Online testing - ya gotta be kidding
By Murray Bourne, 23 Aug 2005
This article about online testing in Oregon has holes in it that you could drive through: "Online testing helped raise scores" [Unfortunately, the article no longer exists.].
At least the article has...
State officials attribute the gains in part to the use of a home-grown, web-based testing service
When will people realise that:
- Education is a multi-variable thing (Why are the scores higher? Are they asking the same questions? What are the conditions under which the tests were conducted? Was the a change in the teaching/learning strategy that went with the online testing? Were the students "prepped" in a different way for the online tests? How easy is it to 'beat the system'?)
- Multiple choice testing has many limitations (I gather the online tests were MCQ since the results were delivered "immediately"
- How many attempts were the students allowed? (the "I'll try my luck" syndrome)
- A test score is only a vague indication of learning and is often a better indication of test-taking skills
- All educational statistics is correct, plus/minus 50%...!
High scores do not always imply learning and likewise, low scores do not always imply no learning.
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