Terry counts down the last few minutes, then collects the answer sheets from the 140 students seated in rows in the lecture hall. Just minutes later, he's handing out another answer sheet - this one a different color. Terry asks them to start the exam all over again. The atmosphere is very different now. The room is abuzz with spirited dialogue, as the students go over the same multiple choice questions and try to reach consensus on answers from the group.
Hands are gesturing, there's even laughter.
Terry, a professor of molecular and cell biology, has offered the group exam format in his Microbiology 229 class each semester for the past two years. Every teacher has a bag of tricks that they accumulate over time, some of them are technology, and some are just plain pedagogy. There's a tendency to think of an exam as an assessment tool. It should be not just an assessment tool but a learning tool as well. The group exam serves both functions, so students know where they stand but learn at the same time.