Digital testing for non-digital thinking: how to get students to think like they do in the humanities by using a computer

Can a computer help students in developing academic thinking? Ronit Nikolsky, lecturer in Languages and Cultures of the Middle East, is convinced that this is possible. Confronted with an increasing number of students who needed to be trained in academic thinking, she was looking for a system that would automatically give feedback on the student’s progress. Previously, she would grade individual assignments for which students needed to read academic articles and answer essay questions. She now uses weekly formative exams in Nestor, consisting of close-ended questions (multiple choice, short answer), that can only be answered correctly if an article is thoroughly understood. Because the grading is done automatically, this saves her time - although she admits that developing the questions is time-consuming. On the whole, she is very satisfied with the results and will continue using this form of formative evaluation.

Nestor offers various types of assignments and question types. These can be used for high-stakes exams, but also for formative testing - monitoring student learning to provide feedback to learners so they can improve their learning, and to instructors so they can improve their teaching.

Read more about using Nestor for testing on the ICTOL site.