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How A Question Bank Enhances Assessment And Learning

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fromermedia@gmail.comSeptember 10, 20241136 comments
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Streamlining The Process Of Learning And Testing

In the digital age, creating paper tests seems at least inconvenient, sometimes even weird. However, some educators believe that using it is an excellent means to resist AI cheaters. It’s important to remember that behind each paper test, there is at least a document that the teacher creates manually, prints, and stores somewhere students cannot find for sure. Turns out that this is not such a great way to strive against student slyness though.

Besides talking about test creation, note that each test is a separate document, let’s say containing about 10 to 15 questions. As an examiner creating a new one, will you remember in which of those documents there is a question on topic 5, subtopic 2? I doubt it. And how long will it take to find and copy all the questions needed? Of course, it depends, but it’s definitely not a five-minute deal. So, how can we make the creation of tests less time-consuming without sacrificing quality? This question has been asked for a long time, and a solution has been found: a question bank.

The Evolution Of Test Bank Questions

What is a question bank? A question bank is a collection of exam questions and answers in digital or paper form. Typically, these banks are structured by topic, subtopic, difficulty mark, and question and answer type, allowing for a wide range of assessments customized to specific learning objectives.

Lots of question banks still exist in the form of paper manuals and are especially popular among students and young medical professionals, for example. However, recent progressive approaches to education have left them with hardly any chance. The emergence of new educational materials formats, such as video and audio, also contributed to the paper-to-digital transition. However, the latest educational research still shows that students who read paper-based materials scored higher on tests than their peers who resort to digital learning.

So, the need to transfer to digital was mostly about tests and exams. This led to the development of file managers with questions in text documents, and separate folders for video and audio materials. Then came cloud document storage systems, where, just like on a local computer, each question corresponded to a separate document. In fact, this did not significantly simplify the creation of tests. Therefore, full-fledged question bank management systems emerged to replace all these tools.

Differing from each other in features, rules, and access levels, they greatly simplify the process of learning and testing for everyone—from students to the administration of an educational institution. Some were created for studying and self-assessment, others for managing course information in a structured way. Let’s consider a third type, which was developed in combination with a system for creating online tests.

A Question Bank As A Tool For Reliable Assessment

Conducting exams involves several key steps to ensure that the process is fair, organized, and efficient. Let’s outline the main steps where using a question bank can be useful.

1. Assessment Planning

To define the objectives of the assessment, the examiner might determine what knowledge or skills the exam is intended to assess. That is where a question bank will come in handy. Most of these systems present questions in an organized and structured way. Some even offer different views, such as a syllabus mode in the question bank system developed for a high school. This mode makes it easier for experts to follow the curriculum and design tests using different question types such as single or multiple choice, sorting, essay, etc.

One more thing to think about when planning the exams is to set a schedule. As many question banks today are integrated into a Learning Management System (LMS), scheduling becomes a painless part of assessment planning. Examiners can choose a date and time for the exam right in the system and assign the test to a particular class or students.

2. Preparing Exam Materials

There are two major principles to keep in mind when creating questions for the test: aligning with the learning objectives and providing a mix of difficulty levels to assess different competencies among students. A question bank software with a set of pre-vetted questions allows experts to follow these fundamentals flawlessly. By having this system in educational tools, teachers and experts may also review and edit questions created by peers to ensure clarity and fairness of the assessments.

3. Exams Logistics And Administration

It is worth remembering that modern banks of questions have gone far in their development from those that we imagine in the general sense. For example, for administration and management of exam logistics, such systems can include an additional module called a scheduler. In accordance with the number of students, the examiner may choose a venue by selecting an appropriate location that can accommodate all students comfortably.

4. Communicating With Students

One more thing an LMS may cover is notification of students about the exam details: date, time, format, content coverage. Here, we can mention providing learners with study materials and the ability for self-assessment as well.

5. Conducting The Exam

In addition to the obvious features of online examination systems, it is important to mention that such systems usually offer to set a timer, randomize the order of the questions, provide clear instructions, and allow students to flag questions if needed.

6. Post-Exam Review

On the report tab, examiners may analyze student performance to identify questions that were particularly difficult or easy to pass and make some edits in the future. To continuously improve exam quality, users may collect feedback from students about the exam experience as well.

By following these steps, educators, with the help of question bank software, can create a structured and effective examination process that enhances both learning and assessment.

Benefits Of Using Question Bank Software

To sum up the abovementioned, let’s name the key benefits of using a question bank when creating tests:

  • Efficiency and time-saving
    Create tests quickly by selecting pre-written questions rather than creating them from scratch. Reduce time on test preparation by reusable content that can be employed in multiple assessments.
  • Variety and diversity of questions
    Cover a wide range of topics, ensuring all-around assessment of student knowledge. Cater to different assessment needs by the engagement of various question types (e.g., single or multiple-choice, true/false, sorting, short answer).
  • Consistency and standardization
    Maintain consistency in the quality and style of the questions across different tests and ensure fair assessments by selecting questions that match specific difficulty levels.
  • Customization and flexibility
    Tailor tests with ease in accordance with your specific students’ needs or curriculum requirements.
  • Improved assessment quality
    Update and review questions regularly to ensure accuracy, relevance, and lack of bias.
  • Facilitation of collaborative test development
    Allow multiple educators to contribute to a question bank to foster collaboration and share best practices.

Conclusion

Incorporating a question bank into the test creation process with modern trends in question bank development became the fundamental plateau to streamline both assessment development and the learning process. This approach ultimately leads to a more effective and efficient assessment experience for both educators and students, constantly enhances the quality of evaluations, and supports diverse learning needs.



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