Muriel Strand wrote:
> i would like to (approximately) echo the other responses on this topic.
last
> fall i was almost trapped in a very poorly taught econometrics class and
the
> clincher was when i showed up to take the first exam and found out it was
to be
> closed book - it never even occurred to me to ask. i cannot remember the
last
> time i had a test that was closed book/notes. this particular class
focused on
> memorizing definitions and using software like a black box, NOT on
> understanding stats.
>
> when engineers take the state licensing exam, they can bring in a suitcase
full
> of books if they care to. i probably brought about 10, AND i knew what
> formulae to use in what situations and where to find them. i'm not aware
that
> this practice has caused any dangers to the citizenry, and presumably the
state
> licensing board doesn't think so either.
For advanced courses, I agree 100%. For students at lower levels, my
experience has been that many have not got the maturity to do well in a
completely open-book exam. I have tried this on a couple occasions in
first-year courses and the results were so bad that I swore off open-book
tests at that level. Many students were timed out on what should have been
a rather trivial test, having spent the hour leafing through their book. I
do permit a fairly ample sheet of notes (colleagues in multi-section courses
permitting), and have had no similar problem.
We have to cut tyros some slack here. In my experience, mediocre
students seem to do *best* in closed-book exams in which significant credit
is often given for memorizing facts, and - provided the exam is designed for
the rules and does not give credit for writing down trivia - *worst* in
open-book exams. (What some would *like* is an exam designed for closed-book
conditions, written open-book. In their dreams...) By the time we get to
serious stuff like licensing exams, we need exams designed for grownups -
and that means open-book.
-Robert Dawson
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