review of a book, play, performance, etc.

•    Literature review

•    Policy memo or executive summary

•    Diagram, table, chart, or visual aid


Alternatives that require work similar to what is required for a term paper, but that result in shorter documents:


•    Annotated bibliography

•    Introduction to a research paper or essay (rather than the full paper)

•    Literature review

•    Executive summary

•    Research proposal addressed to a granting agency

•    Scientific abstract

•    Policy memo or executive summary

•    Start of a term paper (the thesis statement and a detailed outline)


Alternatives that require only that students understand course material:


•    Explanation of a multiple-choice answer (students must explain why the answer they chose to a multiple-choice question is correct, or why the alternative answers are wrong)

•    Meaningful paragraph (given a list of specific terms, students must use the terms in a paragraph that demonstrates that they understand the terms and their interconnections)

•    Short-answer exam (rather than asking multiple-choice questions, make some questions short-answer, to require students to show their understanding of key concepts)


Alternatives that require integration of many skills and types of knowledge:


•    Poster (which could be presented to the class or a larger audience in a poster session)

•    Portfolio to demonstrate improvement or evolution of work and thinking over time

•    Powerpoint presentation

•    Reflection by students on what they have learned from an experience


Adapted from:

Indiana University Bloomington. (n.d.). Alternatives to traditional exams and papers. Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-  student-learning/alternatives-traditional-exams-papers/index.html