Friday, August 14, 2009

Quizzes

Hey everyone

What a great way to individualise a class test for your learners. Not only can you make a test relating to your learners needs but it is a fantastic way to check for learnings. Classmarker is very simple to use and allows endless opportunities for the tests you want to create for your class. A spokesperson from Monash University states 'if we believe in TESTING WHAT WE TEACH it becomes obvious that current online automated testing devices, designed to teach objective knowledge are largely unsuited for the purpose of testing what the students have learnt in the processes above.' A lot of people disagree with sit down formal tests, but if we can individualise the test type and format why not use it as an informal way to see what students have learnt throughout the larning experiences. There is so much hype and attention about assessment and the tests we use in schools that we need to come up with a better way to test the childrens understanding of the knowledge they have been learning - so why not spend a little more time and create an individual test linking to the curriculum for your own class.

I have used this tool to make a short answer test for my current Year One class. We have recently been looking at the different occupations within the community and comparing both the similarities and differences between them. As a conclusion, so i can check for general understandings i will have my class complete this test. Being Year One it is only a five question, short answer test but it will give me enough information so i can check for the learning. For my lower literacy skill children i will ask them to have a go at reading the question but allow them to verbally give me their answer and i will make notes in the area for the answer. I think this is a great tool and will definitely be using it within my classroom as a form of informal assessment. Maybe one day we will be able to generate our own test, relating to the Queensland curriculum and the needs of our learners.

Here is the URL to my test - let me know what you think, remember this is targeted at Year One!
http://www.classmarker.com/quiz/intro.php?test_id=58526&class_id=32415


References:
Authentic Assessment. Retrieved on August 15. From:
www.monash.edu.au/groups/hepcit/.../authentic_assessment

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jasmine,
    Your use of the on-line testing sounds very interesting, I would love to hear how the students went completing it. I am hoping to use one for my grade 5's during my block prac, we will be doing a Primary Connections unit on Smooth Moves, and I am hoping to use it as a determiner for what they already know.

    Thanks for your insight!

    Erin.

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  2. Hi Erin

    I will let you know how it goes. Also we will do a whole class discussion before the test so my lower level student's will have the information and be able to contribute answers to the 'informal' test.
    Let me know how you go with your grade 5's.

    Cheers

    Jasmin

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