Today I went into university for a couple of hours*, and the guy in the office next to mine (who used to be One Of Us, but who has now submitted and graduated and converted to the dark side of Actually Being Employed) was also there and putting together the final exam for the course he convenes. So of course I nosied on up and read it through and just couldn't stop myself from giving "helpful" comments.
"I think this might be a really tough exam for some students," I pointed out, "since if they can't answer the first question, the second one won't even make sense, and if they can't get the second one, they won't know what you're referring to in the third one, and so on, right through the exam."
"Nah, that'll be fine," he replied, unfazed. "Because they will all be able to answer all the questions."
I shot him a disbelieving look.
"On the last day of class I'm going to give them a handout with the exam questions and the right answers on it and tell them to learn it all off by heart."
At which point I retreated to the comparative sanity of my own office, since it was sadly clear there was nothing more I could do for him.
___________
* Despite it being Sunday. See the time stamp? Good StyleyGeek, hard-working StyleyGeek. Nice little StyleyGeek shall have her degree. Oh yes.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
I mean, where do you start?!?
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5 Comments:
wow, that' ridiculous! aah.
See the beauty is that this won't even work for a good number of students (not that this excuses doing it...why do people that do stuff like this get jobs?!). Over at Badgerings , Badger recently posted about how she gave her students a study guide (albeit not with the answers!) and a good number of them still couldn't answer questions that were straight off the guide. And I have biology professor friends who have recounted the same story, time and again. Somehow, some students are even dumber - or just lazier - than we think possible!
Well at least if some students STILL don't manage it, that separates them into two groups. But only based on how well they can memorize things.
What I don't get -- well, ONE of the things I don't get -- is that his aim is to create a situation where everyone gets 100%. What good is that as an exam?
I like your avatar, Criseyde, by the way!
your footnote appears to be missing ".... my precioussssss"
The "department" doesn't really have any say in the matter. I guess it's assumed that if someone has managed to get a job as a lecturer, they are capable of setting exam questions, so there isn't anyone who looks over the exam papers to see if they are acceptable or not. And even if there was, they wouldn't know he had got the students to memorize the answers.
If a student complains to the HOD, on the other hand, yes, this guy could have himself some trouble.
Talk to me! (You know you want to!)