Hello all,
Over the years I have learned the danger of being certain about
anything concerning teaching, but one of the things that I am most certain
of is that the final exam is not only the most important exam of the course,
but is one of the best and most essential learning experiences of the
course.
Let me explain. If we look at exams as simply a means of
determining how "good" a student someone is, and as a way to decide what
grade to give them, then once a student has established themselves as "good"
in a course and has indicated that A is the correct grade, then I would
agree that there is no need for them to take the final.
If, however, we believe, as I do, that exams primarily exist as
tools for learning, then to pass up the final makes no sense at all (to
me!). If you want your students to truly learn what you are teaching, why
would you pass up an opportunity to review the semester, summarize and
recall important points and threads of thought, and to reflect one more time
on how the elements of the course work together to make a coherent whole?
Isn't the whole idea to have someone remember something *after* the course
is over? Wouldn't this be helped by having students confront the course as
a whole one more time? It seems to me that a *conclusion* to the course is
a bookend to the introduction that we do at the beginning. And, to me, a
final exam is an important part of that conclusion. I spend considerable
time creating a final study sheet that I think reflects the basic ideas of
the course, and in upper level courses have students give input as to what
these ideas are. No, I don't have evidence to support that this helps
learning; given the low percentage of retained knowledge evidenced by
another thread a few months ago, I don't have high hopes that learning is
high. But to *not* give a final and to *not* require students to reconfront
the material doesn't seem like it would help either...
I'm curious what rationales people use who do not give final exams.
Joe Hatcher
Ripon College
Ripon, WI 54971
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ----------
> From: Michael Sylvester
> Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 8:06 AM
> To: TIPS
> Subject: exempt from final
>
>
> are there circumstances where you exempt a student from taking the final?
> I have had one or two cases of very bright students getting A s in all
> course work and who undoubtedly will get an A in the course.
> At my discretion,I have told them that they do not have to take the final.
> They were to perceive the exemption as a reward for maintaining
> a hibh degree of intellectual consistency through-out the semester.
>
> Michael Sylvester,PhD
> Daytona Beach,Florida
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
