Teachers' Toolbox/Evaluation of students

A student will have to be evaluated to give them feedback on the progress and level of performance.

Memorize the material and you will be able to understand exam questions; understand the material and you should also be able to answer exam questions

Written exams

How to approach making written exams?

Multiple Choice

Multiple choice tests can be both boring and stressed, but with a little ingenuity in asking more than standard questions, the method can be quite rewarding.

Peer assessment

This saves the teacher a lot of work and can be very instructive for the students.

Reports

How to make a good report assignment and how to evaluate reports

Evaluation:

• Formulation -is it easy to understand?
• Disposition - does it have a suitable level of detail on the various subjects covered?
• Are the methods well motivated and described?
• Is the scientific investigation well performed?
• Are the results well presented?

Oral Presentations

If students in groups or individually make presentations to each other and another group of students are assigned as opponents to each presenter, everyone will learn quite a lot even in the evaluation phase - and also have the whole course recapitulated in different ways.

Presentation

• Stage performance (articulation, presence, nervous etc.)
• Is it well structured?
• on time?

Project work

When evaluating a student the following points should be considered - and it should be made clear to the student before starting the project what the importance is of the various points.

The product:

• Did they finish what they were supposed to do ?
• Was the product and presentation suitable ?
• Did the group work independently or was there a team spirit?
• Was the process innovative, systematic, and did they keep their deadlines?

The process:

• How did they plan, and did they follow their plans ?
• Did the cooperate and show responsibility, engagement ?
• What problems did they encounter on the way and how did they handle them ?

The overall scientific content:

• Do the students have the necessary knowledge and skills in the subjects they touch upon ?
• Do they have a good overview of the field ?
• Did they understand the literature, how to collect information and to make proper references ?

During the project and when the project is over, the supervisor should make a survey of the project and supervision, to check that the above points will be answered to satisfaction - and what to do to improve the chances that it will happen before the final evaluation is done.

Masters thesis

Censor or Teachers tasks at a defence:

• Make a written list of questions beforehand - especially the teacher should prepare one to help the censor in case the censor is less prepared.
• Meet before the examination to talk the report over and get a feeling for a common standing. Also discuss how to handle the student during the examination (eg. we have to be careful not to be to confronting because then this student might lock up, or other issues like this)

Typical questions for a thesis defence: Start by making a general comment about how you think the work is - make sure the student calms down.

• Explain the difference between formula 1 and 2 on page 12
• What would in your opinion be the weakest part of the presented analysis - where would you focus your work if you had to continue the project?
• Can you motivate or explain the physics behind formula 34 - what does it describe?
• Can you explain the difference between this and that concept?
• What was the most surprising thing you found in your project?

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