Mary Katherine Osborn

TA Quiz Evaluations

 

I am currently TAing for an Abnormal Psychology course where we are incorporating fictional character analysis to help students develop critical thinking skills in their field. For example, instead of only memorizing DSM criteria for schizophrenia, the students read book chapters from a novel about a man with schizophrenia and discuss how that influences daily living and treatment options for particular individuals.

I had never created quizzes for a class before and certainly not quizzes that incorporated fictional character analysis. Half way through the semester I distributed an anonymous survey to collect the thoughts of students and how they felt about the quizzes. For the following questions, they were asked to circle whether they:

 

Strongly disagreed, disagreed, neutral, agreed, or strongly agreed. I then coded the responses in excel so that 0=Strongly Disagree, 1=Disagree, 2=Neutral, 3=Agree, 4=Strongly Agree.

 

Survey Question                                                                                                Class Average

The quiz questions are fair                                                                                         3.5

 

The quiz questions are too difficult                                                                          1.04

 

The quizzes adequately assess your ability to critically analyze mental            3.3

illness in the real world

 

The quizzes are providing a beneficial learning opportunity                               3.4

 

 

According to the results, about 88% of the class on average thought the questions were fair, 25% of the class on average thought discussion were too difficult, 83% of the class on average thought the quizzes adequately assessed their ability to critically analyze mental illness in the real world, and 85% of the class on average thought the quizzes provided a beneficial learning opportunity. 

 

Some comments on the surveys included:

 

“The quizzes are great!”

 

“I really enjoy them. I have never been much of a “thinker” when it comes to critical analysis and the questions help develop that skill…”

 

“I think the quizzes are valid assessments of the reading, while applying concepts from the text. Great job, M.K. You will be a great educator.”

 

“I feel like the quizzes incorporate what we learn in the textbook as well as real world situations. They are challenging, but do-able. They also help us get into the critical analysis mindset like our tests will be formatted.”

 

I really want to include these kinds of surveys in my classrooms so I will know if I need to make any changes in how I write the quiz and exam questions or make changes to the way I present material in the classroom to cater to the students’ learning styles. I also want to include survey evaluations of myself as a TA and eventually teacher in general (not quiz making specific) so I can make adjustments to help improve my teaching skills and the course as a whole.