jacksonlu
May 30, 2024 at 12:14 am
I had a great time reading your blog and found it very engaging. Your comment, “I don’t remember ever seeing the exam papers after they have been marked,” really resonated with me. As a student who dislikes exams and finds them extremely stressful, I have some ideas on how we could improve the examination system.
One possible change is to eliminate high-stakes exams where a single final exam is worth 40 to 60 percent of the final grade. Instead, we could shift to smaller, more frequent exams, perhaps weekly or bi-weekly, each worth about 10 percent. This approach would reduce pressure and encourage continuous learning.
Another idea is to allow students to correct their mistakes after an exam for partial credit. This could be combined with personalized exams, a concept that is becoming more feasible with advancements in AI. For example, the first exam could be relatively easy to encourage students to start studying. The second exam would then include questions based on the mistakes made by the student in the first exam, along with new material. This pattern would continue, with each exam being cumulative and personalized to address individual learning gaps. I believe this could be a future direction for more effective learning.
https://learningleaf.opened.ca/2024/05/24/assessment-implications/
jacksonlu (Post author)
2024-05-29 at 11:21 PM
Hi Sophie,
CSC320 Foundations of Computer Science is regarded as one of the most difficult courses in the computer science degree program among my peers. It is a very theoretical course, and it is extremely exam-heavy; I believe the midterm and final exams together count for 65% of our final grade. The part I struggle with the most is the assignments. They are worth 25% of our grade and are marked extremely critically. Sometimes the feedback is given too late because we have already moved on to the next subject.
I believe a better way for us to learn would be to have immediate feedback, such as releasing the answer sheet right after the due date or allowing students to correct their mistakes on the assignment to achieve full marks (provided they have completed a reasonable amount of the work initially). This approach would help students learn more effectively and avoid making the same or similar mistakes on the exams, which are crucial for determining their success in the course.
With all of that being said, I still believe there is a place for summative assessments because they are effective. However, a hybrid approach that includes more of constructivism into purely summative assessments would be extremely beneficial, at least for me.
P.S. I find grading assignments and small quizzes for marks to be unreasonable because it feels like we are penalized for making mistakes. As newcomers to the subject, we are bound to make mistakes, so it seems unfair.
https://jacksonlu.opened.ca/2024/05/26/exploring-assessment-strategies-in-our-course-a-reflection/