Melinda's Reading Notes #3

 
Creating a way to evaluate student performance is a struggle for me.  I am not a big fan of tests.  So far, I have designed my course around not having tests.  My objectives are more towards application and analyzing rather than regurgitation.  There is a lot of course content that I would rather get through than spend class time on tests that aren’t really meeting my objectives.  Lang (130) does mention that there needs to be variety in assignments including exams.  That may be where students shine.  While I may consider tests in this particular course later, I am not planning on it now.
 
I have included a larger paper as part of my course requirement.  I had not really thought about setting mini deadlines other than choosing a topic.  However, Davis (307, 352) mentions several times that keeping students on task and helping to create a schedule make for a better finished product and reduces the chances for plagiarism.  Davis (307) also mentions that students should be given the opportunity to get feedback from other students.  I have found that strategy to be very helpful in the class.  It is something that I may decide to incorporate.
 
I think the biggest challenge for me is going to be academic honesty.  Particularly deciding if a student is cheating or plagiarizing.  I know we previously discussed that it is clear, but I think this is an important enough topic that we should discuss it further.  Also what are the best strategies for “calling a student out”.  I am quite impressed with the story Davis provided on 356 about the blue book.  I am just not creative enough to come up with ways of cheating and I think this may be a little difficult for me.  
 
As an embarrassing side note, I was investigated for cheating while working on my BS.  I was fairly good friends with an athlete.  We worked on the assignment together and he convinced me it would be ok to turn in the same exact copy of the assignment.  I got the assignment back with a big “I need to see you and so and so about this brief after class”.  Then entire class period I thought I was going to vomit.  She wanted to see the rest of our assignments and we were eventually cleared.  However, this student had been caught 2 times for cheating previously.  She could have easily decided that we did and still could have failed that assignment.  
 
I would also like to talk about grading rubrics.  How to set one up and using them to evaluate.  Do you use a very general one like Carrie Anne provides or a very detailed one like Davis on 326?  I think for me some of the assignments that I graded as a TA would have been easier to grade if provided some sort of a rubric.