When to examine Staff hopes, students' views and harsh realities

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When to examine? Staff hopes, students' views and
harsh realities

• Dr Alan Gunn
• Biological and Earth Sciences
• Dr Sarah J. Pitt
• Biomedical Sciences

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Introduction

• Three possible options
• Year long module, examine in May
• Semester 1 module, examine in May
• Semester 1 module, examine in January

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Introduction

• Expect that holding exams after Christmas would
  allow more time for revision / reflection and
  thereby helps
• more able students to do even better
• least able / committed students to achieve a few
  extra points and so not fail / fail too badly

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Figure 1
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Aims

• 1) Assess staff perceptions.
• 2) Assess student perceptions.
• 3) Monitor examination performance over several
  years.

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Method 1 Staff perceptions

• Anonymous questionnaires completed by BIE and BMS
  staff in March, 2004.
• Assessed attitudes timing of first semester,
  level 2 exams, and also level 3 exams.

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Method 1 Staff perceptions

• 24 replies received.
• BIE (15), BMS (9).
• Data from replies from staff in both Schools was
  combined.

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Results 1 Before this academic year, which
option would you have considered to enable
students to put in their best performance in
semester 1, level 2 exams?
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Results 1 Do you still hold that view?
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Results 1 Do you still hold that view?

• Regardless of opinion of optimal timing for
  exams
• 42 no change in exam performance with post
  Christmas exams
• 16 exam performance had been poor
• 17 anecdotal evidence that students had worked
  rather than revised over Christmas

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Results 1 Do you think that year-long modules
at level 3 will help their exam performance?
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Method 2 Student perceptions

• Anonymous questionnaires completed by level 2 and
  level 3 students in February, 2004.
• Assessed attitudes timing of first semester,
  level 2 exams, and also level 3 exams.

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Method 2 Student perceptions

• Level 2 49 replies received.
• Level 3 70 replies received
• Data from each year analysed separately.

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Results 2 Which option would have enabled you to
put in your best performance in semester 1,
level 2 exams?
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Results 2 Reasons given for wanting exams
before Christmas
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Results 2 Reasons given for being distracted (
of total respondents)
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Results 2 Reasons wanting exams after Christmas

• Level 2 Level 3
• More time to revise 73 100
• Less conflict with c/w 33 25

• No mention of integrating information,
  reflection, or reading around the subject -
  subjects commonly mentioned by staff.

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Results 2 Would you have preferred all your
level 2 modules year-long?
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Results 2 Do you think that year long modules
at level 3 will help your exam performance
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Method 3 Level 2, semester 1 module performance

• 8 modules in BIE BMS
• 3-5 years of data
• 30-150 students per cohort

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Method 3 Level 2, semester 1, module performance

• Neurobiology
• Immunology
• Communities Ecosystems
• Environmental Pollution
• Animal Behaviour
• Natural Resources
• Sedimentology
• Climatology

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Results 3 Level 2, semester 1 module performance

• Mean exam marks
• Higher than any previous year 1/8 modules
• Lower than any previous year 4/8 modules
• Within range of other years 3/8 modules

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Results 3 Level 2, semester 1 module performance

• students failing exam
• Higher than any previous year 4/8 modules
• Lower than any previous year 1/8 modules
• Within range of other years 3/8 modules

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Results 3 Level 2, semester 1 module performance

• students gaining mark gt 60
• Higher than any previous year 1/8 modules
• Lower than any previous year 3/8 modules
• Within range of other years 4/8 modules

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Conclusions Staff

• Majority originally in favour of exams after
  Christmas, but now increasingly uncertain.
• Sense of disappointment.
• Majority still in favour of year-long modules at
  level 3.

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Conclusions Students (1)

• Majority remain in favour of exams before
  Christmas.
• Do not / cannot revise effectively over
  Christmas.
• Number of students working over Christmas not
  greater than during term-time, although the
  nature of work may be different.

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Conclusions Students (2)

• Majority of students are not in favour of
  year-long modules.
• Current level 3 students have not been convinced
  by the experience!

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Conclusions Module Data

• No evidence of improvement in any aspect of
  examination performance.
• Examining semester 1 modules in May would be a
  recipe for disaster.
• Until we obtain evidence from current level 3
  modules, it would be unwise to introduce
  year-long level 2 modules.

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Conclusions The future

• Providing more time for revision does not
  automatically lead to any improvements.
• We need to either
• a) change students' approach to studying in which
  revision is viewed as a 'sprint' rather than a
  'distance event' or....
• b) adapt our assessment strategies to the
  learning style of the students (even if this is
  educationally unsound).