the general problems evaluating students are how much time do you have for
(say) exams, what can be reasonably expected that students will be able to
do with that amount of time, what content can you examine on, and ... what
sort of formats do you opt for with your exams
in statistics, let's say you have covered several inferential topics from
midterm to the end ... maybe some difference in means situations using t
tests and building CIs, perhaps something about tests and CIs about
proportions, and then a unit on ANOVA
(note: the above are just examples)
how much can you have them do ... in an open ended way ... in an hour?
for example, i can easily visualize having very small sets of data ... that
they work with for each of the above ... with appropriate distribution
tables at hand ... giving written explanations of their results ... but, is
it realistic to expect them to do something from all of these in one hour?
i really doubt it
so, in the final analysis, ANY test (no matter what the format) is just a
sample of all the things you could ask them to do ... thus, no matter what
you do and what they show ... you are still left with many unanswered
questions about their knowledge and skill
i think it would be fair to say that in having students work problems and
show their work ... you do get a better idea of their knowledge of THAT
but, generally, you are not able to have as widespread coverage of the
material you have covered since the last test ... than perhaps with some
recognition item approach ... where you can cover more but, clearly, you
get less information about any specific piece of knowledge or skill
ultimately, it is a tradeoff ... and, as i think someone else mentioned, if
the instructor is also strapped with large classes (which is so common
these days) ... practical considerations enter that weigh perhaps more
heavily than pedagogic best practice
dennis roberts, penn state university
educational psychology, 8148632401
http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm
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