Multiple-stage Midterm Experiment - Part 1

Motivation #

I’ve been into non-traditional assessment for a couple years now, but I’ve been doing only low-stakes take-home assessments. A recent article by James Lang in the Chronicle suggested to me that I should at least try to have a couple higher stakes assessments to give some extrinsic motivation.

Teaching Calc 1 this semester seemed like the perfect opportunity as I can give a traditional midterm and final exam.

… but I still want students to learn from it and not just flush it from their brains when they turn in the test.

The Green Pen Midterm #

A dear colleague of mine, physicist Elizabeth Behrman, once shared her approach to green-pen tests. The idea is simple:

• Students work a test on their own for a set amount of time.
• After an interval, time is called and each student is given a green pen.
• Students then work in small groups to complete the exam together.

The key here is that students get immediate feedback on their exam, get to discuss with their peers, and correct their work using a different color than their original work.

Then as a teacher, we can mark the pencil version and give some weight to their progress in green. And to make marking easier, I’m going to follow the EMRN rubric.

Information shared with students #

In this section, I wanted to share what I posted to students (documented for my own use in the future, but also online in the unlikely even you, dear reader, are interested).

Midterm Information - In-person Class: #

The midterm will be a 10 question, fifty minute test.

You will complete the test on your own on Thursday, February 29.

On Friday, I’ll hand back your test along with a green pen.

On this day, you’ll work in a group to work together on the test with the objective of learning and leaving understanding every question on test. All work must be done in green ink on this day. If you have a pencil or eraser in your hand at any point, you will receive 0 on the midterm.

You must attend both days. If you miss either day, please proceed to “Exam Details - Proctored/Makeup.”

Midterm Information - Online Class: #

The midterm will be a 10 question, fifty minute test.

You will complete the test in Jabara Hall, room 261 starting at 1pm on Saturday, March 2.

At 2pm, I’ll call time and everyone will put away their pencils, pens, and erasers. I will pass each student a green pen.

• From 2pm, you’ll work in a group to work together on the test with the objective of learning and leaving understanding every question on test.
• All work must be done in green ink during this time. If you have a pencil or eraser in your hand at any point, you will receive 0 on the midterm.

You must attend both hours of this exam in Jabara Hall, room 261 from 1pm-2:50pm. If you cannot attend, please proceed to “Exam Details - Proctored/Makeup.”

Midterm Information - Proctored / Makeup #

The midterm will be a 10 question, fifty-minute test.

Because you are not taking it with the rest of the class, you will not be able to participate in the group-based portion of the exam. Instead, we’ll follow a concept called an “exam wrapper” with the goal is to help you to think about and build on your learning. It will go as follows:

1. You’ll take the test at your designated testing center (more information below).
2. When I receive a copy of your test, I will email you your work AND send you solutions to the exam along with a question analysis rubric.
3. You will proceed to go through question-by-question and complete a question analysis (answering questions like “did you understand the process? Did you make a conceptual error? A computational error? …)
4. You will email me back a PDF of question analysis rubric.

Both the exam and the analysis are required for completion of the midterm.

More information? #

… will be shared in the future. This is just the outline of my goals and information. After the midterm I’ll share the exam-wrapper rubric and also give an update on how it went. 🤞