In recent student focus groups, Ohio State's Affordable Learning Exchange team discovered that required textbooks were assigned not because the texts were referenced heavily in class, but primarily for access to test banks used to deliver quizzes throughout the semester. These test banks are a significant barrier to open textbook adoption in large enrollment courses at our institution, and the questions included are often of low quality. To address this barrier, we're piloting a process to bring faculty from across several institutions to collaboratively author and review large test banks in three disciplines: Macroeconomics, Biology and Sociology. In this pilot, we are examining the time, tools and resources required to create not only a test bank useful in one course with a specific textbook, but one that can be used and customized by many instructors in an iterative, sustainable process in many courses across institutions. The project began in March 17 and will produce test banks ready for use beginning in fall 17. Questions we will attempt to answer in this session include: How do authors approach development of learning objectives that can be applied across many courses, using differing course materials? How do we integrate a robust peer review process into this process, to create a higher-quality finished product? What process and support framework should be in place for each content area? How many contributors are needed to create a robust test bank, and how do needs change based on discipline? Which part of the workflow can be managed within an authoring tool? What is the best way to deliver question/answer sets for easy remix and reuse? We will share Content Camp project and process documentation and resources and report on our lessons learned and future plans. The audience will be actively engaged in the conversation, with plenty of time for questions and feedback that we'll take back home and incorporate as our Content Camp model grows beyond the pilot.
