Advancing Assessments: The Role of Constructed Response in Boosting Higher Cognitive Processing

Distinguishing Assessment Methods:

Selected Response vs. Constructed Response: In selected response assessments, learners pick answers from a given set of options, with common forms being True/False and Multiple Choice. These are effective for fact recall and limited reasoning but fall short in assessing skills. Although selected response items can touch on higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, many primarily demand lower levels of cognition. In contrast, constructed response assessments require learners to create or provide their responses. While simple constructed responses (e.g., fill-in-the-blank) can measure lower-level skills, more open formats (e.g., essays) can assess deeper knowledge and critical thinking.

The Advantages of Constructed Responses:

Constructed response assessments are pivotal in enhancing the validity of inferences about student understanding by evaluating higher cognitive processing. Going beyond mere fact recall, these assessments allow a diverse range of student responses and solution processes, offering a richer and more nuanced insight into students’ reasoning abilities. They actively promote the use of evidence to support claims and articulate ideas, contributing to a deeper and more insightful assessment of student learning. Constructed response assessments provide a comprehensive view of student learning, emphasizing critical thinking, diverse expression, and the practical application of knowledge.

The Role of edaptAI in Supporting Constructed Response:

Leveraging constructed-response items in assessments offers significant advantages, benefiting both educators and learners. Constructed-response items enable the creation of assessment environments that mirror real-world scenarios, enhancing authenticity and engagement for students. Familiar elements like drop-down menus and text-highlighting features make constructed-response items intuitive for the modern learner, fostering a more comfortable interaction. Numerous studies highlight the substantial impact of interactive engagement on students’ motivation to complete tasks.

Moreover, the edaptAI platform allows you to organize and align your content with the cognitive thinking levels specified in Bloom’s taxonomy. Constructed-response items within the platform are strategically designed to assess students’ proficiency in applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating based on the knowledge and skills acquired during the instructional unit. Unlike other assessment formats, constructed-response items frequently allow for multiple valid responses, encouraging diverse perspectives. This framework is immensely beneficial for shaping learning pathways and nurturing advanced critical thinking abilities in students. Utilizing edaptAI’s technology-enhanced constructed response formats, you can seamlessly develop assessments targeting each tier of cognitive thinking, facilitating a comprehensive evaluation of student learning.