BETH CHANCE

 

Context: My answers pertain to an introductory statistics course for nonmajors, intermediate algebra pre-requisite. Most recently I've tended to teach psychology and other social science and liberal arts majors in a general education course. Class sizes are capped at 48 and I have probably 2-3 sections of such a course each quarter.

I usually give two midterm exams and one comprehensive final. Exams are typically 15% of the overall course grade with the final sometimes weighted more heavily. The questions are a mixture of short-response and longer questions, with a mixture of computation (often with access to a computer) as well as interpretation and explanation. The midterms are given in class, usually for 50 or 70 minutes. I would like students to have sufficient time to finish, but this is very difficult to manage with this time requirement and some will complain about the time constraint. When I previously taught on the semester system, a component of the final exam was take home, providing students with more time and access to their notes. (There were numerous versions of the take home component, students were given different data sets and asked 2-3 data analysis and inference questions about the dataset.) I don't usually give multiple versions of in-class exams except if I have multiple sections on different days. With the amount of writing and explanation students are required to do, I hope that copying of numerical answers is not advantageous. Other assessment components in the course allow more time and more collaboration. My goal on exams is to see if the students can apply their knowledge, fairly quickly, and demonstrate individual understanding of important concepts.

GEORGE COBB

 

Context: My comments refer to Mount Holyoke's Stat240: Intro to Design and Analysis of Experiments, which for many students serves as an alternative introductory statistics course. (I teach this regularly, but have taught the "standard" intro course only once in 20 years; in fact that course has existed in our department for only the last four years.)

Background. I've probably taught this course 20 times. The first several times, I gave an hour-long mid-term and a two-hour final. After the first few times, I started assigning a term project also. For the last several years, I've dropped the final, and instituted about 10 once-a-week quizzes. The hour-long mid-term and project remain, and students also give 5-minute oral presentations based on their projects at the end of the semester. I think the weights I used last time was weekly HW 30%, quizzes 20%, mid-term exam 20%, project 30%.

Timing issues. Although the mid-term exam is nominally a one-hour exam, I try to find additional classrooms, and allow students to come early and/or stay late, in order to provide extra time for those who want it. To the extent practical, and consistent with ensuring that no students feel unfairly deprived, I want each person to have as much time as she needs, although sometimes scheduling makes this hard to accomplish. Almost all students finish the exam. Typically a few say they didn't have enough time, but their papers generally show that they didn't have a strong understanding of the material, and worked slowly because they had to guess at what to do as they went along, and were relying on the book to learn things that they should have known already. However, I sometimes decide that a particular student would have done better with additional time, and in that case I make a one-of-a-kind adjustment in my grading. (For a clear-cut example, think of a student who gives near-perfect solutions to the first 8 problems, working them in order, and leaves the last 2 blank.)

Cheating. Fortunately, this is not an issue for me. We have an honor code, which seems to work well. I talk briefly (but earnestly!) about the honor code in class in advance of the exam, but don't do anything else. Typically, I'm not in the room during the exam, except a few times when I come back to see if anyone has questions.

Rationale for the mid-term exam. I'm satisfied with the current arrangement for assessment. The course as I teach it divides naturally in two parts, and the mid-term exam is timed to come at the end of part one. I think the exam serves two main purposes. First, it provides an occasion and incentive for students to review and integrate their understanding of the first half of the course. Second, I think it gives a useful reading of where students stand at that point in the semester, in terms of their conceptual understanding of the material.

JOAN GARFIELD

 

Context: An introductory statistics class taught in a college of education but serving beginning graduate students in many departments across the university who have never before studied statistics. Typically about 25-30 students in a class.

Exams are usually 30-40% of the overall course grade. I give in-class exams, the questions are mostly open-ended/short-answer. I let students go about 10 minutes after the class ends but no longer. However, if there is a foreign student who has language problems, I may give them the test in my office and allow more time. I announce this option for all students. I use exams to motivate the students to study and keep up to date. I see them as a way to facilitate student learning. I do get some useful information from them about what difficulties students may be having. Cheating hasn't been a problem. I do walk around the room periodically and keep my eye on students (e.g., don't sit and read while they are being tested.

JOHN HOLCOMB

 

Context: The introductory statistics course in the mathematics department at Cleveland State University (CSU) that I teach generally runs 2-3 sections of 30-45 students in each section with one section offered during the summer. The course prerequisite is a college intermediate algebra course or a suitable score on our mathematics placement exam, although I do not believe that prerequisites are actually checked on our campus. The course is a fifteen week semester with an additional exam week. Cleveland State comes from a legacy of years of teaching on a ten week quarter system, and although we are now on semesters, each course is 4.0 credit hours. The introductory statistics course is generally offered for 65 minutes per class on M-W-F.

Cleveland State University is a comprehensive metropolitan university located in downtown Cleveland. There is only one dormitory on campus, so almost all the students are commuters. In addition, CSU is an open-enrollment institution that accepts every applicant with a high school diploma. The mathematics department where I teach offers a masters degree in mathematics. The general teaching load for each instructor is 8.0 credit hours per semester provided the faculty is active in research in some way.

The last time I taught introductory statistics, I calculated final grades according to the higher of the following two methods.

1. 20% graded group projects (4 projects), 30% for in-class 65 minute exams (3 exams, 10% each), 30% for take-home exams (one at midterm and one at final, 15% each) and 20% on a 2 hour in-class final exam.

2. Method 2 is similar to above with 20% from homework, 30% from the take home exams, and then 50% from the in-class final.

I take the higher of the two scores calculated above. For students who "bomb" an in-class exam, method 2 gives them a chance to redeem themselves if they do well on the final. It is rare that students end up with higher averages as a result of method 2 above, but it gives me a way to offer hope to students who say they bombed a test and there are "late bloomers" who sort of "get it" closer to the end of the course.

The next time I teach the course, I may add a clause that students need to obtain at least a score of 50 on the in-class final in order to pass the class. (Note the in-class final is cumulative of material from the entire semester.) Because the group grade counts for 20% of the score, some students who had scores below 40 on the in-class final earned D's or even a C in the course.  I would like to try to prevent that from happening in the future.

My in-class exams are 65 minutes, open notebook, and open textbook. I find this means I don't have to worry about copying tables or giving them formula sheets. I generally have 35-50 students in a class. I do not take steps to give multiple copies of my exams and cheating is not a major concern. It probably occurs, but I have not taken any extra efforts to prevent it.

The structure of my in-class exams and in-class final is not multiple choice or short answer. Usually it involves interpreting a word situation. I give lots of partial credit. The hardest part for me is figuring out what to ask in the age of technology. I am trying to ask more concept and interpretation questions. Right now, I do give SPSS output a good deal and ask students to use that output to answer the questions asked.

o I give them 65 minutes (we are on semesters, but our class is 4.0 credit hours). I try to write the exam so that everyone will finish, but that is not the case. I try to warn students they need to know the material well when they arrive for the exam. There is a tendency not to prepare well with open book exams and I think my students suffer from that malaise. I also give two take home exams (midterm and final.) I have about 20 unique data sets and questions that I give to the students. These are coded in such a way that each student thinks he or she is getting a unique exam. I give students at least a week to complete these take-homes. They are scored 50% on the statistical accuracy and 50% on the writing components. It is the same rubric that is used to grade their group projects. I think the students do "cheat" on these take home exams. I encourage them to come to me with their questions, but I think they ask their classmates. I am "ok" with simple questions that involve generating the correct SPSS output. I do think that having their own data set to analyze discourages having a friend to do the whole project for someone. I am not sure what more I can do to prevent cheating on the take-homes.

o I use exams because it is tradition. I have not thought about this a great deal. I am leaning towards not doing traditional exams in the future. I am becoming a firm believer in using authentic assessment where students are tested in situations similar to what they will face in their subsequent courses and careers. I have not let go of the traditional paradigm of testing though. I want to start designing in-class exams that test concepts, ideas, and interpretation. I want to get a way from calculation questions. I do think the in-class exams do provide a structure that students are familiar with and that is a good thing.

o As I said earlier, I do not take any extra steps for cheating. I think it occurs, but I do not know how to prevent it without a great deal more effort than I am already putting forth. I think the cheating that is occurring on the take-home exams is somewhat benign. Since some of my weakest students continue to submit take-home exams that are still weak, I think if they are getting help, they do not know how to properly execute or interpret that help.

CARL LEE

 

Context: The type of course: Introductory statistics. Covers contents typical to an introductory statistics course. The majority of students are business majors (75%). The rest are from a variety of departments other than Science & Technology. Most students are junior, age ranging from 20 to 25. They are full time students, but many of them have some part time job. For each semester, we have about 400 to 500 students. Their background is usually weak. Less than 10 percent of students had pre-calculus.

About 75% of overall grade. Exams are given at the university testing center. There is no time limit. Typically it takes about 1-2 hours. Exams are mostly multiple choice mixed with short answer about their reason. Exams are closed book/notes exams. Students are allowed to bring in a calculator and prepare a formula sheet on which students are allowed to put anything they think will help them. Exam allows to testing students more comprehensive questions. These questions test not only a single concept, but more importantly test their understanding of statistical reasoning and problem solving. In general, I am comfortable that these exams reflect students' understanding of the knowledge. Center has its rules to minimize cheating. Formula sheet must be turned with the exam booklet and scrap papers.

TONY ONWUEGBUZIE

TONY ONWUEGBUZIE

 

Context: The 3-hour statistics classes that I teach involve graduate students (i.e., master's and doctoral students). My comments below, in boldface type, reflect statistics courses taught at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. I have taught graduate-level statistics at the University of Central Arkansas (previously a master's-granting institution), Valdosta State University (a doctoral-granting institution), Howard University (a Research I, Research Intensive institution), and the University of South Florida (a Research Intensive Institution). My courses almost always are required. My average class size is 20.

 

However, when I do give in-class examinations, they are always untimed, in line with the majority of students' examination preferences (Onwuegbuzie, 2000). Such examinations are typically worth approximately 20% of the overall grade. These examination forms, which are usually administered at the midterm and final stages of the course, consist of open-ended questions, involving items that require knowledge of the statistical process. More specifically, the examination forms consist of open-ended questions of two types, computational (e.g., "construct a two-sided confidence interval for the comparison of interest") and conceptual (e.g., "is the equal variance or unequal variance test more powerful for these data? Give reasons for your answer"). All of the items in the midterm examination form pertain to content from the first half of the course and are chosen from the instructor's item bank to ensure that the examination is typical of past examinations given by me. The final examination also is constructed by me and parallels the format of the midterm examination, yet covers the complete course content. As noted earlier, both the midterm and the final examination are administered under untimed conditions, and utilize open-book and open-notes format. My examinations are scored on a 100-point scale by me, using a key that specifies the number of points awarded for both correct and partial-credit answers. Because I administer untimed examinations, I expect all my students to finish my examinations to the best of their abilities. Although useful, I do not believe that in-class examinations reflect students' abilities to the extent that performance assessments and authentic assessments do. Because my in-class examinations allow open-book and open-notes, cheating is rarely an issue. Thus, I do not take extra safeguards to minimize student cheating (e.g., seating arrangements, multiple versions of exams).

ROXY PECK

 

Context: The comments I gave are based on Stat 130 and stat 217. These are courses primarily for students majoring in liberal arts fields (Stat 130) or social sciences (Stat 217). Class size is usually 45 - 48.  Stat 130 is a general education course in statistical literacy, whereas Stat 217 is more of a methods course for students who will continue on to a research methods course in their own discipline.

I usually give 2 midterm exams and a final exam during the course of the quarter. Midterm exams are 50 minutes in length; the final exam is usually 90 or 120 minutes long. I give in-class exams, and most students are able to finish the exam (probably 80%) during the allotted time. I usually teach in a computer classroom with two students to a computer. On exam days, I split the class in half, with half attending the first hour and half the second hour so that each student can sit at a computer. Students can then use MINTBAB on the exam, with data files that I provide. The advantage of this is that I can ask more realistic data analysis questions, even with reasonably large data sets (since students don't have to type in the data themselves). It also allows me to focus less on computation and more on interpretation. The one thing I worry about is that with access to the computer during exams, things are a bit less secure. I worry that students may look at the class web site or even email during the exam, but so far don't think this has been a problem.

ALLAN ROSSMAN

 

Context: My comments apply to a "Stat 101" algebra-based service course for students in humanities and social science majors. I have in mind the Math 121 course at Dickinson and courses such as Stat 130 and Stat 217 at Cal Poly.

Exams are an important component of the course grade in my courses, typically comprising 65-75% of students' overall scores. Most of the questions consist of multiple parts, some calling for calculations and many calling for interpretations and explanations. These questions are typically answered by a sentence or two, with a full paragraph expected occasionally. I almost never use multiple choice questions.

I do believe that exams provide an effective mechanism to assess students' knowledge of statistical concepts, ability to apply statistical methods, and skill at interpreting and communicate statistical findings. An important aspect of this for me is that exams given in a controlled environment are one way to assess the knowledge and ability of an individual student, as opposed to a homework or project assignment where students are encouraged to work collaboratively. While I am a proponent of collaborative learning and also supportive of making the development of teamwork skills a secondary goal of my courses, I do believe that it is important to assess students' individual abilities as well.

These are in-class, timed exams. I allot students as much time as the scheduling of the course permits. In other words, when I teach in 110-minute time slots, students can use the entire 110 minutes. When I teach in a 50-minute time slot, then students only have 50 minutes to complete the exam, and I try to rewrite the exam accordingly. On final exams students are welcome to use the entire 170 minutes scheduled for the exam. I expect all students who have studied well to finish the exam. My goal is for no students to work at a steady pace on the exam and run out of time. Typically more than half of my students are still in the room at the end of the class period, but I believe that the big majority are either checking their work or going back to work on questions that they found difficult.

To try to minimize student cheating, I prepare multiple versions of exams, with slight differences among them. I also copy these version on different colors of paper in an effort to discourage cheating just from students' knowledge that multiple versions exist.

DEB RUMSEY

 

Context: The course would be the 1st course, audience pretty much anyone.

I use exams as about 60 percent of the students' grade in the class. I don't like to go over 60 percent, because I think there are lots of things that can't be assessed in a timed exam situation. The format of my exams is generally 1/2 short answer, and 1/2 multiple choice. The short answer questions typically target a certain issue very specifically, to avoid essay type situations that are hard to grade and hard for students to do under a time pressure situation. I do like to have students turn in reports/essays, but not in an exam situation. Exams are always in-class, taking no more than 48 min; final exam is in class, comprehensive, and takes 1 hr 50 min. It's typically 1 1/2 times as long as a regular midterm. Almost all students finish in the allotted time. I do not believe in pushing students to work very quickly by giving them lots of questions. I prefer to write fewer questions and have them think more deeply about them. I also prefer students to feel they were given a fair amount of time, so they can hold themselves more accountable (rather than me) regarding their exam experience. I use exams because I feel I have to, that the university would think I was crazy if I didn't. I'd prefer lots of inclass experiences that added up to more than 60 percent of their grade, with a few quizzes in between, and maybe some sort of culminating experience where they needed to show what they knew. I don't think exams always show what a student really knows, but that may be in how we write the exams. A professor can really determine how students are going to do, merely by how he/she writes the exam, and I don't like that. I do minimal things to help deter cheating, but I don't do a lot. I think some of the mechanisms people use (taking digital photos of students, video taping them during exams, etc.) are more distracting to the good students, and that's where I draw the line.

CANDACE SCHAU

 

Context:  I taught introductory statistics to graduate students in a College of Education for over 20 years. My classes contained 15 to 30 students and met twice a week for 1.25 hours per session. Most of the students in my classes were working toward Masters degrees in Education (although some were working toward Ph.D. degrees), most were in the course because it was required, and almost all did not want to be in the course. Most of the students held jobs, had significant others, and considered receiving their degrees (with a grade point of 4.0) as essential but usually third in importance (with loved ones first and jobs second). Because so many already were established in jobs (and in their lives) and felt as though they performed them well without ever reading research or understanding the statistics found in every day life, they viewed my introductory statistics course as the most difficult educational hurdle they faced and not very relevant to them. When I first started teaching, I really had hoped that my one introductory course would convince them that statistics is important in their lives. Given my students and their situations, however, that was a dream born from my ignorance (and, I'm sorry to say, my arrogance). For the last several years that I taught, I really hoped to accomplish a few more realistic (for my students) goals. By the end of my course, I wanted my students to: Develop a foundational understanding of important introductory statistical concepts and their uses.

Learn that they could understand a discipline that involved numbers, if they worked hard.

I also hoped that a few students would really like statistics and recognize its value to them and so decide to take additional statistics courses that were not required. My course assessments, however, were designed to assess the first goal.

Students' course grades consisted of summed scores from three exams (75% of their grade) and so-called in-class quizzes (25%). Course exams consisted of multiple choice, matching, short problem, and interpretation (often from computer output or research descriptions that I provided) items. With the exception of the short problem items, my exams assessed conceptual understanding and so were considered quite difficult, even by students who performed well on them. Unlike the other three kinds of items, the short problem items were similar (but not identical) to assigned homework problems. The students who actually did the assigned work usually performed well on these items. Those students who did not do the assigned work did well if they understood the concepts needed for the items; if not, they performed poorly.

I tried both take-home and in-class exams and quickly settled on in-class tests. Because of my students' full lives, many did not have the time needed to complete a take-home exam in a short time period. Also, I could not determine how to keep some of the students from "sharing" too much on take-home exams.

My exams were power tests. I tried to design the exams so that everyone had ample time to complete them. I officially extended the class period for an extra 30 minutes on exam days, but I gave students as much time as they wanted. The extra time was especially important for students from other countries whose primary languages were not English.

I also used "in-class quizzes" to assess my students' understanding. I assigned homework (short mastery items that were conceptual, usual problems that required students to "work out" the answers, and computer runs). The answers to the first two types of items were found in the text I used. About four times each semester, I would collect selected aspects of this assigned work and grade it. The students were required to hand in their work immediately during the class period when I called for it (hence the name of "in-class quizzes"). To receive credit for correct answers, students were required to show their reasoning and their work. Students could work together on their homework as long as they did not directly "copy" another's work. This process allowed me to reward students who were doing their work and correct their misconceptions without overwhelming myself with grading papers.