Dennis Roberts wrote:
>
> for more than 20 years, i have been "running" a correspondence kind of
> course in basic stat ... that involves using a text and a study guide ...
> and, has 10 assignments they work on PLUS 2 proctored mc tests of 40 items
> each. now, in the grading, tests count 60% of the overall grade and the
> assignments count for 40%. for sure, the scores on the assignments tend to
> be high ... partly due to the fact that they have considerable time to work
> on them ... and CAN get help (from me and others i suppose, and perhaps
> most importantly, i grade them quickly and leniently generally speaking).
> however, BY FAR, most of the course work is taken up by doing these
> assignments ... perhaps 100 hours for assignments and, only 5 for the
> tests. it would be almost unethical to say that because of the lack of
> variability in grades on the assignments and, the fact that they CAN (and
> probably do ... though rarely do students know one another in this course)
> get help ... that assignments should only count say ... 5/10 percent of
> the course. this would be totally unfair to the students.
>
> i even worry about only giving 40% weight to the assignments but, DO want
> some variation in grades ... and that comes primarily from the proctored tests
>
> i am not suggesting that there has to be a 1 to 1 correspondence between
> effort/work AND, weight for grade but, there is some unethical IMbalance to
> this that we should not step over
>
Distance Ed is one situation where assignments can be appropriate, if
only because the students are isolated from each other. It still works
best for small numbers. I have been teaching a subject in Market
Research which is small (10-15 students) and DE. I assess it totally by
assignment. With those numbers you can interact well with the students,
get to know them and can legitimately guide their assignment work.
Alan
--
Alan McLean ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics
Monash University, Caulfield Campus, Melbourne
Tel: +61 03 9903 2102 Fax: +61 03 9903 2007
.
.
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