There were several things that surprised me while I was reading the chapters for today. Most of them dealt with misconceptions I believed as an undergrad (or maybe, just things I saw frequently). First, I was surprised how common cheating is. I knew it happened frequently, but I was still surprised that half to three-fourths of students cheat at least once (Davis, 345). Both Davis and Lang give some good advice to counter cheating (particularly Lang’s insight that the less assignments students have, the more likely they are to cheat). I was also surprised to learn it is more effective to not include “all of the above” (along with “none of the above”, “a and b only,” “a and c only,” etc.) responses in multiple choice exams (Davis, 396) and to not allow students to choose essay questions to answer (403). Both of these were common occurrences in my undergraduate career. Though these were interesting findings, I would like to spend more time during our in-class discussion on the ideas of testing and grading.
I met with Dr. Ann Burnett today for my pedagogical interview and we discussed different testing techniques. She emphasized the importance of not having students “regurgitate information back to the teacher” but rather form connections to class concepts through key real world ideas. We discussed in class yesterday whether or not we take notes on examples during lecture. Real world examples are what I would be more likely to test over. This will help me identify areas where students are confused about class concepts as well as areas where I can improve my teaching methods. Davis discusses in Ch. 39 the importance of implementing several types of test questions to evaluate student learning. I am curious to get some feedback from the class as to the best way to evaluate student comprehension via testing. Davis (p. 365) gives examples of different types of testing, but what do others think are most effective for evaluating student application of concepts to real world? For those who have previous teaching experience, what tips do they have for creating test effective questions?
The other area where I have some questions is the implantation of writing assignments and the grading of them. In Ch. 34 Davis discusses the importance of writing assignments throughout the semester to help students improving their writing skills (a major issue of concern for Dr. Burnett) as well as help them clarify ideas (p. 306). What is a good amount of writing assignments? When does it become busy work without meaning a pedagogical meaning behind it?
Grading these writing assignments is also an area of concern for me. Rubrics can help you save time, grade everyone fairly, and help determine what matters most to me as a professor (Lang, 138), but how do I start setting one up? I have had to use previous rubrics that contained so much information it was hard to keep track of what when, which was very distracting. Having this much content also distracted me from listening to the speaker which was my main objective. When I start with my own rubric for the first time, where is a good place to begin? What is a “good” number of components I should be looking for in a given speech, writing assignment, or essay?
Test creation (writing effective questions) and grading are the two biggest issues I would like to discuss in class. Along with the grading, I am curious to hear others opinions on curving classes (Lang has a very strong opinion on this) as well as the trend of “grade inflation” within the educational environment.
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