2008 Woodie Awards
Opinions vary about online testing
Alex Gunderson
Issue date: 12/1/05 Section: News
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According to Karen Adsit, a professor in the Walker Teaching Resource Center, there is not a specific number of faculty members that use the online testing function, but there are several.
Adsit explained that there are several staff and faculty members that use Blackboard for its diversity of test formats.
"The Blackboard system does provide the delivery of multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay, short answer, matching, ordering and true/false," Adsit said.
Although there is a concern with students cheating, Adsit clarified that because of this worry most professors will either deliver the test in a proctored environment or time the test. Some will also make the test difficult enough so that students do not have time to look the answers up in their textbook.
According to Rich Metzger, a professor in the psychology department, as soon as his students log into Blackboard they have 15 minutes to answer 15 questions.
"Time is limited," Metzger said. "[Students] have one chance and they cannot log back in."
Metzger also said that about 10 percent of his students time out.
Sommer Borneman, a Chattanooga freshman, said that she had opportunities when using Blackboard to write her essay for her midterm, save it and then go back and make any necessary changes.
"Even though it was pretty easy, our teacher gave us a certain amount of time to complete our exam," Borneman said. It is not required for students when signing up for a class to take online tests or quizzes, but rather it is up to the teacher. According to Adsit, some professors require students to take online tests and some do not.
"It is a faculty member's choice," Adsit said. "I would imagine that the classes that are taught totally online would probably have some form of online testing."
Metzger explained that faculty members are responsible for the assessment in each of their classes and he has found that managing the online quizzes is more complicated.
Adsit explained that there are several staff and faculty members that use Blackboard for its diversity of test formats.
"The Blackboard system does provide the delivery of multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay, short answer, matching, ordering and true/false," Adsit said.
Although there is a concern with students cheating, Adsit clarified that because of this worry most professors will either deliver the test in a proctored environment or time the test. Some will also make the test difficult enough so that students do not have time to look the answers up in their textbook.
According to Rich Metzger, a professor in the psychology department, as soon as his students log into Blackboard they have 15 minutes to answer 15 questions.
"Time is limited," Metzger said. "[Students] have one chance and they cannot log back in."
Metzger also said that about 10 percent of his students time out.
Sommer Borneman, a Chattanooga freshman, said that she had opportunities when using Blackboard to write her essay for her midterm, save it and then go back and make any necessary changes.
"Even though it was pretty easy, our teacher gave us a certain amount of time to complete our exam," Borneman said. It is not required for students when signing up for a class to take online tests or quizzes, but rather it is up to the teacher. According to Adsit, some professors require students to take online tests and some do not.
"It is a faculty member's choice," Adsit said. "I would imagine that the classes that are taught totally online would probably have some form of online testing."
Metzger explained that faculty members are responsible for the assessment in each of their classes and he has found that managing the online quizzes is more complicated.
