https://www.kimnicholas.com/blog/starting-a-masters-thesis

DIY Exam Teaching Notes

This page is for instructors who want to use the student-designed exam in their teaching. (Students are of course welcome to read as well, but it's not required.) 

Prepare students ahead of time
  1. Introduce the idea early in the course, with the use of daily questions. 


    On exam day
  2. Assign groups to grade each question and post for students. 
  3. Post blank exam for students as soon as exam is finished (Word version so they can edit). 
  4. Make sure students have task instructions (link to this website), and have read them!! 

    Photocopying

  5. Hire help for this, it's a big job! (Plan on about 4 hours of work for 2 students- 8 hours total.) 

    You want to end up with the original exam + 3 copies: 
    1. One complete copy of the exam by student (a copy of what they turned in- you will give them this copy Thursday afternoon for self-grading)
    2. Two copies of each question (each group will get one copy). 


      Hand-in logistics:
       
  6. Make folders for students to turn in assignments: 
    1. Thursday morning: 1st draft rubric (1 per group, 2 per question) - public (visible to other students) 
    2. Thursday afternoon: final rubric (1 per question- both groups contribute) - public (visible to other students) 
    3. Friday afternoon: optional corrections to self-graded exam (1 per student), this should be not visible to other students. 
  7. Make survey link for students to turn in anonymous grades for self exam


  8. Peer grading day 


  9. Materials:
  • bring red pens and ask students to do the same.  
  • post-its for hand-in to label which group graded which pile. 
  • check list of groups and what they must do before leaving. 
  • Need to do PPT overview for clarity. Show example of excellent rubric and how to construct it. 


Assessing exams
  1. ​Make sure data are clean: only "." no "," as decimal separators, all missing values and non-answers coded as zero, all values filled in
  2. Run script: 
    1. Calculate peer scores and assess correct peer score where differences more than 3
  3. Assess bonus answers out of difference between student self-grade and total. Ex: Student graded themselves 80, therefore there were 20 points missing, they can get max 10 points (half credit) for full complete explanation of what was wrong, and new full answer in their own words. Grading system here on scale of 1-4: 
    1. Token learning demonstrated (e.g., very minor answers or only taken directly from the rubric) 
    2. Poor or incomplete answers with no explanation, or good explanation but incorrect answers 
    3. Awesome answer with no explanation 
    4. Awesome answer with good explanation