The Speeded Multi-Test: A New Method for Unproctored Online Exams – How It Works and Its Use as a Measure of Academic Engagement (Contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the 21st Century)

This chapter presents a new testing methodology introduced to address difficulties associated with giving unproctored online exams engendered by the pandemic. The methodology was designed to be fair, encourage effort and study, and be difficult to cheat on. Each exam comprised five daily tests each having 30 questions taken randomly from larger item banks. At the end of each test, students were shown the entire test with the correct answers. Detailed analyses of students' use of this testing over several semesters revealed that students averaged only about two attempts per test, with students frequently missing many exams entirely. Although the pandemic clearly had a deleterious affect on effort, it is noted that student disengagement as evidenced herein predates it. This system offers the opportunity to ameliorate this problem by messaging students collectively or individually in real time. This testing technique was designed for use among mostly first-generation, underprepared students attending an HBCU and can be readily applied to similar student demographics at other HBCUs.

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