West, M., & Silva , M., & Herman, G. L. (2015, June), Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24639

\bibitem{asee_peer_24639}
  West, M., \& Silva , M., \& Herman, G. L. (2015, June), \emph{Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice}
  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
  10.18260/p.24639

Matthew West, Mariana Silva , and Geoffrey L. Herman.  "Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice".  2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2015.  https://peer.asee.org/24639 Internet.  18 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_24639}
  Matthew West, Mariana Silva , and Geoffrey L. Herman.
  "Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice".
  \emph{2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2015.
  https://peer.asee.org/24639 Internet.  18 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_24639
author = "Matthew West, Mariana Silva , and Geoffrey L. Herman"
title = "Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice"
booktitle = "2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2015"
month = "June"
address = "Seattle, Washington"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/24639}
number = {10.18260/p.24639}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                        Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses                           Spread via Communities of PracticeWe present a software system to generate, grade, and analyze individualized per-student-randomized exams. The objectives of this system are to: (1)  scale  exams  efficiently  to  very  large  class  sizes  (approaching  1000  students),  and  (2)  improve  the  integrity  of  the  exam  process.    To  achieve  these  objectives,  we  implemented  software  in  Python  and  LaTeX  that  generates  unique  per-­‐student  multiple-­‐choice  exam  PDFs  identified  by  unique  error-­‐correcting  codes.  These  computer-­‐generated  exams  are  randomized  from  a  tagged  LaTeX  source  document  that  contains  multiple  variants  of  each  question.  The  randomization  includes  randomized  question  variants,  random  question  order  (with  constraints),  and  random  answer  order.  The  students  take  the  exams  on  paper,  coding  their  answers  on  paper  Scantron  sheets,  which  are  then  rescanned  for  import  back  into  the  de-­‐randomization  Python  grading  system.  The  grading  software  produces  both  student  scores  and  individualized  student  feedback,  as  well  as  summary  statistics  and  analyses  of  the  exam  and  questions.    The  results  of  implementing  this  new  computer-­‐based  randomized  exam  system  include  a  dramatic  reduction  in  student  complaints  about  grading,  an  order-­‐of-­‐magnitude  reduction  in  time-­‐to-­‐feedback,  and  improved  instructor  experience.  We  present  detailed  results  including:  (1)  a  comparison  of  multiple  choice  exams  to  the  free  response  form  previously  used,  focusing  on  question  discrimination  and  predictive  value,  (2)  students’  perceptions  of  exam  fairness  and  exam-­‐taking  experience,  and  (3)  faculty  perceptions  and  experiences.    In  addition  to  the  randomized  exam  technology  itself,  we  also  analyze  the  spread  of  this  technology  from  the  source  in  Calculus  2  (Eng)  during  Fall  2012  to  nine  other  large  STEM  courses  in  four  departments  by  Fall  2014.  We  identify  two  key  factors  in  this  spread:  (1)  the  use  of  Communities  of  Practice  (CoPs)  as  “concentrators”,  and  (2)  the  embedding  of  faculty  in  cross-­‐department  teaching  roles.                                                                                                                                  Calc 2 Eng                   Calc 2 non-Eng                                                               CS1                                                                             CS CoP                                                                                                              Comp Arch     Dynamics                                TAM CoP                           MatSE Mech                                                                                              CS1 non-major                     Statics              Solids                 MatSE CoP                      Thermal & Mech  Figure 1: Spread of randomized exam technology from the source in Math 231E (top  left) to nine other courses, via three departmental Communities of Practice (CoPs).
AU  - Matthew West
AU  - Mariana Silva 
AU  - Geoffrey L. Herman
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Randomized Exams for Large STEM Courses Spread via Communities of Practice
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/24639
DO  - 10.18260/p.24639
ER  -