Hi
On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, David Wasieleski, Ph. D. wrote:
> Finally, to anticipate the questions of some list members (and you know who
> you are), I actually believe that as much as possible, students should not
> be overly burdened by time contraints on exams, and noise issues, etc. That
> is, exams and assignments should be given in an atmosphere that maximizes
> the students' chances of giving their optimal performance.
I believe that time constraints are valid when one wants to
assess how well students have learned the material, as opposed to
how students might be able to perform under ideal circumstances
with unlimited time and all kinds of supplementary aids
available. The speed with which students can answer questions in
part will reflect how good a schema they have developed for the
material. In a statistics test, for example, some students will
use much time (a) trying to decide what test is appropriate for
the question, (b) calculating quantities that are irrelevant or
at least incidental to the question, and (c) trying to figure out
how to use their calculators. The first two for sure are an
indication of their understanding of the material.
My compromise is to have large assignments that are done outside
class with unlimited time and access to much materials, often
with students working in groups, although with unique datasets.
These are not worth very much, despite the considerable time they
take (e.g., 6% each for 6 assignments over the year). Their
primary purpose is to encourage (force?) students to engage in
the kind of activity necessary for most of them to learn the
material. The tests at the end of each term (25% each) are
performed under tight time constraints, with only the help of a
formula sheet. This allows me to determine how well students
have learned the material.
Although I have never done anything about it, I do worry about
the extra time allowed some students, as noted by Stephen in the
original posting. Irrespective of its legitimacy, the granting
of extra time in essence circumvents one important (to me) aspect
of the evaluation. The issue is further complicated by possible
conceptual and practical difficulties in the whole area of
learning disabilities. There has been some debate on this topic
in Canadian universities, but I have not followed it closely.
Here is a link to a short comment from U of Western Ontario, for
example.
http://comms.uwo.ca/wnews/issues/1999/may/27/disabilities.htm
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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