Kathleen,
Great questions about large-class management. At the university where I
formerly taught, I regularly taught sections of adolescent psychology
and/or social psychology with 90 to 100 students. Like you, I had no
assistants. Your idea of giving multiple-choice quizzes or exams with
computer-scored answer sheets is good, in my opinion. But I also think
it is important to offer other types of assignments to add variety, to
tap different learning styles, and to reliably assess all students'
learning.
Giving students their exam scores can be challenging. A great way to do
it is to assign arbitrary code numbers on the first day of the
semester. Post a list of scores by code numbers outside of your
office. Students can retrieve their scores, and no one's
confidentiality is breached.
In my large sections, I assigned short "10 minute" papers that required
students--sometimes individually, sometimes with a partner--to respond
to a question about that day's material. These papers would be written
near the end of a class period, as the name says, in 10 or 15 minutes.
Often, the question involved responding to a quote, cartoon, current
issue, or video clip, by applying course material and/or discovering new
insights about the material. These short essays would be worth just a
few points each--maybe 2 or 4--such that reading them and scoring them
would take no more than one hour of my time. Students found them fun
and challenging, and I indirectly received feedback regarding what
students did or did not understand from my lectures.
It is important, as well, to encourage class discussion. In a class of
90 to 100, I was able to learn many names simply by encouraging
questions and comments during class. Such interchanges have many
benefits, not the least of which is giving you more evidence on which to
evaluate students' learning.
I had assigned longer papers in such classes, which can be a real
"killer." I do not necessarily advocate that strategy for you. Each
faculty must balance many responsibilities, and if you feel you can
assign one longer paper, say 5 pages, then do it. Just be sure that
it's not an assignment that can easily be plagiarized, for example, by
"ordering" it over the Internet! In a large class, you certainly will
not have time to be vigilant in your search for plagiarism.
Good luck. Let me know how things go for you.
Dr. Barbara Watters
Mercyhurst College
501 E. 38th St.
Erie, PA 16546
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Greetings!
> I am fairly new to this list serve, but have been enjoying it very
> much! I've been in the Psy. Dept. at a PA university for 9 years, and
> for the first time ever, last semester our dean started giving us
> super-sized classes. I have a 91 student Ed. Psy. this semsester, and
> I am puzzeled as to how to do effective testing. (I have no help or
> grad assistants. It's a one-woman course!) I guess I'll
> do Scantron multiple choice tests. Does anyone have any ideas
> about actual mechanics for returning the tests, and having the
> students then give them back to me? Or, for that matter, any
> ideas / recommendations for handeling such a large group, or
> ideas for creating an effective learning environment?
>
> Thanks for any and all suggestions!
> Kathleen Kleissler
