Of the 3 scenarios, which do you think is the most conducive to learning and preparing students for success?
1 - 3 tests worth 20% each, and a final worth 40%
2 - Tests and final are worth 80% of your grade, but homework and other assignments round out the other 20%
3 - Grade is based on a variety of input. A final, some tests, quizzes, homework, participation, a paper, etc.
With the more traditional form of grading (as with #1), it’s good in the sense that it lets the student study the class the way they want to. They can choose to do which homework assignments they think will best prepare them and won’t have to spend time doing work that they’ve already mastered. However, it’s also kind of lazy, shallow and punishes people who are smart but don’t test well. A more liberal form of grading (such as #3) excels in getting a sizeable sample of the students capabilities, rewards consistency, but may also result in the student having to do more work including work that they might not need to learn.
I like having graded homework assignments because it forces me to keep up with the class rather than cram for tests at the last minute. I also like getting feedback on writing I did in the absence of a time constraint.
On the other hand, I think it’s important for the grade to substantially depend on tests because otherwise I’m not sure if I learned all the content I was supposed to learn. Under normal circumstances, I think someone who truly knows the material will be able to do well on tests.
(I’m a math major, so I’m thinking mostly about math classes. I would expect humanities classes to have a lot of papers, and for science classes to have a lot of labs.)
Depends entirely on the class and the quality of the materials. Three exams and a final might be okay for a chemistry class, but not an English literature course. Classes with a 20-page paper might be fine at an LAC with a 15-student course but not for a 500-student course at a big state university. Some professors write terrible exam questions but excel at grading papers.
I’ve taken some classes with no exams. The class grade was based on homework, discussions, a paper or papers, and maybe a quiz here and there. I test well but I don’t like exams.
I don’t think there’s ever a problem with students doing more work that they’ve “already mastered.” Practice makes perfect - Yo-Yo Ma still practices the cello; NFL players still practice plays and drills; ballerinas still take classes.
It’s not an issue of having to practice more. It’s an issue of personal preference. If a student has a better method of practicing, it may do more harm than good to bind them down to one way of practicing it for their time.
I agree that it depends on the course. English, language, humanities and social sciences should definitely have papers to write. It also was a good point that it depends on what the professor is better at.
However, sometimes it comes down to work ethic on the professors part. Some professors are very busy with their career so they only have time to grade two scantron tests. That’s honestly just laziness, and they maybe shouldn’t get paid the same amount of money as a professor that actually puts work into assessing the student every step of the way.
Wider criteria is better. If Michael Jordan misses 1 out of 3 baskets in a free throw, and I miss 1 of 3 baskets, we get the same score. But if it were judged out of 100 baskets, Jordan would probably get 98 of them, and I’d get 60.
If I were a professor, here would be my grading structure (Assuming 14 weeks)
Social Science:
20% Final Exam
30% 3 tests
20% Weekly quizzes (10 scores, lowest 3 are dropped)
30% Research Paper
+6% Extra Credit from 3 optional essays
In this scenario, there is no homework, busy work or silly projects. Student can study whichever way they want to. It’s still exam based, but it measures overall consistency.
STEM:
40% Final Exam
60% 4 tests ; lowest grade is dropped
+5% Extra Credit from in-class quizzes
I think stem classes are functionally different. They require understanding fundamentals and applying them, as opposed to learning/understanding/regurgitating facts. Stem classes are more interconnected and can’t be assessed in frequent intervals.
Well, you probably wouldn’t like my social science course where there are no exams or quizzes. Student learning is assessed in many different ways; mastery of the material is what matters in the end.