It's time for the beginning of Fall classes. Here are some random thoughts for faculty to consider during this time. Just a quick note: nothing here is new. I have probably gone over all of these things before. I will also use physics courses for my examples - but it should apply to many other fields.
Faculty have two jobs.
Well, we have at least two jobs. Job number 1 is as a physics coach. My job is to help students increase their understanding of physics. How do you do this? Of course, that is a tough question. But let's deal with that later.
What about job number 2? This second job is that of a physics evaluator. I have to also determine how much physics these students understand - we often call this "grading". If you think about this, it's kind of crazy. It would be as though I were both a football coach and the referee during the game.
If you realize that there are two different jobs, it might help you think about ways to do these two jobs. Perhaps the most important thing (at least for me) is to understand that it is difficult to help students learn physics by evaluating their understanding. Sure, it's useful to give feedback on what they are doing right and wrong, but using a grade as a motivation for learning. Many people do use grades this way, but I just don't think it's a good idea.
What is a grade?
A grade is some type of measure of what a student understands. Well, at least that's what I think it should be. Here are some things I think that grades aren't:
- A reflection of the effort the student put into the class (even though I try to encourage students to try).
- On the same lines, the grade is not a reflection of how many classes a student has missed. If a grade is a measure of what a student understands, it is actually possible that a student miss a significant portion of the course yet still understands. Of course this is sort of like they said about the Death Star: "If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness, and exploit it." Well, I guess that's a bad example since the Rebels did in fact blow up the Death Star.
- Just as above, a grade is not a measure of the obedience of a student. College isn't like a dog training class. It is more like an art class (sometimes it is ACTUALLY an art class).
Suppose you agree with these ideas about grades? Oh, don't worry, I understand that there are many faculty out there that don't agree. One thing you can do is to change your course grading to reflect your understanding of grades. For me, this means adopting something similar to Standards Based Grading (SBG). What is SBG? In short, it gives a grade based on what a student understands. Here are some key points.
- Tests are broken down based on ideas, not chapters or time. So, there would be a momentum principle standard (or quiz) and not just "test 3" or "chapter 2 test".
- If a student does poorly on the in class assessment, there is still an opportunity to demonstrate understanding before the end of the semester. For my class, students submit short video screen casts where they work out a problem. I have to say, I am always surprised at how much you can learn about a student's ideas in a short video. Students can present an example that is in the textbook and I still quickly get a sense of whether they understand the material or not.
If you want more details about SBG, check out posts from Andy Rundquist or Shawn Cornally just for starters. There are many others with lots of SBG info out there.
Content.
Don't get angry - please. However, I see students in the hallways sometimes (but not always). These students sometimes study in the hallways and sometimes they talk about their other courses. So, what I am going to say is based just on what these students say. Yes, I know that students say silly things about me too.
Surely you will give a test in your course, right? If these questions are things that can be answered with a quote from the textbook or if they can fit onto a flash card, there might be a problem. What is it that you are trying to get out of students when you are encouraging them to memorize stuff they could just look up? Oh, even if they do memorize what you want them to - how long will they have this memorized? Will they still recall the ideas after the end of the semester? What about 3 years after the course? For most courses, I suspect the answer is "no".
Then what is the point of these fact-based courses? Sure, there are some classes that have these kinds of needs. I can think of language classes or something like anatomy. However, there should just be a few exceptions - not a whole bunch of courses.
Surely you have heard of Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning? This basically breaks down learning tasks. From lowest to highest level, they are:
- Knowledge.
- Comprehension.
- Application.
- Analysis.
- Synthesis.
- Evaluation.
A plain memorize and recall type test would probably fall into the "knowledge" category. Sure, there would be some at the comprehension level. But can you think of many multiple-choice questions that are application or analysis? Or what about any question that would fit on a flash card? Is that evaluation? No. Honestly, evaluation-level questions are pretty intense. What's my point? My point is that we should all move up this cognitive ladder. College should be about higher order thinking skills - not just spitting back facts that are given to them.
But how do move your course up a level? That isn't always so easy - I understand that. Perhaps the first step is just think beyond flash cards. I think we have it easy in physics. In physics, it is almost trivial to make exam questions that look at least the synthesis or analysis cognitive levels. Even an evaluation type question wouldn't be too hard. It's not that physicists are awesome (but I'm not saying we aren't awesome), it's the content. Think of how many different problems you could ask with a block on an inclined plane. There are like a billion. Also, you could present a made up solution to a problem and ask the student to evaluate it.
Other Tips.
Here are some other suggestions that might be obvious.
- If at all possible, memorize student names. I do this, even though I find it quite difficult. The effort is worth the reward.
- The syllabus is important. If you say you are going to do something in the syllabus - then you really should do it. If you say you will drop the lowest test, you can't change your mind later.
- Bonus points are evil. If you think of the grade as a reflection of what a student understands, then let them submit a reassessment or something.
- Points for attendance are also maybe not the best idea. Of course it doesn't reflect my ideas about grades. Also, it could encourage students to come to class for no reason except to be in class.
Remember, students are people too.
