Construction of Essay type questions and Evaluation ppt is very useful to the Nursing faculty and students.

1. Mrs. . V.Swarajya lakshmi
Lecturer
GCON,WGL
11.04.2022 at 2to 3pm

2. Objectives:
1. Understanding the principles main
advantages and limitations of essay questions
and common misconceptions associated with
their use.
2. Distinguishing between learning outcomes
that are appropriately assessed by using essay
questions and outcomes that are likely to be
better assessed by other means.
3. Evaluating existing essay questions using
criteria of effective essay questions.

3. 4. Improving poorly written essay questions
by using the criteria for effective essay
questions to identify flaws in existing
questions and correct them.
5.Constructing well-written essay questions
that assess given objectives.

4. Educators choose essay questions over
other forms of assessment because essay
items challenge students to create a
response rather than to simply select a
response.
Some educators use them because
essays have the potential to reveal students'
abilities to reason, create, analyze,
synthesize, and evaluate.

5. Definition of Essay type question:
"A test item which requires a response
composed by the examinee, usually in the
form of one or more sentences, of a nature
that no single response or pattern of
responses can be listed as correct, and the
accuracy and quality of which can be
judged subjectively only by one skilled or
informed in the subject."
by John M. Stalnaker

6. Based on this definition, there are a few criteria
that inform us on the characteristics of an essay
question.
-Something in which the examinee (or student)
has to compose or create, rather than select from
a list of options
-It inherently includes some form of writing,
usually in the form of multiple sentences
-Answers are not bound by a single response or
pattern of responses
-It can only be evaluated or judged by someone
informed or skilled in the subject

7. Principles for preparing essay type test
-Do not give too many lengthy questions
-Avoid phrases, eg. discuss briefly
-Questions should be well structured with
specific purpose or topic at a time
-Words should be simple, clear, unambiguous
and carefully selected
-Do not allow too many choices
-According to the level of the students 'difficulty
and complexity items has to be selected

8. Elements of Essay Question?
An essay question is a test item which contains
the following elements:
1. Requires examinees to compose rather than
select their response .ex (Multiple-choice
questions, matching exercises, and true-false
items are all examples of selected response test
items because they require students to choose an
answer from a list of possibilities)

9. 2. Elicits student responses that must consist of
more than one sentence
( essay questions require students to compose
their own answer is not the only characteristic of
an effective essay question.)

10. 3. Allows original responses and response
patterns
-Create topic sentences based on the main
points.

11. 4. Requires subjective judgment by a
competent specialist to judge the accuracy
and quality of student responses.
ex: answering the questions exemplicity
justifying why by weightage up points and
focusing on arguments, using examples etc,.

12. 5. Provides students with an indication of
the types of thinking and content to use in
responding to the essay question
Ex:Six top tips for writing a great essay
1.Analyse the question.
2.Define the argument.
3.Use evidence, reasoning and scholarship.
4.Organise a coherent essay.
5.Write clearly.
6.Cite sources and evidence.
by university Melborne

13. Advantages
1. Assess higher-order or critical thinking skills.
2. provide an effective way of assessing complex
learning outcomes.
3. It cannot be effectively assessed by other commonly
used paper-and-pencil assessment procedures.
4.Essay questions can also assess in-the-moment
writing skills.
5.It can evaluate student problem solving, decision
making and reasoning skills ( Vital competencies)
6.Assess students' writing abilities& skills

14. 7. Assess the students understanding of and
ability to think with subject matter content
8.In fact, some of the most complicated thinking
processes can only be assessed through essay
questions, when a paper-and-pencil test is
necessary (e.g., assessing students’ ability to
make judgments that are well thought through
and that are justifiable)..

15. .
Limitations Essay Questions:
1. Assess a limited sample of the range of
content.
2. Are difficult and time consuming to
grade.
3. Provide practice in poor or unpolished
writing.

16. Misconceptions
1. Assess higher-order or critical thinking
skills regardless of how they are
written.( Essay questions are always better
than multiple choice questions when
assessing higher order thinking)
2. Essay questions are easy to construct.
3. The use of essay questions eliminates
the problem of guessing.
.

17. 5. Essays develop writing skills
6. Essays encourage students to study and
prepare more deeply

18. Learning objectives:
-It almost always contain verbs that can
provide direction for the choice of
assessment method.
The verbs that best describe the ability or
abilities the instructor intends to assess are
sometimes referred to as “directive verbs”

19. Directive verbs
 Analyze
 Develop
 Justify
 Apply
 Explain
 Match
 Classify
 Evaluate
 Predict
 Compare
 Identify
 Propose
 Compose
 Infer
 Recall
 Defend
 Interpret
 Recognize

20. Critical question words Descriptive question words
Analyze Define
Evaluate Demonstrate
Justify Describe
Critically Explore
Review Elaborate
To What extent Explain, Assess
Contrast, Clarify
Identify, Compare
Summarize
Outline, Discuss
Illustrate, Examine

21. Strategies on how to construct effective
essay questions ( by Teacher training
programme,Toranto”)
1.Start with your own learning outcomes
ex: Writing out explicit, clear and concise
learning objectives will aid in how you
create your essay questions

22. 2. Limit subject matter (create boundaries)
ex: If we provide too vague of an essay
question, students will feel the desire to
write everything they know about the
topic, many times to the detriment of
actually answering the question

23. 3.Use verbs carefully and selectively (and make
sure the verb interacts with the object of the
verb)
ex: If you want students to provide an
explanation, verbs like describe or explain
might be useful.
- If you are hoping for students to provide
their own interpretations with supportive
evidence, verbs like analyze or evaluate.

24. 4. Situate the intended learning objective
into a problem
ex: If you are hoping for students to
demonstrate their own opinions on a
certain topic, feel free to use that
language “demonstrating personal
opinion” so students know what your
intended learning outcomes are.

25. 5. Understanding limitations of writing in a
time-based assessment
ex:Understand that your students are under
considerable time pressure and many of
them will start writing immediately even
before drafting an outline.
-Therefore, be mindful of the time pressures
of the writing and adjust your grading
accordingly.

26. -Be clear as to the expectations on the quality of
writing, the use of bullet points and short form,
and other ways students can save time(30min)on
the actual writing.
-Also be mindful of how many essay questions
you can effectively put on an examination.

27. 6.Promote feedback and training (to avoid poor
writing habits)
Ex: To ensure that writing quality does not degrade
during essay-type questions on a test One of the
best ways to promote strong writing is to provide
quality writing and have students deconstruct the
piece of work.
.

28. 7.Keep the writing of the essay as accessible as
possible
ex: One of the biggest fears of students is
misunderstanding the question, which leads
to providing an answer that does not
represent their true understanding of the
content
-unnecessary information should be removed
to reduce the amount of extraneous
cognitive load and possible points of
confusion.

29. 8.Be clear about the criteria of grading
ex: Students should be aware of the criteria in
which they are being graded.
(on general themes such as writing style,
clarity, having a strong thesis statement, etc).
-Therefore, it might be beneficial for
students to know ahead of time how they
might be graded

30. providing the questions ahead of time
-Many educators believe that one way of dealing with
the time crunch is to provide students with essay
questions/topics ahead of time prior to the actual
examination.
-Furthermore, some instructors will allow students to
bring in “cheat sheets”, or work that has been written
prior to aid them in the creation of their written
answers.
-opportunities to edit, re-evaluate, and even resubmit a
piece of writing will be more beneficial to students’
writing abilities than a one-off essay question on a
test.

31. BLOOM’S TAXONOMY FOR LEARNING,
TEACHING & ASSESSING
Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimension Categories &
Cognitive Processes Alternative names
1.Remember
1.1 Recognizing
1.2 Recalling Identifying Retrieving
2. Understand
2.1 Interpreting
2.2 Exemplifying
2.3 Classifying
2.4 Summarizing
2.5 Inferring

32. 2.6 Comparing
2.7 Explaining
Clarifying,
Paraphrasing,
Representing,
Translating Illustrating,
Instantiating, Categorizing,
Subsuming, Abstracting,
Generalizing , Concluding
Extrapolating, Interpolating,
Predicting Contrasting,
Mapping, Matching
Constructing Models

33. 3. Apply
3.1 Executing
3.2 Implementing
Carrying out Using

34. 4. Analyze
4.1 Differentiating
4.2 Organizing
4.3 Attributing
Discriminating,
Distinguishing,
Focusing,
Selecting
Finding
Coherence,
Integrating,
Outlining,
Parsing, Structuring, Deconstructing

35. 5. Evaluate
5.1 Checking
5.2 Critiquing
Coordinating,
Detecting,
Monitoring,
Testing
Judging
6. Create
6.1 Generating
6.2 Planning
6.3 Producing, Hypothesizing ,Designing
Constructing (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

36. Criteria Of Theory Evaluation (Essays)
•Introduction
•Definitions
•Body of mastery content must be well organized
•Summarization
•conclusion
•Student understanding of the subject
•Independent thinking
•Clearly articulate or evaluate argument of essay
•Firmly cemented their understanding
•Imaginative literature
•Characteristics of words or actions

37. •Addressing the topic
•Answering in a textual fashion
•Import extra-textual evaluations,
resolutions, beliefs and opinions
•Do not use incorrect patterns of speech ex:
like, so, I feel that etc,.
•Do not overlook errors of punctuation,
grammar and spelling
bz words and sentences are the building
blocks of thought and expression

38. •Be generous -does not mean that do not
sacrifice standards
•Excellence must be measured in a manner
appropriate to the skills
•Be as specific as possible
•Excellent essay must reveal sufficient
depth and reflection while treating the text
with care.

39. Scoring
-For every question, set out the elements which
according to you, should appear in the answer by point
scoring system
-Score the answer of all students for one question,
before going on to the scoring of another question
-When two or more teachers correct the same test,
they should agree on the scoring procedure before the
test and correct the answer scripts
-The time allowed and the marks allotted will act as a
guide to the students to answer the questions

40. Percentage for Essay test
10% Grammar and spelling
10% Organization (intro with thesis. supporting
ideas, conclusion)
40% Relevant content
40% Accurate content
Essay as assignment
20% Grammar, spelling
20% Readability
20% Organization
20% Relevant Content
20% Accurate Content

41. References:
1.tatp.utoronto/teachingtoolkit/ciresources/asses
sment-writing guide/essay/questions
"Teaching assistants training programme"
University of Toronto.
2.KP Neeraja, Text book of communication and
education technology for nurses, Jaypeebrothers
medical publishers (p) limited, first edition p.no:
435-437.

42. Group Activity
-1st yr dept teachers each faculty prepare one
essay question in 1st yr nursing subjects
-2nd yr dept teachers each faculty prepare one
essay question in 2nd yr nursing subjects
-3rd yr dept teachers each faculty prepare one
essay question in 3rd yr subjects
-4th yr dept teachers each faculty prepare one
essay question in 4th yr subjects