Vincent Prohaska wrote: "Sometimes I have offered to downweight the
first exam score of students who do better on the next exam (for example, if the
first exam was worth 20% of the final grade, I might offer to cut it's weigth to
15% or 10% if the student's second grade improves by 20 points and give the
weight to the second exam). I hope this encourages them to change their habits
for the next exam."
I've
done something similar in the past and it worked reasonably well. I also
think that frequent testing (rather than just a midterm/final)
is helpful. I give 5 tests and a comprehensive final, of the five
regular tests I drop their lowest score. That seems to give them the "out" they
need for when they don't study well, or before they realize what it will take to
do well.
I
did give unannounced open note quizzes last year, (following Sue Frantz's lead)
and found that it just didn't make any difference for my students. They
didn't seem any better prepared for tests.
This
quarter I've switched to requiring reading notes which I collect at random
12 times over the course of the quarter (so they have to have them ready every
day). Their notes have been steadily improving and several comments from
students lead me to believe that this is a new practice for them.
Their average on the first test was higher than I usually see and more
comments from students tell me that they think the note-taking is helping them
comprehend the material and retain it for tests. The idea for randomly
collected reading notes assignments came from Innovation Abstracts, Vol. XXV,
No. 26 ( I can't find the author's name right now), and I'll take partial credit
for inspiring Sue Frantz to collect reading notes as a bonus point option
:-)
If
you want to see my reading notes assignment :
& assignment calendar
Ruth Frickle
Department of Psychology
Highline Community
College
Des Moines, WA
98198-9800
(206) 878-3710 ext. 3111
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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