Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:4400] re.Can multiple choice questions promote higher order thinking in e-learning?
From: Michel.Labour (Michel.Labour@univ-valenciennes.fr)
Date: Tue 25 Feb 2003 - 10:38:26 MET
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 10:38:26 +0100 From: "Michel.Labour" <Michel.Labour@univ-valenciennes.fr> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:4400] re.Can multiple choice questions promote higher order thinking in e-learning?
Bonjour Yasmine
> On the other hand, if the questions do not force students to recall answers
> replicated in the courseware, surely a level of analysis/information
> synthesis/evaluation (higher order thinking) of the information is required?
>
> I am interested in the thoughts of other researchers/academics regarding
> this topic?
We are also looking at this very question, and are planning to present a paper on this topic at WORLDCALL 2003, in Banff, Canada.
We are at present involved in using an Intranet multiple choice questionnaire to test out different learning hypothesis concering online learning.
Below is an extended summary of what we will be presenting in Canada, which I hope may prove useful in exploring this much used, but pedagogically under-exploited, tool.
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Multiple Choice Questionnaires revisited via decision-making strategies: An evaluation and diagnostic model for language learning.
Assets and liabilities of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)
MCQ are particularly useful in providing very rich and detailed information. The technique becomes unwieldy when doing it by hand. This often leads users to limit themselves to using it mainly for its rapidity. In fact, MCQ can be made more efficient by linking the information it generates as computer data to the cognitive process and decision-making strategies of learners.
Learning stages
>From a cognitive theory perspective, learning can be seen as a succession of decisions linked to various means of improving knowledge acquisition via various stages. Taking these stages into account is similar to establishing a “medical diagnostic”, providing that MCQ are used more comprehensively to guide decision-making strategies. In this light, the working hypothesis adopted is that mastering, for example, a foreign language goes through three stages: knowing its rules, identifying the rules, and applying them (Rasmussen 1983).
The learning process is also influenced by other factors such as that of learner motivation and behaviour, as well as the use of different communication means. Learner’s own point of views concerning their knowledge, notably their level of certitude to answers they give, offers further clues to mastery of the language, providing that each choice of the MCQ has a meaning other than being “right” or “wrong”. Finally, given that errors can occur in any human activity, MCQ can introduce supplementary elements to avoid certain types of errors.
Diagnostic methods and models
The three stages of learning are inherently different. The mastery in one stage of the learning process does not automatically lead to another. Learners’ motivations, behaviour choices and personal perspective of their own language competence represent factors that also differ by their respective distinctive natures. It therefore seems necessary to have tools that can portray and capitalise on these factors in establishing a diagnostic that is as close as possible to reality. The multicriteria decision-making technique is a tool that seeks to portray and enhance the diverse elements associated with a decision-making process. This method seems particularly useful in understanding the language learning process.
Diagnostic tool
Using a Web site, we have developed a system linked to a database containing both a bank of MCQ and learner answers, as well as certain information about learners. The questions are based on the three stages of learning in mastering English as a Foreign Language, notably the “present perfect” and the “simple past” verbal forms. Each accompanying answer is accompanied by the learner’s declared level of certitude ("I am certain of my answer”" I am not certain of my answer”, “I do not know the answer”). The information processing system linked to a probable level of language mastery (in a particular domain) is separated from the MCQ to permit development of the decision-making model. Learners’ various attempts in answering MCQ are kept and compared so to ascertain possible growth in knowing the language.
Reference
RASMUSSEN, J. (1983) Skills, rules and knowledge; signals, signs and symbols, and other dictinctions in human performance models, IEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Vol. SMC-13, No. 3, May/June, pp. 257-266.
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Dr. Michel LABOUR
Associate Professor
Educational Sciences
Laboratoire des Sciences de la Communication
Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis
Le Moulin
Rue du Faubourg de Paris
F-59313 VALENCIENNES CEDEX 9
FRANCE
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Tel : +33 (0)3 27.51.77.77 / 77.72
Fax : +33 (0)3 27.51.77.85 / 77. 87
mailto:Michel.Labour@univ-valenciennes.fr
web : http://www.univ-valenciennes.fr/scfc/ceppes/CEPPES.htm
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