Assessment: Written exams – blended course

Nota Bene: From 2023-2024 onwards both the Written Exams and the Graded Assignment courses will be replaced by the new course 'UTQ Assess'.

Lecturers who want a better balance between: their exam, the learning outcomes and question types. And who want to improve on the formulation and grading of their open and closed questions.

Note: Since this is a blended course, you start with the preparation about a month before the first course date!

Target group & Prerequisites

This course is designed for lecturers with little to some experience in designing written exams.

• The course content should tie in with the teaching duties of teachers at Wageningen University.
• Participants should have experience in administering written exams.
• Participants should be responsible for designing (part of) the written exam of at least one course for which an exam or draft exam already exists.
• Participants should have attended the course (Re)designing a course and/or should be able to construct an assessment matrix which shows congruence between intended learning outcomes, assessment methods and test elements, plus the weighting of each sub-part and/or evaluate and if necessary improve the quality of an existing assessment matrix.

Learning outcomes

After this course participants are able to:

1. Show examples of (an assessment with) both closed and open exam questions and their corresponding answer models.
2. Explain how the example of an assessment meets the quality criteria: validity, reliability, transparency, usability/practicability and positive impact on student learning.
3. Explain how the assessment fits within the assessment policy of the university or faculty (regarding OER, rules & regulations of examination board etc.).
4. Use a psychometric analysis to improve the quality of the assessment.
5. Substantiate the choice of method used to determine the cut-off point and the grading of the work.
6. Reflect on personal strengths, weaknesses and development in relation to assessment.
7. Formulate plans for further development of assessment expertise.
8. Comply to the use of digital assessment and judge whether it is a useful addition to your assessment practice.
9. Acknowledge importance of formative assessment, with focus on students’ ownership of learning outcomes.

Content

The content covers:

1. Formulating your own open-ended questions using the question formulation criteria
2. Formulating your own closed questions using the question formulation criteria
3. Drawing up and using a model answer for open-ended questions
4. Specification grid: the relationship between exam questions and learning outcomes
5. Setting the cut-off point for your exam
6. Using psychometric analysis to improve your exam

Method

This course is set up as a blended learning course: you will go through the theories in your own time, make (preparation) assignments and during the course we will have in depth discussions of how to apply the theories to your own course and you will receive feedback on your assignments.

There are four preparation assignments before the start of the course. You can start with the assignments approximately a month before the first course date. Depending on your previous knowledge you will need 4 to 8 hours to prepare for day 1 of this course. The deadline for the preparation assignments is approximatly one week before the start of the course.

Allow also time for some 5 to 6 hours of self-study between the two course days to prepare assignments for day 2 of the course.

During the course the focus is on playing an active role yourself. You will be provided with information, which you will then process and apply through discussions, assignments and exercises. Also, time is scheduled to work on your own exam questions and/or specification grid.

Literature

You will receive course notes a few weeks before the start of the course.

Certificate

After submission of the assignments and active participation during the two course days, you will be awarded your certificate at the end of day 2.

Costs

Participation is free for Wageningen University & Research staff involved in teaching WU courses.

Cancellation

We consider registration as final. When cancelled within three weeks before the activity starts, your chair group will be charged all costs of your subscription (€350,-).

If there are less than 8 participants in the course, Education Support Centre may cancel the course and notify you at the latest 2 weeks before the start of the course.