Education Resource Center Series: Writing Questions that Measure What Matters: Best Practices for Designing Multiple Choice Test Questions

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Overview

In this 90-minute interactive workshop, facilitators will offer a framework for deciding when to use multiple choice as an appropriate assessment format, and a set of best practices for writing/revising multiple-choice questions.  Participants will work with colleagues in breakout groups to apply the best practices to update their own exam questions and are therefore encouraged to bring a copy of one of their existing multiple-choice quizzes or exams to work on during the session. Particularly as we prepare for finals, this workshop is recommended for university faculty and/or those assisting faculty with the design of assessments for courses or other educational offerings.  This might also be of interest to TAs and graduate students pursuing a career in teaching.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Determine whether a multiple-choice test is the most appropriate assessment format for their learning objectives
  • Analyze multiple choice questions using a set of best practices for question design
  • Revise multiple-choice questions to better align with best practices

NIH Funding Acknowledgment: Important - All publications resulting from the utilization of SC CTSI resources are required to credit the SC CTSI grant by including the NIH funding acknowledgment and must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.