All Ireland Society for Higher Education
| Name: | Aidan O'Dwyer |
|---|---|
| Email: | aidan.odwyer@dit.ie |
| Institution: | Dublin Institute of Technology |
This contribution will report on, and evaluate, the use of multiple-choice questions, in both continuous assessment and terminal examination modes, on a first year Level 7 module in engineering at Dublin Institute of Technology. The use of multiple-choice questions is recognized as most suitable for the assessment of knowledge, analytical ability, language proficiency and numerical skills involving a large number of candidates. They are a widely used assessment methodology for aptitude tests in first and second level education and in some third-level entrance examinations (e.g. some parts of the TOEFL test).
The author suggests that many Level 7 programmes, particularly in their first year, have significant knowledge or fact-based sections, which do not change with time; such sections are suitable for assessment using multiple-choice questions. Multiple-choice questions should be used as part of a suite of assessment methods, as other typical module learning outcomes (e.g. describing phenomena, solving problems) are less suitable for such assessment. Most commonly, multiple - choice questions have four choices of answer. Raw scores from these tests cannot be used directly, and scaling must be employed; a straightforward, scientifically sound probabilistic scaling approach, which is used by the author, is available (Zhou, 2005, 2006).
The author's experiences are that multiple-choice questions tend to be student friendly (e.g. given a choice in a terminal examination, students will opt to attempt the questions with multiple choice parts). The author has used the assessment method over three academic years, and assessment data will be reported and analysed in the contribution.
References
Zhao, Y.Y. (2005). "Algorithms for converting raw scores of multiple-choice question tests to conventional percentage marks", Int. J. Engng. Edu., Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 1189-1194.
Zhao, Y.Y. (2006). "How to design and interpret a multiple-choice-question test: a probabilistic approach", Int. J. Engng. Edu., Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 1281-1286.