So exams were passed out like super fast, which was impressive. Compared to last semester, we were ON. I think its important to do it in an orderly fashion to ease the hustle and bustle of papers. Besides everyone is crazy anxious to receive the exam so I always feel the pressure. A few didn’t bring their I.D. – In the case I had, Gurung told her to flip open her phone and verify her name- I would’ve never thought of that. Good thinking! We discussed in the meeting about ways to defer cheating. I thought of an idea for test format, having the same color exam (white) for both versions, but the questions in different order that way students can’t tell who has an exam like them. I think its good to keep the font small. That way students have to focus more on their own exam. I think for next time we should throw out a little disclaimer, saying “if we see eyes drifting down to neighbor’s papers, we will assume you’re cheating; if you do not cover your answers and leave them open for the world, we will assume you are helping a friend.”
One of the craziest things that happened was when a student wrote on the back of the response sheet that the guy (who he knew by first AND last name btw) was cheating. I showed it to Gurung, he told me to take a pic w/ my cell and sure enough- the review sheet was placed nicely between his feet. The nerve! Personally, that would have given me enough iniative to throw his exam out, but I think its hard when its a Freshman. People make dumb mistakes (especially freshman <–been there) and he could seriously be discouraged from school and too ashamed to even try anymore. Gurung handled it in a way that teaches a lesson, but will not hurt his grade. I think that’s the best way- I mean, clearly if he gets caught again, different things need to happen but I think it was handled well.
As far as exam format, I noticed that the order in which the answers were shown on the exam were not consistent throughout. This could possibly throw some people off. For example:
blblaldjkadfafasdflkjasl;dfjasdl;fkjafjsakk;kjaf???
a. asdfasdfdf b. adfasdlf
c. adsfl;kdfja d. adfljf
VS.
adlfkjasdlfjal;sdjf;lasdfj????
a. adlskfjalsd; c. adl;fkjasdlf
b. asdlkfjasd d. klajdfjasd;l
Ok, so after I typed that, it looks obnoxious, but I think you have the idea.
*One cool thing that shows consistency over time: Class size nearly doubled but exam scores nearly doubled…. does class size matter?!
REVIEW SESSIONS
Although I think the review sessions went well, Mandy and I did experience some flack for not confidently knowing the right answer. Gurung kind of put us at ease, reminding us how students hold us to a different standard than faculty and respond differently, too. They will always be looking for instances that confirm their pre-conceived notion of someone. It’s frustrating but it’s life. I thought Gurung brought up a really interestnig point that this is the generation that NCLB was actually used on…perhaps they’re used to be “taught to the test” and are frustrated when they receive a format different than that.
Another thing, Jess and Trudi mentioned that only 10% of hands went up in their review session when asked who studied before. That frustrates me because they are hardly doing the work yet scrutinize us for not doing enough. There’s a fine line between helping a student and spoon-feeding, and I think that crosses it.
Regarding student feedback, students actually wanted more quizzes and practice questions- that’s a good thing!
Lots of things to reflect and improve on…off to check out the quiz before it goes live tomorrow!