Use of exemplars in QP

The other day there was a discussion that why some questions are repeatedly asked in the question papers. For example if a question is to be asked from clustering topic in data mining subject, it is usually on k-means clustering. Similarly in AR mining, it is Apriori algorithm. Certain examples / algorithms become so popular because of their simplicity and ease of understanding that they become most suitable tool for explaining that topic. They are exemplars in that topic. So if a question is to be asked from that, it is always the exemplar which is asked.

How to take care of such exemplars while mapping the QP to syllabus ontology to find the syllabus coverage? After extracting the concepts from the questions we are trying to map those to the syllabus ontology and colouring all those nodes covered by the question.  Suppose under the clustering node in the syllabus ontology, there are many other nodes. But only the k-means clustering node gets coloured always. Should we consider that the clustering node is covered completely even if only one node from that is coloured. I think we can if that particular node is an exemplar of that topic.

      It is very true that some things which come so naturally to humans become very difficult when it has to be 
      automated.

Evaluation criterions used for assessing the QP

When can you say that the question paper generated is excellent, good, satisfactory, bad, etc? After analyzing and taking the opinion of different teachers and students we feel that the fairness of the QP can be viewed in three different perspectives. They are fairness to students, fairness to prescribed syllabus of the course, and fair to the learning objective of the course. A good QP should meet all the criterions to an acceptable level. Even though these are not totally nonoverlapping they seem to be having distinct objectives.

A given question paper is not fair to students if a) the paper does not contain variety of questions such as descriptive, analytical, short length, etc that satisfies the appetite of all types of students. b) The students are not able to complete the paper within specified time duration. c) The mark assigned to a question is not according to its difficulty level and the time required to answer that question. d) Question paper contains ambiguous and poorly worded questions.

A given question paper is not fair to syllabus if a) the questions chosen are not from the topics prescribed in the syllabus. b) The marks allotted to the questions and number of questions is not according to weightage assigned to that topic in the syllabus.

The course learning objective determines the level of competence that should be achieved by the students after the completion of the course. The testing process should meet this objective.

Why there is a need to assess the quality of Question paper?

Examination being the lone measure of competence in the current education system of our country, it has a decisive role in career building of students. Hence considering the psychological impact on them, utmost care has to be taken in framing the question paper. From the teacher’s perspective, it should be a true measure of students understanding of subject. Moreover, it can act as a tool for getting feedback on effectiveness of teaching. Further, examination is an irreversible process and involves a lot of effort and expenditure on the part of organisation or university. All these makes assessment and evaluation of question paper mandatory before it is given to the students.

Hello everybody

Thought of starting  my own blog. To share information of common interest in the field of e-learning, semantic web and ontology. Mostly from research point of view. Sharing nice ideas,important links, research articles, etc