Hi Rakesh and Alison,
This has immediately opened up an issue in
essay question writing which, as a one-time historian, I feel is often
misunderstood by those outside the humanities and social sciences. I know
which, of the two questions Rakesh sent in, I would rather set or answer for an
exam on post war
To paraphrase work by Biggs and others on
essay assessment: a third class answer lists what they know about the topic; a
lower second answer lists what the experts say about the question; an upper
second answer provides an argued, personal response to the question; and a
first class answer attacks the question. So it could be argued that the
art of setting a good essay question is to allow all these responses but to
encourage the higher level ones. We are not setting clear, simple questions
which encourage students to tell us what they know – we are setting awkward
questions to get them thinking, challenging and standing up for who they are.
So here’s my starter for ten:
‘A good essay question is
intentionally flawed – discuss.’
cheers
John
Dr John Peters
Academic Development and
Practice Unit
01905 855506
National Teaching Fellow
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/contacts/detail/ntfs/2001/Peters_John_2001
From: Online forum for
SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rakesh
Bhanot
Sent: 22 November 2009 18:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Essay and exam
questions
ambiguity,
double questions, contradictions
in addition to the above in exam questions you can also 'purvey' blantant
racism/sexism/classism/ageism e.g.
Compare the difference between the following:
"Discuss the problems caused by post-war immigration to the
v
"Discuss the contribution made to British culture by immigrants
from The Commonwealth after WW2"
These are based on real examples from Sociology exams in
Others can be provided but I am on holiday at the moment and retired from
Academia!
> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:24:46 +0000
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Essay and exam questions
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I am preparing a 1hr workshop which aims to give helpful hints and tips
> to new academic lecturers about how to write good essay and exam
> questions. I am looking for some examples of *poor* questions, that
> might include, for example, ambiguity, double questions, contradictions,
> etc. that I can use as (perhaps even amusing) examples of poor practice.
> I would also be interested to hear any hints and tips that people
> belonging to this network might want to convey if they were in my place.
> Contributions would be very welcome.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Alison