Dr. McKinley: We Tipsters studied REALLY hard for this exam. We can't believe we did so poorly. It's not our fault our large volume of trivial tips mail kept us too busy to study more. What can we do to make up some points?
Respectfully submitted, Tipster Annette -------- Tipsters, Well, I am going to take the opportunity caused by my error to ask for some advice. My answer to Tipsters Annette Taylor and David Epstein would be, "Sure, you can take the retest that will be given at night following break." I give retests for all my exams. Retests are always the same format but not the same questions. Students use the higher of the 2 grades toward their final course grade. (Of course, I am fortunate enough to have only 30 or so students per section, not the hundreds that Mike Lee has.) I do this for a few reasons: 1. I was finding that I was making up 2 tests anyhow b/c I always had students who missed the first test and needed to retake. (And, I had a few instances with cheating that convinced me that I couldn't use the same exam.) 2. I was having to decide "good" excuses vs. "bad" excuses. Now my policy is take the test or the retest or both, but I don't make up any other exams. No other retests. Period. 3. I think it reduces test anxiety. 4. It is good for students' learning and grades. There is some literature on this (although it is old). On the last exam, students' performance improved by about 8 points. 5. I think it contributes to a less adversarial relationship w/ students, as they know that I am clearly doing everything I can to assist them in raising their grades -- and learning the material (although I largely think that this is a secondary issue to many of them). Now, I am rethinking my policy on this, for a few reasons, the most important one is that it takes _lots_ of time, even given my small classes. (It takes me about 10-12 hours to make the test, administer it, grade it, and make sample answers.) I am trying to weigh teaching time vs. research time, and this is one area where I could cut back to give myself a little more time for my research. I am really torn and see pros and cons of going both ways. Any thoughts? Any other thoughts about juggling teaching and research? Thanks, in advance, for your ideas, Marcia Marcia J. McKinley, J.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology Mount St. Mary's College Emmitsburg, MD 21727 (301) 447-5394 x4282 [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
