Use the test to guide learning
As a teacher, you want to pass something on to your students, and you hope that they will have learned something by the end of the course. What a student does and does not learn depends in large part on the study behaviour that the student displays. How students learn depends on factors including the manner in which they are assessed. If the examination primarily assesses factual knowledge, students will primarily retain factual knowledge. This will also be the case if you have spent the entire year encouraging them to draw connections, acquire insight and apply the course material.
Students anticipate the expected examination (and other) requirements and the expected form of testing, and you can take advantage of this. Preferably at the beginning of the course, provide a clear indication of what the final assessment will be based on: what should students know/be able to do? At which level and in what way should they have mastered the material (e.g. merely reproduce it, understand it, be able to apply it to simple problems, be able to apply it to complex problems)? How should they demonstrate this? Provide examples of test questions or properly completed assignment (e.g. from past years).
Want to know more?
Davies, J.P. & Pachler, N. (2018). The context of the Connected Curriculum. In J.P. Davies & N. Pachler (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Perspectives from UCL (pp. 3-20). London: UCL IOE Press.
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Jessop, Tansy and Hughes, Gwyneth. (2018). Beyond winners and losers in assessment and feedback. In J.P. Davies & N. Pachler (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Perspectives from UCL (pp. 64-83). London: UCL IOE Press.
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