>Any suggestions on how to *build* motivation and/or confidence in a
>situation like this, as opposed to crushing it? I've been at this
>just a few years and I'm not sure I've figured it out yet.
Sheesh, I've been at it a bit longer and also haven't got it figured
out, but in a recent intro section, when I covered attribution theory
and explained the self-serving bias and how it might affect study
habits after receiving poor grades, a couple students suggested that
I should go over this early in the course (after the first quiz).
Of course, you'll have to do it tactfully.
>A second is to take special care about the level of language you use
>in constructing your test questions. A third is to decrease the
>complexity of the material (I'm trying to avoid saying "dumb it
>down," but that is the sense of the phrasing).
It was a course in cognitive, and that can be pretty heavy. What if
the reading skills prohibit an understanding of the material and not
just an understanding of the test question? I see this when I ask
students to decipher something or other right out of the text. I
think a lot of texts (especially anything besides intro) have to be
re-written by people who have a better feeling for the reading level
of today's students and how to communicate ideas to them. I wouldn't
call this dumbing down, since the ideas are still there and require
mastery, but the writing style of too many textbooks is simply dull
and terse. I know the authors try, but it often seems to me that
they're writing more to please reviewers than students.
If students can't read the text, they're missing half the class.
>So my vote (this is a democracy, isn't it?) is to let those grades stand
I wanted to institute a new policy of grade inflation this term, but
I just can't pull it off. I'd let them stand or maybe give a make-up,
but no readjustment unless there's reason to believe the test was
poorly designed or graded.
--> Mike O.
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Michael S. Ofsowitz
University of Maryland - European Division
http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~mofsowit
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