Date: 27th May 2024
Time: 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Resource Person: Dr. Venkata Subbaiah, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, SPEC

Overview

The Faculty Development Programme (FDP) held on 27th May 2024 at SPEC was a significant event aimed at enhancing the academic capabilities of the faculty members. The session, conducted by Dr. Venkata Subbaiah, Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department, focused on an essential aspect of the teaching-learning process: Question Bank Preparation. This workshop was part of an ongoing effort to equip faculty with the tools to create high-quality assessments that align with learning outcomes and institutional goals.

Objective of the Session

The primary goal of the session was to familiarize the faculty members with the techniques and strategies involved in preparing a comprehensive and effective question bank. A well-constructed question bank is a critical tool for educators, as it helps in evaluating students’ understanding, reinforcing key concepts, and ensuring alignment with course objectives. The session also aimed to encourage consistency in assessment practices across departments.

Session Highlights

Dr. Venkata Subbaiah began the session by outlining the importance of question banks in the academic curriculum. He stressed that the preparation of a question bank goes beyond the creation of random questions; it is about crafting questions that accurately reflect the learning outcomes of a course and can assess various cognitive levels, as outlined by Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Understanding Bloom’s Taxonomy
   Dr. Venkata Subbaiah introduced Bloom’s Taxonomy, explaining how it serves as a framework for categorizing educational objectives. He demonstrated how each level—from remembering and understanding to applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating—requires different types of questions to gauge student understanding effectively.
2. Types of Questions for Assessments
   The session delved into the various types of questions that could be included in a question bank, such as:
   • Objective Questions: Multiple-choice, true/false, and matching questions, which are useful for testing knowledge and comprehension.
   • Subjective Questions: Short-answer and essay-type questions, which allow for deeper analysis and interpretation.
   • Case-Based Questions: These challenge students to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios, promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
3. Balancing Difficulty Levels
   An effective question bank must contain a range of difficulty levels to accurately assess students with varying competencies. Dr. Venkata Subbaiah shared strategies for striking a balance between easy, medium, and difficult questions in an assessment. He provided examples of how questions could be modified to increase or decrease their difficulty level, without compromising the integrity of the assessment.
4. Alignment with Learning Outcomes
   The importance of aligning questions with the intended learning outcomes of the course was emphasized. Dr. Venkata Subbaiah explained how each question should directly map to specific course objectives, ensuring that assessments are fair and reflective of the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire.
5. Ensuring Fairness and Objectivity
   Dr. Venkata also discussed the need for questions to be unambiguous and clear, avoiding overly complex wording that could confuse students or lead to misinterpretation. He advocated for rigorous review processes to maintain fairness and consistency in the question bank.

Interactive Session and Hands-On Practice

The session included an interactive segment where participants were invited to work in groups to create a set of questions based on a specific topic. This hands-on exercise allowed faculty members to apply the concepts discussed during the session, with guidance from Dr. Venkata Subbaiah. Participants were encouraged to peer-review each other’s questions, offering constructive feedback on how the questions could be improved in terms of clarity, alignment with learning outcomes, and cognitive demand.

Conclusion

The FDP session on Question Bank Preparation was a highly productive and insightful event. Dr. Venkata Subbaiah’s expertise and practical approach helped faculty members gain a deeper understanding of how to craft effective assessments. By the end of the session, participants were well-versed in the principles of question bank creation and felt confident in implementing these techniques in their own courses. The workshop successfully met its objectives of enhancing faculty competence in preparing balanced and outcome-aligned question banks, contributing to the overall improvement of assessment quality at SPEC.

Feedback and Future Directions

Participants provided positive feedback about the session, appreciating the clarity of the content and the practical approach to question preparation. Several faculty members expressed interest in further sessions, particularly in specialized areas such as rubric development and the use of technology for automated assessment generation. This session is expected to be followed by similar workshops aimed at continuous faculty development and innovation in teaching methodologies.