I tried take home tests, with a few twists, in a world history survey course and had pretty good success. What I did was have quizzes with some IDs (five required) and a short one page essay. I gave three or four of these quizzes in a course, and I required that the students do the essays on two of the three quizzes (this meant that they could have the lowest one dropped).
I used the quizzes to help prepare the students for writing essays, I gave them sample answers and wrote them comments trying to get them to think in terms of argument, evidence, and stuff like that.
Then I gave a take home essay for both the mid term and the final. I gave a fairly general question each time, and instructions on how to frame the answer (thesis statement, three or four main points in support of the thesis, evidence in support of the argument, etc). The students did pretty well, and the tests were typed and readable, and they at least left the course with some idea of what they were supposed to do in writing an essay.
I would certainly do that sort of thing again, given the chance.
Elizabeth Dale
U of Chicago
erd1@midway.uchicago.edu
From: Skip Knox <ELKNOX@topgun.idbsu.edu>
I had long been skeptical about take home exams, but over the past few semesters I was moved by the number of students who told me after the course was over that the main things they remembered from the semester were the things they wrote papers on, not the things that were on the exam. So I have been experimenting with an assessment "system" that includes a take home final. At the beginning of the course I identify (on a handout) the particular themes that we will be focussing on during the course. There are usually about 6 dealing with different aspects of the course. These will be the themes that will be on the final. After each unit during the semester (either a text chapter or some other division) the students write a summary of points pertaining to each theme that was covered in that unit. Thus for the period of Louis XIV they will usually write about the themes of political development, culture, and economics. These assignments are graded on a check/check plus/check minus scale. The idea is that the students will cover the material in several ways: reading before the class, discussion in class, and writing after the class. For the final, I fashion questions from those themes. I circle one which they must answer and then they can choose a second to answer. The final must be typed/word-processed and has a page limit. How well does it work? The jury is still out. I should add that there are other assignments during the semester as well (document analyses, short papers around some historical problem). It has been a lot of work grading the summaries, but if the students do them well, they should be well prepared for the final and they should have dealt with the material several times, thus hopefully retaining more of it. I think this is a more "realistic" way of assessment and develops skills that are useful in ways that studying for and taking an in-class exam are not. I'd be happy to hear comments from others.
Jim Brown brownj@sun0.elon.edu
Dept. of History Elon College 2217 Campus Box (910)584-2190
Elon College, NC 27244
From: Skip Knox <ELKNOX@topgun.idbsu.edu>
Has anyone besides ECarlson experiemented with take home essays? These have become my almost exclusive method of evaluation in the past two years. The results are mixed, but encouraging enough to continue. I have always believed that application and analysis of information, not simply recalling facts, are the skills I should be teaching and testing for. I was tired of the very poor results I got from in class testing (both essay and short i.d.'s). My experience shows that on the first take home essay students treat the assignment like an in class test, something they write quickly and fail to proofread. I give back the results and the bad grades, analyze a few problems and hammer at what I really want. It's only after the third or fourth effort that I get the results I want-- improved writing, thesis statements, intelligent use of evidence and not just quick summaries of lecture and textbooks. Intentional and unintentional plagiarism occur occasionally, a problem I am still struggling with. What have other teachers experienced? Joel Cleland Cleland@Clemson.Clemson.Edu
I have had mixed results with my freshman western civ and comparative civ classes when using take home tests, but the results are positive enough to make me not abandon them. Take home tests are the only tests I give in sophomere and upper division classes (American Studies and Cultural Studies). In those classes I have great success with take home exams; I suspect the differences lie in the academic experience and expectations of the students.
Krys Douglas
UNM/Alb. TV-I
krys@triton.unm.edu
From: Skip Knox <ELKNOX@topgun.idbsu.edu>
In response to the posting by Joel Cleland about take home exams, I have tried something that is midway between in class exams and take homes, with pretty good success. In my junior level class in Western Civ we have worked on the writings of major thinkers since the late middle ages. About 3 weeks before the final, I gave the students a list of 9 essay topics, with different authors indicated as relevant to each. (We eventually reduced the number to 6, in response to student requests.) The students were encouraged to work in study groups and to refer to anything they wanted to prepare for the exam.
During the 2 hour bloc for the test itself, they were allowed to consult the books that had the writings by the authors we had read, but not class notes or prepared outlines of any kind.
The results were pretty good. Students reported good levels of cooperative learning, and significantly reduced anxiety. And what they indicated about the different authors was quite good--a fairly high percentage of A's and B's. What did not happen, and which was disappointing, was that even with this format students did not do more to synthesize the writings of authors or compare and contrast them. Only some students who had Russian college training were able to do that.
Does anyone have any reactions to this approach, good or bad? Has anyone had similar experiences or used a format like this? And most important, does anyone have an approach that is successful in getting students to go beyond "he said, she said" and taking 1 author at a time, to really comparing and analyzing them, and relating works on a theme to each other? I would be grateful for any ideas or suggestions.
Arnold A. Sherman Sherman@Champlain.edu
Sender: David McQuilkin <dmcquilk@bridgewater.edu> Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 10:32:34 -0400 (EDT)
I have been observing the discussion regarding the use of take home essay examination as part of the teaching/evaluation process in Western Civilization. What surprises me greatly is the only recent identification with this form of exercise. I have been using this method for at least the past fifteen years and while it has not been a perfect answer to the question of testing, it has adequately served its purpose. The reasons for its long- term viability involve purpose of the exercise, structure of the process, and a constant willingness to make revisions when needed.
The primary purpose of the take home essay eamination is essentially pedogogical and I use as such. I wish to force the student to not only identify the main themes of the particular material being covered, but also to begin to learn the vital skills of critical thinking, critical analysis, and argumentation. Usually it is most difficult to ask the student to accomplish these tasks in a 50 to 60 minute in-class examination. They need time to think, to organize, to comprehend information and concepts, to relax and allow their thought processes to work effectively, and to bring together the material (often forthe first time) into a coherent body of information. No less important, however, is the urgent need to reduce the sense of panic which often accompanies any exam, but an essay exam in particular. Take home exams may help, but they do not eliminate this latter problem.
The next element is the form in which the examination question is presented. The typical "explain". "compare and contrast", etc. questions are too limited to fulfill the objectives listed above. If the ultimate purpose is to get the student to think, then the question should be posed in a many designed to do so. To this end, I present only one question, an original story which I have created replete with clues, humor, a framework for the material being tested, and the task assigned. Not only is the student required to determine what he/she is being asked to do, but then they have to develop an appropriate response that will satisfy the requirements of the question. This means they must think critically, think analytically, synthesize, present argumentation and supporting reasons, and write effective narrative (including proper grammar, spelling, and style which fall under the rubric of presentation). Again, this cannot be done in a single class period. If anyone is interested, I have a bank of stories that I will share for the asking.
The time frame for taking the examination is generally flexible. The average time is three to five days and usually involves a weekend. One must be aware that this type of testing is strenuous and students often have other exams. You cannot ask them to sacrifice their other courses for your course. They may complain about the rigor, but they do appreciate the consideration. This is especially true if one is on a quarter system in which the term is approximately ten weeks.
Recently, I have taken to distributing the exams for the term with the course syllabus on the opening day of classes. This is not as strange as it may seem at first glance. One reason is reduce panic. To have the question well in advance can help. But the real reason is again pedogogical. As we proceed through the material related to each exam, I constantly encourage the student to read the question every day, to become familiar with its nuances, to relate the course material to assigned task of the question, and engender pre-examination thinking and connections between the question and the material. At the same time, I encourage the students to form study groups to discuss the question, formulate ideas, and to share their ideas with each other. Finally, I run help/explanation sessions on how to study and how to write essay exams during the first part of the term. Once again, the idea is to foster integration, learning, thinking. It does not matter whether they become historians or not, it will assist them in whatever they choose to pursue.
Grading is a final, but not unimportant, function of the overall process. The papers must be graded carefully and with recognition of the level of the students (often freshman) and the complexity of demands being made upon them. The better students learn and adapt fairly quickly, certainly by the second examination. Average students often reverts to a memorization form and presents a summary of their notes. Weaker students will indeed struggle. The object is overall fairness to each group. To accomplish this, I try to establish some reasonable set of goals that I wish each to student to achieve and then measure his/her paper against those goals in terms of how much did they achieve in relation to those goals. I then scale the grades accordingly and write extensive comments designed to improve performance, offer encouragement, or point out weaknesses in the response. The benefit to this system is that it allows the average and weaker students a measure of protection against failure where their skills are not yet developed to work at a higher level.
A few final observations. The first involves length of the exams. I do not impose a set length because I find each student works differently and needs the space to develop. To set artificial limits may facilitate my grading time, but it does not necessarily help the student. I simply tell them, when they have completed what they have to say, then they are done. Second, the use of such exams as papers. In many ways, this is a valid observation. The I use them as such is the ten week term does not offer a real opportunity to write good papers. Therefore, I feel it is better to have them write two or three examination papers and learn something than to write one cut and paste paper and learn little or nothing. Everything has a purpose. Third, does the system work? I think it does. But like every system, it has its strengths and weaknesses. It helps the average and weaker students to survive (although they might not always agree) even when their skills are limited. It also forces the better students to work harder for their marks. It also allows me to accomplish a variety of tasks, goals, and objectives that might not otherwise be attainable. It allows me to foster the idea that learning, thinking, and study are not separtate or isolated actions, but are integrated elements which comprise the acquisition of knowledge and understanding as a whole.
I apologize for the length is this commentary, but everyone on the internet "roundtable" inspired me to respond on the topic. I hope it proves to be as functional to you as it has to me.
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