During the last class attended, we enjoyed a guest lecturer who talked about assessment. He brought clarity and interest to the subject after reading the chapter in the text book. The chapter in the text book had been labeled by many as "long and boring".
I must admit, I enjoyed the chapter in the text book and I find the whole notion of assessment to be interesting and fascinating. So many questions arise: What type of assessment is most effective for learners? And what about all this assessment lingo? What does it all mean? ... formative, summative, criterion referenced, norm referenced, multiple choice, adaptive, short response, extended response, comprehensive, standardized, quantitative, qualitative, ... and then some.
We tend to become more interested in subjects that we have an interest in which is why I am probably one of the few in the class who did not snooze through Chapter 7 on assessment. I think it is fascinating how a good test item evolves. Nobody realizes the work and money that go into developing a single item. The objective must match perfectly. The level of difficulty and Blooms level of thinking must be stated and evidenced. The distractors must measure not only common errors that a student would make, but they must be common errors within the realm of the objective measured. So next time you look at that CRT and want to spit, instead appreciate the strategic and crafty thought that went in to create it.
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