This is probably more than you want to know, but I thought I would discuss
my approach to principles classes.
In my face-to-face principles classes, I assign weekly homework assignments
for the same purpose that Bill gives quizzes--to provide an incentive for
students to keep up with the material between the two class-long exams and
the final. The weekly homework assignments are worth 10% of their course
grade. (Two class-long exams and the final are worth 75% in total although,
like Bill, I also allow students the option of dropping a low class-long
exam or keeping the two exams and have the final fall from 50% to 35% of the
course grade.)
These weekly homework assignments are 'drill and practice' questions, like
those found at the end of the chapter (or back of the book or in a separate
homework booklet) of many principles textbooks. Grading is still a hassle,
although I can put a key and give them to graduate assistants or front
office assistants to grade. I still spot check a number of them and must
enter the results into the grades spreadsheet. Although I am concerned
about cheating on the assignments, I believe the advantages outweigh the
costs. The weekly homework assignments give students an opportunity to work
in groups if they wish, to use my office hours to discuss questions about
the material, and to see the important concepts and computations
demonstrated as I take class time to discuss the answers to each assignment.
It also provides an opportunity for me to demonstrate 'dedication to the
class' in the words of one student, as I am committed to returning and
discussing the weekly homework in the subsequent class session. I find this
dedication to immediate feedback is typically rewarded in end-of-semester
student evaluations. I typically teach 80 - 100 students each semester in
face-to-face principles courses.
In online courses, I replace the weekly homework assignments with weekly
online quizzes. The online quiz system was created by the university's
computing services department. It reports the results to the student after
they submit the quiz and only allows them to take each quiz once. A
database records the result, the time the quiz was first accessed by the
student, and the time they submitted the quiz. As I do not use a course
management system like Blackboard or WebCT, I have to enter the grades into
the course grade spreadsheet myself.
But after the online quiz has been taken by all students, each student
receives an email from me that contains not only their results (to confirm
their score from the database), but also a Word document version of the
quiz, and a table with the correct answers and their answers so that they
can learn from their mistakes. This allows them to study the weekly online
quizzes before exams. Since I am not using course management software, this
is more work for me. But these 'personal' emails to the student, sent the
day after the deadline for each quiz to provide immediate feedback, also
provide an opportunity for me to cheer on those students who have done well
and offer assistance to those students who are struggling. Once again my
end-of-course evaluations, and perhaps even retention, typically recompense
me for the effort. My online courses typically have between 10 and 15
students each semester.
I also have two 'Internet Assignments' in each course, worth the remaining
15% of the course grade, where I require them to go out and find economic
data (Consumer Expenditure Survey data from the BLS website, International
Trade data from the Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics website, etc.)
and ask them to identify long-term trends and explain recent movements. The
second assignment always requires an essay from each student. I also prefer
to push them to do some critical thinking by writing the essay. (In micro,
the Microsoft Antitrust Trial, using the excellent synopsis available from
the Wall Street Journal's subscriber website, has been a staple source of
essay questions in past years.)
I find these assignments provide a better opportunity for the student to
synthesize and apply what they have learned then the high-pressure
environment of an exam. Nonetheless, I am committed to ensuring that the
students can demonstrate a certain level of mastery of the material, as
evidenced by their results on timed exams. And I agree that work must be
part of the course grade for students to take it seriously. (Interestingly,
it seems that it doesn't have to be worth very much of the course grade for
students to do it.) I would be interested to learn how others balance
exams, weekly homework and quizzes, and critical thinking assignments and
activities (essays, experiments, etc.).
I am sure this is more information than Bill was looking for, but I enjoy
discussions of course design and assessment.
Dan
Dr. Daniel A. Talley
Associate Professor of Economics
Dakota State University
Daniel.Talley@dsu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Rycroft [mailto:rrycroft@mwc.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 10:48 AM
To: tch-econ@elon.edu; goffe@oswego.edu
Subject: Re: Quiz Alternatives?
Blackboard has the feature of allowing you to put a quiz on-line.
Blackboard wil lautomatically grade the quiz and put the grades in your
grade book. This is bound to be better than grading 10,000 questions. I
suppose the other Course Management systems have the same capabilities, but
I am not familiar with them.
Robert S Rycroft
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
Mary Washington College
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
540-654-1500
>>> Bill Goffe <goffe@oswego.edu> 08/19/02 11:16AM >>>
Now that I'm getting ready for the semester, I'm thinking about changing
something that I've done for years: weekly quizzes in my principles
classes. Briefly, here's what I have used in recent semesters: a weekly
quiz (5 short simple questions), 2 class-long exams, and a final. The
total quiz grade is 1/3 of the course grade, as are the 2 exams and the
final (as you might guess, the lowest of the total quiz grade and the 2
non-final exams is dropped). The students seem to like the quizzes as they
give them incentive to keep up with the material, but I wonder if
something else might be used instead. One reason is the cost on my part
(last year I graded 10,000 questions), but I'm also curious what others do
and if there might be something that is better in some sense. I do very
much like the idea of the students having something on the line --
assigning work w/o it being graded really lessons the chance that it will
be done.
Thanks,
Bill
--
*------------------------------------------------------*
| Bill Goffe goffe@oswego.edu |
| Department of Economics voice: (315) 312-3485 |
| SUNY Oswego fax: (315) 312-5444 |
| 443 Mahar Hall <wuecon.wustl.edu/~goffe> |
| Oswego, NY 13126 |
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*
| "The plane rolled slowly enough that traffic on the street was not
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| affected."
|
| -- Gaby Pacheco, a spokesman for Los Angles International Airport, on
|
| an American Airlines 767 that rolled unattended unto a 4-lane road.
|
| Apparently, it was parked incorrectly outside a maintenance hanger.
|
| "Ground transport: Jet Rolls Onto Street," CNN.com,
|
| <http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/04/10/runaway.plane/index.html>.
|
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