Faculty members at Ho Technical University (HTU) are currently participating in a specialized training program aimed at enhancing the creation of high-quality test materials, thereby ensuring improved evaluation of students’ performance.
Strategic Approach to Test Item Construction
This training initiative, strategically designed to guide educators in constructing test items in a manner that promotes better comprehension of questions, covers key aspects including the fundamental principles of test item construction, features integral to effective test creation, strategies for formulating impactful test items, and an exploration of different test types.
Commitment to Quality Assurance
Dr. Edward K. Ayimey, the Director of the University’s Planning and Quality Assurance Directorate, emphasized the imperative of maintaining rigorous quality assurance protocols, particularly in the context of evaluating students through the skillful construction of test items.
Continual Professional Development: A Cornerstone of Excellence
Addressing the participating lecturers, Professor Christopher Mensah, the Pro Vice Chancellor, underscored the continuous nature of professional development, reinforcing its significance within the university’s academic framework.
Guiding the Way: Reverend Dr. Ashiboe-Mensah’s Expertise
Guiding the participants through a comprehensive series of presentations on Test Items was Reverend Dr. Ashiboe-Mensah, a dedicated Quality Assurance Officer at HTU, who also serves as the Director of Examination Ethics at Marshals International.
Optimizing Bloom’s Taxonomy: Tailoring Action Verbs for Learning Levels
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Reverend Dr. Ashiboe-Mensah stressed that the workshop’s relevance extends to equipping lecturers with the expertise to effectively leverage Bloom’s Taxonomy’s action verbs, aligning them appropriately with each academic tier’s proficiency level.
Exploring Bloom’s Taxonomy Domains
Reverend Dr. Ashiboe-Mensah delved into the three distinct domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy Educational objectives: Cognitive Learning encompassing knowledge, memory, critical thinking, and reasoning; Affective addressing emotions and attitudes; and Psychomotor targeting hands-on skills acquisition.
Crafting Effective Test Items: Principles and Strategies
Regarding the Principles of Constructing Test Items, Reverend Dr. Ashiboe-Mensah advised participants to exercise caution against an overabundance of verbs and intricate sentence structures.
Encouraging Creativity and Innovation in Assessment
He emphasized, “It’s crucial to clearly define the task to be executed and the expected type of responses. Incorporate questions of varying levels of difficulty for comprehensive assessment, maintain uniform difficulty when multiple choices are presented, and craft each item so as not to inadvertently hint at answers for other items.”
He further stressed the importance of designing test items that stimulate candidates’ creativity and innovation.