"Writing Effective Machine Scored Questions" Book Item-writing PD - at CRCPD this May - Michael Gaschnitz

"Writing Effective Machine Scored Questions" Book;  Item-writing PD at CRCPD this MayIn November 2011, I attended a session from Alberta Education called “Writing Effective Machine-Scored Items for Mathematics and Science Diploma Exams.”  Participants asked a number of pointed questions and the answers are important.  For example, it turns out that numerical-response questions are marked more flexibly than the information bulletins seem to imply.  This impacts how we mark our equivalency exams and how we construct keys for all the math and science courses.    See the following document for details about what was said by the exam managers:  Writing Effective Machine-Scored Questions Session Notes   

The exam managers also provided a Writing Machine-Scored Questions for Math and Science Guidebook.  This document has detailed instructions, guides, and item templates for Applied Math 30, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, Physics 30, Pure Math 30, and Science 30.  Also included are checklists to help ensure quality of multiple-choice or numerical-response items as well as an item-writing quiz:  item-writing trainees are asked to identify flaws in a set of sample items for each subject area, and to fix them.  Solutions are provided.  Also see their Item-Writing PowerPoint – this explains how the Managers construct blueprints . 

Here’s a great PD opportunity from CRCPD:  Chemistry 30 Examinations & Assessment Protocols.  Although it focuses on Chemistry 20 and 30, it also covers “assessment protocols for complete courses in chemistry and other sciences, so that each assessment, whether it covers a small assignment or a major unit, fits into the overall strategy for the course, and offers an effective balance in terms of content coverage, process coverage, and cognitive level distribution.”

The greatest benefit of this session is that it is being led by Dr. Jack Edwards.  His item-writing sessions are just brilliant.  He has degrees in physics, mathematics, and English literature from Cambridge University, and a PhD in both experimental and mathematical physics at the University of London.  Furthermore, he translates all the math and science exams into French and is responsible for improving the quality of the science and math diploma exams in English and in French.  He would be a great speaker to have here at the department on a PD day.