Reading notes 3

One the common themes throughout the readings was the suggestion that students work best when given multiple means of demonstrating their knowledge (Gross, 315, 335, 352, 410; Lang, 130, 202). According to both authors, there are a number of benefits of providing frequent and consistent assessments. If students are given several different assignments across the course of the semester then that dilutes the importance any single assessment and takes the pressure off students allowing them to put forth their best performance without having to worry about how each individual assignment could affect their grade (Gross, 335; Lang 202-203). Interestingly, this has the added benefit of both decreasing the likelihood that students will plagiarize and diminishes the rewards for cheating (Lang, 202). Along with this I really liked the idea of breaking up a large term paper into several smaller papers (Gross, 315; Lang, 132). This not only allows the instructor to monitor the students’ progress over the course of the assignment, but it also allows the student to progressively improve their work and helps them effectively utilize their time so they do not have to cram in a lot of work at the end of the semester. One issue that I think arises with this suggestion though is how much time should we as instructors expect our students to put into work for our class? I know that this is an issue that we discussed in the first couple days of class, but I think it needs repeating here. If students are having to be constantly preparing so sort of graded or non-graded assignment, or if they are having to study for a graded quiz every class period, I could understand how students might get frustrated with the work load. Furthermore, students might approach the readings and information presented in the class as something they dutifully learn for the purpose of assessments (though I am sure many students do this in many of their classes). How do we as instructors balance out providing students with multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge will still respecting that students need time for other courses as well as work and personal lives? Additionally how might having a large number of assessments affect our own preparations for instructing the class?

Another issue that comes up in a couple of different facets in these readings was the issue of time constraints. Lang presents a case for accepting late work without penalty (136), while Gross exposits guidelines for structuring exams that may be completed in fifty minutes and recommends keeping students appraised of the time (363,380). On the one hand Gross highlights the appropriateness of teaching students how to manage their time and produce concise answers, however the argument that good work should not be constrained by time, presented by Lang, resonates with me. While time management skills may be important to a certain extent, it seems counter-productive to put learning and demonstrations of learning on a stopwatch. Google is widely successful company and is consistently rated one of the top places to work. From reports I have read (sorry I do not have a specific citation) they do not put too much stock in deadlines. They simply higher motivated people and turn them loose on projects. I know that it seems somewhat impractical to design a class with no deadlines or time constraints, but I wonder what the rest of you think about setting flexible deadlines or letting students go beyond the allotted class time to finish an exam. To what extent do the logistics of assignments get in the way of the instructional goals?