Why do we give students exams? What can a well-crafted exam tell us about student learning? An important goal for students is to develop and utilize a range of cognitive processes in their learning. However, many exams and assessments only require students to employ lower-order cognition, such as remembering and understanding.

In this workshop, we will use Bloom's Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment to build exams that give students opportunities to employ a range of cognitive skills, and that provide meaningful information about student learning. We will also discuss ways to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to help students improve their study skills and enhance their metacognition.

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

• Identify and describe different levels of questions.
• Apply knowledge of Bloom’s taxonomy to revise questions and construct exams with a variety of cognitive levels.
• Analyze exam results as feedback for instructional effectiveness.
• Build exams that give students opportunities to employ higher-order cognitive skills, and that provide meaningful information about student learning.
• Consider teaching students to use Bloom’s to become more aware of required cognitive levels and to enhance their metacognition.

*You are encouraged to bring a copy of an exam or examples of exam questions to evaluate.

This workshop meets Koehler Center Outcomes 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, and 2.2.