Incremental Tests

Overview

Incremental tests are regular, short-form assessments where students complete tests on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This assessment provides students with immediate feedback on their learning progress and encourages development of consistent study habits.  

Key features

• Lane 1: Secure assessment
• Individual completion permits scaling for different class sizes through automated marking systems. 
• Transform study habits by creating regular accountability checkpoints that motivate consistent preparation and increase tutorial attendance and engagement. 
• Provides immediate results so both students and educators can identify knowledge gaps, adjust approaches and assess individual engagement. 
• Minimises the impact of a single poor performance, reducing student anxiety. 
• Reduces workload through automated marking. 

How it works

Curtin snapshot   

Michael’s example assessment

About my unit: Faculty of Business and Law | 150+ students | In-Person | Individual work 

I implemented weekly eTests to solve the challenge of students not engaging with pre-class materials in my flipped classroom format. These 10-question tests became the first activity when students arrived at tutorials, requiring them to demonstrate knowledge of online lecture content and required readings within a 10-minute timeframe. 

The eTests covered diverse learning materials, including simulation guides, video segments, required readings, and expert interviews, creating comprehensive preparation incentives for only 2% per test across 10 testing weeks, totalling 20% of the final grade. 

My advice 

This assessment requires significant setup time but has minimal marking requirements. A bank of 20-30 questions for each 10-question multiple-choice test is recommended. When the randomised question option is turned on in the LMS, it means students sitting next to each other will not receive the same questions, which reduces risks of student collusion and allows the question bank to be used for multiple study periods or time zones.  

If a unit contains multiple classes, and the tests are done in class time (Lane 1), the tests should be password-protected, with the password only shown in class. This allows further verification with class attendance records to ensure the student completed the test in their own class. It is also recommended that MCQ answers are NOT shown to students with their results, because some students may post screenshots online for future students to view. Rather, this can be an opportunity for a one-on-one discussion, asking students to verify their results/check on the correct answer with the tutor at the end of the class.    

Suggested marking criteria

Note: Marking criteria are suggested guidelines. Specific descriptions should be adapted to relevant content and learning objectives.