Enhancing Assessment Practices in Large Physics Courses

Cohort: 2022
Fellow: Jonathan Perry

There exists a gap between instruction and assessment in large introductory physics courses. Recent
projects supported by the PTFs and the Texas Mindset Initiative have focused on classroom instruction and
incorporating more student-focused research-based pedagogies. However, introductory physics courses still rely almost entirely on multiple choice questions for midterm and final exams. This reliance on multiple choice is due to practical reasons, these courses tend to enroll 130 students per section and receive half of a graduate TA in support, and to better support learning as feedback/solutions may be released shortly after the test is completed allowing students to review gaps in their learning while the material is still fresh. This project seeks to address this issue by creating new question structures in collaboration with the CNS online homework and exam system, Quest, to better and more accurately assess student learning and understanding. The specific activities of this project are to develop, test, and implement new question structures and to create an initial library of content for use across multiple introductory physics courses.