Ball State University students who take the Writing Competency Exam might find that what they write will affect policies administrators pass.
Anna Priebe, Writing Competency Exam coordinator, said while the primary function of the exam is to serve as an educational tool, it also lets students voice their concerns to administrators.
"It's a way for us to communicate and to find out what students are thinking in an interesting sort of way," she said. "We can do lots of different inQsit surveys and things, but it's important for us to listen."
Ball State created a new rationale in January for the exams and now asks students to write about social issues on campus and in the community as a way to let students discuss their views and concerns about the university, she said. The rationale has changed the writing prompts on the exams, and answers could lead to policy changes, she said.
"I think the wisdom that comes from the exams is incredibly astute," she said.
David Pearson, chairman for the University Senate Instructional Media Support Committee, said Ball State officials first tapped into Writing Competency Exams as a resource for student input earlier this semester.
Senate passed a bill that would clarify the policy concerning students' technology use in classrooms, he said. The bill was a response to comments students made in the exams, he said.
Priebe said exam graders noticed many test-takers wrote about students misusing laptops, cell phones and other forms of technology during classroom lectures.
"The students had a lot to say about this issue," she said. "The people who read the exams were concerned. They told their deans. The deans said 'We have to investigate this.'"
Gary Pavlecho, chairman for the Task Force on Personal Technology and Academic Integrity, said his committee was created in February in response to students' comments.
"In the Writing Competency Exams' content there were students who had expressed concerns about cheating on campus using technology," he said. "That information came to Bruce Hozeski, the Senate chairperson, and then he was the person who called a task force."
The task force used inQsit to survey faculty members' opinions about students using personal technology in the classroom and will analyze the results before it makes a recommendation to the Senate, he said.
Priebe said the exam prompt asked students whether they thought technology in classrooms enhanced or hindered their learning experiences. About 90 percent of the 294 students who wrote about the topic wrote negative comments, she said
"With this one [the responses] were so awful," she said. "Students were truly upset and worried. This one hit a nerve in a different way."
Although the university used students' responses, participants will remain anonymous, Priebe said.
"We don't know who said what," she said. "They can't be traced to any specific person, so we can't go after a person because they said 'Oh, I cheated.'"
The exams are given identification numbers instead of having students' names, she said. Graders use score sheets with the identification number, then the score is transferred to a grade sheet with the student's name, she said.
"The information that is shared is not connected to any specific person," she said. "I score 5,000 exams a semester. I don't remember what somebody says. They're completely anonymous."
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